Technologies

These 11 Simple Chromebook Features Can Help Streamline Your Tasks

Go beyond your Chromebook’s basic functions to boost your productivity.

Google’s ChromeOS is now more than a decade old and a lot has changed. In the past couple of years, Google revved up what you can do with a Chromebook, dramatically improving or adding tools to help increase your productivity, whether you’re working or learning from home, school, the office or somewhere in between.

Android users get extra benefits to make it easier to jump between a Chromebook and an Android phone, and on Android you can also share your Wi-Fi connection.

New Chromebook users and veterans alike can learn some new tricks to boost productivity in Chrom OS. Read on for 11 features that make your life more efficient on a Chromebook.

Scan documents with the webcam

Your Chromebook’s webcam can be used for scanning documents. Open up the Camera app and along with photo and video options you’ll see Scan. Select it and you’ll have the option to scan a document or a QR code. For documents, just put what you want to scan in front of the webcam and your Chromebook will find it and detect the document’s edges. Tap or click the big, white shutter release on the right side of the interface and it will capture your scan. If you like what you got, you can save it as a JPEG or PDF.

Admittedly, the results are better with an external webcam than the built-in camera unless you happen to have a Chromebook with front- and rear-facing cameras. But it still works OK with just the webcam above your Chromebook’s display if you need to create a quick PDF to email. Just make sure you have plenty of light so you can capture a crisp image.

Edit PDFs with the Gallery app

Need to sign or form or show someone where to sign a form? Google eliminated the need to print and scan PDF documents with editing features built into your Chromebook’s Gallery app. The PDF editor lets you fill out and sign forms, highlight text and add text annotations.

Pan, tilt and zoom your external webcam

If you use an external webcam with pan, tilt and zoom support with your Chromebook, there are controls in the Camera app to let you move and zoom with the camera. With the external camera connected to your Chromebook, open the Camera app and select your external webcam using the camera switch icon at the lower left of the interface. Just above that icon is a diamond-shaped icon with a circle at its center. Click on that icon and it’ll open a control panel with zoom, pan and tilt controls. What’s really convenient, though, is the camera settings you use will stick once you leave the Camera app. That means you can jump into a Google Meet chat and have the camera angle set up just how you like it.

Phone Hub

Android users can access their phones from Chrome’s Shelf. The hub lets you see the last couple of tabs you viewed on your phone, see its battery level and wireless connection strength and get notifications from chat apps. It can also be used to locate your phone by setting off its ringtone, and it can silence your phone entirely.

Wi-Fi Sync

Wi-Fi Sync lets you share your network settings between devices. This means if your phone connects to a safe Wi-Fi network, your phone can share the network password with your Chromebook so you’re ready to work when you lift the lid. No more reentering passwords or having to hunt them down again to connect.

Screen Capture

Can’t remember the key combo to take a screenshot? From the Quick Settings on Chrome’s Shelf, you can select Capture. The tool not only lets you take screenshots but can be used to capture screen recordings as well. The tool can capture a window, a crop of a specific area of your screen or the entire screen.

Also, if you want to create a screencast to record, view and share transcribed videos and presentations for a demo or how-to video or a virtual lesson, there’s a Screencast app that’s part of ChromeOS. Just click on the Launcher in the lower left corner of your screen and search for it.

Tote

Google added a holding spot on the Shelf called Tote. It’s where you’ll find your most recent screenshots. But you’re also able to see downloads without having to launch the file browser. You can pin files to Tote, too, which means you can keep an important document readily available to open without searching for it.

Clipboard

Alongside the Tote feature is an enhanced Clipboard. It’s now able to store the last five things you saved to it. To view what’s available, press the Everything button plus V.

Desks

Desks lets you create separate workspaces for different projects you’re working on. Google added a right-click option to send an open window to a different Desk than the one it’s in, or all of your Desks if necessary. A four-finger swipe across your touchpad will let you switch between Desks, too.

Quick Answers

Need to convert a measurement from imperial to metric or need the definition of a word you’re reading? Just highlight whatever it is and right-click on it and you’ll be given a definition, conversion or translation along with your other options. This can be toggled on and off in the settings menu under Related Info.

Nearby Share

Nearby Share is the Android version of Apple’s AirDrop. It lets you and your contacts quickly share photos, files, links and more directly to another Android device or a Chromebook. Search the Settings on your Chromebook for Nearby Share and you can toggle the feature on and off. You’ll have to turn on Nearby Share on the sending/receiving device, as well.

To use it, once you’ve turned it on, pick what you want to send from your device, tap the Share icon (it’s the one with three dots with one dot joined to the other two by single lines) and Nearby Share should appear as an option. Tap Nearby Share and it will search for available devices which should include your Chromebook. Select it, and you’ll get a notification on your Chromebook to accept or reject it.

In the market for a new Chromebook? These are the best Chromebooks for 2023. Plus, here’s how to reset your Chromebook to make it run like new, and why that cheap Chromebook might be too good to be true.

Technologies

Married Student Loan Borrowers Dodged a Payment Increase: Here’s What Happened

Technologies

Switch 2 US Preorders Starting April 24, Price Staying at $450, Nintendo Confirms

Accessories, however, will see a little increase in price.

Two weeks after Nintendo delayed Switch 2 preorders in the US due to new tariffs instituted by President Donald Trump, the company confirmed the price and when gamers in the US can preorder the next Switch. There are, however, some items that will go up in price.

The Switch 2 will continue to start at $450, Nintendo posted on Friday on its site. Also staying the same price is the Switch 2 Mario Kart World Bundle for $500. US gamers will also be able to preorder their Switch 2 starting April 24.

