How to manage downloads and files on your Chromebook

Make the most of your Chromebook’s limited storage by managing your downloads and files.

Chromebooks are designed from the ground up to work “with the cloud” and they do a fine job at it. But they also work just as well with locally stored files if you want to keep things close. Even if you regularly work from the cloud, you might want to keep a local copy of that thing you’re currently working on in case you get stuck somewhere away from Wi-Fi for a bit. Your Chromebook doesn’t really care where you store your files, but because most devices have 64GB internal storage or less, you’ll want to take a bit of care how and where you put the important stuff.

Your Chromebook is a lot like your Android phone when it comes to downloading and storing files. You have a dedicated Downloads folder, or you can choose another spot in the user-accessible portion of your storage drive to place a file when you’re downloading it, and you can move files and folders around as you like as long as you stay out of the system files. On the surface, things look super simple and if you’d like to keep them that way you really only need to remember a couple things.

• Files won’t be mirrored or stored in your Google Drive account unless you put them in the Google Drive folder through the file manager.
• Files kept in the “Downloads” folder can be deleted when you get low on space.

But you don’t have to keep things that simple as there are plenty of other options when it comes to storing files on your Chromebook. Things like SD cards and other removable storage devices are a great option as are cloud-based services like Google Drive or Dropbox. You can even store files on a home network device like a NAS box and access them as if they were local. That’s part of what makes a Chromebook great — they are built for networked storage to act seamlessly.

Removable storage

You’ll see an SD card or USB hard drive listed as its own “folder” in Chrome’s built-in file manager. Once you click or tap on its icon, you’ll notice it is exactly the same as your physical storage space when it comes to the look, and it acts the same when you use it, too.

More: Best SD cards for Chromebooks

What you’ll need to remember is what you already know: these files are only there if the media — the SD card, thumb drive, or hard drive — is in place. That’s not a problem if you stick an SD card in the slot and never take it out, but if you use other storage remember to keep the things you often need in a local folder. I have a hard drive at my desk that I attach to my Chromebook when I “dock” it for work. It has music stored on it so I’m not likely to need any of the files while I’m away from my little office space. If I did need to have some documents on hand all of the time, that hard drive isn’t the best place to store them.

Right now, Android apps aren’t installed to the removable storage in Chrome. That should be soon changing and when it does, you’ll need to have your SD card in its slot to use any app you’ve installed that way. A thumb drive or hard drive isn’t going to be a great option if you let Android apps use the removable storage on your Chromebook.

The cloud

You get free Google Drive space when you set up a Google account and most Chromebooks also get you a bit of extra storage free for a year. This makes using Google Drive a no-brainer when it comes to the cloud, but you can use any service that lets you interface with it through a web browser.

Google Drive just works but you can use other cloud services through the Chrome file manager.

Some, like Dropbox, also have extensions that bundle them into the Chrome files app the same way Google Drive is. That’s super-handy because it’s seamless. you can use your Google Drive space (or Dropbox or OneDrive or local Samba shares with the right extensions) just like it was a local folder. You might have to wait a few seconds for things to upload properly once you place them in the Google Drive folder, but it makes for an easy way to store a lot more than you can locally.

Advanced users with a home network with attached storage can set up Windows or Samba sharing and use the Chrome OS Files app the same way through an extension. This gives the same benefit of “unlimited” storage space but allows you to keep files out of the cloud if that’s how you would rather work.

Backups

If you keep everything in Google Drive, you don’t have to worry about backups. That’s what I would recommend, especially if you’re not really a “computer person” and just want to make things simple. Open the Drive storage space in your file manager and create any and all folders for things like photos and music inside of it, and use it. No muss, no fuss.

You only remember backups twice — when someone reminds you and when you wish you had one.

If you don’t use Google Drive for all things you’ll want to remember that you should always have at least one backup of every important file you own. Two backups of every file is even better. You have a couple of great options available to you when it comes to backing up files from your Chromebook.

You can back up important files to an SD card or removable USB storage device. Just plug it in and wait for a second or two for your Chromebook to see it and set it up, then copy things over like you normally would. All you need to do then is remove the card or drive and store it somewhere safe.

