Author: Clinton

A new Chrome OS commit suggests that integration with Android Messages could be on its way to the platform.  The wording of the commit suggests that it will be a feature flag, at least in the beginning, but there are no details on how to enable the flag or when it will appear in a Chrome OS build.

Integration with Android Messages would allow for users to have their SMS/MMS messages on their Android phone running Messages to be sync’d with their Chromebook, thus allowing you to respond from your Chromebook without having to actually pick up your phone.  In theory, it works on the same principle as what you can do with Hangouts Classic before SMS support was removed (but it still works for Project Fi users) between your phone and your Chromebook.

Just a day after a surprising sixth beta build of Chrome 67 was released for the Chrome OS Beta Channel, the latest version of the platform has now been promoted to the Chrome OS Stable Channel.  The build, 67.0.3396.78 (Platform version: 10575.54.0), is the exact same build that was the final beta yesterday.

The update brings a laundry list of improvements, features and fixes to the platform which I’ve listed after the break.  Some of these features, like Progressive Web App support, is a mirror of what is available on the desktop browsers for Windows and MacOS.

The Chrome for Android Beta app has been updated to Chrome 68 today, bringing with it the first real glimpse of what we can expect once it is released to the stable channel.  The build is 68.0.3440.14 for those keeping score at home and is already out in the Play Store.

As a reminder, anyone can download and install the Chrome for Android Beta app from the store and it can be installed at the same time as the stable version so you can check both of them out at the same time.

Google has announced that the Google Sign-in screen that you use to sign into your account will be changing on June 14th.  The updated screen will be more in line with Material Design principles with an updated Google logo, outline of text boxes and everything being centered in the sign-in screen itself.

The Mountain View company has indicated that this change will be available for everyone across all G Suite domains and consumer accounts.

The Chrome OS Dev Channel, essentially the alpha testing channel for the platform, has been updated with its fourth Chrome 68 based build today.  Build 68.0.3440.15 (Platform version: 10718.13.0) is now available for the majority of devices that are in the channel.

The Chromium team within Google did not release much as far as details on what was addressed or fixed in this update which isn’t uncommon in the Dev Channel.

An unexpected sixth beta build of Chrome 67 has been released to the Chrome OS Beta Channel today, indicating that the Chromium team within Google are still sorting out a few last minute bugs.  The new build is 67.0.3396.78 (Platform version: 10575.54.0) and should be available to devices that are in the beta channel.  You can check for it by typing chrome://help in the browser bar and checking for the update.

The build likely contains a fix for a bug found in the Chrome 67 version of the browser, which has already been released and was patched yesterday.  The bug found was a significant security flaw.  It is probable that the Chrome OS team wants to make sure it is stable in the platform prior to releasing to the Stable Channel.  Chrome 67 was expected to go to the Stable Channel on June 5th which clearly hasn’t happened yet.