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Chromebooks are coming to nine more nations
to improve computing for all generations.

So we’d like to say our Hellos
to our new global Chromebook fellows:

Kia ora to our New Zealand mates,
where getting on-line will have shorter waits.

Kumusta to new friends in the Philippines,
a better way of computing is what this means.

Hallo to all the folks in Norway
Speed, simplicity and security are coming your way.

Hej Hej to the people in Denmark
Built-in virus protection will be your new computing benchmark.

To Mexico and Chile, Hola we say
Tons of apps and free automatic updates are starting today.

And in the coming weeks — very soon, you’ll see –
Chromebooks will be in Belgium, Spain and Italy.

Chromebooks are easy to share, manage and use,
With lots of shapes, colors and sizes to choose.

Stay safe with your data stored in the cloud,
A smart pick like Chromebook will make your mom proud.

When Chromebooks in these countries alight,
We hope our new global friends find some computing delight.

Posted by David Shapiro, Director of Chromebook Marketing and Occasional Versifier

Whether it’s gourmet cooks, international beauty gurus, or K-Pop superstars—if you’re in Australia, Belgium, Japan, Korea, Portugal or Switzerland, you’ll now be able to use Chromecast to bring your favorite content from a phone, tablet, or laptop to the TV.

These countries are home to some of the biggest fans of online content in the world, and the smartphone is one of the most popular ways for them to access it. For example, in Korea, more than 60 percent of YouTube views come from mobile devices. And in Australia, 90 percent of people switch between four devices every day. All these mobile content lovers will now be able to bridge the gap between their smartphone and the TV.

Curious about what people around the world might be casting? We’ve polled our local team members, and here’s some of their favorite local content.

• Australia: Aussies will be casting the latest antics from Rake available on Google Play. 
• Belgium: In Belgium, comedy fans will be able to cast YouTube star Za Ka’s latest sketches.
• Japan: Japanese will be able to cast Golden Bomber’s rock pop hit. They’ll also be able to catch up on the latest movies and dramas using the d-Video app by NTT docomo.
• Korea: Koreans will be casting Cocomong, a super popular animation among kids. They’ll also be able to watch TV shows and movies from Tving and Hoppin.
• Portugal: Portuguese will be making homemade ice creams and chocolates after casting Sabor Intenso’s YouTube recipe tutorials. 
• Switzerland: Swiss music fans will be using the best speakers in the house to listen to local star Bastian Baker.

Chromecast is open to developers worldwide, so you’ll find a range of great TV shows, movies, music and more from local app developers. So if you’re in one of these six countries, look for Chromecast online
and in local stores starting today.

Suveer Kothari, Director of Chromecast business development, and frequent flyer

We’re constantly working to keep Chrome users safe as they browse, with built-in features like Safe Browsing, which blocks many types of malicious websites and downloads. In the case that malicious software has managed to hijack your settings, we’ve added a “reset browser settings” button, so you can get things back to normal. But since the bad guys continue to come up with new ways to cause our users headaches, we are always taking additional measures. We previously announced that we’re making it more difficult for malware to secretly install unwanted Chrome extensions. Starting today, we’ll start enforcing this policy.

Malware can change how browsers work by silently installing extensions on your machine that do things like inject ads or track your browsing activity. If you notice strange ads, broken web pages or sluggish browsing after installing some new software or plugins, you could be affected.

From now on, to protect Windows users from this kind of attack, extensions can be installed only if they’re hosted on the Chrome Web Store.  With this change, extensions that were previously installed may be automatically disabled and cannot be re-enabled or re-installed until they’re hosted in the Chrome Web Store.

For developers, we’ll continue to support local extension installs during development as well as installs via Enterprise policy. And if you have a dedicated installation flow from your own website, you can make use of the existing inline installs feature.  Windows developer channel users, as well as those on other operating systems, are unaffected by these changes.

You can reach out to us in our support forums if you’re running into problems, or if you think an extension was disabled incorrectly.  If you’re a developer and your extension isn’t in the store yet, please submit it today. This is just one more step we are taking to make sure our users can browse safely, and enjoy all the Web has to offer without worrying.

Posted by Erik Kay, Engineering Director

[Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog] 

As a designer, it is always humbling when you encounter a perfect piece of design. Good design attracts our attention with its beauty, doesn’t need a user manual, is universally understood by anyone in the world, and is simple without sacrificing functionality.

