Remote control from the Cr-48
For various reasons I’ve chosen to use LogMeIn for most of my remote control needs. This app allows me to remote control home/work/family member computers from anywhere that I have a browser. Sometimes I even use the app to control the computer in the basement while I’m vegging upstairs on the couch. I may do some minor development work, the app is too slow for anything but the most simple work, I may mess around with iTunes organizing, check email, what ever.
I was a little worried that I may have trouble using this app on the Cr-48 because in my experience IE consistently runs LogMeIn better than Chrome. My experience has extended to the Cr-48. The app is slower on the Cr-48, but mostly usable. The major problem comes in when I’m performing a task that takes 5 or 10 minutes or longer. While in a remote control session, the remote control session will stop responding. In most cases it’s more an inconvenience than a major issue because I’ve found that logging out of the session and back in usually fixes the problem. In worse cases, however, I’ve only been able to reestablish a remote control session by actually shutting down the Cr-48, and logging back in to LogMeIn.
I don’t know how common a scenario the need to remote control machines will be, but a better remote control option is going to be necessary for those who use these google computers to do work, or manage, remote machines.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
That USB port on the Cr-48
Practicing work avoidance, I thought I'd plug my iPod in to my Cr-48 and see what happens. Nothing spectacular, but a file scanner popped up in the lower left corner of my screen, scanned for a minute, and my iPod was recognized. I can't browse it or access any of the files, but it knows I'm there. Also, it's charging my iPod. Cool.
This leads me to believe that I can probably browse removable media. If I can track down a thumb drive, I'll give it a shot.
This leads me to believe that I can probably browse removable media. If I can track down a thumb drive, I'll give it a shot.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
A closer look at the hardware
Ok, time for a little more focused view of the hardware.
appearance and feel
Frankly this is a nicer looking device than I had expected. Yes, it is as plain as the pictures you’ve likely seen, but at the same time it’s a pretty sleek device. It’s black, has what I believe they’re calling a rubberized finish, and looks like there’s really no way to get inside to take a look at its guts. With a 12.1 inch screen, this seems to be the size of a standard netbook.
input
On the left side there’s a monitor out, which I’ll likely be using to output to a tube TV. Nothing on the back except for the hinge that holds the monitor in place. On the right side there is the power jack, a USB port, and a headphone jack. I’ve read that the USB port isn’t for user devices. I’ll get around to trying that out at some point, but given the purpose of this device, I’m sure that’s accurate. The headphone jack does what it should. It pumps out sound to headphones. Simple, everything you need with this device, and no clutter.
keyboard
The keyboard has been modified from what you’re used to seeing to a keyboard that is very close to ideal for the Cr-48. The function keys have been replaced with control and navigation keys. Starting from the left, and one key to the right of esc, it has a back arrow button that takes you to the previous page, a forward arrow button that takes you to the next page, assuming there is one. A reload button to reload the current page. The next button, a full screen button, is really kind of cool. Just like a full screen browser, it takes your desktop to the full monitor size, and hides the navigation buttons. There is a screen switching button that gives the impression of switching desktops. This one comes in to play when you choose to open a link in a new window, essentially opening a new desktop. This button switches, in sequence, between the various open windows. The next buttons, decrease and increase the screen brightness, mute and decrease and increase the volume. Cool control keys, and done well. There are, however, problems with this keyboard. Now I am willing to admit that this may be my own issue, but there are some missing keys that I really think should be here. Considering the nature of this device, I believe there should be a button to open a new tab, and a button to open a new window. As it is, to open a new tab you have to ctrl-t or right-click and choose new tab. To open a new window, the only option I’ve so far found is to right-click and choose open in new window. For a browser, no big deal. For a browser based OS, it’s something that I think should be there. Other missing keys that I keep missing are Home and End keys that I frequently use for navigation, and a delete key. Sure, It’s a minor thing to have to move the cursor ahead of something you want to delete and backspace, but I’m used to doing it the opposite way and it throws me off when using this. I also use Home and End a great deal, and I miss those as well.
touchpad
On the bright side, the touchpad is big, responsive, and has a cool “right-click” feature where you put two fingers on the touchpad and click it. Works well, and I think it’s pretty neat. The placement, however, is terrible. I tend to drag my thumbs when typing which means that I frequently find myself typing in unexpected locations across the screen. Of course, if I had to design this, I’m not sure I could find a better place to put it, so I guess this is really a complaint about netbooks and laptops with touchpads in general.
battery
I don’t really know yet. The only thing I have to compare it to so far is my laptop experience, and really, I’m happy if I get two hours out of one of those. Based on the drain I’ve seen so far, I expect good things.
camera/mic/speakers
These work pretty well. In good light the camera does what it should. It shows a live video of me, and does it reasonably well. It isn’t very tolerant of low light, so if it’s going to be used, use it under lights. The mic is sensitive enough for video and audio calls over google voice, and the speakers are netbook speakers. These features work, they’re nothing spectacular, and they get the job done.
