Google appears to be testing a new feature for ChromeOS that introduces “glanceable” widgets, as spotted in the Canary Build of ChromeOS 118. This new feature involves widgets that provide quick access to certain functions or information, making it easier for users to interact with essential apps and tasks on their Chromebooks.
One of the examples observed is a new interaction between the Calendar widget and Google Tasks, Google’s task manager and to-do list application. The Calendar widget displays a Google Tasks widget on top of it, allowing users to interact with different task lists and mark tasks as completed. While this is a convenient way to manage tasks directly from the widget, it’s noted that adding new tasks is not currently supported through the widget. Users have to go to the Google Tasks homepage to create a new task, which will then appear in the widget.
While this new feature seems promising and can greatly enhance productivity by offering quick task management capabilities, it’s important to note that this is part of the Canary Build of ChromeOS, an experimental version primarily aimed at developers. Features tested in Canary Builds may not always make their way into final releases, and they can also be subject to changes based on user feedback and testing.
As with any development in software, it’s a good practice to monitor official announcements from Google to see if and when such features will be officially introduced in stable versions of ChromeOS.
