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Google Now notifications head for Chrome

Google is experimenting with a new feature in Chrome that would see contextual Google Now notification cards pop up in the widely used browser.
Written by David Meyer, Contributor

Google is experimenting with putting Google Now features into its Chrome browser.

Chrome

Google Now, which debuted in Android 'Jelly Bean' 4.1, is in some ways the company's answer to Apple's Siri. It is also a voice-driven personal assistant, but one that plugs into Google's context-driven Knowledge Graph project to provide functionality ranging from travel alerts to sports team scores, all presented on timed 'cards'.

It now seems that these notifications will make their way into Google's browser, Chrome. On Friday, the Chromium team (Chromium is the open-source project that feeds into Chrome) posted a note mentioning the creation of a "skeleton for Google Now for Chrome implementation".

Google confirmed to ZDNet sister site CNET News.com that it was working on the project, although it suggested that the feature was experimental.

Chrome is the most widely-used browser in the world, having overtaken Internet Explorer earlier this year. It is also the basis for the Chrome OS, which powers the Chromebook line.

On mobile devices, Google has already brought some Now functionality to iOS, Windows 8 and BlackBerry through its search app. The integration into Chrome suggests that notifications around Google services could become increasingly prevalent on such devices, where the Chrome browser is supported (such as on iOS).

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