That’s really about it. It’s a nice looking, sleek netbook. Easy to carry around, seems pretty good on the battery, but it’s just a netbook. If you’ve seen one, you’ve probably seen this one. the only thing that really stands out is the keyboard which I think needs work. I feel like they need to find a middle ground between the custom google keyboard and a few of the more standard keys.
Now that I’ve bored you to death, check back. This is bound to get more interesting as I actually use it.
Update
Of course I haven't read too much on the hardware specs. I figured a netbook, hardware is hardware, it's the software that I want to play with. Well, browsing the web I noticed something on the side of the cr-48. I pressed on it. It's an SD card slot, and based on some reading, it seems it can be made to work. Cool.
appearance and feel
Frankly this is a nicer looking device than I had expected. Yes, it is as plain as the pictures you’ve likely seen, but at the same time it’s a pretty sleek device. It’s black, has what I believe they’re calling a rubberized finish, and looks like there’s really no way to get inside to take a look at its guts. With a 12.1 inch screen, this seems to be the size of a standard netbook.
input
On the left side there’s a monitor out, which I’ll likely be using to output to a tube TV. Nothing on the back except for the hinge that holds the monitor in place. On the right side there is the power jack, a USB port, and a headphone jack. I’ve read that the USB port isn’t for user devices. I’ll get around to trying that out at some point, but given the purpose of this device, I’m sure that’s accurate. The headphone jack does what it should. It pumps out sound to headphones. Simple, everything you need with this device, and no clutter.
keyboard
The keyboard has been modified from what you’re used to seeing to a keyboard that is very close to ideal for the Cr-48. The function keys have been replaced with control and navigation keys. Starting from the left, and one key to the right of esc, it has a back arrow button that takes you to the previous page, a forward arrow button that takes you to the next page, assuming there is one. A reload button to reload the current page. The next button, a full screen button, is really kind of cool. Just like a full screen browser, it takes your desktop to the full monitor size, and hides the navigation buttons. There is a screen switching button that gives the impression of switching desktops. This one comes in to play when you choose to open a link in a new window, essentially opening a new desktop. This button switches, in sequence, between the various open windows. The next buttons, decrease and increase the screen brightness, mute and decrease and increase the volume. Cool control keys, and done well. There are, however, problems with this keyboard. Now I am willing to admit that this may be my own issue, but there are some missing keys that I really think should be here. Considering the nature of this device, I believe there should be a button to open a new tab, and a button to open a new window. As it is, to open a new tab you have to ctrl-t or right-click and choose new tab. To open a new window, the only option I’ve so far found is to right-click and choose open in new window. For a browser, no big deal. For a browser based OS, it’s something that I think should be there. Other missing keys that I keep missing are Home and End keys that I frequently use for navigation, and a delete key. Sure, It’s a minor thing to have to move the cursor ahead of something you want to delete and backspace, but I’m used to doing it the opposite way and it throws me off when using this. I also use Home and End a great deal, and I miss those as well.
touchpad
On the bright side, the touchpad is big, responsive, and has a cool “right-click” feature where you put two fingers on the touchpad and click it. Works well, and I think it’s pretty neat. The placement, however, is terrible. I tend to drag my thumbs when typing which means that I frequently find myself typing in unexpected locations across the screen. Of course, if I had to design this, I’m not sure I could find a better place to put it, so I guess this is really a complaint about netbooks and laptops with touchpads in general.
battery
I don’t really know yet. The only thing I have to compare it to so far is my laptop experience, and really, I’m happy if I get two hours out of one of those. Based on the drain I’ve seen so far, I expect good things.
camera/mic/speakers
These work pretty well. In good light the camera does what it should. It shows a live video of me, and does it reasonably well. It isn’t very tolerant of low light, so if it’s going to be used, use it under lights. The mic is sensitive enough for video and audio calls over google voice, and the speakers are netbook speakers. These features work, they’re nothing spectacular, and they get the job done.
