Chromebooks Are Getting a New Button and a Host of Google AI Features

Google is introducing a new "Quick Insert" button on Chromebooks, offering contextual AI tools across the operating system. The feature debuts on Samsung's Galaxy Chromebook Plus, replacing the traditional Caps Lock key. Older Chromebooks can access Quick Insert via a keyboard shortcut. The button opens an overlay providing access to emojis, GIFs, Google's Help Me Write AI feature, and recent web links. Future updates will include AI-generated image creation.

Google is also rolling out new AI features to Chromebook Plus devices, including automatic transcription, real-time translation, and voice isolation for video calls. Standard Chromebooks will receive updates like Welcome Recap and Focus mode. Lenovo and Samsung are launching new Chromebook models to coincide with these software updates. The Lenovo Duet, a detachable 2-in-1, features an 11-inch 2K screen and starts at $349. Samsung's Galaxy Chromebook Plus boasts a 15.6-inch OLED display in a lightweight 2.58-pound package.

Google decideds to drop out of school

[dmay34]

This move doesn't make much sense to me. Google ChromeOS's best customer base is schools. If they put this into ChromeOS computers teachers are gonna be hacked off. Schools are gonna drop them and migrate to Apple or Microsoft.

Either this is going to be an optional feature that will be left off of student notebooks or ChromeOS is gonna drop of 0.01% marketshare in a few years as contracts get renewed.

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[Malay2bowman]

"Schools are gonna drop them and migrate to Apple or Microsoft." I expect M$ will just follow Google on this, so that one might be off the table. Apple hopefully still remembers their education-domination market and knows what teachers want and don't want.

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[omnichad]

Chromebook vs Chromebook Plus. Chromebook Plus didn't have a name before, I don't think. And those have all sorts of hardware that is too expensive for schools.

data rape

[awwshit]

Go ahead, press the "Quick Data Rape" button as often as you like.

Google is playing a ballsy game

[Kiddo 9000]

Google is playing a ballsy game here by integrating a plagiarism/cheating machine directly into one of the most popular devices in schools right now. If OEMs put this in their Chromebooks for schools I wonder what the reaction will be from teachers and educators.

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[Kiddo 9000]

There is a vast difference between the two here. Wikipedia is a public encyclopedia that is free to use and edit, whereas LLMs just scrape the internet and write out your entire assignment (albeit with the chance that part or all of it is made up). Wikipedia will not do your homework for you. You still have to put in the effort of writing it and putting it into your own words, thus in this case they aren't comparable.

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[Malay2bowman]

It seems Google has really gone off the rails in decision making these last few years. It makes me wonder who exactly is in charge of the company.

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[FudRucker]

"Hey Google", do my homework"

Google ruins the caps lock key?

[moncyb]

First Microsoft ruins the control key, now Google is ruining the caps lock key. Great.

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[tdsotf]

Google seems to have a problem with the caps lock key. The chromebook I have is from around 10 yrs ago. Where the caps lock key is, there is a 'search' key. I had to go into Settings somewhere to switch it to act like a caps lock button. Dear Google, leave the caps lock key alone!!

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[fahrbot-bot]

Early Sun keyboards had the physical Control and Caps Lock keys swapped vs. most other keyboards -- annoying Emacs users, like me, to no end.

Replacing the traditional Caps Lock key (sigh)

[fahrbot-bot]

The feature debuts on Samsung's Galaxy Chromebook Plus, replacing the traditional Caps Lock key.

Guessing people, and former Presidents, with a fondness for posting in ALL CAPS, won't be getting this Chromebook for Christmas ... :-)

Also, while I don't use Caps Lock much, screwing with the traditional keyboard layout generally annoys me. Too many bad memories of having to switch between PC and Sun keyboards (way) back in college -- where the Control and Caps Lock keys were swapped. Just add another frelling key -- that people can easily ignore.

Chromebooks were dumb to start with...

[Excelcia]

Chromebooks are a dumb idea technically and a dangerous idea for a consumer. They are based on the premise that software will die and there will be the great falling away of the app.

Because a web browser as an OS was a dumb idea on its face?

Thirty years ago they told us that OLE would remove the difference between one application and another - that the line of where one ended and another began was a thing of the past, one big super-application that could do anything. That never materialized.

Twenty-five yea

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[alvinrod]

I'm pretty sure you can still install full blown Linux on a Chromebook, so it's nice as a really cheap notebook for anyone who doesn't need a lot of processing power.

I don't care as much about the notion of a web app as much as I do about giving Google any more information about myself than I have to. Incognito mode turned out to be far less private than advertised and I'm not touching anything they make for anything remotely sensitive. I only have Chrome installed for testing purposes and have moved awa