Game pricing will remain the same, with Mario Kart World still at the $80 price, while Donkey Kong Bananza, which releases July 17, will be priced at $70. What will change is the price of accessories, with some increasing by $5. This includes:

Switch 2 Pro Controller (originally $80, now $85)
Joy-Con 2 Pair (originally $90, now $95)
Joy-Con 2 Charging Grip (originally $35, now $40)
Joy-Con 2 Wheel Set (originally $20, now $25)
Nintendo Switch 2 Camera (originally $50, now $55)
Joy-Con 2 Strap (originally $13, now $14)
Nintendo Switch 2 Dock Set (originally $110, now $120)
Switch 2 Carrying Case & Screen Protector (originally $35, now $40)
Switch 2 All-in-One Carrying Case (originally $80, now $85)
Switch 2 AC Adapter (originally $30, now $35)

Of the accessories listed, the most sought after are the Switch 2 Pro Controller and Switch 2 Camera. The Pro Controller isn’t required to play the console on the TV, but its design is more akin to the PS5 DualSense controller and Microsoft’s Xbox controller. As for the Switch 2 Camera, it will be used primarily for the console’s GameChat function. The camera will allow players to communicate with each other by video, which is a first for Nintendo.

Nintendo had a bit of a rough time winning over gamers when it revealed the Switch 2 on April 2. The Switch successor does have a big jump in power, with some analysts suggesting its graphical power is between a PS4 Pro and a PS5, but there were other concerns.

Most notable was the price of Mario Kart World. At $80, the popular kart racing game would be the highest-priced game without any extras or downloadable content. New games across all platforms cost $70. Nintendo has yet to explain why Mario Kart World warranted the higher price, but analysts suggest it could be due to the increase in costs of the storage used in Switch 2 cartridges.

To help save publishers money, Nintendo instituted what it calls Game-key cards. These cartridges will use a minimal amount of storage and will allow owners to download the entire game straight to their Switch 2. This means when someone buys a physical cartridge, there is a good chance that the entire game won’t be on that cartridge.

Another issue related to price is having to pay for a Switch 2 version of an already owned Switch game. While this did happen with previous generation PlayStation and Xbox consoles, some Switch 2 upgrades for Nintendo games will cost $10, others will cost $20, and there will be a few that are free. This lack of uniformity with pricing and the non-specifics about how much improvement there will be on the Switch 2 versions is leaving some gamers less than happy.

Tariffs and the Nintendo Switch 2 price

Many wondered if Nintendo had bumped up the Switch 2 prices in anticipation of Trump’s promised tariffs, which remains unclear, but so far the company hasn’t raised them in response to those tariffs going into effect — the ones that have remained, anyway.

Nintendo announced the Switch 2 on April 2, the same day Trump announced his new round of tariffs. After a week of confusion, many of those tariffs were rolled back and certain product categories granted exclusions, but unease remains for consumers looking to buy TVs, gadgets and cars.

Read more: Buy or Wait Guide: How Tariffs Will Change Tech Prices and What to Do Now, According to Experts

What the tariffs have done is interrupt the preorder schedule Nintendo originally set up. While third-party retailers like Best Buy said that pre-orders would begin on April 9, Nintendo soon delayed them in the US and explicitly cited the tariffs and economic conditions as the cause. The Switch 2 pre-order date in other countries did not change until Canada’s was also delayed, as Mobile Syrup reported. So far, the console’s launch date still remains on June 5.

While Nintendo hasn’t raised the price of the Switch 2 console yet due to tariffs, Sony announced that the PS5’s cheapest digital-only version would get a 25% price hike in Europe, Australia and New Zealand (the more expensive PS5 with disc drive’s prices would remain unchanged).

Much has changed since the original Nintendo Switch launched in 2017, from Nintendo’s strategy to the world of gaming. With its successor, Nintendo stuck to the console format’s strengths and didn’t experiment with new control methods. Instead, the Switch 2 developers focused on increasing its processing speed to help it become a dedicated game platform «with a strong and solid foundation» to let game developers create what they want, as Takuhiro Dohta, Nintendo senior director of entertainment planning and development, said in an official developer interview.

«Since Switch launched, I think there’s been a shift in how software developers create games. Rather than leveraging hardware features to create something unique, developers can now choose which software technologies they want to incorporate to make their games stand out,» said Dohta.

Technologies

Skullcandy’s Grom Wireless Kids Headphones Are a Steal At Just $21

Looking for a pair of headphones for a young child? The Grom Wireless, one of our top picks for best kids headphones, are currently 40% off.

Skullcandy’s new $100 Method 360 ANC earbuds, which feature Sound by Bose and are essentially a budget version of Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, have recently been getting a lot of attention thanks to their value. However, I just noticed another Skullcandy deal worth highlighting. The Grom Wireless «kids» headphones, that are on CNET’s list of best headphones for kids, are down to $21 on Amazon. That’s 40% off the list price of $35.

Read more: Best Headphones for Kids of 2025

I tested Skullcandy’s Grom Wireless over-ear headphones last year (and had my younger daughter try them). Targeted at the 12-and-under set, they have basically everything you’d want in a kids’ headphone, including a comfortable fit, decent enough sound, a volume limiter, a shared headphone port and a wired option in case you need it. Battery life is rated at 45 hours, which is also pretty good.

This headphone also comes in a wired-only version in white and blue that’s currently discounted to $15. I think stepping up to the wireless version for $6 more is a better option, but both models are among the more stylish kids headphones available and worth checking out if you’re in the market for a set of headphones for a younger child.

While it’s true that most headphones work just fine for kids, when you’re looking for headphones for children, especially very young ones, you tend to look for more compact models that don’t cost too much. Additionally, some folks want headphones that have a volume limiter to protect their child’s hearing. Yes, you can also set volume restrictions in the settings of a smartphone or tablet, but not everybody wants to fiddle with those settings.