Gadgetory

Google wants to color your world with cheap laptops I'm Bridget Carey and this is your cnet update google has released another budget-friendly laptop the HP Chromebook 11 is on sale now for two hundred and eighty dollars it's cheaper than most laptops because it's not like most laptops this doesn't run Windows it runs the Chrome operating system and if you need to download specific programs for your work you can't really do that on a Chromebook but if you do all or most of your work and entertainment online and many of us do these days then it's worth considering this year's model has a sleek new design and you can get it in white with a choice of accent color in Google's primary favorites green yellow red and blue or if color isn't for you just go with all black the screen is 50% brighter than most laptops and the speakers are tucked under the keyboard also unique is that it's charged via a micro USB port so this laptop charger can also charge your other devices that's a chord saver while traveling as for other specs it has two USB ports a vga webcam and a slimport video out it has two gigs of ram and a 16 gig solid-state drive wayne and at 2.3 pounds you could see this as a lightweight secondary computer for getting online quickly a spare laptop for kids doing homework and its price also makes it a laptop that Google is pushing for schools more than 5000 schools are using Chromebooks in the classroom there is a 4g model being made but the price has not been announced yet if that laptop doesn't excite you then how about a smart smoke detector for the home huh nest is a company run by a former designer for the ipod and after making a smart home thermostat the company now is trying to bring sexy back to smoke detectors with the nest protect no more annoying chirps when the battery is low and it won't start blaring if you just burnt the cookies it'll tell you what room it detects smoke or carbon monoxide in and the alarm will get loud if things get serious it works with a smartphone app each of these units is 130 dollars and to outfit your home you up to invest in four or five so it can get pricey and here is a little perk for amazon kindle fire tablet owners amazon is giving away money for buying certain apps seriously well the money is credit in amazon coins but it is part of a promotion for Amazon's App Store you can find these money making apps in the amazon appstore coins rewards category some apps or in-app purchases can earn two dollars and fifty cents in coins that's your tech news update but you can get more details at cnet com / update from our studios in New York I'm Bridget Carey