As a student growing up in France, I was always looking for ways to improve my English, often with a heavy French-to-English dictionary in tow. Since then, technology has opened up a wide world of new educational opportunities, from simple searches to Google Translate (and our backpacks have gotten a lot lighter). But it can be hard to find time and the means to practice a new language. So when the Web Speech API made it possible to speak to our phones, tablets and computers, I got curious about whether this technology could help people learn a language more easily.

That’s the idea behind Spell Up, a new word game and Chrome Experiment that helps you improve your English using your voice—and a modern browser, of course. It’s like a virtual spelling bee, with a twist.

We worked with game designers and teachers to make Spell Up both fun and educational. The goal of the game is to correctly spell the words you hear and stack them to build the highest word tower you can—letter by letter, word by word. The higher the tower gets, the more difficult the word challenges: You’ll be asked to pronounce words correctly, solve word jumbles and guess mystery words. You can earn bonuses and coins to level up faster.

We worked with game designers and teachers to make Spell Up both fun and educational, and we encourage teachers to try it in the classroom.

Spell Up works best in Chrome on your computer and on Android phones and tablets. (It also works on iPhones and iPads, but you’ll need to type rather than talk.) Whether you’re just learning English or you’re already a pro, check it out! And if you’re a teacher, we encourage you to try it out in your classroom.

Posted by Xavier Barrade, Creative Lead and Polyglot, Creative Lab London

Spring has finally arrived in the U.S. And with the new growth the season brings, we’re happy to expand our Chromebook family. Together with Intel, today we’re announcing a new lineup of Chromebooks with Intel inside from leading manufacturers Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, LG and Toshiba—spanning an entire range of shapes, sizes, colors and configurations.

Lenovo’s N20p Chromebook and Thinkpad YOGA 11e Chromebook offer options for touchscreen and hinge designs that enable tablet or tented-angle usage, so they’re just as easy to use at your desk or coffee table, on your lap or at school.

ASUS is following the success of their Chromebox (now the most popular desktop on Amazon.com) by introducing two new laptops: The ASUS C200 Chromebook (11-inch) and ASUS C300 Chromebook (13-inch).

New versions of the Dell Chromebook 11 and the Acer C720 Chromebook will be powered by Intel’s Core i3 processor, which packs the additional performance to help you get things done faster. These new Chromebooks, along with a new 13-inch Toshiba model, a Chromebox from HP, and the LG Chromebase (the first all-in-one computer running Chrome OS), will be available in retail over the next few months.

We hope that you get a chance to try one—or more—of these new Chromebooks soon.

The 2014 Major League Baseball season is off to a big start, and now you can make all those hits, homers, steals and K’s even bigger with Chromecast. Thanks to our friends at MLBAM, as of today, you can cast live games straight to the TV with a tap of the cast button.

MLB.TV is the latest live streaming service to come to Chromecast, so now MLB.TV Premium subscribers can invite their friends over to watch live, out-of-market games. You can even choose between home or away broadcast feeds to steer clear of the opposing team’s announcers.

The MLB.com At Bat app can be found in the Play Store and Apple Store, with Chromecast support rolling out starting today.  MLB.TV Premium subscription required. Peanuts and Cracker Jack sold separately. As always, explore the latest new apps on Chromecast.com/apps.

Posted by Brad Foreman, Sports Partnerships Lead for Chromecast and Tee Ball Slugger

Have you ever been out and about, and urgently needed to access a file that’s sitting on your home computer? Since 2011, Chrome Remote Desktop has let you remotely access your machine from another laptop or computer in a free, easy and secure way. And now, with the release of the Chrome Remote Desktop app for Android, we’re making it possible for you to do the same thing from your Android device.

Today we’re announcing Google Translate support for Emoji, built directly into Chrome for Android and iOS. You can now read all your favorite web content using efficient and emotive illustrations, instead of cumbersome text. Our translation algorithm interprets not just the definition of the words on a webpage, but also their context, tone and if appropriate, facial expression. It then distills text into articulate, meaningful symbols so you can get more out of every screen.

The launch of the Google Cast SDK and Chromecast means anyone can develop applications that take advantage of the biggest screen in the house—the TV.

