Google has announced the first commercial Chromebook laptops at the Google I/O conference today. The Chromebook laptops come after Google’s 6-month long pilot program testing Chrome OS on the CR-48 netbook with businesses and developers throughout the USA.

Samsung and Acer are set to release the first Chromebook laptops on June 15. The Samsung Chromebook is priced at $429 for the Wi-Fi only version, and $499 for 3G. The Acer Chromebook Wi-Fi is priced at $349 and closely resembles the CR-48 prototype. Both will sell initially to the US, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Spain.

At the core of each Chromebook is the Chrome web browser. The web has millions of applications and billions of users. Trying a new application or sharing it with friends is as easy as clicking a link. A world of information can be searched instantly and developers can embed and mash-up applications to create new products and services. The web is on just about every computing device made, from phones to TVs, and has the broadest reach of any platform. With HTML5 and other open standards, web applications will soon be able to do anything traditional applications can do, and more.

Google has also announced Chromebooks for Business and Education. The monthly service from Google gives IT administrators a cloud management console “to remotely administer and manage users, devices, applications and policies.” They will also receive enterprise-level support, warranties and hardware refreshes. Monthly subscriptions will start at $28 and $20 per user for business and schools respectively. This price includes the Chromebook itself.

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Wait. I thought Android 3.0 Honeycomb was the de facto tablet operating system to come out of Google. Even though we’ve already seen the CR-48 netbook, it looks like Google is still interested in pursuing a tablet-friendly version of its cloud-based Chrome OS.

The latest tweaks to the system are very much pointing toward a slate-based future for the secretive operating system. We’re seeing an on-screen keyboard, for example, which certainly would not be at all necessary for a netbook or a notebook running Chrome OS. So, just as there are Android phones and then there is the official Google Phone, could we be seeing the same with tablets?

Maybe. It’s quite possible than an official Google Tablet with Chrome OS is still coming down the pipes, but I see no real reason why they would add even more fuel to the fragmentated fire by splitting their tablet-based dreams across two operating systems. More likely than not, Android Honeycomb (and its successors) will likely merge with Chrome OS in some form.

[Read]

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That Chrome OS CR-48 netbook Google has sent out to developers and some lucky beta testers has just received an update to R10 release 0.10.156.46. I have been using one off and on for the last few weeks and noticed lag and inconsistency with the trackpad. Last night I did an update and found it was much more responsive. The up and down arrows seemed to be disabled, but they fixed themselves automatically. Google is listening, so if you have a problem let them know. The CR-48 is a testbed and Google is not slacking off when it comes to addressing customer needs. I personally like to mess around in console but have yet to figure out a way to get a package manager installed, anyone have any tips?

These are the most recent updates:

• 3G modem activation fixes
• 3G connection to the carrier fixes
• Wi-Fi connectivity/Out of the Box fixes
• New trackpad and sensitivity setting adjusted
• Auto update engine and debugging improvements
• Power optimizations
• GTalk video/chat optimizations
• Audio CPU utilization improvements
• Improved on screen indicators: brightness, network status, update icon

[via Google Chrome Blog]

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The guide comes by way of Hexxeh and it’s pretty straightforward. As with any of these kinds of modifications, though, you’ll want to proceed at your own risk and know that it could “break” at any time. This is experimental, after all.

1. Pop your SIM card into the slot under the battery (must be a full-size SIM, microSIMs you’ll just lose in there, fine if you use an adaptor though)
2. Make sure you’ve enabled developer mode – do this by flipping the switch under your battery
3. Once you’re booted into developer mode and logged in, press Control-Alt-T
4. This opens crosh, a limited command shell. Since we’re in developer mode, we can get a full shell. Type the word shell and press enter.
5. You’ll get a shell that starts with ‘chronos@localhost / $’. Once you’ve got this, we can type in the command that flips over to GSM.
6. Type the following command: modem_set_carrier “Generic UMTS”
7. Wait a couple of minutes, then you can exit the shell by typing exit twice.
8. Your 3G should be usable assuming you have an active service plan on that SIM card, and that ChromeOS knows your APN settings.

It won’t be able to show you usage details, so be careful with whatever data plan you intend on using. You’ll also need to make sure that your APN details are already hardcoded as part of the list in flimflam.

Based on early tests, the GSM is working and people are able to get up to 4Mbps down through AT&T.

[Hexxeh.net]

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As part of this year’s Pwn2Own hacking contest, the prize will go to the first contestant to use security holes in Google-written code to escape the sandbox on a Windows 7 or OS X computer.

The Zero Day Initiative team at HP TippingPoint are also offering $15,000 prizes for those who can hack Safari, Internet Explorer and Firefox, as well as $15,000 and the device hacked for a handful of smart phones, including the Google Nexus S, the iPhone 4, the Blackberry Torch 9800 with Blackberry 6 OS and the Dell Venue Pro running Windows Phone 7.

On top of the prizes, winners will receive monetary bonuses for further ZDI submissions in 2011.

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While watching the video for the new Cr-48;  ”How to remain calm despite what’s about to happen to your Chrome notebook,” Zimmer says he noticed a long mathematical equation on a chalkboard at the 2:23 mark in the video.

