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posted by on Saturday April 04 2015, @04:01AM   Printer-friendly
from the even-more-to-love dept.

Google announced an Asus “Chromebit” HDMI stick running Chrome OS, plus four new low-cost Chromebooks, and opened its Android-to-Chrome OS app porting tech.

Google took the Linux and Chrome browser based Chrome OS a step closer to a potential convergence with Android as it announced the first embedded form-factor Chrome OS computer, as well as the most affordable touchscreen Chromebook yet. Google also opened up its App Runtime for Chrome (ARC) technology for porting Android apps to Chrome OS to all Android app developers, and revealed a beta Chrome Launcher 2.0 with greater integration of Android’s Google Now application.

The Haier Chromebook 11 and Hisense Chromebook — two 11.6-inch models aimed at educational and emerging markets — each go for $149, down from a previous Chromebook low of $199. The convertible, touchscreen-enabled Asus Chromebook Flip sells for $249, which is $30 cheaper than the touch-ready Acer C720P-2661 and $50 less than the $299 HP Chromebook 14 G3.

All four Chromebooks integrate the HD-ready RK3288SoC, as well as 2GB of DDR3 RAM, 16GB of eMMC flash, a microSD slot, an HDMI port, dual USB 2.0 ports, 802.11ac, and Bluetooth 4.0.A front-facing 720p camera is also available, as well as 100GB of free Google Drive storage for two years.

 
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  • (Score: 4, Disagree) by mtrycz on Saturday April 04 2015, @09:01AM

    by mtrycz (60) on Saturday April 04 2015, @09:01AM (#166341)

    Chromebooks cost about as much as (or sometimes even less than) the part to make them, because the device has a secondary stream of revenue: your privacy.

    Not saying that you should or shouldn't have one, just that everone needs to know the full story before deciding.

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  • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 04 2015, @02:42PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 04 2015, @02:42PM (#166391)

    Chromebooks cost about as much as (or sometimes even less than) the part to make them, because the device has a secondary stream of revenue: your privacy.

    This.

    So that people start using them until "G" decides to push automatic updates (among other things) to those browsers, getting to know everything about the unfortunate user.

    And the user is left wondering how it got so far:
    0.0) First they gave me a machine below cost, and I was happy.
    0.1) Then they said it had to be updated and I said nothing.
    0.2) Then they pushed automatic updates to the machine without my consent, I did nothing.
    0.3) Then they installed [spying software | activated the built-in spying software] and I did nothing.
    0.4) Then they changed the license agreement got me to agree, and I did nothing because I now depended on it.
    0.5) Then they used [my | their] machine for their own purposes, and I did nothing.
    0.6) Then they took over the world, and I wondered how it got so bad.

    The point is, if you're not paying for any service/hardware/software, then someone else is, and if you cannot tell who they are and why they are helping you, you'd better be careful.

    An example is the number of live porn sites with models (cam-whores) who are tipped and paid by viewers. I am guessing many of these sites are run by the spying agencies (and they may be tipping the cam-whores just enough to keep them working there, and to attract more talent) in order to gather dirt about who goes there (apart from the mixing of races they are pushing onto unsuspecting viewers, which is another agenda they have), and if its someone important (or someone who will be important some day, or someone who becomes a pain in the neck some day), they will black-mail them, and show them undeniable proof of their activities and dark and perverted interests to get them working for these spying agencies. No one is safe from bi.g_br.othr.

    And then there is Free software. If you can trust the source to give you a good binary, then take it; otherwise someone will give you spyware that they control. The point is: Free software may have been written for the specific purpose of spying. Just be careful with free stuff. The paid stuff (Windows, Mac,...) is itself spyware, so no worries there.

    * used 0.x in the list because I do not believe in version numbers such as Version 20, Version 45, Version 500 etc, and I certainly will not use any hardware from "G" or any of their NSA/CIA/Mossad friends, because its total spyware.

    • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday April 04 2015, @03:30PM

      by kaszz (4211) on Saturday April 04 2015, @03:30PM (#166411) Journal

      All products are spyware unless you can make an audit to prove it's not so. So for starters open source and hardware documentation is two big flags. Or made in the NSA .. ;)

  • (Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Saturday April 04 2015, @03:07PM

    by Nerdfest (80) on Saturday April 04 2015, @03:07PM (#166403)

    If you already use the Chrome browser, Google drive, GMail, etc it should be a pretty easy decision. You get a low cost laptop to run them on that's far more immune to malware than running Windows. If you're already. You might as well get a good value for your 'privacy dollar'.

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by JNCF on Saturday April 04 2015, @05:00PM

    by JNCF (4317) on Saturday April 04 2015, @05:00PM (#166441) Journal

    I once bought a Chromebook, naively thinking that I would just put a fresh OS on it and go about my day. Then I found out that Google really doesn't want you replacing their OS. To completely clean their kernel off the machine I had to overwrite the BIOS, and to turn BIOS write protection off I had to flip a physical switch located underneath the keyboard. I was lucky; on some models you have to make an electrical connection between two pins in order to to turn write protection off (most people use tin foil).

    This is another warning that potential Chromebook consumers should have: you may have to take the thing apart and shove tin foil into its guts before you can replace the operating system. I'm not saying I won't ever buy another Chromebook (they are cheap), but if I do I'll be researching how to turn BIOS write protection off on a specific model before I buy it. And because I'm too ignorant to make my own BIOS, I would also limit myself to a model that this guy [johnlewis.ie] has already posted a ROM for.

    • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @01:53PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @01:53PM (#166658)

      That's mostly for security. Some people are their own worst enemy when it comes to computer use and would blindly follow almost any instruction that circumvents security to install malicious software, I'm not suggesting that they know what they are installing is malicious, just that they will install anything if it promises something they want.

      If Google REALLY didn't want you getting into the system they wouldn't even have that switch on them.

      That was worth mentioning though, for those who are unaware.

      What puts me off Chromebooks more than that is that their keyboards have had a few too many keys removed, I could lose a few of the Fkeys but other than that I use pretty much every key on my current netbook.

      • (Score: 2) by JNCF on Sunday April 05 2015, @06:04PM

        by JNCF (4317) on Sunday April 05 2015, @06:04PM (#166711) Journal

        If Google REALLY didn't want you getting into the system they wouldn't even have that switch on them.

        I'm really not sure of that. It's interesting to me that some models have metal pins that you have to make a connection between instead of a switch. Maybe this is meant for when they're putting the BIOS on in the factory, and whether they have a switch or a couple of pins is a decision on the part of the hardware manufacturer? Google could still be purposefully putting a barrier between the user and a clean OS so that they can continue being Google in your computer, and just not care enough mandate what kind of hardware write-protection the manufacture puts in. Or maybe they think a mandate could potentially be bad PR. I certainly can't model Google's decision making processes accurately, and I can't rule out the possibility that the barrier between the user and a clean OS is strictly a matter of user security... but it seems fishy. Google has a very obvious motive to not want their OS removed.

  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday April 05 2015, @09:36AM

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Sunday April 05 2015, @09:36AM (#166602) Homepage
    Haven't they always had the option to install another kernel and OS, if you're not happy with the default?
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