We got excited about using the TV as a place for people to collaborate, so we started tinkering with ways for people to play with photos using their phones and tablets—like an interactive slideshow. The experiment became Photowall for Chromecast, a new Chrome Experiment that lets your friends collaborate and display images in real time on the TV.

Setting up a Photowall is easy. You’ll need to have a Chromecast plugged into your TV*, then you can create a Photowall from your laptop, phone or tablet. Once you’re set up, you and your friends can start sending photos directly to the big screen. When you’re finished, a YouTube video of your Photowall is automatically generated, which is perfect for sharing with everyone who took part. The Photowall app for your iPhone, iPad, or Android device will be available starting today.

If you’re a developer and you want to make your own multi-screen experience, we hope you’ll roll up your sleeves and start experimenting with Chromecast as well. We’ll also share some behind-the-scenes tips for developers and will be hosting a Google Developers Live Hangout in the next few weeks.

Posted by Iain Tait, Creative Director and Selfie Snapper

*If you don’t have a Chromecast yet, you can still check out the experiment by selecting the option of setting up your Photowall on your computer screen.

Superheroes, cliff divers, fearless reporters or pop icons—whatever you like to watch, Chromecast makes it easy to bring it from a phone, tablet or laptop to the biggest screen in your house: the TV. Since announcing Chromecast in the U.S., we’ve grown to include more of your favorite apps and websites. Those numbers will continue to grow, and we want to bring Chromecast to more people around the world. Today Chromecast is available in an additional 11 countries—Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the U.K.

In addition to your favorite apps like YouTube, Google Play Movies, Google Play Music and Netflix (where available), we’re working with local content providers to bring even more of the movies and TV shows you love to Chromecast. Apps will start rolling out today, and include BBC iPlayer in the U.K.; France TV Pluzz and SFR TV in France with CANALPLAY coming soon; and Watchever in Germany with Maxdome coming soon. So instead of huddling around your laptop to watch Sherlock solve the next crime or getting caught up on all the workplace drama in Stromberg, you can cast it, sit back, and watch together on the big screen.

Chromecast will keep getting better. We recently opened up Chromecast to developers, and in a few short weeks more than 3,000 developers worldwide have signed up to bring their apps and websites to Chromecast. You’ll soon have more TV shows, movies, videos, sports, music and games to choose from. Stay up-to-date on the latest apps that work with Chromecast at chromecast.com/apps.

So if you’re in one of these 11 countries, look for Chromecast starting today at Amazon, Google Play, Currys PC World, Elkjøp, FNAC, Saturn, Media Markt and other retailers.

Happy casting!

Posted by Mario Queiroz, Vice President of Product Management, Chromecast

If you’ve ever tried to cook and search at the same time—say, when your hands are covered in flour and you need to know how many ounces are in a cup—you know it can be tricky. With the latest Chrome Beta, you can search by voice on Google—no typing, clicking or hand-washing required. Simply open a new tab or visit Google.com in Chrome, say “Ok Google,” and then start speaking your search. This will be rolled out to English (U.S.) users on Windows, Mac and Linux over the next few days, with support for additional languages and Chrome OS coming soon. Here are a few examples to get you started:

• Perform searches: Say “Ok Google, how many ounces are in a cup?” 
• Set a timer: Say “Ok Google, set a timer for 30 minutes” 
• Create a reminder for Google Now: Say “Ok Google, remind me to pick up dessert at 6pm tonight”

To enable this feature, visit Google.com, click on the mic icon, then click on “Enable Ok Google:”

Here’s what it looks like in action:

To learn more about Voice Search in Chrome, please visit the Help Center. 

Import supervised users onto new computers

The latest Chrome beta also makes it easy for you to set up Chrome supervised users on multiple devices. Supervised users makes it easy to help your family members explore the web in a managed environment. You can determine sites you want to allow or block, and manage permissions for any sites your family member has requested to view. If you create a supervised user, now you can let that user browse on any device in your home with the new “Import” option. When you import a supervised user, all their permissions will then be synced across devices. 

