For years, the knock on Chrome OS was that it was “just a browser.” A PC, people thought, had to be more than that. But now, almost six years since that first Chromebook, just a browser has turned out to be just enough for a growing group of users. Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the first quarter of this year, and according to Google, US schools buy more Chromebooks than all other devices combined.
Even now, the Chrome OS revolution is only beginning. In the next few weeks, Chromebooks will suddenly have accessto the millions of apps in Google’s Play Store, which will work on a Chrome OS device the way they work on Android phones. Also, Google’s beginning a big move into the boardroom, trying to convince businesses to use Chromebooks instead of their old Windows XP machines. And a whole new breed of Chromebooks is about to hit shelves. Not only are they high-end, they’re going to be completely different from the laptops we’ve known before.
For a sneak peak at what may be possible, Lenovo is looking at adding Chrome OS to the list of operating systems for its new laptop, the Lenovo Yoga Book.
On the one hand, it might seem like laptops have improved the classroom experience. Everything is in one spot, you can back up your notes, typing doesn’t hurt your hands as much, and you could argue that you use less paper[1]. But do you learn more? Both students and teachers can benefit from a bunch of new psychology…
I know. We’re already many years into the 21st Century. And I know there’s a chance that the term “21st Century” might rub you the wrong way. But we’re here, and teaching and learning look very different. At least they have the potential to. When I started teaching in 2004, there was one computer in the…
The Bridge concept — low-cost private schools for the world’s poorest children — has galvanized many of the Western investors and Silicon Valley moguls who learn about the project. Bill Gates, the Omidyar Network, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the World Bank have all invested in the company; Pearson, the multinational textbook-and-assessment company, has done…
American companies have a problem. Over the past decade, they have begun to demand a bachelor’s degree in hiring workers for jobs that traditionally haven’t required one. This uptick in credentialing, or “degree inflation,” rested on the belief that these college-educated employees would be smarter, more productive, and more engaged than workers without a degree….
Users of Chromebooks have it easy. All of their data, backed up automatically to Google Drive, they don’t have a care in the world. Except when it comes to the Downloads folder. On a Google Chromebook, the Downloads folder is local to the device and is not backed up anywhere. This might not be a problem in…
“I had regular panic attacks, felt like I would faint at any moment walking down the street and was always on the verge of tears,” she says, adding that, “the job literally made me sick — my health had gotten to a point that was unlivable, unworkable and a mess.” So she quit her…
For years, the knock on Chrome OS was that it was “just a browser.” A PC, people thought, had to be more than that. But now, almost six years since that first Chromebook, just a browser has turned out to be just enough for a growing group of users. Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the first quarter of this year, and according to Google, US schools buy more Chromebooks than all other devices combined.
