The Chrome Cast

This week on The Chrome Cast, we begin the show by talking about Apple’s latest announcements from WWDC 2022. With a new ARM-based M2 chip, a new Macbook Air, a confusing Macbook Pro with the M2 chip, and an interesting new multitasking tool in Stage Manager, there was a fair bit to discuss on the Apple front this week. While we generally stick to Chromebooks around here, there’s no denying that m...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we dive into why Robby has come full circle and fallen in love with the Pixel 6 Pro. Despite the many high-end options on the market, the Pixel line has an intangible appeal and the 6 Pro is simply the best overall phone that Google has ever made.    From there, we dive into some interesting new hardware from the ChromeOS front. ARM appears to be making a move to brea...

This week on The Chrome Cast, there’s a lot to cover. Starting with news of the Pixel Notepad’s postponement to an updated co-processor for the Pixel Watch, there’s a lot of news swirling around Google’s hardware right now. Right in that conversation is the fact that Google grew Pixel shipments 400% year-over-year and that’s obviously without the help of what should be a very popular release in th...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we're diving into all the new ChromeOS hardware that was debuted this week.  With a new, high-end competitor from Acer in the Spin 714, it is starting to feel like the race for best Chromebook of 2022 is just getting started.  Acer additionally launched an education-focused 10-inch tablet with the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2, while Lenovo debuted the latest in a long line of...

Show Links New Chromebook features announced at Google I/O 2022 Google Assistant can now be activated without a hot word, will be patient with filler words, pauses Google’s new hardware invaded the software and service-focused Google I/O [VIDEO] YouTube gained many AI-based features over the past year that were highlighted at I/O Google Search advancements take center stage at Google I/O LumaFusio...

For this episode of The Chrome Cast, we spend the first half of the show discussing the rumors swirling around the potential Pixel Buds Pro. Google has been snapping up talent and patents over the past couple years in an effort to build a better wireless earbud, and according to a new leak, that release looks to be happening soon. For the second half of the show, we focus on AMD’s latest Chromeboo...

In this episode of The Chrome Cast, we begin by discussing a brand-new piece of hardware that is now in the office: the Steam Deck.  This portable gaming device is Linux through and through, and that means things that run smoothly on it should eventually run well on Chromebooks via the 'Borealis' container, too.  While we may not be wildly excited about carrying around this large handheld (serious...

For this episode of The Chrome Cast, we begin our show by discussing the very-recent revelation that we have a Steam Deck on the way to the office!  I registered for one back when the announcement first happened and got my invite email right before we began the show.  Of course, I immediately purchased the device and now we wait for it to show up at the office to begin experimenting on it.  Becaus...

On this episode of The Chrome Cast, much of our conversation is dominated by more news surrounding the upcoming Pixel 6a. With a stout spec sheet and a likely low price, this new phone from Google looks to hit a sweet spot we don’t see too often in the Android ecosystem. With the same Tensor SoC as the other two Pixel 6 phones, a bigger battery than the Pixel 6 and the same aesthetic appeal, we re...

For this special interview episode of The Chrome Cast, we sit down with Victor Tyan from MediaTek to discuss the new lineup of Kompanio processors coming to the Chromebook market.  From entry level Kompanio 500 devices to the flagship-caliber Kompanio 1000 series, MediaTek now has an SoC for all levels of the Chrome OS ecosystem, and with solid performance and battery life, devices with MediaTek c...

This episode of The Chrome Cast was a tad bit different than most, but it was a great conversation. We begin the show discussing our recent web hosting woes and the direction we've finally taken to escape them.  While many of our listeners may not be looking for quality web hosting at the moment, it doesn't mean you all won't be on the receiving end of a much faster, much more optimized Chrome Unb...

For this interview episode of The Chrome Cast, we had a chat with Iein Valdez who leads the Chrome OS Developer Relations team at Google. We talked about how he and the Chrome OS are making things easier for developers on the platform, what developers are asking for/doing, and what improvements are being made for PWAs, Android Apps, Linux and more. It was a fantastic conversation and we hope you e...

