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Just a day behind schedule, Google has announced the release of Chrome OS 90 and according to the update server, a good majority of Chromebooks should be ready to download the update. Over the next few days, we’ll be tearing apart the update to bring you any unannounced features that may be hiding in this release. For now, there’s some good stuff to cover in the official release notes and we wanted to take a moment to share them with you. As with many recent updates, Chrome OS 90 contains a few productivity-focused features and I’m sure that many users have been waiting for one or more of these tools to land in the Stable channel. So, without further ado, here’s what’s new in Chrome OS 90.
Enhanced Launcher Search
If you tap the “Everything Button” a.k.a. the search key, your app launcher will pop up and you can search for apps as well as files in your local storage and Drive or even do a Google search. With Chrome OS 90, the Launcher’s search feature will now include helpful results such as weather, math computation, or even give you a stock price when you type in the stock’s symbol. Pretty handy for me because I often forget that my Chromebook even has a calculator installed on it.
Diganostic App
We’ve been tracking the Chrome OS diagnostic app for months and just this morning I discovered that the SWA(system web app) will eventually house the Chrome Network Health tools used to test your device’s connectivity. That particular feature is still in the works but the Diagnostic App is officially here in Chrome OS 90 and it includes useful information such as your devices specific CPU/memory configuration, battery charge and health, temperature and a handful of system tests to make sure your resources aren’t being bogged down. Should you find that your Chromebook fails some of these hardware tests, you can submit feedback to developers directly from the Diagnostic App.
Scan from your printer
Probably one of the most exciting features for educators and workers alike, the long-awaited Scan tool has finally graduated to the Stable channel. So long as you have a compatible network printer, you can open the Scan app on your Chromebook and scan files to your local storage or Google Drive. The app will detect the printer’s available DPI settings and will give you a preview of your scanned documents right in the app. Very useful and something that Chrome OS has desperately needed to hang with its competitors.
Live Captions
Live Captioning has been “live” on the Chrome browser for a bit now but over the coming weeks, Google will roll out the feature to the Chrome browser on Chrome OS. This will allow real-time, live captions on any media with audio and it can be accessed via the Accessibility menu in the system tray or Chrome OS settings menu. That’s about it for the “official” update but stay tuned. I’m sure there will be more to discover in the latest version of Chrome OS and we don’t want you to miss it. To see if your device is ready to update, head to the Chrome OS settings menu and click About Chrome OS or you can check out this handy website to see if your model is showing version 90.
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Source: The Keyword