That’s really about it. It’s a nice looking, sleek netbook. Easy to carry around, seems pretty good on the battery, but it’s just a netbook. If you’ve seen one, you’ve probably seen this one. the only thing that really stands out is the keyboard which I think needs work. I feel like they need to find a middle ground between the custom google keyboard and a few of the more standard keys.
Now that I’ve bored you to death, check back. This is bound to get more interesting as I actually use it.
Update
Of course I haven't read too much on the hardware specs. I figured a netbook, hardware is hardware, it's the software that I want to play with. Well, browsing the web I noticed something on the side of the cr-48. I pressed on it. It's an SD card slot, and based on some reading, it seems it can be made to work. Cool.
Android/Chrome Intersection
The phrase isn't mine, it was mentioned in another blog, but it raises an interesting question. What is the relationship between Android and Chrome OS? With the iPhone/iPod/iWhatever it's pretty clear. You can use these devices without a "real" computer, but it doesn't make much sense, and it dilutes the functionality of the device.
Android, on the other hand, doesn't need a computer. Nearly everything I'd want to do is available through apps or in the cloud. The Chrome OS certainly doesn't enhance the functionality of my Android phone. The two devices don't work together to bring a richer experience to the user. Looking at these devices as if there's supposed to be an intersection of greatness brought to us by The Google, I just don't see it. What I do see is little more than different portals to much the same experience of the interactive Web. That's about it.
With that in mind, then, I guess the real question is why would I choose a Chrome laptop/netbook over an Android Tablet? Let's say I have a bluetooth keyboard for an Android tablet. Put that side by side with a Chrome laptop, and which will out perform? As I said, these things are not complementary devices that, together, produce a better overall experience for the user. In the absence of a network connection, I suspect that the Android would actually be more useful. Opening Google docs to Android allows me to do anything I need to do on either device. The list goes on. So far I just don't see anything that I can do on one that I can't do on the other. The only major difference I can see right now is the fact that in Chrome OS you're working in a controlled environment. You have nothing, or next to nothing, locally. Google, or the app vendors, are in charge of keeping your system clean and up to date. You just turn on and go. Android puts the responsibility in your hands. This would seem to make the ideal environment for each pretty clear. Use Chrome in business, schools, for those relatives that may be somewhat less than computer literate, or those who may be computer literate, but are not interested in being computer mechanics. Leave Android for the rest of us.
The problem there is that Android still steps on Chrome's toes. Android is going to become a great business device and platform, so in the business environment you may have Android and Chrome. Why? The user will eventually make a choice and probably go with Android because so far there aren't any Chrome phones. Schools, well, students won't have the options. For the third and fourth groups, same issue as business. The Chrome laptop is great for those people, but based on the growing influence of Android, chances are good, and getting better, that the user will have an Android device. Again, if you already have an Android, why choose Chrome?
There's also the simple fact that Chrome machines will not replace a standard desktop or laptop in my home. Not any time soon, anyway. I write software, and the only Web enabled IDE like thing that comes close to what I like to do is Google's App Builder, and the fact that App Builder doesn't allow me to write code has caused me to dismiss that out of hand.
I have, and use, a personal music and video collection. I need to store this stuff someplace, and I am not paying for a cloud locker.
My wife does Web work and image editing. Web development probably is possible through Chrome. I will look in to it, but I seriously doubt that at this stage of the game there is anything Web based that even comes close to Microsoft's Web development tools, and online photo editing has a while before it can provide as rich an experience as some of the better known installable applications...If I'm wrong, tell me. I'd like to know.
Don't get me wrong, I think the Chrome OS is an awesome concept, and after playing with it for a few hours I'm very impressed, only slightly confused, and believe that I'll be able to hold up my end of the bargain and use the hell out of it.
Android, on the other hand, doesn't need a computer. Nearly everything I'd want to do is available through apps or in the cloud. The Chrome OS certainly doesn't enhance the functionality of my Android phone. The two devices don't work together to bring a richer experience to the user. Looking at these devices as if there's supposed to be an intersection of greatness brought to us by The Google, I just don't see it. What I do see is little more than different portals to much the same experience of the interactive Web. That's about it.
