Simpler printing from more places

(Cross-posted on the Google Enterprise Blog)

Have you ever needed to print a boarding pass, whitepaper, or speech, and didn't have your computer at hand? Google Cloud Print helps you print from anywhere to anywhere using any device, and we’ve recently made several improvements on that front.

First, if you have an Android smartphone or tablet, we've released the Cloud Print app in Google Play to make it easier to print documents and files on the go.

Second, if you work out of different offices or other public spaces like a school, you can now easily share a printer with anyone nearby, by simply publishing a link.

In addition, we’re releasing two new tools today to make it even easier to print anywhere, anytime. The first, Google Cloud Printer, makes it possible to print to any of your cloud printers from Windows applications such as Adobe Reader.

The second, Google Cloud Print Service, runs as a Windows service so administrators can easily connect existing printers to Google Cloud Print in their businesses and schools.

We’ll continue evolving Google Cloud Print to make printing simple and easy from as many devices as possible. For now, the future looks good on paper.

Posted by Andrew Warren, Product Manager and Printing Prophet, Google

Better integration between Chrome and Google apps

Today’s release of Chrome for iPad and iPhone makes it easier to integrate your favorite Google apps with Chrome. After you sign in to Chrome, you can sign in to other Google apps with a single click. In addition, if you prefer to follow directions in the Google Maps app instead of in the browser, you can easily set a preference to open these links in the Maps app instead. Try the same for YouTube, Google+, and Google Drive (with more apps coming soon).

Over the coming days, we are also rolling out an experimental data compression service to help you save bandwidth, load pages faster, and browse more securely on your iPhone and iPad. Finally, this update brings fullscreen browsing to your iPad and the ability to access your browsing history from the menu.

Try out the latest version of Chrome for iPhone and iPad today.

Posted by Peter Lee, Software Engineer and Ideating Integrationist

Smarter omnibox suggestions tailored to you

For folks using Chrome Beta on Windows, Mac, or Linux, starting today you’ll notice improvements to omnibox suggestions based on the recency of websites visited, so you’ll get more contextually relevant suggestions at the right time.

In addition, if you use Chrome Beta on your Android phone or tablet, we’re releasing a new update later today to improve the way you navigate and interact with the web. You may notice pages loading faster, and the latest implementation of WebRTC technology allows you to chat face-to-face through your browser without installing any plugins. Try it out by starting a conversation with a friend.

We look forward to hearing your feedback on today’s Beta updates.

Posted by Mark Pearson, Software Engineer and Suggestion Savant

More multilingual mobile web

Today’s Chrome for Android stable update continues to break down the language barrier as you browse the mobile web. In addition to the built-in translation bar, we’ve added improved layout support for right-to-left languages including Arabic, Farsi and Hebrew. This update also brings fullscreen browsing to your tablet.

Furthermore, we’re rolling out an experimental data compression service over the coming days which helps you save bandwidth, load pages faster, and browse more securely on your phone and tablet. Too good to be true, you say? Au contraire. By optimizing the pages you visit, this feature can help you save on data usage and bring you a faster, more dynamic web.

We look forward to your feedback on the latest version of Chrome for Android as it rolls out in the coming days.

Posted by Dan Alcantara, Software Engineer and Professional Polyglot

Richer notifications now available to all Chrome users

Starting today Chrome users on Windows will see their browser updated to include richer notifications (Mac is coming soon). We’re excited to see what developers create and the convenience it brings to your day-to-day lives.

 If you haven’t tried Chrome yet, there’s no better time than now!

Posted by Justin DeWitt, Software Engineer and Master of Messages and Meetings

Chromebooks: coming to more stores near you

[Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog]

In Northern California where I live, summer is here, which means family vacations, kids’ camps, BBQs and hopefully some relaxation. But it also means back-to-school shopping is just around the corner. So in case you’re on the hunt for a laptop in addition to pens, paper, and stylish new outfits, your search just got a whole lot easier. Chromebooks—a fast, simple, secure laptop that won't break the bank—will now be carried in over 3 times more stores than before, or more than 6,600 stores around the world.

In addition to Best Buy and Amazon.com, we’re excited to welcome several new retailers to the family. Starting today, Walmart will be making the newest Acer Chromebook, which has a 16GB Solid State Drive (SSD), available in approximately 2,800 stores across the U.S., for just $199. Look for Chromebooks coming to the laptop sections of a Walmart near you this summer.

And beginning this weekend, Staples will bring a mix of Chromebooks from Acer, HP and Samsung to every store in the U.S.—more than 1,500 in total. You can also purchase via Staples online, while businesses can purchase through the Staples Advantage B2B program. In the coming months select Office Depot, OfficeMax, and regional chains Fry’s and TigerDirect locations will begin selling Chromebooks.

In the 10 other markets worldwide where Chromebooks are sold, availability in national retailers continues to expand. In addition to Dixons in the UK, now 116 Tesco stores are selling Chromebooks, as well as all Media Markt and Saturn stores in the Netherlands, FNAC stores in France and Elgiganten stores in Sweden. In Australia, all JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman stores will be carrying Chromebooks for their customers as well. With our partners, we’re working hard to bring Chromebooks to even more countries later this year.

Chromebooks make great computers for everyone in the family—and now you shouldn’t have to look very far to find one. Happy summer!

Posted by David Shapiro, Director of Chromebook Marketing, long-time reader, first-time poster

Play Cube Slam face-to-face against your friends

My friends and I used to play video games all the time, squashed together on the couch, engaged in structured intellectual discourse about exactly how badly we were going to destroy each other. Now that we live spread out around the world, it’s a bit harder to dance in each other’s faces and yell “booyah!” every time we win a game. Enter: Cube Slam.

Cube Slam is a video game that you can play face-to-face against your friends. It’s a Chrome Experiment built using WebRTC, an open web technology that lets you video chat right in the browser without installing any plug-ins. That means you can quickly and easily play Cube Slam with your friends, no matter where they are in the world, just by sharing a link.

To win Cube Slam, hit the cube against your friend’s screen three times until the screen explodes. Shields, obstacles, and gravity fields change with every new level, and you can unlock power-ups including fireballs, lasers, multi-balls, mirrored controls, bulletproof shields, fog, ghost balls, time bombs, resized paddles, extra lives, and death balls––though you might want to avoid the death balls. If none of your friends are online, you can always play against Bob the Bear and see what level you can reach. If you install the Cube Slam app, you can even play Bob when you’re offline.

Cube Slam’s graphics are rendered in WebGL and CSS 3D, and its custom soundtrack is delivered dynamically through Web Audio. WebRTC, which enables the two-person game, is available on desktop Chrome and Chrome OS, and will be available on mobile later this year. In the meantime, you can play Cube Slam against Bob the Bear on your phone or tablet. To learn more about what’s going on under the hood, see our technology page and Chromium blog post.

Play a friend. Play a bear. Have fun!

Posted by Clem Wright, Google Creative Lab, Ursine Diversion Division