IT Ideas

The Chrome Store has recently had a makeover and now separates websites from what are called packaged apps. Packaged apps can run offline and look like local apps rather than opening up as a Chrome browser tab. A few of my favourite packaged apps are in the brief vid below:  

If you had not noticed, you can now get the new Google Earth via a web browsers - part of the new Google Maps. This allows you to use Google Earth on a Chromebook or on a PC with no software install. Quick demo below:

MoveNote can be found in the Chrome Webstore or at movenote.com . It allows you to simply add a sequence of items from your local computer or you Google Drive and then record a video commentary. Very easy to use. You get a link that you can share via email, pop on a site or embedded with an iframe.

Editing Office files is coming to Chromebooks. If you want to give it a try - switch to the developer channel on your Chromebooks and enable document editing in chrome flags. Seems to work OK with the few files I've tried. Still being developed - so is likely to get more stable and better functionality with time. Brief demo: Just an update - you can now get this in the latest beta channel. Has some improvements as well - handles images now. So did a brief demo on my Pixel: