Google I/O: Day 2 Keynote Highlights

Google I/O has kicked off for the second and final day with another Keynote and today was all about Chrome.

Chrome

• 160,000,000 Chrome users
• Speech recognition built straight into Chrome
• Performance improvements are the main focus
• GPU acceleration for more elements, such as Canvas2D and WebGL, 10x performance increase in certain situations

Chrome Web store

• Launched 3 months ago
• 17 million apps installed
• Now Available in 41 different languages to all Chrome users
• Focus for developers to monetise apps,
• In-app payments, one-click solutions
• Developers keep 95% of payments, flat-rate 5% fee for Google
• Angry Birds coming to Web store - can be played offline thanks to local storage, contains exclusive levels and will use in-app purchases to buy the "mighty eagle". Available when Keynote ends (i.e. Now!).
• "Dream Realities" open source project demonstrates impressively what the latest web technologies can do - full 3D, interactive music video

Chrome OS

• "Nothing but the web" - remove reliance on legacy things like BIOS, updates, antivirus, etc.
• Notebooks with Chrome OS is a "Chromebook", according to Google
• New Media capabilities - audio and video players, compliments new Google Music and Movie rental services, as well as services like Netflix and Pandora
• Web apps can integrate themselves into Chrome OS as file handlers, i.e. Picasa can be used to share photographs just by selecting them
• Focus is on getting your offline files into the cloud
• Applications, such as Gmail, have also been updated to work offline
• Working with Samsung, Acer, Intel, Verizon and various international carriers to bring Chromebooks to the market
• Chromebooks from Samsung ($429 for Wifi, $499 for 3G) and Acer ($349) coming June 15 via Amazon and Best Buy, to several countries worldwide
• Citrix and VMware will be fully supported
• Have been pilot tested in hundreds of companies
• Chromebooks will be available for businesses
• Software/Hardware as a service - full support, warranty, replacements, etc.
• Automatically get upgraded to latest hardware as it is available at no extra cost
• $28 per user
• Chrome "box" will be available as well - works like a thin client PC, allowing you to use large monitors and standard keyboard/mice
• Chromebooks will be available for schools and governments, same benefits as business but $20 per user
• Available June 15

And guess what, everyone attending will get a free Chromebook when they're available.