You can back up important files to Google Drive, even if you normally don’t use the service. It’s just like copying files to any local folder, just choose the Drive storage space and create any folders you need for backups. Even if you have extra space for a year and decide not to renew it after, anything you store in Google Drive is always available. You just can’t add any new files once it’s full.

Setting up Dropbox or OneDrive with the file manager is as easy as clicking a button.

To use another online storage service, you can upload files through the company’s web interface. When given the opportunity to choose a file for uploading you’ll see the Chrome files app and it works exactly as you would expect.

You need to keep backups because everything is erased when you “Powerwash” your Chromebook. In other operating systems you can reinstall the whole OS without losing your user data and files. Chrome OS doesn’t work that way — when you reset a Chromebook through what’s called Powerwashing, everything is erased forever. You’re probably never going to do this by accident, but if you lose your Chromebook or it gets stolen, everything is gone forever. Back up your stuff.

About the Downloads folder

The Downloads folder in Chrome is not a regular folder. It’s a place where you can dump any file and any other app has access to it, but it’s managed by the OS itself. You can keep files in the Downloads folder and access them normally, but when you reach the point where 80% or more of your local storage is used the OS will randomly delete files in the Downloads folder to free space.

Chrome OS doesn’t have a Recycle Bin. When a file is deleted it is gone forever unless you have the means to rebuild it from a forensic check of the storage. Make it a practice to never keep any large file in the Downloads folder and to regularly move out any files you’ll want to keep.

Managing files and folders on a Chromebook isn’t hard, especially if you’re used to doing it on another operating system like Windows or macOS. All you need to know are a few extra details about the special way Chrome can work with the cloud and you’ll be a wizard in no time!

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• Join our Chromebook forums

Twitter: Everything you need to know

All the way back in 2006, a little website by the name of Twitter was created. This July marks the 12-year anniversary of the social network, and since then, Twitter’s become one of the most popular apps/sites around.

Over the years, Twitter’s become the go-to place to learn about current events, new movie trailers, fresh memes, and to scream about politics with random people online.

Whatever you use Twitter for, here’s everything you need to know about it.

The latest Twitter news

July 13, 2018 — Bottom-navigation bar comes to the Android app

After testing it out for a few weeks, Twitter decided to flip the switch and officially roll out the bottom navigation bar to all of its Android app users.

While the four main pages are the same, you’ll now find tabs for Home, Explore, Notifications, and Messages at the very bottom of the app rather than the top. Along with this change, Twitter’s also annoyingly removed the swipe gesture to go from page-to-page.

Lastly, Twitter’s made it easier to switch back and forth between All and Mentions in the Notifications tab.

June 13, 2018 — Twitter announces new features to more easily discover news topics

Twitter’s always sort of been an unofficial way to get caught up with the latest news, but thanks to a few new features coming soon, finding the latest stories/current events will feel a lot more natural and fleshed-out.

If something particularly big is happening, you’ll see a card for it at the top of the Home page. When you tap on a story from here or the revamped Explore page, you’ll see a brief bit of text outlining what’s happening, a live video if there’s on to accompany it, and tweets that can be filtered by Recap and Latest.

Along with all this, Twitter will also begin to send out push notifications to users if there’s a story the app thinks you’d be interested in.

All the big details

Home, Explore, Notifications, and Messages are the four main pages

In the Twitter app, you’ll be met with four main icons at the bottom to make your way around everything. They include:

• Home — This is the page you’ll go to every time you open Twitter. It shows a list of tweets from your followers, things they’ve liked, and anything they’ve retweeted. If you see something that looks out of place, it’s probably an advertisement (yay!).

• Explore — Want to know what’s happening around the world? Explore is the page for you. At the top is the day’s most popular story, below that are trends Twitter thinks you’ll be interested in, and as you keep scrolling, you’ll see other popular stories and curated tweets based on who you follow.

• Notifications — Upon going to the Notifications tab, you’ll see chronological entries for when a tweet of yours was liked/retweeted and when someone replied to a tweet or mentioned your username. If you just want to see these mentions/replies, tap on the Mentions icon near the top.

