latest
Google Chrome's Android-like media player is just about ready
Desktop browser gets a dash of Android goodness
Google Chrome Canary is updated regularly with new features, and in the last few months, most of the changes have focused on the visual design to ensure our favorite browser on Android looks current, even on other operating systems. In the version built for Windows, Google recently introduced dynamic theming and AI-generated wallpapers for a handful of users. Now, another change in the Canary channel gives us access to an Android 14-style media player.
Three hidden Chrome OS 91 features you should enable right now
Quality of life improvements to your Chromebook
It's been a few days since Chrome OS 91 landed on Chromebooks, which introduced helpful features like Nearby Share and a competent media player. Following its release, we've been digging into the new update and uncovering even more that could improve your Chromebook experience. Here are three experimental but helpful features we've found that you can try right now.
Google tests dynamic backgrounds and scrubbing for Chrome's new media controls
A little Android-like trickle-down
Last year, Google introduced new media playback controls for Chrome and Chrome OS, helping you control music or videos playing in the background without opening the respective window or tab. While the feature is already incredibly useful in its current form, Google is looking to make it even better by adding a scrubbing bar and a background matching the album cover or thumbnail.
Google is bringing Android 11's media notifications to Chrome OS
Keep more of your important notifications in view, not less
Tired of the awful Chrome OS media controls wasting your precious notification space?
Google recently added a 'global media controls' flag to Chrome that lets you control foreground and background media right from the browser's toolbar. The feature has since arrived on the stable release of Chrome, though it still needs to be activated via chrome://flags/#global-media-controls before you can use it. To make it even handier, Google seems to be working on adding the ability to control cast content via these playback buttons.