Today, at the second day of Google’s I/O event, the company made several new important announcements. Let’s take a closer look at each of these announcements in detail.
Google announces Chrome browser for iOS
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has announced that the company is launching its Chrome browser for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. This browser will be available for any iOS device running on iOS 4.3 and above.
Google chrome for iOS comes with tab syncing and login credential syncing features, which are already present on Chrome for Android. This means that you can carry your settings and browsing experience from any device to your iOS devices also. It also comes with incognito mode which allows users to browse the web, without leaving any traces. This means no history or cookie will be saved in that particular incognito tab.
However, the utility of Google Chrome will be limited because iOS does not allow users to set any other browser as “default” browser, besides Safari. This means that all links clicked from emails and text messages will automatically open in Safari.
Google Drive is coming to iOS and Chrome OS
Now here’s another good news for iOS users. Google Drive is coming to iOS and also for Chrome OS. According to the company, 10M users have signed up with Google Drive in the last 10 weeks. Google demonstrated Google Drive on the iPad, which shows real-time collaboration and image recognition capabilities. The syncing is done in the background and document viewing is also lightning fast.
You can now grab Google Drive for iOS from the App Store.
Offline editing comes to Google Docs
Finally, the much awaited functionality of offline editing comes to Google Docs. This means that even if you are not connected to the internet, you can edit documents and then once you are reconnected, all of those changes will be made in real-time. The offline document is synced to online whenever you get connected to the internet.
This new functionality is powered by Google Drive and it will be available later today for Google Docs.
Chromebooks will be available in US Best Buy Stores
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has announced that its new Chromebooks will be available in 100 US Best Buy stores, starting today. If you are from UK, then don’t feel bad as these devices will also be available in an unspecified number of Dixons locations as well. Google has partnered with a huge distribution channel, which will put Chromebooks right next to Apple devices.
Google exec Sundar Pichai also said that the devices will be made available via more retailers in the near future. The Chromebooks are already available via Amazon and Newegg, but the presence of these devices at Besy Buy and Dixons means more exposure and sales.
Amazon competitor: Google Compute Engine announced
Here comes a competitor to Amazon’s EC2 (Elastic Cloud Compute), named as Google Compute Engine. The company described Compute Engine as providing Linux virtual machines at ‘Google Scale’. App developers can depend on this cloud-based supercomputing engine to develop extremely computational-intensive tasks. It also means that service is scalable, as and when required.
The company claims that this can deliver 50% more compute per dollar, compared to any other platforms. Compute Engine is available starting today.
That’s all Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) have to announce for today. We’ll keep you posted on the updates on day 3.
