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Google Chrome Beta arrives with hands free voice search, and more

Google Chrome Beta arrives with hands-free voice-search, and more

By Robin Sinha | Updated: 28 February 2014 17:53 IST

Google has taken another step bringing its Google Now voice-assist feature to more devices, bringing it to its Chrome Beta version. The company on Thursday rolled out the feature (among others) to non-Google Play Edition and non-Nexus devices, by launching it as the Google Now Launcher app on the Google Play store.

The voice-search feature in Chrome Beta will let users activate search via the 'OK Google' voice command (first introduced in KitKat via the Google Now Launcher) followed by a question or search query. Besides performing searches and having their questions answered, users can also use their voice to set timers or create reminders.

The feature will first arrive in the US for Windows, Mac and Linux users over the next few days, and will later be rolled out across other regions, along with support for more languages.

To enable the OK Google voice-assist feature, one can visit Google.com in Chrome, and click on the microphone icon placed on the main Google search bar.

The latest Chrome Beta, besides adding hands-free voice support, has updated its 'Supervised users' feature, which lets admin users manage other users of the same Chrome browser, so that these supervised users can browse for information in a "managed environment."

"Supervised users makes it easy to help your family members explore the web in a managed environment. You can determine sites you want to allow or block, and manage permissions for any sites your family member has requested to view," states the Google Blog.

With the latest Chrome Beta update, the admin user will also be able to allow supervised users browse on any other device within the same managed environment via an 'Import' option. Describing the Import user option, "When you import a supervised user, all their permissions will then be synced across devices."

In order to "Import", the admin user would simply have to navigate through Chrome menu placed on the toolbar and enter the 'settings' page. On the settings page, the admin, under 'Users' section would have to click on 'Add new user' followed by "Import an existing supervised user" and select the Supervised user.

The updated 'Supervised users' feature is currently available on Chrome browsers for Linux, Mac, and Windows, and will be available on Chromebooks soon.

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