Google had originally pegged December 2010 for the first release of Chrome OS, but it's been looking like a fall release is now a safe bet. It's certainly netbook-ready at this point, though some missing features (like an on-screen keyboard) may mean that tablet devices arrive slightly later.

Developers keep plugging ahead, however, and continue to work on tablet-friendly features. Two code revisions have landed in the past couple days which will definitely make Chrome more at home on tablets. The first is device orientation support (think auto-rotating content on your Chrome OS tablet and accelerometer-enabled games) and the other is speech input (hello, voice commands!).

Both features have been part of the Chromium code for a while now, but they're now enabled by default and it's typically a very short amount of time between a new Chromium feature being defaulted and its arrival in the official Google Chrome builds. It's also worth noting that voice input support is only on by default for Chromium's Windows users -- Mac and Linux users would need to add the --enable-speech-input switch to their shortcut for the time being.

Developer Jeremy Selier has posted a simple-yet-cool demo video of device orientation using his Macbook Pro -- check it out after the break!

While we’re still likely a few months away from seeing the first Chrome OS devices, work continues to move forward on getting the OS ready to go. And some recent discussions on the Chromium OS (the open source version that Chrome OS will be based on) Google Code page suggest that not only is wireless connectivity going to be a part of some of these devices, but that Verizon may be a partner.

As you can see in a few of discussions on the Google Code pages for the projects, a lot of work is being done to figure out the UI for network connectivity. For example, they’re thinking about how will the OS will alert users when they’re running low on data they’ve purchased. The interesting part is that the latest mockups for these UI changes are in a folder called “Verizon”.

• This image likely won't work in VMWare or VirtualBox. Converting the Chromium OS image to a format that will run in virtual environments requires running some extra commands post-compile
• You'll need a utility which can write the image file to your USB flash drive. Mac and Linux users can use dd in a terminal window. Windows users: download Win32 Disk Imager, it works extremely well.
• There are actually LOADS of files in the archive you're downloading. The only one you probably care about is chromiumos_base_image.bin. The non-base image includes developer tools, code samples, and a few other things that you don't need if you're just going for a test drive. (Hexxeh has updated the Vanilla site to only display the .img file you're after. Nice!!)
• You may need an app which can handle .GZ archives to extract your download -- 7-Zip is a good choice.
• Not all hardware is going to work. The Chromium x86-generic images don't include a ton of drivers, so you may be missing one fairly important piece of the puzzle: wifi support. Most netbooks will work 100% -- full-sized laptops are more iffy.
• Performance from a USB flash drive is OK, but you will experience some sluggishness from time to time. If you happen to have a spare HDD or SSD you can image and use, go for it!
• When you first try to log in, the time may not be correct for your zone. If it's not, you won't be able to log in to your Google account. If that happens, click to browse without signing in, right-click the clock and change to your timezone, and wait for the time to adjust. Once it does, log out and log in with your own account.
• This is pre-beta stuff. Certain things don't work properly yet (like the media player) and when it does work you won't be able to play MP3s or most video formats. This is Chromium, not Chrome -- so licensed codecs aren't part of the package.

If you're still interested in taking spending a little quality time with it, download Chromium OS Vanilla, extract it, image it, and take it for a spin! Got a question? Want to share your thoughts? Head on over to our Facebook page!

Many of you might not even be aware that you have a Google Dashboard -- but it's there, even if you're not using it. In essence, it's a single, centralized location to manage various settings for the myriad of Google services you're signed up for -- Gmail, AdSense, Blogger, Buzz, Picasa Web, YouTube, etc.

When it was unveiled back in November of 2009, I figured it would integrate nicely with Android and Chrome OS -- and a recent change in the Chromium source code has brought that integration one step closer to reality. Currently hidden behind a command line switch is the Privacy Dashboard link, which pops the link in just below your Chromium sync options on the Personal Stuff tab.

Right now the link sends you to google.com, but eventually it will point to google.com/dashboard -- likely once the Chrome options appear on that page. As Google continues to blur the line between native apps and Web apps, the Dashboard will become the Google equivalent of the Windows control panel or Mac System Preferences.

