Untouchable ChromeOS: Can the Pwn2Own 2013 Hackers Crack It?

By Dietrich T. Schmitz

It's time for the annual CanSecWest 2013 conference this week.  Each year, a Pwn2Own Contest is held to challenge Hackers (Black Hats) to find a way around the security of Browsers running on Microsoft Windows and Apple OSX hardware.

The newest entry in this challenge is Google's ChromeOS Samsung 550 Series 5 Laptop.  This is a first for Linux.  Google's confidence and swagger is evident with a prize purse of $3.14M (pi) awaiting any hacker who can provide a proof of concept exploit which succeeds in penetrating what Google claims is the world's safest operating system.

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[LA Shorts] HP Pavilion 14 Chromebooks Come to Canada

Chromebooks at MA Lynch Elementary (Photo credit: rwentechaney)

By: Dietrich T. Schmitz

We have witnessed a progression with Google.  The announcement of Chromebook in 2010, followed by a prototype Cr-48 in May of 2011, followed by Samsung introducing their own series of units during 2011 and 2012.

The pace of development has been swift--some say so agile that Microsoft will continue to fall behind.

Their internal methods and slow decision making continue to accrue to heavy reliance on their traditional lines of business to maintain profit--the PC equipped with Office.  And, we see that Google Chromebooks are being lauded in the Education sector with some 2,000 schools adopting their use.

There are now four OEMs selling Chromebooks: Samsung, Acer, Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard.  Fortunate for them--they are practicing 'due diligence' with their 'Plan B' to sell Chromebooks to offset flagging sales of Windows 8-enabled devices.

OEM Acer confirms sales of the Chromebook are quite good.  And, Amazon reported for the 2012 Holiday Season that the Chromebook was their best-selling Laptop.  Last week, we saw a leaked video of a planned Google Chromebook called the Pixel.

And, finally, today we see one more iteration:

Canadians Will Get New HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook

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BY CLIFF BOODOOSINGH / FEBRUARY 11, 2013

Canadians can finally participate in a Chromebook launch! The brand new HP Pavillion 14 Chromebook will be available for sale in Canada in late February for $329, the same price US customers will pay.

Full story here

Related articles

• HP Officially Launches Pavilion 14 Chromebook (thevarguy.com)
• Google Chromebooks now in 2,000 schools (zdnet.com)
• What's with all the Chromebooks? (pcworld.com)
• A Tegra 4 Chromebook Is in the Works, Could Be a Nexus Chromebook (news.softpedia.com)

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