With that in mind, then, I guess the real question is why would I choose a Chrome laptop/netbook over an Android Tablet? Let's say I have a bluetooth keyboard for an Android tablet. Put that side by side with a Chrome laptop, and which will out perform? As I said, these things are not complementary devices that, together, produce a better overall experience for the user. In the absence of a network connection, I suspect that the Android would actually be more useful. Opening Google docs to Android allows me to do anything I need to do on either device. The list goes on. So far I just don't see anything that I can do on one that I can't do on the other. The only major difference I can see right now is the fact that in Chrome OS you're working in a controlled environment. You have nothing, or next to nothing, locally. Google, or the app vendors, are in charge of keeping your system clean and up to date. You just turn on and go. Android puts the responsibility in your hands. This would seem to make the ideal environment for each pretty clear. Use Chrome in business, schools, for those relatives that may be somewhat less than computer literate, or those who may be computer literate, but are not interested in being computer mechanics. Leave Android for the rest of us.
The problem there is that Android still steps on Chrome's toes. Android is going to become a great business device and platform, so in the business environment you may have Android and Chrome. Why? The user will eventually make a choice and probably go with Android because so far there aren't any Chrome phones. Schools, well, students won't have the options. For the third and fourth groups, same issue as business. The Chrome laptop is great for those people, but based on the growing influence of Android, chances are good, and getting better, that the user will have an Android device. Again, if you already have an Android, why choose Chrome?
There's also the simple fact that Chrome machines will not replace a standard desktop or laptop in my home. Not any time soon, anyway. I write software, and the only Web enabled IDE like thing that comes close to what I like to do is Google's App Builder, and the fact that App Builder doesn't allow me to write code has caused me to dismiss that out of hand.
I have, and use, a personal music and video collection. I need to store this stuff someplace, and I am not paying for a cloud locker.
My wife does Web work and image editing. Web development probably is possible through Chrome. I will look in to it, but I seriously doubt that at this stage of the game there is anything Web based that even comes close to Microsoft's Web development tools, and online photo editing has a while before it can provide as rich an experience as some of the better known installable applications...If I'm wrong, tell me. I'd like to know.
Don't get me wrong, I think the Chrome OS is an awesome concept, and after playing with it for a few hours I'm very impressed, only slightly confused, and believe that I'll be able to hold up my end of the bargain and use the hell out of it.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
First Scattered Impressions
So I got a Cr-48, and I’m having fun trying to break in to this and find out what it’s like having a purely web computing experience.
First, there are a couple of hardware annoyances. I realize this thing isn’t supposed to be a media center PC, but I use a laptop for video out to my old tube tv using s-video. This does not have s-video, so I’m going to have to drag out an extra monitor cable if I want to pump hulu out to my tv. It doesn’t have a Delete key (at least not that I’ve noticed yet) so I’m doing alot of backspacing. That’s annoying to me. And the placement of the huge touchpad is just a pain in the ass. I’m sure I’m not the only one who drags thumbs across the thing and starts typing in an entirely different line. Maybe I am. Who knows?
Aside from those complaints, this thing is really cool. It has a built in camera and mic, so video calls are kind of right there. It’s very light weight, very small, and wakes from sleep mode in just a couple of seconds. Really cool.
Damnit! It also seems to be lacking the end or home key so I can’t just jump to the end of a line.
This thing is really pretty useless without some sort of network connection, so it’s nice that they’ve included a 3g connection with this. It’s only 100 mb per month, so it really is likely limited to checking a calendar or doing a little email, but it’s the thought that counts. I’ll see if I feel the same next time I’m somewhere that doesn’t have wifi.
Recently I’ve read some complaints about the keyboard, but I’m not seeing the problem. It’s a modified laptop keyboard, and as for not being backlit, I haven’t watched my fingers while I type in quite some time, so I don’t really care if they’re backlit, textured, blank, what ever. This will do just fine.
Booting up for the first time was pretty simple. First, I had to find my home wifi, no problem. Then it went out and downloaded some updates. Finally, I logged in with my google account, so like my android, this is tied in to all google all the time. I’m cool with that, makes things easier. As a side note, I also have a google apps account with its own gmail account. This doesn’t give me any grief being logged in to the primary Cr-48 account at the same time as my google apps account. I haven’t tried multiple gmail accounts yet, but I’ll need to be doing that soon.
