Chrome OS Update

I kept hearing everyone talking about Chrome OS updates. Strangely though when I choose "Check for Updates" nothing returned. It always said I was up-to-date. So I decided to log off completely and shut the device down to see if that coaxed the update out of Google. It did. Finally I was running

Chrome OS 0.11.257.18 (Official Build) dev-channel x86-mario
Google Chrome 11.0.696.14

Having been running a 1o version of the Chrome browser on every OS I use, I was wondering when I would finally see a version 10 of the Chrome OS. But it seems I am not up to 11 (not to be confused with Spinal Tap's 11).

So right off the bat I notice a couple of things:
1) The trackpad seems a little more responsive.
2) Now there is a button in the upper right corner to make it easier to switch between windows.

I am sure there are others but those two jump out the fastest.
A PC Mag article says Google has tweeted it has shipped out all the Cr-48's it plans to ship out. In other news Sony is supposedly working on their own ChromeBook and a hybrid that would be both PC and ChromeBook in the same notebook. The hybrid would have an externally accessible graphics card that would allow you to use the notebook as a workstation after you hook it up to either a docking station or some type of device similar to a small form factor PC>

I will keep you updated once I find other fixes.

Chrome OS, The Cr-48 (ChromeBook) drop test

My little girl loves the Chromebook (my new name for this). She loves to type on it and put sticky finger prints on it. The notebook gives the illusion of sturdiness and ruggedness. I know it probably isn't ruggedized especially compared to some of the Panasonic laptops I have seen, but the black cover feels a little sturdier than most. So this morning I was typing away when my daughter decides she has had enough Blue's Clues and wants to help me with my typing. I quickly it close it and put it on the corner of my desk. Somehow it wasn't far enough over and it falls just over two and a half feet. When I can get my daughter away from it I open it back up and it works fine (so far). Now granted, if it had a hard drive and didn't have a way to stop the heads before it crashed to the ground (like ThinkPads do with their accelerometer), then I would probably have picked up a nearly dead laptop.

Chrome OS, what price privacy?

My Cr-48 has gotten slow. Why? It is my own fault. Too many extensions. Seriously, I have too many extensions. It slows the really fast Chrome browser to a crawl. If I go incognito, this puppy is fast and furious (the first one, not the second one, you know Vin Diesel). I don't like selling my soul one small piece at a time on the Internet. I know it is a strange world trying to live an online life and hide my identity. But I don't want a web site tracking me and I don't want Facebook snooping on every site I visit. My friends know me and if I have something worth sharing, I will, but otherwise, they don't care and I don't share.

I run the following extensions:

(see screen shot)


Actually the picture is just a sampling of the extensions I run.

I fun AdBlock to block ads (including Google Text ads, though it has an option to allow them). It was written by a former Google Engineer. I have run nearly the same plug-in when I was a Mozilla fan. I never knew Facebook had ads until one day I was using my wife's computer. What is with all these ads?

This same author wrote Disconnect and Facebook Disconnect. Facebook Disconnect makes sure you don't share any information with FAcebook. Disconnect makes sure you don't share information with pretty much anyone. In fact it works so well, I can't log onto Yahoo at all with that extension running so I have disabled it.

I use Ghostery, which shows who is trying to track me.

WOT is a web site reputation utility. It is based on votes and requires an account to use (something I hate). Sharing what does not need to be shared. When I do a Google search, if a site doesn't have a Green circle by it, then I usually don't visit it.

Last but not least I use Flashblock. Flashblock prevents Flash ads as well as pretty much any Flash unless I decide I want it. It doesn't work as easily as it did in Mozilla, but I do like it all the same.

If I had an extension wish list it would be for NoScript to have an extension for Chrome. I run this on Firefox and it blocks all JavaScript and Java. My Mac has never had spyware on it thanks to using all of these extensions. Sure, some sites aren't presented in their full glory, but my safety is more important than my web experience.

But...

All of these extensions slow down Chrome. It doesn't seem that bad on my Mac when I run these, but on Chrome OS, it drags it down. So I have to make a value judgement. Is my privacy worth more than speed? And I fairly evaluating Chrome OS if I run all these extensions? Or does running these extensions really test Chrome OS?