This week is the official launch of Google Stadia, and if you’ve been salivating for the streaming games platform since May, you will be able to start playing on Nov. 19… maybe. Google‘s subscription gaming service will work a bit like Netflix or Disney Plus, where you stream games to your mobile device, computer or …
Read More »
Sorry if I’m not getting excited about Google pushing RCS messaging, its Android answer to Apple iMessage technology. I welcome the features now arriving in the company’s Messages app, but I have much deeper problems after being stuck for years in a Google messaging mud bog. Along with that, RCS (Rich Communication Services) comes through a new Messages app that’s a …
Read More »
This story is part of The 2010s: A Decade in Review, a series on the memes, people, products, movies and so much more that have influenced the 2010s. When I started at CNET 10 years ago my beat was laptop reviews. I admitted, even then, that I wasn’t terribly interested in laptops, and I’m still not. What I was excited …
Read More »
Is a Chromebook a laptop? Is it a budget machine? Is it something you’d just use online? Is it something you’d make your main computer? I can’t entirely answer all these questions, because I haven’t come to terms with them either. I’ve used Chromebooks for years. My kid lives on them at school. I had to work on a Chromebook, …
Read More »
Slim metal body, large touchpad, expansive 13.3-inch screen. Is it a MacBook Air? Or, a Surface Laptop? No, it’s a Google Pixelbook. Next to Google’s newest Pixel 4 phones, Pixel Buds earbuds and Nest products at Google’s fall hardware event, there’s also a new made-by-Google Chromebook in town. It isn’t a convertible tablet-hybrid or a snap-on-keyboard solution like last year’s Pixel …
Read More »
Logitech on Tuesday launched a new wireless keyboard and mouse built for Google’s Chrome OS: the Logitech K580 Slim Multi-Device Wireless Keyboard, Chrome OS Edition, and the Logitech M355 Portable Wireless Mouse. The “Made for Google” devices pair well with the Google Pixelbook, Logitech said in a release. The keyboard features a Google Assistant key, a row of Chrome OS shortcut keys …
Read More »
Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled the Windows 10X operating system, which will work with the new dual-screen Surface Neo devices, expected to be available in late 2020. Windows 10 X is part of Microsoft’s multiyear journey to change the architecture of Windows and make it more modular, as we’ve already seen with the HoloLens 2, Surface Hub and Xbox. The OS is …
Read More »
Apple’s App Store has some problems, but Google’s Play Store is a mess: a confusing wall of icons punctuated by ads disguised as suggestions and useless recommendations. Search results appear in no discernibly logical order, and in-app purchase information and other pertinent details can be buried in low-contrast gray text at the bottom of a page that’s already a wall …
Read More »
A single feature has dramatically improved my iPad: desktop Safari. By making the tablet’s web browser behave mostly like the one you’d use on personal computers running MacOS or Windows, desktop Safari upgraded my iPad into a much more productive mini laptop. How? In short, by leaving behind the constraints of stripped-down mobile apps in favor of fuller-featured web apps. …
Read More »
Google’s Chrome gets a splash of color Thursday and some new ways to get a grip on the browser if you have an overabundance of website tabs open. You can now select the colors that’ll show on the tab strip, the background behind it and the new tab page. The colors are a nice touch if you want to personalize …
Read More »