Once logged in, I went out to try to find some way of accessing media, because that is one of the primary purposes of my laptop. This doesn’t connect to the google media server running on my home desktop. I didn’t really expect it, but it’s still disappointing. From there I pointed my browser to my audiogalaxy account. The only disappointment there is the fact that audiogalaxy doesn’t support streaming flac through the browser yet, but I already knew that. I’ve got nearly full access to all of my music. Very cool. Next, trying to get to my video, I connected to my orb server account. Not a great service, so I didn’t expect much. I wasn’t dissappointed. It sluggishly played my music, and I gave up waiting on my video. I’m still looking for a solution that will get me my video in a timely manner, but I’ve got my music through audiogalaxy, the same service I’m using on my android.
I spent a little time browsing the chrome app store. Some cool stuff, mostly browser apps that run in chrome on any platform, but I’ll look more closely at those later.
Of course, all the google services that I tried worked, so this will definately keep me up and running with google docs, email, calendar, and what not.
Desktop switching is cool too. If you get sick of opening tabs, open a new window and you have a groovy little button that lets you switch between open windows.
Anyway, my first impressions are that this thing is pretty cool overall. Of course I will not be able to write code, but that’s expected. I’m having trouble accessing my own video as easily as I can on my laptop or desktop, which shows a glaring hole in quality services out there.
Anyway, there it is. My first rambling impressions.
First, there are a couple of hardware annoyances. I realize this thing isn’t supposed to be a media center PC, but I use a laptop for video out to my old tube tv using s-video. This does not have s-video, so I’m going to have to drag out an extra monitor cable if I want to pump hulu out to my tv. It doesn’t have a Delete key (at least not that I’ve noticed yet) so I’m doing alot of backspacing. That’s annoying to me. And the placement of the huge touchpad is just a pain in the ass. I’m sure I’m not the only one who drags thumbs across the thing and starts typing in an entirely different line. Maybe I am. Who knows?
Aside from those complaints, this thing is really cool. It has a built in camera and mic, so video calls are kind of right there. It’s very light weight, very small, and wakes from sleep mode in just a couple of seconds. Really cool.
Damnit! It also seems to be lacking the end or home key so I can’t just jump to the end of a line.
This thing is really pretty useless without some sort of network connection, so it’s nice that they’ve included a 3g connection with this. It’s only 100 mb per month, so it really is likely limited to checking a calendar or doing a little email, but it’s the thought that counts. I’ll see if I feel the same next time I’m somewhere that doesn’t have wifi.
Recently I’ve read some complaints about the keyboard, but I’m not seeing the problem. It’s a modified laptop keyboard, and as for not being backlit, I haven’t watched my fingers while I type in quite some time, so I don’t really care if they’re backlit, textured, blank, what ever. This will do just fine.
Booting up for the first time was pretty simple. First, I had to find my home wifi, no problem. Then it went out and downloaded some updates. Finally, I logged in with my google account, so like my android, this is tied in to all google all the time. I’m cool with that, makes things easier. As a side note, I also have a google apps account with its own gmail account. This doesn’t give me any grief being logged in to the primary Cr-48 account at the same time as my google apps account. I haven’t tried multiple gmail accounts yet, but I’ll need to be doing that soon.
Once logged in, I went out to try to find some way of accessing media, because that is one of the primary purposes of my laptop. This doesn’t connect to the google media server running on my home desktop. I didn’t really expect it, but it’s still disappointing. From there I pointed my browser to my audiogalaxy account. The only disappointment there is the fact that audiogalaxy doesn’t support streaming flac through the browser yet, but I already knew that. I’ve got nearly full access to all of my music. Very cool. Next, trying to get to my video, I connected to my orb server account. Not a great service, so I didn’t expect much. I wasn’t dissappointed. It sluggishly played my music, and I gave up waiting on my video. I’m still looking for a solution that will get me my video in a timely manner, but I’ve got my music through audiogalaxy, the same service I’m using on my android.
I spent a little time browsing the chrome app store. Some cool stuff, mostly browser apps that run in chrome on any platform, but I’ll look more closely at those later.
Of course, all the google services that I tried worked, so this will definately keep me up and running with google docs, email, calendar, and what not.
Desktop switching is cool too. If you get sick of opening tabs, open a new window and you have a groovy little button that lets you switch between open windows.
Anyway, my first impressions are that this thing is pretty cool overall. Of course I will not be able to write code, but that’s expected. I’m having trouble accessing my own video as easily as I can on my laptop or desktop, which shows a glaring hole in quality services out there.
Anyway, there it is. My first rambling impressions.
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