Skip to main content

Google is rolling out Google Now Cards for the desktop version of Chrome

google rolling now cards desktop version chrome
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Google announced via its official Google Chrome Twitter account that, as of today, it has begun rolling out Google Now cards for the desktop-based versions of its Chrome browser. This will carry over the Google Now notification service, which to this point was only available on Chrome for mobile devices, and essentially sync it with your Windows/Linux PC or Mac, allowing you to see the same updates you’d get on your portable gear using your computing device of choice.

Dubbed Now Cards, all you need to do to enable them with your PC or Mac is to be logged into the same Chrome account that you use with your mobile gear. With Google Now Cards for Chrome, desktop users of the service will enjoy a multitude of updates, which includes sports scores, weather updates, traffic information as well as event reminders. Keep in mind that some of the data you see in the notifications may be compiled with information derived from the location of your mobile device.

The arrival of Google Now Cards on desktop systems shouldn’t come as any shock though considering that, as TechCrunch reports, Google began testing the feature with Chrome for desktops last month in the beta version of the firm’s browser. This comes a few weeks after Google added “Hands-Free Google Voice Search” to the Chrome beta, which, as the name implies, allows you to search for something simply by speaking up and activating the feature using a spoken command.

Considering that Google has just started rolling out Google Now Cards for the desktop version of Chrome today, you shouldn’t fret if you don’t see any Google Now Cards on your desktop immediately. Rollouts are typically gradual, and usually take anywhere from several days to a couple weeks to complete.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments below.

Editors' Recommendations

Konrad Krawczyk
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Konrad covers desktops, laptops, tablets, sports tech and subjects in between for Digital Trends. Prior to joining DT, he…
Watch out: Google Drive may have lost months of data
Google Drive in Chrome on a MacBook.

If you're using Google Drive to back up your files, you may need to make sure everything's in order -- and perhaps even back those files up again somewhere else. While cloud storage is typically considered to be one of the safer methods of storing data, several users have reported that Google Drive may have misplaced their files. In some cases, the data loss goes as far back as May 2023. Here's what we know, and how you can protect yourself.

Over the last few days, multiple complaints started cropping up on the Google Support forums. It appears that Google has a pretty worrying problem on its hands, and it was first reported by user Yeonjoong. Files are suddenly vanishing for some users, with seemingly no way to get them back. The user said that their drive seems to have gone back in time to May 2023, including files and folder structure.

Read more
Chrome is still a RAM killer, but this new feature would be a huge help
Google Chrome icon in mac dock.

Google’s Chrome browser is infamous for consuming a lot of RAM. While recent updates have attempted to solve this problem from a technical side, a new feature may put more of the management in the hands of the user.
With the latest beta version of Chrome Canary, users can now simply hover their mouse cursor over a tab to gain access to real-time memory usage of that specific tab.
Up until now, you had to dig into the Chrome Task Manager to see how much memory each tab is consuming. But as reported by Windows Central, the new feature would give you quick and direct access to this important information. The prototype feature was first posted on X (formerly Twitter) by user Leopeva64 and showed the tab RAM usage.

Of course, it only gives a small overview and doesn’t offer the same detailed information (such as running processes, tabs, and extensions0 as the built-in task manager.
Practically speaking, having a small indicator on the top is going to make the process of clearing unwanted tabs a lot easier. The new feature is also said to inform users about whether Chrome's Memory saver feature has actively frozen a tab to save memory similar to Microsoft Edge's Sleeping tabs feature. Of course, this feature only works when a certain tab is inactive for a long period of time. 
Google is said to be testing this feature, but if you are using version 117 on the Stable Channel, you may get access to it. To enable the memory usage feature, head to Chrome://flags and search for Show memory usage in hovercards. Select the dropdown and enable it. A quick restart may also be required.
Recently, we saw Google testing on a feature that helps organize tabs in a more efficient way. Using the Organize Tabs features, the browser attempts to reorder your tabs into groups of similar pages. It even lets you rename these groups, and create tab groups automatically once it has categorized your tabs.

Read more
Google has a great idea to fix your tab chaos in Chrome
Google Drive in Chrome on a MacBook.

If you use Google Chrome and are sick of managing an unruly mass of tabs in your web browser, help may soon be at hand. That’s because Google is testing a new feature that could bring order to your tab chaos.

As spotted by Leopeva64 on X (formerly Twitter), a new edition of Google Chrome Canary (a version of Chrome that lets users test out experimental features) contains a new tool called Organize Tabs nestled in the top-left corner of the browser.

Read more