• Messages — Slide in those DMs! On the Messages tab, you can jump into any ongoing private conversations you have with other users or start a new thread by tapping the big blue circle near the bottom right.

Tweets can be a max of 280 characters

For the vast majority of its lifespan, one of the main draws to Twitter was its restricting limit of only being able to use 140 characters per tweet. However, in November 2017, Twitter made a pretty controversial decision to double it to 280 characters for all users after testing it with small groups.

If you have a particularly big rant to go on and need more than 280 characters to get all your thoughts out, you can tap a small + icon to quickly add another tweet to your thread and then send multiple tweets out at once in an uninterrupted stream.

All hail the built-in dark mode

Even though Google still can’t get its head around a system-wide dark mode for Android, the Twitter app has had one for years.

You can manually enable it by tapping the moon icon on the hamburger menu, or have it turn on and off automatically in accordance with the sunset and sunrise.

If you want to configure these settings, tap your profile icon near the top right and go to Settings and privacy -> Display and sound -> Night mode.

Bookmarks is the best feature you’re not using

This past February, Twitter added a new feature called “Bookmarks.” It’s technically not a huge addition, but it’s one that’s proven to be extremely useful in day-to-day use.

I like just about every tweet that makes me chuckle or I find interesting, and while I’m more than happy to throw those virtual hearts around, this does make it extremely difficult to go back and find a specific tweet later on.

With bookmarks, you can add tweets to a separate page that only you can see so you can go back and view them at a later time.

It never hurts to make your account more secure

Whether there’s a data breach or you just think it’s time to beef up the security for your account, resetting your Twitter password is fairly simple.

Once you’ve got a new password created, you may also want to think about enabling two-factor authentication for your account. This requires you to enter a unique code each time you log in from a new device, and with Twitter, you have the option of getting this code texted to you or through an app like Google Authenticator.

How to change your Twitter password and activate two-factor authentication

A Lite version of the app is available for developing countries

If you live in a developing market and/or have a phone that has struggles handling the full-fledged Twitter app, you can download a slimmed-down version called Twitter Lite that aims to offer the core Twitter experience while trimming down some of the unnecessary fat.

All of the main Twitter features are included with Twitter Lite, such as your timeline, profile pages, direct messaging, and even the Explore page. On top of that, there’s also a Data Saver tool to help you use even less data.

Twitter Lite should work well on even 2G and 3G networks and the app weighs in at just 810KB.

As it currently stands, Twitter Lite is available in:

• Algeria
• Bangladesh
• Bolivia
• Brazil
• Chile
• Columbia
• Costa Rica
• Ecuador
• Egypt
• El Salvador
• Israel
• Kazakhstan
• Mexico
• Malaysia
• Nigeria
• Nepal
• Panama
• Peru
• Serbia
• South Africa
• Tanzania
• Thailand
• Tunisia
• Venezuela

Download: Twitter Lite (free)

Apple Supplier LG Display’s Quarterly Losses Unlikely to Affect OLED Investment

Apple supplier LG Display has reported a second quarterly loss and cut its investment plans by $2.7 billion up to 2020, on mounting concerns for the smartphone market (via Reuters).

LG shares fell 7 percent after it posted faster-than-expected declines in the price of display panels and an unpredictable outlook. The announcement follows news that another Apple supplier, Taiwan-based TSMC, also scaled back its revenue and investment estimates over uncertainty in the mobile market linked to risks of oversupply and unbalanced competition.

Crucially for Apple, LG said the $2.7 billion investment cut would not impact the speed of the Korean firm’s transition from LCD to OLED production, although existing LCD operations could be affected.

The investment cut would not impact plans to “speed up the shift” from LG’s mainstay liquid crystal display (LCD) business toward next-generation organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels, the company said.

Plans to invest about 20 trillion won in OLED panels by 2020 remained unchanged, meaning the cuts would apply mainly to LCD operations.

LG’s traditional LCD business, which analysts estimate makes up more than 90 percent of its sales, is reportedly struggling with falling prices as fast-growing Chinese panel makers ramp up their capacity.

