Ask Google Assistant to launch Stadia games on Android, Chromebooks

It's much easier to launch a Google Stadia games on your Android phones and Chromebooks. All you need to do is ask Google Assistant. You can say something as simple as "Play [insert game]" to have either device launch the title for you. It's easy to access on Chromebooks since all these laptops have a Search/Launcher key in place of Cap Locks so that you can launch Assistant from there. If you'd rather not have to scroll through the games you own, this method is a quick way to get to what you want. Now, if you don't own the title yet, you'll just be presented with a regular search term.

Source: 9to5Google

Google Assistant on Chromebook is coming next week to 15 countries first

We have been waiting for nearly a year now for Google Assistant to come to Chromebooks. It should be arriving in the coming week alongside Chrome OS 77 update. There are caveats, though. One is it'll be available in 15 countries. Another is that G Suite accounts won't have access to the feature yet. Developers are working on the best way for enterprise users to control access to Google Assistant.

As we mentioned, there are a limited number of countries the feature will roll out initially. There's also a limitation which chosen languages it'll be available in. For Canada, English and French will be supported. The other countries getting support for Google Assistant include Australia, Denmark, El Salvador, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands (Dutch), New Zealand, Norway (Nynorsk & Bokmål), Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Source: 9to5Google

Google wants to make it easier to sync Bluetooth headphone pairing across your devices

With headphone jacks slowly making their way out of smartphones, we’re forced to either use USB-C earbuds or rely on Bluetooth-powered headphones to listen to music on our mobile devices. In hopes of easing the pain of syncing your Bluetooth headphones and speakers, Google accounts can now remember Fast Pair-compatible headphones you have used and transfer this connection to other devices you’re signed in. It’s also coming to Chromebooks in 2019. Fast Pair, which originally launched in October 2017, hasn’t been adopted as quickly as Google would like. JayBirds already has a few Fast Pair headsets but this time brands like Bose and Anker are also going to support the feature.

To register a compatible Fast Pair device, you just need to turn it on and an Android 6.0+ phone will generate a pop-up to speed up the pairing process. The latest update will allow your Google account to remember the headphones you’ve paired it to and carry that information to other devices you sign into.

Source: The Verge

Chromebooks to get Snapdragon 845?

While we expect the next batch of premium smartphones to carry the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, the company has also been talking up the “Always Connected PCs” idea of having Windows 10 run on the ARM architecture. And it looks like Microsoft’s operating system won’t be the only one possibly running on the Snapdragon 845. According to the Chromium commits spotted by XDA Developers, there is a possibility of Chromebooks being able to run these. The first of these commits reference a new board called “chezea,” while the following one defines “chezea” as a new board overlay for a reference device that runs the Snapdragon 845. We won’t be surprised if this is the case, though, as Chrome OS is considered a lighter operating system than Windows 10.

Source: GSMArena