Dark Mode System Tray Flag Available in Chrome OS Dev Channel

Dark mode (or theme) is something that a lot of people love but sadly, to this point, it is not something that has been available in Chrome OS.  That appears to be set to change.  The team over at Chrome Unboxed discovered a new flag in the platforms Dev Channel that allows you to enable a Dark mode on your system tray.

As a reminder, the Chrome OS Dev Channel is currently on Chrome 66 so if this flag stays in place, we should see it hit the Stable channel April.  As a further reminder, the Dev Channel is essentially the Alpha channel for the platform.  That means it will be unstable and you will likely run into bugs.  But, if you are brave or have a spare Chromebook you can run in the Dev Channel, here is how you enable Dark Mode.

Sony Xperia XZ2 Series Pricing Released

Earlier this week at Mobile World Congress, we got our first glimpse at the completely redesigned Sony Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact.  Generally speaking, the reception for both phones has been great with Sony finally ditching their massive bezel design.  A key question remained however:  How much will they cost?

Thanks to Sony Mobile’s German site, we now have an idea.  The Xperia XZ2 will be €799 which roughly breaks down to $977 US.  The European price is a full €100 more than last year’s Xperia XZ1.

Chrome OS Build Release Schedule for 2018

We are only two months into 2018 but it is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Chrome OS.  This year is slated to be a busy one with 8 releases of the platform scheduled to happen this calendar year.  One of those, Chrome 64, has already happened but by the time we get to December, we will be rolling out Chrome 71 believe it or not.

The Chromium team has put together a tentative schedule of releases for Chrome OS for 2018.  While the calendar is subject to change due to unforeseen bugs or other issues, last year the team was pretty much on target all year with releases.  It is a reasonable bet that 2018 will follow suite.

The Asus ZenFone 5Z Blatantly Copies The iPhone X – Notch and All

Another flagship phone was announced today at Mobile World Congress and stop me if you have seen it before – because if you’ve seen an iPhone X, you’ve essentially seen the Asus ZenFone 5Z.

The latest flagship in a trio of phones announced today by Asus is as blatant a copy of the Apple flagship as you will find but that may not be all that bad.  THe ZenFone 5Z isn’t a cheap knock-off.  It is a flagship with flagship specs.  The 6.2″ FullHD IPS display renders at 1080 x 2246 pixels and is a 18.5:9 ratio.  That gives you a very comfortable ~402 ppi density.  It is powered by the Snapdragon 845 SoC which is coupled with the Adreno 630 GPU.  It has 4GB of RAM and comes standard with 64GB of storage which can be expanded thanks to the MicroSD slot.  Battery wise, you have a 3300mAh battery.

 

Amazon Acquires Ring for Approximately $1 Billion

In what is one of the company’s biggest acquisitions ever, Amazon has come to an agreement with Ring to buy the Santa Monica, California based company for a reported $1 Billion.  The terms of the deal were not disclosed but all indications are that Ring, much like other acquisitions Amazon has made, will at its core remain as a separate brand until the corporate umbrella.

Ring is best known for their connected cameras, doorbells and other home automation & security solutions.  The acquisition, from Amazon’s perspective, fits well into their overall home automation strategy as well as integration with their assistant, Alexa.

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