Google Chrome Tabs Moves Across Multiple Devices

Users of the Google Chrome Web browser have received a new feature in the latest Chrome Beta that allows them to access open tabs across multiple devices

When users are signed in to Chrome, the tabs they have open on one device are made available on all their other devices by clicking on the “Other devices” menu on the New Tab page. The tab’s back and forward navigation history is also included, so users can pick up browsing right where they left off.

Session Portability

“Imagine you’ve looked up directions to a cool new restaurant on your home computer. Later, when you’re leaving work, you realise you can’t quite remember how to get there. If only you could quickly pull up the same directions on your office computer with one click,” a Google blog post by Nicolas Zea and Patrick Dubroy, company software engineers and Tab Teleportation Technicians said.

“With a click, you can find and open the tab with your directions and be on your way. If you use Chrome for Android Beta, the tab will also be available on your phone, right there in your pocket when you hit the road.”

The blog post noted Google would be gradually rolling out the “Other devices” menu to Beta channel users over the coming week. Over the past few weeks, the company has introduced several new features to make it easier to discover new apps and extensions. Chrome Web Store users can try out an early version of the new “Trending” view, which was released earlier this month and shows the apps and extensions that are currently growing fastest in the store.

App subcategories were also recently introduced into the store. These allow users to dig deeper into each app category. For example, in the “Entertainment” category users can click on the “Music & Radio” subcategory to only view music related apps. Searching for a particular app has also improved. Google’s search box now sports autocomplete suggestions that guide users to the app or extension they are looking for, faster.

Chrome OS Update

Google also updated the Chrome OS to ‘Aura’, and the developer channel has been updated to 19.0.1048.17 for Chromebooks such as the Acer AC700 and Samsung Series 5.

This build contains a number of new features, as well as security and stability improvements, including new modes for multiple monitor handling, an updated Scratchpad application, a functional and visual refresh of the Chrome OS Settings and support for new file types such as tar, gz and bzip2.

The goal of the Aura project is to produce a new desktop window manager and shell environment with modern capabilities. “The UI must offer rich visuals, large-scale animated transitions and effects that can be produced only with the assistance of hardware acceleration,” according to a description of the platform on Google’s Chromium Project page.

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