With that, it seemed like a fine time to reflect on this ad Google released last October for Chromebooks, which makes use of Slayer’s “Raining Blood”.

The ad was obviously Halloween-themed, and says: “For little devils. For scaring off viruses. For spooky-fast startup. For undead battery. For horror movie marathons. For no fear of crashes. For no phantom files. For no software nightmares. For a fun size. For no haunting hassles. The $249 laptop from Google. For everyone.”

Probably not what the band had in mind when they wrote the song, but it shows just how far Slayer’s influence really does go.

Image via Geeks Of Doom

Naturally, this directly affects American consumers. While there are international Best Buy outlets–Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada and China–as you can see, Europe is lacking Best Buy stores. To address that, Google is making their Chromebooks available in the brick-and-mortar versions of Dixon’s, an electronics retailer in the United Kingdom. During the second day of their I/O presentation, it was also revealed that more stores will be added before the holiday season.

For those of you who have been interested in buying one of Google’s Chromebooks, but were unsure of making your purchase because you haven’t had an opportunity to play with one, the inclusion of these devices in physical stores should help you in your pursuit of an inexpensive laptop. In case you’re wondering the locations of the participating Best Buys, Google has you covered there, too, thanks to a neat little filter applied to Google Maps:

[Lead image courtesy]

All four new Chrome OS machines are pretty reasonably priced. The most expensive model – the elegantly-named Series 5 550 Chromebook (3G) – will set you back $549.99. All four are currently available on Amazon and Newegg. Check out their prices on Amazon below:

The latest release of Chrome OS brings a bunch of new enhancements. First and foremost is a user interface that has been completely overhauled. As we reported back in April, the new Chrome OS now has a desktop environment like you’d find on, well, every other computer operating system (though it’s most reminiscent of Windows). It also brings deep Google Drive integration.

The new Chromebooks and Chromebox are available on Amazon and Newegg in the U.S. and PC World and Currys stores in the U.K. If you want a more hands-on experience, you may be in luck. Google is planning to increase the number of Chrome Zone centers they have in Best Buy retailers across the country.

For more information, you can check out Google’s announcement here. You can also check out their video introducing the new Chromebooks below:

The first video tells the story of a North Carolina middle school student, Malachi, who had developmental troubles and struggled with the physical task of using pencils or pens to write. His teacher, Elaine Waters received a Google Chromebook, which enabled Malachi to improve his writing speed.

The second video shows how Gina Nunez, an Arizona college prep school teacher, was able to use Google+ Hangouts to keep in touch with her class throughout her recovery from a medical procedure. The students were able to interact with their teacher, who was at home on medical leave, almost as if she were in the classroom.

Frodella claims that the Google in Education Google+ page will feature more of these stories, though none have yet been posted. She suggests that those interested in how Google hopes educators will use technology should check out the YouTube videos from last week’s Education On Air conference, and online education technology conference that Google hosted using Google+ Hangouts. The videos can be found on the eduatgoogle YouTube channel.

What do you think? Were you ever helped or inspired by a teacher using technology (Google or not) in a creative way? Leave your story below in the comments.

The update was first noticed by Michael Larabel of Phoronix, who says that update doesn’t come from Intel, but from Google. The use of Coreboot with Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge processors will allow Chromebooks computers to boot much faster. Though Chrome OS laptops have sold decently well in certain markets, they have not gained widespread popularity. One of the major complaints has been their speed. Making the computers faster could go a long way to increasing their popular appeal.

This is not the first time we’ve heard about Chromebooks getting a boost lately. Last week there were reports that Sony had filed FCC paperwork for a new VAIO notebook that would run Chrome OS, making Sony the third computer manufacturer to produce computers running Google’s web-based operating system. While there was no information in those documents about what kind of processor such a computer would include, it’s a safe bet that it could feature Ivy Bridge processors, thanks to the Coreboot update.

What do you think? Would you be interested in a faster Chrome OS notebook computer? Let us know in the comments.

The images show a 21cm laptop with dual USB ports and an SD card reader, as well as an HDMI port:

The full list of documents can be accessed here. One of the documents included is the user’s manual, which confirms both the VAIO branding and Chrome OS:

Google released Chrome OS in November 2009. The operating system is based on Linux. An open source version of the software, Chromium OS, is freely available from Google, while Chrome OS is shipped on computers manufactured by Google’s partners. Previously Google only had two such partners: Samsung and Acer. With this new VAIO notebook, Sony becomes the third.

Chrome OS has done fairly well for itself since its launch, but its popularity is nothing next to that of Google’s other operating system, Android. Some recent events, including the launch of the Chrome browser for Android, have sparked speculation that Google may be preparing to unify the two operating systems. The fact that Google is apparently working on a desktop version of Android seems to bolster those rumors.

For the time being, though, the two will apparently remain separate, since the documentation for this new VAIO laptop consistently refers to Chrome OS. There’s no data yet on a release date for this new Chrome OS VAIO laptop. It is probably safe to say that it will go into production by the end of the year.

Here are some stills:

It’s not really a surprise that Googlers are using computers that aren’t Google. I would be more surprised if that’s all any of them were using, and I don’t think they’ve every tried to hide it.

Still, given how much emphasis Google has placed on business use for Chromebooks, you might expect to see them being used in Google’s offices more too. Granted, this is only one video of one meeting. I’m sure there is plenty of Chromebook use around Google’s various campuses.

Here’s Google’s pitch for Chromebook business use:

Chromebooks are optimized for web apps and other browser-based business tools, which makes it easy for organizations to innovate quickly, collaborate from anywhere, and access the limitless scalability of the web. Chromebooks also include a web-based management console, enabling admins to manage an entire fleet of Chromebooks and users even if they are distributed across multiple locations. Together, Chromebooks and the web offer companies a competitive advantage over those relying on archaic IT infrastructure.

It might be be even more noteworthy if they were all using iPads over Android tablets.

The ad highlights this point, claiming that you can’t keep anything safe from aliens, including your Chromebook, but that at least your files will be safe, assuming aliens actually do attack, and destroy your Chomebook.

This has actually been one of the main points Google has made about Chrome OS from the beginning. It doesn’t matter how many times you break your Chromebooks, you can always get another one, and it will be as if nothing happened.

Google shared the new ad on Google+:

View more daily video round-ups here.

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