Google will soon bring Instance Switcher – a valuable upgrade to its Chrome browser on Android devices. The new feature enables users to open more than one Chrome window simultaneously. It could be a vital productivity boost for those who can open multiple chrome windows for numerous diverse errands, including work, home, and cross-referencing tasks.
The Instance Switcher, as per the tech blog JustReviewed, carries many benefits for users, one of which lets them use two different versions of Chrome simultaneously. They can interact with both using one instance over the other or by splitting the screen.
Benefits of the Instance Switcher
The Instance Switcher feature can be helpful for users who need to work from home. It allows them to have separate windows to perform home-and-work-based tasks. Plus, the new tool comes in handy in watching a YouTube video while reading a blog post without shifting between tabs.
The Instance Switcher works like the ‘Open new Window’ icon on Safari for Apple’s iPad. It could help users with the best Android tablets, though small phones may have a problem with the split-screen.
Some users might not find this feature revolutionary, though it is a worthwhile addition to Google Chrome on desktop and mobile. It shows that Google will not rest on its laurels.
It also follows other features that emerged recently and became famous as time-saving tools. These include the secondary search window and pinned tabs that Google added to Chrome last year.
Google Chrome lets users find the Instance Switcher in its three-dotted menu, from where they will choose Manage Windows to benefit from the feature. Interestingly, Google has not announced these steps yet.
The Updated Google ChromeOS
Market leaders say it is good to find Google adding new time-saving options to its browser on desktop and mobile. They also believe it has become easy to detect how many people are sitting at a computer using the updated version of ChromeOS.
Google also announced the rollout of new features for ChromeOS – the operating system for Chromebooks, for the upcoming Linux 6.2 kernel. The Human Presence Sensor has obtained a driver for ChromeOS, which will come in handy to detect the number of individuals present in front of a Chromebook.
Google ChromeOS Human Presence Sensor gets a Driver
Google’ChromeOS HPS got the cros_hps_i2c driver from the Linux 6.2 kernel. It enables detecting one or more humans who are using the Chromebook at the same time. The Linux x6.2 kernel will be mainline to support the Hume Presence Sensor in newer Chromebooks.
While the driver for HPS does not detect the presence of a human in front of the computer, it lets you use an exposed character device to perform user-space interfacing with the sensor.
Google’s ChromeOS added many features to HPS for several purposes, including adaptive backlight handling. Google explained the new driver and its characteristics in a patch set on its official site.
According to the Google patch set, ChromeOS human presence has received a driver. It supports the GOOG0020 – 12C bus-connected sensor in the ACPI tables.