Against that backdrop, Apple is investing $2.67 billion in LG’s OLED panel business, with the Korean firm said to be building a production line dedicated to iPhone orders only, as part of its agreement with Apple.

Separately, LG is believed to have signed a deal with Apple to supply both LCD and OLED panels for the company’s 2018 range of iPhones.

Apple is expected to launch two OLED iPhones (5.8 and 6.5 inches) and one 6.1-inch LCD iPhone later this year, with the LCD device to be positioned as a low-cost option alongside the two more expensive OLED devices.

The contract should see LG ship around 20 million LCD smartphone panels and around 3-4 million OLED panels to Apple in 2018. LG also hopes to secure the majority of 6.5-inch panel orders from Apple in 2019, which will see the firm ramp up its OLED shipments to 10 million units in the year.

LG’s OLED panel business has yet to make a profit, but the company said it would be positive for earnings in the third quarter.

Related Roundup: 2018 iPhonesTags: OLED, LG Display
Discuss this article in our forums

Highly Requested Dark Mode Comes to Outlook Web Mail Service

Microsoft today launched a much-requested dark mode for its Outlook.com web mail service. The company teased the new mode earlier this month, suggesting it would be reminiscent of last year’s Halloween theme for Outlook.

The new dark mode actually adopts shades of grey to generate panel contrast, providing a more polished look as a result. You can enable it from the Quick settings menu (the cog wheel icon in the upper right). Currently it only works with the default blue theme.

The dark mode for Outlook.com is one of the most highly requested features for Microsoft’s web mail service, according to listings on the Outlook.com feedback site, although there’s still no word on whether a similar mode is coming to the mobile Outlook app.

Last month, Microsoft launched a rebranded version of its Microsoft News app for iOS with a dark mode. Several other iOS apps have similar modes, including Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, and Twitch, while Apple’s upcoming macOS Mojave also includes dark mode support.

Related Roundup: macOS MojaveTags: Microsoft, Microsoft Outlook
Discuss this article in our forums

Top 5 reasons to be excited about the Xiaomi Mi A2

With an 18:9 display, all-new cameras, and Android One, the Mi A2 has plenty to offer.

The Mi A2 is now official, offering robust hardware backed by the promise of quick updates via Android One.

Xiaomi’s phones have always stood out for the sheer value for money they offered, but MIUI takes some getting used to. That’s what makes the Mi A2 such an enticing option — you’re getting that same great hardware as well as a pure Android experience. Here’s what you can look forward to from the Mi A2.

Android One on Xiaomi hardware is still great

The launch of the Android One-based Mi A1 last year was a major departure for Xiaomi, which has touted its MIUI skin as a key differentiator since its inception.

The Mi A1 didn’t push the needle in terms of sales nearly as much as the Redmi Note 5 series, but it was a hit with users looking to get an uncluttered software experience along with great hardware.

The Mi A2 doesn’t deviate much from that ideal, and the software is near-identical to last year. There are a few additions from Xiaomi — including a Mi Remote app to facilitate usage of the IR blaster, Mi Store, Mi Community, and Xiaomi’s own file manager, but aside from that, it’s the same great Android experience as you’ll get from any Android One phone today.

Although the Mi A2 is launching with Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box, Xiaomi says it will deliver the Android P update shortly after it becomes available.

Snapdragon 660 is the best mid-range chipset right now

Xiaomi rolled out a few devices with the Snapdragon 660 over the course of the last 12 months, but the Mi A2 is the first global device from the manufacturer to feature the chipset. And that’s great, because the Snapdragon 660 is one of the best chipsets available today.

The Snapdragon 660 has Kryo 260 cores that are clocked up to 2.2GHz. The Kryo cores offer the same level of performance as the Snapdragon 820, and it manages to do so on devices that retail for under $400.

Alongside the Snapdragon 660, the Mi A2 also offers up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. That particular option will set customers back to the tune of $410, the 4GB/64GB option strikes the sweet spot, coming in at just $325.

The 18:9 panel offers more screen real estate

I’m not a fan of the notch, and thankfully Xiaomi didn’t go that route with the Mi A2 (the A2 Lite, though, does have one). The Mi A2 has a more sensible 18:9 panel, and while there are noticeable bezels at the top and bottom, you do get much more screen real estate in roughly the same dimensions as the Mi A1.

