Google may be developing Apple-like Continuity features for Chrome OS and Android. In recent experimental updates, 9to5Google has found instances of a new tool that will possibly allow users to resume and continue their Android phone activities on a Chromebook.
Internally called the Android Phone Hub, it will offer a “UI for users to view information about their Android phone and perform phone-side actions within Chrome OS.” Based on further pre-release evidence, Android Phone Hub will be capable of mirroring notifications from Android phones and potentially let users respond to them too right from a Chromebook.
Since it appears to feature a full-fledged user instance, Android Phone Hub could function similarly to Microsoft’s Your Phone app through which users can access their Android phones from a central hub on their Windows PC and perform actions such as making calls and controlling the music playback.
What’s more interesting, however, is the “Phone Hub Task Continuation” attribute. This suggests with Android Phone Hub, Android owners may be able to resume what they were doing on their phones on Chromebooks.
Apple has been offering deep integration between Macs and iPhones for ages called Handoff that enables users to pick up where they left off on apps like Pages, Safari, Mail, and more. For instance, you can begin writing an email on your phone and a notification will appear on your Mac to resume it on the desktop Mail app — instead of you going through piles of menus to launch the draft.
It’s unlikely, however, Android Phone Hub will be so advanced at least in its early stages. Chrome OS already comes with a handful of abilities for connecting to an Android phone. At the moment, you can respond to text messages, access your phone’s mobile data, unlock with your phone’s fingerprint sensor, and more on your Chromebook.
Google is also in the middle of developing an AirDrop-esque alternative for Android and Chrome OS. The Android Phone Hub could, therefore, be a part of a larger update and initiative. It’s unclear when all of this will be released publicly. While users can now try out Google’s AirDrop counterpart, Nearby Sharing, the Android Phone Hub is not yet available even in the experimental Chrome OS builds.
We’ve reached out to Google for confirmation and we’ll update the story when we hear back.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.