Skip to main content

Google just made it a lot easier to print from Chrome OS

For all the advances we’ve made when it comes to desktop and laptop technology, we still haven’t fully mastered the art of printing. But now, we may finally be nearing a solution. It’s all thanks to the latest Chrome OS — version 59, which has now reached the Stable release channel, has a new “Native Printing” feature, which is to say that it can directly connect to all compatible printers within your network. Better still, it can do this without any cloud connection.

Previously, if you wanted to print from Chrome OS, you had to hook a printer up to Google Cloud Print. But no longer is that the case. Now, you can print from Chrome OS to a locally networked printer, which ought to make things a lot more convenient for a lot of people. You’ll need to know your printer’s IP address in order to take advantage of this new functionality, but Google has provided instructions to guide you along the way.

Recommended Videos

Native Printing ought to be particularly useful in school and office settings, given the preponderance of Chromebooks in these environments. After all, the ability to print is crucial in both these places, and not having to connect to the cloud could be hugely helpful.

Of course, your printer will have to be Wi-Fi connected in order to take advantage of this printing technique, but other than that, there are few stipulations. Just make sure that your Chromebook is connected to the same WiFi network as your printer. After you add the printer by inputting its name, address, protocol, and queue, you can start printing page by pressing Ctrl + p.

If, for some reason, you don’t want to use Native Printing, you’ll still be able to use Google Cloud Print, which allows you to beam a document to any printer you’d like, but for those of us who just need to print right here right now, this new feature could be a serious boon.

Lulu Chang
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
A hidden iOS 18.1 upgrade made it harder to extract data from iPhones
A person holding the Apple iPhone 16 Plus.

Apple Intelligence was the most notable upgrade that arrived on iPhones with the iOS 18 series of updates. But it seems Apple reinforced the security protocols in the background that could prevent bad actors from gaining unauthorized access to iPhones that haven’t been unlocked in a while by their legitimate owner.

Earlier this month, 404Media reported that law enforcement officials are troubled by iPhones that are mysteriously rebooting. Citing a report courtesy of officials in Michigan, the outlet notes that the reboots are hampering the ability to access what’s stored on the phones through brute-force unlock methods.

Read more
This underrated Google Chrome feature turned me into a power user
google chrome automatic tab groups featured

I don't like when my web browser pesters me. It's one of the many reasons I use Google Chrome over Microsoft Edge, but for once, I'm actually thankful to catch a stray pop-up in Chrome.

You may have seen a similar pop-up in Chrome, assuming you consider it the best browser, like I still do. When your tab count gets unmanageable, Chrome will offer to group your tabs together. I dismissed this notification probably a dozen times, but I decided to finally give it a shot one day. And it completely changed how I use Chrome.
The time saver

Read more
This upcoming AI feature could revolutionize Google Chrome
Google's Gemini logo with the AI running on a smartphone and a PC.

One of the latest trends in the generative AI space is AI agents, and Google may be prepping its own agent to be a feature of an upcoming Gemini large language model (LLM).

The development, called Project Jarvis, is an AI agent based within the Google Chrome browser that will be able to execute common tasks after being given a short query or command with more independence than before. The inclusion of AI agents in the next Chrome update has the potential to be the biggest overhaul since the browser launched in 2008, according to The Information.

Read more