The 5.99-inch FHD+ (2160×1080) screen on the Mi A2 is backed by Gorilla Glass 5, which should offer a decent amount of protection against tumbles.

Talking about design in general, the Mi A2 is significantly thinner than its predecessor, and that’s immediately evident from the moment you pick up the phone. The design language hasn’t changed all that much from last year, and the black variant of the Mi A2 in particular looks very similar to that of the Mi Max 2.

Both the front an rear cameras have been overhauled

The rear camera on the Mi A2 now features a 12MP + 20MP configuration, and unlike last year, the secondary sensor isn’t a telephoto lens. Instead, it is used primarily for taking photos in low-light conditions.

Like the OnePlus 5T last year, the Mi A2 automatically switches between the two sensors based on the amount of ambient light available. The 20MP IMX376 sensor is preferred over the 12MP IMX486 module as the former relies on pixel binning to reduce noise for low-light shots.

To make things more interesting, Xiaomi is rolling out the ability to switch between the 12MP or 20MP camera manually — the 12MP lens is denoted the standard lens and the 20MP listed as the low-light sensor in the manual mode settings.

The same 20MP IMX376 sensor is present up front as well, and it also uses pixel binning to produce selfies that are full of detail. Like most of its devices this year, Xiaomi is leveraging AI smarts to include a portrait mode for the front camera, and there’s also an LED flash module at the front that kicks in when taking selfies in low-light scenarios.

The Mi A2 builds on the strengths of its predecessor in this area, and could just be one of the best

You get Quick Charge 3.0 as standard

One feature that’s thankfully intact from last year is Quick Charge 3.0. Xiaomi hasn’t always offered a compelling charging solution on a majority of its phones — sticking to 5V/2A instead — but the Mi A1 and the Mi Max 2 were the exceptions last year in the budget category.

The Mi A2 comes with a standard 5V/2A charger out of the box, but you will be able to use a third-party wall unit to top up at 18W.

More to come

We’ve barely scratched the surface with the Mi A2. The phone has plenty going for it, and the hardware updates make it a much more compelling option if you’re looking to pick up a phone for under $400.

As for availability, Xiaomi says the Mi A2 will be heading to over 40 global markets in the coming months, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to get a hold of the device.

What are your thoughts on the Mi A2? Let us know in the comments below.

Google Street View gives woman a special gift — an image of her late mother

A former Florida woman hoping to glimpse a little piece of her past got more than she bargained for when she took to Google Street View to take a peek at her old residence. Denise Underhill, who now resides in the U.K. in Tamworth, Staffordshire, had an overwhelming desire to call her mother, which unfortunately was not possible given that her mother passed away in 2015. But thanks to modern technology and infrequently updated Street View imagery, when Underhill decided to do the next best thing — take a look at her mother’s old home using the mapping service — she saw not just her mother’s house, but her mother as well.

“As I went about my housework, I somehow instantaneously had the impulse to call my mother, but realized that it was completely out of the question,” she told the Tamworth Herald. “I decided to Google Earth my mother’s home to see how it looked, considering … she had passed away in 2015 and the property had been sold.”

The home was relatively easy to find, given that a tall silver birch tree serves as something of a landmark. And when she zoomed in, Underhill was shocked to find an image of her mother watering plants in their old garden.

“I got the biggest surprise ever! I just couldn’t believe it,” she told the Herald. “At the foot of the driveway was my mother. She was watering the garden, just as she always did. I was absolutely astounded – it made my day. You never know what photos are being taken but they really do last a lifetime.”

Underhill added, “I think someone wanted me to see this.”

Much of Google Street View’s imagery is regularly updated on a yearly basis, thanks to camera-equipped Google cars roaming urban and rural streets alike, which means that it is not necessarily common for someone like Underhill to have seen a dated but precious photo. Today, hundreds of thousands of contributors help keep Google Street View as current as possible, and the company is always expanding its reach with hopes of offering users glimpses at other parts of the world.

