Tag: ChromeOS

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ChromeOS to add GIF support for screen recording

ChromeOS’s built-in screen recorder is set to become a lot more useful.

ChromeOS allows users to record their whole Chromebook screen, a single window, or a specific section on the screen. The screen recordings are saved in the WebM format, which offers a balance between video quality and size, though compromises due to lack of support with other phones, computers and applications.

Now, as first spotted by 9to5Google in a newly posted code change, Google is looking to add support for GIFs in ChromeOS screen recordings. “Enables the ability to record the screen into an animated GIF image from the native screen capture tool,” reads the code.

GIFs are supported in a majority of devices and applications and are relatively easy to share. Having both WebM and GIF as recordable formats is sure to give ChromeOS users flexibility when screen recording, depending on the length of video they intend to record. GIFs would work better for shorter recordings, because of their larger file size, while users would prefer WebM for larger recordings.

It’s worth noting that support for GIFs in screen recording isn’t live yet. The feature is reportedly still in development. “It will likely be quite a few weeks before we see GIF screen recording support on any real Chromebooks, let alone see the feature launch to stable,” says 9to5Google.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

Steam to soon become more accessible to ChromeOS gamers

Arguably the world’s biggest PC gaming platform, Steam, made its way to certain Chromebooks as an Alpha build earlier in 2022. Now, Google is looking to make the platform more accessible to Chrome users by upgrading it from Alpha testing to Beta, as shared by 9to5Google.

Back in March, when Steam first became available on Chromebooks, users had to switch their Chromebook to the Chrome OS Dev channel, and enable a certain flag, followed by rebooting the device and entering a terminal command to initiate the Steam installation process. A prerequisite to doing all that was that you needed to own a compatible Chromebook, like the Acer Chromebook 514 and 515, Acer Chromebook Spin 713, Asus Chromebook Flip CX5, Asus Chromebook CX9, HP Pro c640 G2 or the Lenovo 5i Chromebook.

Further, the devices needed to run a beta version of ChromeOS — the Dev channel, or be running ChromeOS Canary.

According to newly shared code changes spotted by 9to5Google, Google seems to be removing the Dev channel and ChromeOS Canary requirements for Chromebooks. “Allow borealis to run on the beta branch. When borealis enters the beta development phase we will allow compatible Chromebooks on the beta channel to install it,” reads the code.

Note: ‘Borealis’ is the code name for Steam in ChromeOS, and allowing it to run on the beta branch means support for the platform to be installed in the regular ChromeOS beta channel.

While the change isn’t likely to remove hardware limitations, it will surely allow more Chromebook users with compatible machines that don’t want to be running an unstable Dev channel or Canary build to try out Steam.

If you have a compatible Chromebook and want to try out Steam before it releases on the beta channel, check out the story below:

Via: 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

Google reportedly scraps new Pixelbook, shutters team behind it

Google is out of the laptop game — the company has reportedly killed its next big Pixelbook and dissolved the team working on it.

The details come from The Verge, which cites a “person familiar with the matter.” The news is somewhat contradictory to what Google itself has said over the last few months — notably, at its I/O developer conference in May, Google’s hardware chief Rick Osterloh told The Verge that the company was “going to do Pixelbooks in the future,” while acknowledging that the market has changed significantly.

However, Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, has been vocal for months about plans to slow down hiring at Google and cut some of the company’s projects. It very much seems like the Pixelbook and the team behind it were one such project.

A Google spokesperson told The Verge that it doesn’t share plans on future products and that in “regards to our people, in times where we do shift priorities we work to transition team members across devices and services.”

The Verge included a look through the history of Google’s Chromebook and Pixelbook ambitions, which is worth the read if you’re interested in that kind of thing. The main takeaway, however, is that the main customers for ChromeOS and Chromebooks aren’t going to pay for pricey Pixelbook hardware. For example, ChromeOS is huge with schools, but schools won’t be kitting out teachers and students with $1,000 Pixelbooks.

Source: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

It’s officially ChromeOS, stop writing Chrome OS

Google’s Chrome OS is no longer Chrome OS. Now it’s ChromeOS. Yes, ChromeOS.

While such a dramatic branding change may be a head-scratcher for some, this one makes a lot of sense to me and will hopefully bring some consistency to coverage of Google’s Linux-based Chromebook operating system.

The Verge reported on the change, noting that Google’s senior director of marketing for ChromeOS, James Croom, confirmed the change. However, Croom also acknowledged the company hasn’t finished converting every instance of Chrome OS to ChromeOS, so don’t be surprised if you see the occasional Chrome OS out in the wild.

Oh, and in some official branding, Google stylized the name as chromeOS instead of ChromeOS, but that appears to be only a stylistic choice. The correct term is ChromeOS.

The Verge highlights several places where the new ChromeOS brand is on display and a few places where it isn’t if you want to go looking.

For a product that’s been around over a decade, removing a space from the name hardly counts as a major rebranding. Still, it’s nice to have it officially confirmed as the way to go considering people have been all over the place with it for years. Looking back at MobileSyrup’s coverage, over the last couple years we’ve written both ChromeOS and Chrome OS.

Finally, we can have unity.

Source: The Verge