To many people, this probably didn’t jump out much more than the backgrounds of Dexter’s Lab cartoons. But Zimmer decided to give it a shot.

I’m a writer because I can’t do math. There’s no way I can describe the level of thinking that went into this better than this excerpt from Zimmer’s own account of the process:

All we got was X = 90091/191605050401140404051920181525 ~= 4.7*10^-27 and we were not even sure of this one number because of barely readable numbers in the original video…

The first path we explored was in Physics, 1.66*10^-27 being the atomic mass constant u. Having X=2.83u didn’t make much sense: too far from 2.0x or 3.0x where the closest element I knew are. Then my friend Joachim Rambeau tipped me off with an idea on “Chrome UX” being the name of the team that released the video. There was an X in there! With the equation X=(U/Chrome), U being the mass of uranium (~238u depending on isotopes) and “Chrome” the mass of Cr-48 or related isotopes, we found ourselves very close to the 4.7 ballpark…

…we realized “900.91″ did actually reference the goo.gl url shortener. The division obviously meant a slash in an URL, and then we had to make sense of the 191605050401140404051920181525 to find an URL.

I tried to convert the 30 numbers into 4 characters, like all goo.gl URLs. Didn’t have much luck, I was trying to prepend “00″ at the beginning to have 32 characters, but couldn’t make sense of the resulting sequence “00191605 05040114 04040519 20181525″.

That was when I noticed there were far too many zeroes in that sequence, even without the ones I added. So I tried different splits, and ended up with “19 16 05 05 04 01 14 04 04 05 19 20 18 15 25.″

I translated it to letters and got “s p e e d a n d d e s t r o y”. Obviously, at this point my fingers were very shaky, but I managed to type goo.gl/speedanddestroy in my browser and got to a form telling me that I was the “first to figure out our MENSA-certified puzzle” and would receive a Cr-48. WIN ! ;-)

I don’t know about you, but I’m going out to buy some books on physics before Google releases another ad.

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In 2009, Google announced that it was readying to step into the OS ring, which has been dominated for the most part by Microsoft and Apple. Tuesday was essentially the weigh-in for Google’s Chrome OS, accompanied by the Google CR-48 netbook.

The Hardware

The Cr-48 has entered with its 12.1-inch screen and matte black finish, not unlike the matte black MacBook many grew so fond of not so long ago.

It boasts 8 hours of useful life on a full charge, and for our less patient readers, it starts up in only 10 seconds.  Waking from sleep is instant, almost as though it is already on, and it also remembers your last activities before you shut it off and resumes your programs upon turning on again.  It won’t cook you breakfast, or make you toast, but it will never forget anything.

Google has skipped out on traditional platter hardrives and instead opted to go with flash memory. A great choice on their part, simply because efficiency is more valuable than size since Chrome OS is cloud-based you’ll never run out of room now will you?

Like most laptops and netbooks nowadays it has a webcam, but unlike laptops and netbooks nowadays, no Caps Lock key. To me, this means stop yelling on discussion boards, and keep searching for what you want.  It also has a large, clickable touchpad, again, similar to a MacBook. And familiar to Mac fans, 2 fingers does the right click.

Cloud Computing

Google has taken the meaning of a “netbook” to the next level, and really, all hardware aside, it doesn’t matter what this CR-48 looks like. You could litterally torch it on the barby — as Google did in the video below — because there’s nothing on there to lose. Google makes a strong point that hardware is indispensable, trust the one who holds your data.

With cloud-based computing and cloud storage, basically your whole computer is tied directly to your free Google account. If you lose that netbook, light it on fire, drop it out of a plane, or more typically, just want to use a friends computer — assuming it also runs Chrome OS — you’ll be greeted by all your installed apps, themes, inbox and bookmarks just the way you’re used to. Sort of like a corporate intranet with user profiles, just taken globally, which is what Google plans to do. And it’s all possible because it’s hanging out in the “clouds.”

Cloud Computing is the future, I won’t deny that, but a  major hurdle it currently has to overcome is the “always-connected” requirement. It’s a setback for the Chrome OS and the Cr-48, and is due in part to a 3G connection.   If you thought Android was a data hog, wait till you see Chrome OS. It introduces a whole new kind of flexibility, but what about where there is no 3G? You’ll be basically looking at a blank screen, no data will be present whatsoever, just an empty shell. Currently the CR-48 is setup for Verizon’s 3G network in the US, Google has not announced any plans in other countries, but I’m sure they are in the works.  Verizon’s data plan includes 100MB a month free, anything beyond that will cost users $20 (1GB), $20 (3GB) or $50 (5GB) per month. That’s pretty steep if you ask me, and could hurt the devices sales.

Conclusion

The Google Chrome OS and CR-48 show a lot of promise. They have the potential to become huge in the market of bringing the app model to desktops, all the while appealing to users who are on the move and primarily use a computer for the web, docs, and emails.   It will also ease the minds of users about ever losing data again, because it’ll be safe in the Google cloud.  

See the commercial below.

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