Author: Kevin Tofel

A touch screen issue on Chromebooks and Chrome OS tablets appears related to an experimental touch logic feature that’s enabled by default. The quick fix is to disable the feature while the long-term solution is still being worked on.

One of the best Chrome OS devices to launch last year was the Asus Chromebook Flip C302 and Amazon is now selling it for $50 off. Yes, it has an older sixth-gen Core m3 chip, but it does provide solid performance.

Now’s a good time to nab an HP Chromebook X2 if you were hoping for a small sale: Best Buy is offering the detachable Chromebook for $30 off, bringing the cost down to $569.99. This base model is great for typical Chromebook tasks but developers might want to hold off for a configuration with more memory.

The latest Chrome OS Dev Channel brings Linux app stability, a fix for external monitors and a modified directory tree layout in the Files app; be sure to update if you’re running Chrome OS 69.

Google is enabling a key Project Crostini component for the next generation of low-cost Chromebooks that will run on new Intel chips. There’s a good chance that going forward, many (if not all) new Chromebooks will run Linux apps on day one.

Google has added long-press app shortcuts to Android apps on the Chrome OS Dev Channel. These behave just as they do on an Android phone: A tap and hold brings up contextual shortcuts.

Say hello to Wand: A detachable Chromebook device that will have a battery in both the screen and the keyboard base. We might see longer run times as a result, plus a less “top heavy” Chromebook with removable tablet display.

Google is working on allowing a new tab page to show one of your Google Photos as a background on Chromebooks and Chromeboxes for very personalized customization.

The upcoming Snapdragon 845 powered Chromebook known as “Cheza” will take advantage of a faster embedded storage method known as UFS, or Universal Flash Storage. That means large files will transfer extremely fast with simultaneous reads and writes.

Users with Chrome tablets like the Acer Chromebook Tab 10, HP Chromebook X2 and Pixelbook are experiencing touch issues that appear related to device rotation when using the Dev Channel.

Now that Project Crostini is quickly spreading to many Chromebooks: What Linux apps should you install? It depends on what you want to do, of course, so here are two resources that provide Linux “equivalents” of Windows apps.