Author: Clinton

It looks like that Android app access to USB drives in Chrome OS is a little bit closer than anticipated.  When I wrote about this feature coming to Chrome OS back in April, it looked like the feature would land in the Chrome 68 build which isn’t due until July.  However, in the latest Chrome 67 build for the Chrome OS Beta Channel, the feature is available and SD cards or USB drives show up as a storage option.

The feature is a big deal for those who use Android apps in Chrome OS.  It means that you can store documents, music or videos on an external drive and not eat up what is often a small amount of built-in storage on your Chromebook.

The new Color Pop feature that was highlighted this past week at Google I/O in Google Photos is now starting to roll out to users.  The feature takes an image in your photos library that has a bright colored subject and then turns the background black & white.

The feature, at least right now, is 100% driving by Google Assistant, the AI built into Google Photos.  That means you can’t force the issue.  If the AI finds a photo in your library that meets its criteria, it will provide you the photo in the Assistant tab where you can save it to your library.

A second Chrome 67 based build has arrived in the Chrome for Android Beta app.  The app update, which is now live in the Google Play Store, is build 67.0.3396.42.  Unlike other beta builds of apps in the Play Store, you don’t have to join a beta program to try it out on your phone.  Just download it here and you can run it at the same time that you run the stable version on your device.

To a large extent, Chrome 67 is a bit of a maintenance release with not a lot of new features expected.  The only real notable change is the Home button near the omni bar at the top of the display.

After being announced back in April, the HP Chromebook X2 is now available for pre-order from Best Buy.  The detachable Chromebook comes with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage and is available for $599.  The Chromebook X2 sports a 2400 x 1600 12.3″ display, all of which is powered by the Intel Core m3 Kaby Lake processor.

Other key features of the HP Chromebook X2 includes stereo speakers, a 13MP rear camera, 2 USB-C ports, a MicroSD card reader and a battery rated at 10.5 hours.  At Best Buy, the X2 comes in HP Matte Finish In Ceramic White And Oxford Blue.

An internal memo at Apple has indicated that battery replacements for all eligible devices for the replacement program are now in stock and readily available.  This means that if you are wanting to get your battery replaced in your iPhone, it should be something that can be done when you make a Genius appointment.

When Apple announced (or let it slip) that they were throttling iPhones with older batteries, the outrage was pretty quick and loud.  In response, Apple began offering discounted battery replacements to customers who had batteries that were bumping into the throttling software inside of iOS 11.  Normally that battery replacement is $79 but through the rest of this year, it is $29.

As the Chromium team within Google continues to prep the next release of Chrome OS, a new build of Chrome 67 has arrived in the Chrome OS Beta Channel.  Build 67.0.3396.41 (Platform version: 10575.32.0) is now available for devices and is the second Chrome 67 based build to be available to testers with devices in the channel.

As a reminder to those new to Chrome OS, the Beta Channel is the last stop before a build gets released to the publicly used Stable Channel.  Chrome 67 is expected to be released on our around June 5, 2018.  That means we likely have a couple of more beta builds coming before it is released.