Google announces Chromebooks

The Google I/O developers conference, the company announces Chromebooks. Features include all-day battery life, instant on, and built in security, amongst other features.

Samsung and Acer are the first companies to be selling the new laptops that use the Google Chrome operating system.
Samsung and Acer will each be offering Chromebook notebooks starting June 15. The Samsung Chromebook will cost $429 in the U.S. for the Wi-Fi only version and $499 for the 3G version. Acer's Wi-Fi only Chromebook will cost $349.The devices will be available for sale in the U.S. from Amazon and Best Buy.
Google will also be selling these Chromebooks internationally in the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy.
 Google also made several other notable announcements:

• The Chrome browser now has 160 million active users. In the past year, Chrome has more than doubled its user base, growing from 70 million active users in 2010 to 160 million users this year. Google has also switched to a six-week release cycle to get features to Web developers sooner. This week, Chrome 12 entered beta.
• The Chrome Web Store has also been expanding and is now available in 41 languages along with several more countries.
• Google detailed its in-app payment system for Chrome Web Apps. It's giving developers easy tools to develop the payments, and it's also allowing developers to keep 95 percent of the sale price of their apps. Google is taking only a 5 percent cut.
• The popular mobile game Angry Birds, by Rovio, is also coming to the Chrome Web Store, as it makes its debut as a Web game.