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You can now buy a real-life Iron Man-style jetsuit … for the price of a house

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Have you ever wanted to soar through the air in an Iron Man-style suit like a real-life superhero? Do you have the financial resources of a real-life Tony Stark to go along with it? If so, you may want to queue up (or get your butler to do so on your behalf) to pay the sum of $446,000 for your very own version of British inventor Richard Browning’s jet-propelled suit, which recently went on sale at high-end London-based department store Selfridges.

Comprising five jet engines, a 3D-printed structure, and a head-up display for showing your remaining fuel levels, it’s the closest you’ll get to live as a true comic book hero — supervillains not included.

We previously wrote about Gravity industries’ flying exosuit project at the start of last year. However, inventor Richard Browning noted that plenty of upgrades have happened since then. “A huge amount of modifications have happened since 2017, learned from flying at events,” he told Digital Trends. “We consolidated the two rear engines into one large one, improved efficiency and power, made it smaller, and changed the geometry of the arm mount in a way that’s made a dramatic difference to stability.”

For a look at the finished market-ready suit, check out the B-roll footage below. While it’s not a slickly edited video package, it gives you some idea of how the suit functions in the real world:

Browning said that no license is needed to fly the suit (although, if you’re going to spend your kid’s college fund, you probably need written permission from your spouse), and that training takes just a few minutes. “We’ve had a pilot with five minutes’ training who managed to hover untethered very happily,” he continued. “A lot does depend on fitness level and aptitude, but you don’t have to be a superhero or superhuman to fly it. It taps into an innate human balancing ability in a really uncanny way, so it’s extremely accessible.”

As to whether it will ever be accessible to those of us who haven’t founded startups worth seven figures and can’t afford to eat gold-encrusted lobster for lunch? Don’t worry: You haven’t been forgotten about. “Do we afford to make more affordable ones?” Browning said. “Inevitably, the cost will come down. We’re also working on an electric version which will be vastly more accessible. So watch this space.”

But maybe resign yourself to commuting the old-fashioned way for the time being.

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Google video shows possible all-white redesign for Gmail and its other apps

Google is reportedly working on a variety of changes to both its web and mobile apps. First spotted by Ars Technica, a new Material Design video surfaced with a preview of what we can possibly expect for the redesign of Android apps like Gmail, Google Photos, Google Drive, and more. The report thoroughly notes all the changes that could be released within the redesign.

The video was created by Adam Grabowski and Nicolo Bianchino — who worked together alongside the Google Material Design team —  and is meant to “showcase their updated design system for the internal teams.” While it has since then been set to private on Vimeo, it’s been re-uploaded to YouTube where everyone can view it. The design sizzle reel shows a variety of different shapes and effects with one common theme — everything is extremely white.

Implemented in 2014, the original Material Design user interface launched with Android Lollipop. The design language introduced a clean color palette — complete with deeper shadows and crisp edges. Last year, Google made it easier for other developers to apply the design to their own apps and games by adding a new color utility.

For starters, it appears the red UI elements Gmail is known for will be replaced by a white bottom bar and white background. The video also shows email attachments scrolling horizontally through the message screen. Controls such as “Mark as Read,” “Archive,” “Delete,” and “Reply All” are found within a bottom bar at the bottom of the screen. The same bottom button format appears on Google Drive, along with tabs up top and a search bar.

As for Google Photos, the app seems to look the same overall — other than the switch to a white background instead of the original gray. The sidebar that houses buttons such as “Photos,” “Albums,” “Photo Books,” and more, have transformed into round icons that sit at the top instead. A search bar has also been added to Google Trips, along with a colorful logo, search icon, and menu button.

Of course, it’s important to remember that these changes aren’t final. The visuals seen in the video are most likely mockups that are subject to change.

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Google video shows possible all-white redesign for Gmail and its other apps

Google is reportedly working on a variety of changes to both its web and mobile apps. First spotted by Ars Technica, a new Material Design video surfaced with a preview of what we can possibly expect for the redesign of Android apps like Gmail, Google Photos, Google Drive, and more. The report thoroughly notes all the changes that could be released within the redesign.

