Author: Clinton

Google Photos is the latest Google service to receive a Progressive Web App treatment.  With the release of Chrome 67, you can now install Photos onto your Windows, MacOS or Linux computer and have an app-like experience in a web page.

For those that are new to Progressive Web Apps, or PWAs, they are web-based versions of an app but they act like a full fledge version of that app.  The idea is to get a touch friendly app experience without having to actually install anything.

If you have been waiting to pick up the Google Pixelbook for yourself, now is the time for action.  Right now at the Google Store, you can pick up the entry level Pixelbook powered by the Intel i5 processor for $749.  That is a savings of $150 and represents the lowest price ever for the premium Chromebook.  As you may recall, this entry level model comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

The discount only applies to the entry level Pixelbook and not the i5 with 256GB of storage or the i7 powered version at the Google Store.  To be fair though, having used that entry level model for almost all of 2018, it is more than powerful enough to do anything you would want or need from it.  If you haven’t read my review, you can read it here.

A fifth and likely final Chrome 67 based build has arrived this morning in the Chrome OS Beta Channel.  Build 67.0.3396.69 (Platform version: 10575.52.0) was released this morning for the majority of devices in the channel and don’t be surprised if this is the build that we see land in the Stable Channel next week.

Chrome 67 is expected to be available in the Stable Channel on June 5th.  With that date only four days away, it’s likely best to consider this .69 build as a Release Candidate and not necessarily a beta build.

The solid mid-range phone from Sony, the Sony Xperia XA1, is now on sale at Amazon for a pretty stunning price.  Right now you can pick up the XA1 in black for just $180.  That is a savings of $119 off the normal $299 price, or 40% off depending on how you want to look at it.  The best part is, this is the US warranty backed variant of the phone, not the International version that often goes on sale at Amazon.

The Sony Xperia XA1 made its debut in May of last year and earlier this year it, along with most of the rest of the Sony 2017 phone lineup, was updated to Android Oreo.  Sony, for their part, does a pretty solid job of getting updates out to their various phones.

Some improvements to the Activity Dashboard in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides are in the process or rolling out to G Suite domain customers.  The updates bring an easier way to email contributors on shared files right from the dashboard as well as a file activity chart to see access and editing information of a file.

The update is rolling out to G Suite Business, Enterprise, Education, and Nonprofit editions and everyone should see the new information in the Activity Dashboard over the next couple of weeks.

A surprising and almost unheard of fourth stable channel release for Chrome OS has landed.  The release to build 66.0.3359.203 (Platform version: 10452.99.0), based on Chrome 66, comes just days before the anticipated update to Chrome 67 in the Chrome OS Stable Channel.  It comes two weeks after a rare 3rd build in the channel.

The reasoning behind the fourth update is not known and the notoriously cryptic release notes from the Chromium team within Google aren’t much help in solving the mystery.  They merely state the generic, “This build contains a number of bug fixes and security updates“.  There isn’t even a link to the Git for the release.