Tag: Chromium

As Android app support continues to grow and develop in Chrome OS, a new commit suggest that it is about to get even better.  The new commit points to Android app being able to be resized while in split screen support.  Split screen support is is currently in the Dev channel and it will likely be a few months before we see it in the Stable channel.   This new feature would allow for resizing of the apps when you are in split screen mode.

With this new feature, you would be able to control the overall screen real estate that an Android app takes up on your Chromebook specifically when it is in tablet mode.  Right now, everything automatically gets kicked into full screen mode.

Following on the release of a new Dev channel build for Chrome OS, there is now a new Beta channel build too.  Build 64.0.3282.101 (Platform version: 10176.54.0) has been released for most devices and can be downloaded now, if you are in the beta channel, by typing chrome://help  in the omnibar in the browser.

The update has a laundry list of fixes and improvements that you can read here if you are so inclined.  Ultimately there are a lot of general improvements to the platform.

It looks like native video recording from your Chromebook’s webcam is finally coming to Chrome OS.  A new commit in the Chrome Review Gerrit points to support for video recording so long as the device is using the MediaRecorder APIs found in the platform.

We are implementing recording functionality in chrome camera app on ChromeOS devices with MediaRecorder APIs. Enabling HW VEA would greatly improve the performance. For example, FPS increases from 7 to 30 on kevin.

For reference, the device name Kevin is the Samsung Chromebook Pro.

A commit that was discovered by the Chrome Story team suggest that Chrome OS could have the ability for administrators to sideload Android apps on devices.  Currently the only way you can sideload an APK to a Chromebook is if the device is in Developer Mode.  That mode essentially bypasses all of the Google security measures like boot loader verification.

If this Commit makes it through the gauntlet and arrives on Chrome OS, there would be a mechanism by which administrators could load apps that are not in the Google Play Store, currently the only way to install apps outside of the afore mentioned Developer Mode.  For now, it appears that this would only be an Enterprise level administrator feature in the platform.

The Chrome team has started rolling out a new major build of the browser for Windows, Mac and Linux.  Chrome build 56.0.2924.76 has a long list of security fixes and enhancements but also has an impressive list of new features along with it.  In all there are 21 specific issues addressed in the release notes, 7 of which were considered high priority.  As is the usual case, Google hasn’t released all the details of what was addressed.  They will do that after a majority of users have upgraded to the new build.

In this build, full HTML5 is supported which means the end of Adobe Flash plug-in for everyone.  You should get a prompt when you first open up the browser about Flash and the idea here is to make it a better browsing experience for everyone.  And safer.

An interesting tidbit of code has shown up in the Chromium change log for Chrome OS.  The change outlines that the default wallpaper on a device can be controlled by the master configuration.  In other words, manufactures like Acer, Dell and HP could have specific wallpapers for specific Chrome OS devices.

The ability for an OEM to set a default wallpaper has been in play for some time now.  Both Acer and HP have a custom wallpaper that they have all their Chromebooks show when you first power them on.  Google is incredibly strict with what OEMs can do to the Chrome experience.  To this point, the manufactures had one wallpaper they could add and it was the same on every Chromebook.