The video was created by Adam Grabowski and Nicolo Bianchino — who worked together alongside the Google Material Design team —  and is meant to “showcase their updated design system for the internal teams.” While it has since then been set to private on Vimeo, it’s been re-uploaded to YouTube where everyone can view it. The design sizzle reel shows a variety of different shapes and effects with one common theme — everything is extremely white.

Implemented in 2014, the original Material Design user interface launched with Android Lollipop. The design language introduced a clean color palette — complete with deeper shadows and crisp edges. Last year, Google made it easier for other developers to apply the design to their own apps and games by adding a new color utility.

For starters, it appears the red UI elements Gmail is known for will be replaced by a white bottom bar and white background. The video also shows email attachments scrolling horizontally through the message screen. Controls such as “Mark as Read,” “Archive,” “Delete,” and “Reply All” are found within a bottom bar at the bottom of the screen. The same bottom button format appears on Google Drive, along with tabs up top and a search bar.

As for Google Photos, the app seems to look the same overall — other than the switch to a white background instead of the original gray. The sidebar that houses buttons such as “Photos,” “Albums,” “Photo Books,” and more, have transformed into round icons that sit at the top instead. A search bar has also been added to Google Trips, along with a colorful logo, search icon, and menu button.

Of course, it’s important to remember that these changes aren’t final. The visuals seen in the video are most likely mockups that are subject to change.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Here’s everything we saw at the action-packed Google I/O 2018 keynote
• Android P hands-on review
• Android P beta 3: Everything you need to know
• Google’s Chrome desktop browser is about to receive a major facelift
• Google Tasks’ refreshing design will motivate you to complete your to-do lists

Apple’s T2 chip may be causing issues in iMac Pro and 2018 MacBook Pros

Many iMac Pro owners have reportedly suffered numerous kernel panics — the MacOS version of the dreaded Blue Screen of Death in Windows — since they hit the market at the end of 2017. You can find a handful of threads on Apple’s community forums, including this one, detailing the trials and tribulations customers are experiencing with their expensive iMac Pros and Apple support. The problems apparently reside in the new MacBook Pro laptops, too.

Of all the error messages uploaded to these threads, there is one detail they seem to share: Bridge OS. This is an embedded operating system used by Apple’s stand-alone T2 security chip, which provides the iMac Pro with a secure boot, encrypted storage, live “Hey Siri” commands, and so on. It’s now included in the new 2018 models of the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar.

But whether the T2 chip is behind all the kernel panics is up in the air. The symptoms and solutions are varied across complaints, such as iMac Pro owners daisy-chaining storage devices seeing crashes along with those with nothing connected at all. But Apple is aware of the problems and is apparently working on the issue behind the scenes.

“Looking at the Kernel Panic dumps, looks like someone may have been working on it, as the Kernel Version got bumped from 17.3.0 in January to 17.4.0 yesterday and it feels like I’m seeing fewer panics,” reads one post. “Where it used to panic once or twice a day it now appears to panic once or twice per week.”

Apple is replacing these machines — in some cases twice — but the problems still occur on the new hardware. One owner said he actually turned off the T2 security chip and never saw a Bridge OS-related problem again. Another user made a Time Machine backup, booted into recovery mode, erased and formatted the system disk, and restored from Time Machine for an error-free iMac Pro.

Apple suggests that iMac Pro owners wipe and reload MacOS from scratch, disable FileVault, and disable Power Nap, the latter of which worked for some iMac Pro owners.

According to the threads, the system crashes can be reduced if you don’t daisy-chain devices, don’t use a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter, turn off Power Nap, turn off Secure Boot, don’t unlock the device with Apple Watch, remove third-party kernel extensions, and turn off every power management option you can find. That’s quite a list.

Many iMac Pro owners claim the kernel panics actually happen mostly at night when the device is idle, pointing to a possible problem with the storage/hibernation mode and/or the wake-over-Ethernet feature. Several owners report crashing with only an Ethernet cable attached, but that could just be a coincidence.

Despite the annoying issues stretched across iMac Pro and MacBook Pro, the version numbers displayed in the error logs show that Apple is indeed on the case. An official fix for the hardware kernel panics is supposedly available in MacOS 10.13.6, although the update may not address sleep-related panics.

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