In this episode of The Chrome Cast, we are talking all things ChromeOS 100.  The ride from "just a browser" to full-blown OS has been long and over 100 version at this point, so it's nice to stop and look back at all the ChromeOS team has accomplished over the years. We also chat a bit about our conversation with Google's Alex Kuscher and what that discussion revealed about some of the inner worki...

For this episode of The Chrome Cast, we have a very special guest from Google to chat through the Chrome OS 100 milestone: Alex Kuscher. We’ve spoken with Alex one other time here on The Chrome Cast, and we’re delighted to have him back to answer 5 questions concerning the maturation of Chrome OS over the years on the way to version 100. It’s a great conversation with one of the few people who hav...

For this episode of The Chrome Cast, there's no escaping the gravitational pull surrounding the arrival of Steam for Chromebooks.  Sure, there are only a few Chromebooks that can currently participate in the open Alpha and yes there are bugs, but the overall experience of loading up Steam on a Chromebook is one of the coolest new arrivals we've seen for Chrome OS. Even if you aren't much of a game...

This week on the Chrome Cast, we get into all the news that came from the Google For Games Developer Summit. From a bit of a surprise announcement around Steam games on Chromebooks to Stadia officially being white labeled as a Google Cloud service to Google Play Games finally arriving on Windows PCs, there was a lot to discuss in the gaming world from a Google fan’s point of view. We also spend a...

For this episode of The Chrome Cast, we have an interview with Tayrn Sullivan, Product Manager on the Google For Education Team.  We had a really fun chat discussing an upcoming feature in Google Classroom called Practice Sets.  While this is a little different than our normal content, this new feature is using some "Google Magic" and leveraging some awesome technology to help teachers better supp...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we cover quite a bit of ground.  Off the top, we begin by talking about the Samsung Galaxy S22+, Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Buds 2 as a cohesive ecosystem we really wish Google would cultivate.  With the Pixel Watch, Pixel Buds and Pixel Phones it is possible, but still definitely not there just yet. From there we talk through some news surrounding the Pixel 6a and the T...

On this latest episode of The Chrome Cast, we spend the bulk of the show discussing Lenovo's new Chromebook lineup that was announced at MWC 2022.  With meaningful updates to beloved Chromebooks like the Duet and Flex 5, Lenovo has put together a strong showing as we move into the second quarter of 2022 and the new Chromebook Duet 3 and Flex 5i are both big upgrades on already-great devices. We al...

On this episode of The Chrome Cast, we begin the show by talking about the release of the Samsung Galaxy S22 series and the fact that Samsung is really outdoing itself lately when it comes to making the best Android phone you can buy right now.  As much as we want that title to go to Google's own in-house Pixel devices, Samsung is delivering solid hardware with software perks we'd expect to see fr...

For this episode of The Chrome Cast, we have a special guest: Chris Kooistra, Director of Marketing for OWC.  If you aren't familiar with the company, OWC builds docking and storage solutions primarily for Macbooks that are tested to work with Chromebooks as well.  Their products range from SSDs to multi-port docking solutions to full-blown RAID arrays for creators that need more storage and works...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we begin the show with a bit of an unplanned dive into the new website, highlighting all the changes and reasons we felt it was time to roll out a new version - V4 - of Chrome Unboxed.  There are so many new things to explore on the site and we're genuinely hopeful that all our readers find the new site more helpful and more engaging as an overall experience. The rest...

This week, we begin the podcast by debuting our latest giveaway: 6 Lenovo Smart Clocks with the wireless charging dock. You can check out more details on that device here, but don’t forget to get entered for your chance to win down further in this post. This time, the giveaway will run until the end of the month and we’ll draw 6 lucky winners on February 28th at 10am. Oh, and this is our first pod...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we begin the show talking through our recent review of the ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5400. It has become a favorite around the office and there are a lot of reasons why, so we cover those and talk about a few other hardware-related things we’re looking forward to form some other Chromebooks on the way. Next up, we walk through the slightly-misleading headlines swirling a...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we begin things by introducing our newest, soon-to-be employee: Andrew Johnson.  After letting all of you get to know him a bit better, we move on to talking through the newest leaks surrounding the Pixel Notepad and Pixel Watch. For the Notepad, that means we’re talking about the possible $1399 price tag and with the Pixel Watch, it means we’re discussing the rumored...