Google puts Chrome OS into focus (photos)

Google probably sent chills down the spines of Microsoft execs as it showed off more details of its Chrome operating system. Google VP of Product Management Sundar Pichai hosted the event which highlighted new features of Chrome OS, a new Chrome OS store, and a testing program that involved giving away notebooks to developers and others who are able to pass a test.

For more on the event, read Sam Diaz's blog.

Pichai holds a Google notebook that was designed for testing.

The pilot program involves giving the Cr-48 to participants. There's no caps key, function keys, or spinning hard drive. Plus, there's a jail-breaking mode built in.

One of the key features of Chrome OS is its ability to turn on almost instantly from initial startup and sleep mode.

One of the new apps is Google's eBook here showing a page from the book, Lollypop Cakes.

Google CEO wrapped up the event by talking about how this is similar to the network computer that Oracle and others tried to build for the mainstream in the late 1990s.

He says Google is making full use of the cloud.

Google aims to please with the Chrome store.

Google has partnered a plan with Verizon to offer connectivity with Chrome netbooks. Automatically with purchase, there's 100 MB of free data every month for two years. Plus, you can pay for a plan, which starts at $9.99 for a day pass. There will be no contracts, no activation fees, no overage fees or cancellation fees.

This NPR news app is a series of horizontal sliding panels - not a typical Web layout for stories. Plus, you can create a "playlist."

An Electronic Arts exec demonstrated a game called Poppit on Chrome OS and ....

Windows

Brian Rakowski, director of product management for Chrome talks about speed, speed and more speed.

Part of the Chrome OS graphics demo.