Here’s how to do it:

2. Click the Chrome menu on the browser toolbar and select Settings.
3. In the “Users” section, click Add new user.
4. Click “Import an existing supervised user”
5. Select the user you’d like to import from the list
6. Click “Import supervised user”

This improvement to supervised users is currently supported on Windows, Mac and Linux, and will become available on Chromebooks soon. Ji Adam Dou, Software Engineer and Search Whisperer

[Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog]

The best meetings are face-to-face—we can brainstorm openly, collaborate closely and make faster decisions. But these days, we often connect with each other from far-flung locations, coordinating time zones and dialing into conference calls from our phones. Meetings need to catch up with the way we work—they need to be face-to-face, easier to join, and available from anywhere and any device. Starting today, they can be: Any company can upgrade their meeting rooms with a new Chromebox, built on the Chrome principles of speed, simplicity and security.

Chromebox for meetings brings together Google+ Hangouts and Google Apps in an easy-to-manage Chromebox, making it simpler for any company to have high-definition video meetings. Here are a few highlights:

• Instant meeting room. Chromebox for meetings comes with a blazing-fast Intel Core i7-based Chromebox, a high-definition camera, a combined microphone and speaker unit and a remote control. Set up your entire room in minutes and easily manage all meeting rooms from a web-based management console. All you need is the display in your room, and you’re good to go.
• Simpler and faster meetings. Walk into the room, click the remote once and you’re instantly in the meeting. No more complex dial-in codes, passcodes or leader PINs. Share your laptop screen wirelessly, no need for any cords and adaptors. Integration with Google Apps makes it easy to invite others and add rooms to video meetings, directly from Google Calendar.
• Meetings with anyone, anywhere. Up to 15 participants can join the video meeting from other conference rooms, their laptops, tablets or smartphones. Need to meet with a customer who doesn’t use Chromebox for meetings? That’s easy too—all they need is a Gmail account. You can also connect to rooms that have traditional video conferencing systems using a new tool from Vidyo, and participants who prefer phones can join your meeting with a conference call number from UberConference.

Chromebox for meetings is available in the U.S. today starting at $999, which includes the ASUS Chromebox and everything you need to get going. That means for the same price that companies have typically paid for one meeting room, they’ll be able to outfit 10 rooms—or more. CDW and SYNNEX will help bring Chromebox for meetings to customers and resellers, and Chromeboxes from HP and Dell will be available for meetings in the coming months. Later this year, we plan to launch in Australia, Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, Spain and the U.K.

Companies like Eventbrite, Gilt, oDesk and Woolworths have been testing Chromebox for meetings, and have told us that they love the simple setup, the ease of use, and being able to see their colleagues in other offices. More importantly, the low price will enable them to extend these benefits to even more employees, rooms and offices. Find out how Chromebox for meetings can help you and your coworkers see eye-to-eye. Happy meetings, everyone!

Caesar Sengupta, VP, Product Management

Your friend Steve’s flight from New York is delayed by an hour. Your favorite soccer team is up by one point with two minutes left. Your Chromecast has just shipped. If you’re using Google Now, you’d already know all of that information without having to ask. Google Now already gives you the right information at the right time on Android and iOS. Starting this week, if you’re using Chrome beta, you will be able to receive your Google Now notifications via the notifications center on your Mac, Windows or Chromebook computer. To enable these notifications, simply sign in to Chrome with the same Google Account you’re using for Google Now on Android or iOS.

So the next time you’re finishing up emails at your desk, Google Now might suggest that you leave the office a bit early to beat the heavy traffic on the way to your dinner date. To view the notifications, click on the bell icon on your desktop (on Mac and Windows) or the numbered box (on Chromebook) to open the Chrome notification center.

To learn more about Google Now notifications in Chrome and how to configure your settings, please visit the Help Center. If you’re not already using Google Now on Android or iOS, head over here to get started. Google Now notifications in Chrome will just be available in English initially, with other languages supported soon. Let us know what you think in the comments!

Update 3/24/2014: Starting today and rolling out over the next few weeks, Google Now users in all languages will be able to get these notifications in all channels of Chrome. To enable this feature, simply sign in to Chrome with the same Google Account you’re using for Google Now on Android or iOS.

Travis Skare, Software Engineer and Always in the Know

Chromecast makes it easy to enjoy all of your favorite online content on a TV screen with the simple press of a button on your phone, tablet or laptop. We want to make it easier for that content to get to your TV, so today we’re releasing the Google Cast Software Development Kit (SDK) for developers who want to build Chromecast support into their apps and websites. For the rest of us, that means even more of our favorite movies, TV shows and music will become available on Chromecast as developers work with the SDK. Just be on the lookout for the cast button in your favorite apps and websites across Android, iOS and Chrome.