![Search For Device Chrome Management Mac Address Search For Device Chrome Management Mac Address](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125467081/693167499.png)
The MAC (media access controller) address is a unique identification number for your computer’s networking hardware. Generally, it just works, but sometimes you need to change it.
The saga of Google's platform has seen plenty of dramatic twists — but from the get-go, most tech-observers have been too busy scoffing at the software to notice the rich narrative unfolding around it. Bring up Chrome OS with most pundits — be they professionals or the social-media-dwelling variety — and you tend to hear the same sorts of reactions:. It's just a browser. You could open up Chrome on your Windows or Mac machine and have the same thing. It's fine if you don't need to do anything real on your computer.
Why hasn't Google gotten rid of it or combined it with Android already? Each one of those reactions is, as those of us who have actually spent a meaningful amount of time living with Chrome OS know. Chromebooks offer not present with traditional operating systems; they're capable of handling the full range of tasks the majority of people perform on computers nowadays; and all the 'Android-Chrome OS merger' speculation has been off-target from the start. Crazy as the notion may seem on the surface, Chrome OS and the devices it powers have a real place in the mobile productivity world — and that place is only expected to, with the enterprise taking on an in the months ahead. A small and scrappy platform with modest initial market share, oft-overlooked potential and impressive year-to-year growth — all driven by an open-source model that allows any manufacturer to dip its toes into the ecosystem?
You know, that sounds an awful lot like I also recall. Perhaps it's no surprise, all considered, that the popular public opinion always seems to be that Google should or would somehow 'merge' Chrome OS into Android. We've been hearing predictions of such a combination for years now, but what those of us who look closely at the platforms have actually seen are far more nuanced signs of alignment — a gradual adjustment that allows both platforms to remain intact while in mutually beneficial ways.
To comment on this story, visit. And now, that effort is being cranked into overdrive.
As has typically been the case throughout this progression, each individual piece of the puzzle may not look like anything monumental in and of itself — but add 'em all up together, and you start to see the forest for the trees. And boy, do we have quite the woodland sprouting up around us this summer. Consider these recent steps in Google's Android-Chrome OS alignment effort: 1. A new touch-friendly Chrome OS launcher It's for now and is available only in Chrome OS's cutting-edge Canary channel — but at this reimagined Chromebook 'home screen' environment, and you're bound to notice something: JR Seem familiar? It should — especially if you know Google's current Android-focused launcher, the: JR Need I say more?
An early effort to make the Play Store the default app storefront for Chromebooks Android apps being available on Chrome OS is a key part of the platforms' convergence — but in theory, it's proven to be a bit awkward in practice. A large part of that is due to the confusing nature of the implementation.
On supported Chromebooks, you can now install Android apps by going to the Play Store and searching — or you can install Chrome apps by going to the Chrome Web Store and searching there. That's all well and good for tech-minded folks who understand such distinctions, but let's be realistic: Most normal people just think 'I want to use Word' or 'I need Skype.' They don't consider what flavor of app might address their needs or which storefront they should search to find it. Having Android apps available in a Chromebook's capabilities, but it also creates a fair amount of confusion. Google appears to be ready to address that via a to the aforementioned experimental Chrome OS launcher. It changes the way search operates on the system level so that when you search for an app in the launcher, you see results from the Play Store by default (provided your device is among those with Android app support). The Chrome Web Store, in other words, is being pushed out of focus and into the background.
'Android apps' (and yes, I'm placing that term in quotes now) are becoming the main supplement to the regular ol' web-based tools at Chrome OS's core. And that, suffice it to say, is an enormously significant step.
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It's not an entirely surprising one, either: Back in August of last year, Google its plan for beginning 'the evolution away from the Chrome apps platform.' A mere 1% of users across traditional platforms actively use Chrome's packaged apps, the company pointed out, and the regular ol' web has progressed to the point where most of those apps' advanced functions — being able to work offline, send notifications and connect with hardware — can be accomplished natively within the browser, without the need for anything extra to be installed. The announcement didn't spell out the end of Chrome apps for Chrome OS, specifically, but it pretty clearly laid out Google's long-term plan for phasing out the Chrome app as a point of emphasis and making sure its functionality wouldn't be missed. It's hard not to draw a connection between that and the inching forward of the Play Store as the primary Chrome OS app storefront — a shift that could bring some much-needed clarity to the app environment and could also go a long way in. (And don't forget, too, that Android O introduces some noteworthy improvements that'll help in the Chrome OS environment. Coincidence?) 3. A more Android-like way to get around Chrome OS When you think about getting around Android, you probably think about one of the platform's most distinctive visual elements: the set of three navigation keys that's almost always present at the bottom of a device's screen.
Well, guess what appeared in a recent Canary build of Chrome OS? Look closely: See that in the bottom-left corner? Oh, yes: It's an Android-esque Back button, right next to the already-Android-style Home button (which takes you to the Chrome OS launcher). That setup, as first by an eagle-eyed Google+ user and subsequently by the website Chrome Story, appears whenever you're using a convertible Chromebook in its tablet mode (with the physical keyboard flipped around the back). There's more: Look in the lower-right corner of the screen. That little button — one that's been present in the Chrome OS tablet-mode interface for some time now — opens up a multitasking tool that lets you view all of your open apps and tabs together and quickly jump between them. And guess what?
That tool just happens to sport an interface that's incredibly similar to the Overview UI earlier this year. Swap out the Chrome OS multitasking icon for the Android Overview icon — a minor tweak that doesn't seem far-fetched to imagine happening in the foreseeable future — and, well, see where this is going? Google Assistant on Chromebooks We just talked about this last bit, but to refresh your memory: Signs suggest Google's getting ready to bring its A.I. Tool into the realm of Chrome OS.
Before long, you'll likely be able to press a dedicated button or speak a hotw.