Managing all your online, handheld, and netbook settings on one web page? Sign me up!

Perhaps you’ve heard the news by now that Matthew Papakipos, the key architect of Chrome OS, is leaving Google to go to Facebook. While it’s not entirely clear what Papakipos will be doing yet at Facebook beyond joining the engineering team, this is massive news. This is the key component of Chrome OS leaving the company before its launch to join what can perhaps be seen as Google’s most important competitor going forward. So what does Google think about the defection?

“Matt made great contributions to Google and Chrome OS, and we know he’ll do the same in his next endeavors. We wish him the best. We have a deep bench of talent and are very excited about the launch of Chrome OS devices later this year,” a Google spokesperson tells us.

Since Chrome OS is an open source project (well okay, technically, Chromium OS is), it’s fun to take a look at the Google Code page for it from time to time to see what progress is being made. Most of it is tech-speak-heavy, but every now and again they throw in a nice little mock-up of some new features/functionalities/designs.

Tonight, we got a tip about how Google is envisioning Chrome OS to look these days. As you can see from the first image below, the design has been simplified quite a bit. While it’s still basically just Chrome (the browser), a lot of the unnecessary clutter we saw early on has been removed. As you can also see from the image, you’ll be able to browse without being logged in to a Google account.

Based on the images below, Chrome OS definitely seems to be progressing nicely. When we last looked in May, the mock-ups for the OS looked great, but there was still a lot of work to be done on the OS itself. From the looks of things today, that work is certainly getting done. Still, don’t expect to see Chrome OS on actual systems anytime before the Fall.

More substantial seems to be a new side tabs bar option. This replaces the tabs currently found at the top of Chromium OS (and Chrome). Also in this sidebar is time, battery, and WiFi indicators (normally at the top of Chromium OS, as well). And there appears to be a little smiley icon, perhaps indicating some sort of message? This icon is found all over Chromium OS these days.

Last month at Computex, Acer's rumored Chrome OS netbook was nowhere to be found. Of course, I'd already said it wasn't going to be on display -- and Acer backed up my prediction days later with an official press release. Computex has come and gone, and while we still haven't seen Chrome OS hardware prototypes we may have a clue as to who's working on them.

Officially, Google has only stated that Chrome OS devices will be arriving late this fall "from select partners." So who might those partners include? If the files I spotted in the Chromium OS Git repository are any indication, Acer, Dell and HP are good bets. The overlay-x86 bits take care of configuring Chrome's hardware support during the build process -- so these would seem to indicate that Dell, Acer, and HP might be at the point where they're building the OS for specific configs.

Apart from the conspicuous files, all three have already been connected to Chrome OS in some way. Dell engineers put together a customized build for their Mini 10V netbook shortly after Google opened the Chromium OS code. As Sebastian wrote recently, HP is tinkering with Cloud Print -- which will feature prominently in Chrome OS. They're also not averse to trying different things with their netbooks -- like their heavily-customized Ubuntu remix.

As for Acer... Well, if anyone's willing to try cramming a Chrome OS dual boot option onto a netbook, it's Acer. They already tried an Android/Windows combo with the AOD250, but that didn't turn out so well.

Acer and HP were, of course, mentioned in Google's initial "so who's working with us on Chrome OS?" post. While Dell was left off the list, I'm not surprised to see their name in the project files. Who better to help sell your OS to consumers than the top 3 OEMs in the game?

Those of you who -- like me -- run Google Chrome and Chromium on multiple computers with different operating systems probably find its built-in sync abilities incredibly useful. They've been steadily expanded from initially only handling our bookmarks to now syncing just about every personalization option available.

Preferences? Check. Form auto-fill? Check. Theme? Check. Extensions? ...

Maybe not yet, but we all knew it was just a matter of time. With Google pushing the "your apps everywhere" philosophy in Chrome OS, there was no question that our Google Chrome extensions would be added to its preference sync options soon enough.

This morning, extension sync appeared in the Chromium source code. Better still, it's enabled by default -- meaning there's no need to flip a command line switch to turn it on.

Google's