The Chrome Cast

On this week's episode of The Chrome Cast, we begin the show by talking about the new Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro update that arrived just hours after we wrapped up our podcast last week.  Though all our thoughts about the massively-delayed update still hold, it was really great to finally see this one arrive for Pixel 6 and 6 Pro owners late last week. For the next portion of the show, we discuss the...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we spend almost all of our time in Pixel world. With the new leaks out there showing off the Pixel Fold in the latest Android 12L Beta (via the SIM card insertion help page), we’ve gone from just hoping that Google is building a foldable Pixel to feeling quite confident that not only is that still happening, but could be on the way with a key differentiator from the e...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we're looking back at all the fun stuff we covered from CES 2022.  While we couldn't be at the show this year due to increased COVID activity and the omicron variant, all our meetings were able to be conducted in a virtual space and HP was even kind enough to send over a prototype of the new, amazing HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook that we were able to actually get a vi...

After talking a bit about the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and how excited it makes me for the possibility of the Pixel Fold in 2022, we transition the show to a more retrospective time as we look back on the 10 most-viewed articles of 2021 on Chrome Unboxed.  That list takes us through quite a few memories and gives us a bit of a chance to look back on the year that was as we move into 2022. NOTABLE LINKS Acc...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we begin things on a somber note as we reflect a bit about the recent tornadoes that ravaged our home state of Kentucky.  It's been a rough time for many in our Commonwealth and we've put together a way for our audience - readers, YouTube viewers, and podcast listeners - to band together to try and help out a group in need that is near and dear to our hearts. The rest...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we begin the episode talking through our latest, largest giveaway wrapping up just minutes before we hit record.  This morning, we announced the 5 winners of our 5 brand-new Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5's and we're still a bit blown away at the energy around this latest giveaway.  Tons of people were entered and we love interacting with so many of you!  We're looking very...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we spend the first half of the show discussing our sweet Lenovo Duet 5 giveaway and, because it is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2, we transition right into talking about the company's Snapdragon Summit.  At this event, a new Snapdragon 7c+ Gen 3 was announced that could really heat up the ARM-powered Chromebook war in the coming months.  With MediaTek slate...

This week on the Chrome Cast, we spend a good bit of time talking through MediaTek’s Executive Summit, the things that were announced there, and our thoughts on what the landscape of MediaTek ARM-powered Chromebooks will look like in the coming weeks and months. Joe was lucky enough to get to go out to California for the event and we made some fantastic new connections with MediaTek folks and othe...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we begin the show talking about all things Pixel 6.  With a few launch-related bugs, we've been really impressed with Google's continual ownership of the issues and their quickness in fixing things they've admitted are actually problems.  For past phones, the company has been a bit more hesitant to admit clear failures both with software and hardware on Pixel phones....

This week on the podcast, we begin things by chatting about the recent GPU benchmarks that have surfaced for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro.  With the two phones being out in the wild for a few weeks at this point, it is nice to see where some of the speedy performance comes from and knowing the GPU is insanely powerful in the Pixel 6 give us hope that games and other graphic-intensive tasks will con...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we start the show by discussing the latest piece of Chrome OS hardware to show up in the office: the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5.  This large, thin tablet was one that wasn't the most intriguing when it was announced, but has quickly won us all over thanks to a combo of a fantastic 1080p OLED screen, sleek build quality, and an overall usability that was a bit unexpected...

This week, we open the show with some review-type thoughts on the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro.  With our video recently going out that highlights our collective conflict over which Pixel to buy, there's a lot to talk about now that we've had these phones in our hands for well over a week.  With some of the recent GPU benchmarks and real-world tests run on these Pixels, there's also some discussion to...

I don’t think we need to think too much about what this week’s podcast is centered on. Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are launched, in our office, and we definitely have some thoughts. This year, it’s not about “to Pixel, or not to Pixel?” Instead, the question really is all about which Pixel is the right one for each users. While I really thought I was all in on the Pixel 6 Pro, after some time using bo...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we’re still stuck in Pixel 6 land. We warned you that it would be a Pixel party until the 19th and here we sit, just days out from the final unveiling. In the last week, more leaks came up, more specs were verified, and more hype was generated on the way. There were new landing pages discovered and Google has put their live event on YouTube for you to bookmark and get...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we begin the show discussing the major outage that struck Facebook this week, bringing down all their services along with it. For most of the work day Monday, users were unable to send messages via Messenger or WhatsApp, post on Facebook or Instagram, or access Oculus VR services. It was a big deal that affected a ton of people and raises some interesting questions ab...

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This week on The Chrome Cast, we begin the show by once again delving into the week's news surrounding the highly-anticipated Pixel 6 launch.  With the new rumors swirling, it seems clear that we'll be seeing these new phones up for order on October 19th - less than four weeks from now.  We also take some time to further discuss the Pixel fold and the fact that even in being completely overshadowe...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we spend some time unpacking the recent – and frankly surprising – jab Apple chose to take at Chromebooks during their latest keynote presentation. In very non-Apple fashion, the company chose to quickly mention Chromebooks when talking about their latest, entry-level iPad and though it was a bit of a misdirection, the fact that they brought up Chromebooks at all is v...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we discuss the new way that Google teased the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro with little warning in a new sizzle video on YouTube. The ad-like, 30-second video doesn’t give too much away that we didn’t already know, but it did give us the first official looks at the new Pixel phones in the hands of actual humans. Sure, the renders were shown off a bit as well, but it was coo...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we dive into all the news surrounding the release date of the upcoming Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. Though there were murmurs of a possible unveiling on September 13th, it looks like that won’t be the case and there’s a new rumor swirling from noted leaker Jon Prosser that places the launch of Google’s new phones on October 19th with a shipping date of October 28th. For t...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we had a handful of things to talk through, but the first half of the show was dominated by discussion of the HP Chromebook X2 11. This device is now available at Best Buy and as we wait during the next few days for it to arrive, we’re getting more hyped about it with every passing moment. From the 11-inch 3:2 QHD display that measures a whopping 400 nits to the sleek...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we’re welcoming our contributing writer Luke Short on the show to discuss a bit more in-depth about the discoveries he’s made getting Vulkan API support working on Chromebooks. For gaming on Chrome OS to finally arrive, Vulkan is a necessary piece of the overall puzzle. Though Luke’s work hasn’t unlocked the full Borealis (Steam gaming on Chromebooks) experience, it g...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we dive into Samsung's latest announcements, including the two new foldables (Galaxy Fold 3 and Flip 3), the new Samsung Watch, and the latest Galaxy Buds.  Sometimes new tech comes out and we just have to discuss the long-term ramifications of new advancements whether it surrounds Chromebooks or not.  This is one of those weeks. For the second half of the show, we de...

This week’s episode of The Chrome Cast should probably be renamed “The Pixel Show”. In case you missed the news, Google officially unveiled its upcoming flagship phone earlier this week. Needless to say, we are excited and there’s a lot to talk about. While we spend quite a bit of the podcast talking specifically about the new hardware, the Tensor SoC that powers the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro is arg...

This week on The Chrome Cast, we spend the first half of the show sorting out what is going on in the confusion surrounding MediaTek's latest Kompanio 1300T SoC announcement.  While Kompanio chips have been included in low-end Chromebooks and will ship in two additional variations in other Chromebooks by the end of the year, this latest chip is being touted in the media as yet another Chromebook o...