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Just yesterday we talked about the new Recorder app on the way in ChromeOS 130. That new tool will be a very helpful addition to the Chromebook ecosystem later in October when it arrives along with ChromeOS 130 for all Chromebook users. For those on Chromebook Plus, an extra feature in the Recorder app will allow for AI-generated summaries of your recordings as well: a nice perk for Google’s AI-ready Chromebook Plus devices.
Another feature Google showed off at the same Chromebook Showcase where the Recorder app was debuted is Help me read. This new feature sits adjacent to Help me write as an in-line AI tool that can assist when you need to quickly get the gist of anything you may have open in a Chrome tab.
Just a quick look at that summary above, it’s clear that this Gemini-powered tool is quite adept at quickly scouring a chunk of content and giving you the quick rundown. For articles like ours that usually only take a couple minutes to read, this may be unnecessary. But trying to digest more complex topics or longer form content can be tough in tons of scenarios. Help me read could make things far simpler for Chromebook Plus users simply trying to get their head around a topic.
Asking follow-up questions
Once you have the basics under your belt, you can then ask follow-up questions about the content and get Gemini to answer based on the info available on the page. In testing, it seems to stay in that lane for now, constantly referring back to the source content to answer my queries versus going out on the wider web to get information. As a tool meant to help you parse the content in front of you, I like this a lot.
Whether it is researching for school, work, or sheer curiosity, Help me read will be another new feature for Chromebook Plus that could be a bit of a game-changer. The summaries won’t replace actually reading the content, but I know for many that simply having the broader overview and understanding of a piece of content before diving in is helpful. Consider this your always-ready TL;DR ready to get you the basics whenever you need them. Look for it to arrive on Chromebook Plus devices at the end of October as ChromeOS 130 arrives.
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