No idea how much space is left on your Chromebook? An upcoming update will give you a quick way to check, which could prove useful in a world where users are all installing way too many Android apps.
Google employee François Beaufort posted a screenshot of the new Storage Manager on his Google+ page yesterday. The feature will prove crucial as Chromebooks become more capable of running local applications, thanks in no small part to Android app support on the platform.
The simple window lets users see how much space the internal hard drive offers, and how much is currently in use. There’s also a breakdown of what’s taking up the space, downloaded files, and files synced from Google Drive for offline access. Presumably another section will be added for Android apps.
Anyone using the Dev channel of Chrome OS updates can find the new feature by typing “chrome://flags” in the address bar and hitting enter, then toggling the “#enable-storage-manager” flag. Restart Chrome and a “Storage” button will be added to the Device section of the settings.
For a long time internal storage on a Chromebook was an afterthought, the devices being mostly intended for web browsing. The idea was that everything would be stored on Google’s cloud, with only a few files synced for offline usage.
Because of this, many Chromebooks offer very little hard drive space. 16GB is a typical base hard drive. But with support for Android applications posed to become widespread, more and more users might start filling their local hard drives with games and other applications.
So while it may seem strange that Chromebooks didn’t offer a storage manager until now, its addition points to a future where Chromebooks run a lot more local software. And if you’re looking to buy a Chromebook soon, it might be a good idea to pay attention to the hard drive space.
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.