Chrome to Mobile can let other people beam links to your Android phone - Computerworld (blog)

By JR Raphael (@jr_raphael)

Google's new Chrome Android browser has a powerful link-beaming feature called Chrome to Mobile -- and it turns out there's even more to the feature than meets the eye.

Chrome to Mobile is designed to let you send Web pages wirelessly from your desktop Chrome browser to the Chrome browser on your Android device; you simply install the Chrome to Mobile extension on your computer, click an icon in your address bar, and boom: The page you're viewing on your PC instantly shows up on your phone or tablet.

Get this, though: You can actually share the functionality with other people, too -- letting friends or family use Chrome to Mobile to beam links directly to your Android device.

Why would you want to do that? Let's say your significant other regularly shares links with you. Or maybe your boss or co-worker sends important pages your way while you're out in the field. With Chrome to Mobile, you can let him/her/it push the links right to your phone without having to mess with email or any other intermediary method.

Obviously, you'll want to be careful to whom you grant this power; after all, a rogue buddy could easily use it to send saucy stuff your way at inopportune times (I smell some serious pranking potential). But in the right hands, this could be really useful. You could even use it to enable link-beaming from multiple Google accounts that you use yourself.

So here's how to set it up:

1. First, you need to have the Chrome Android browser installed on your phone or tablet. You also need to have Chrome to Mobile set up; if you aren't sure how to do that, see my quick and easy guide to get started.

2. Next, sign into Google Cloud Print from your PC and click on the "Printers" tab. If you configured Chrome to Mobile properly, you should see your Android phone or tablet listed as a printer there.

3. Click on your Android device, then click the green button labeled "Share." Type the email address of the person to whom you want to grant access in the box that appears on your screen, then click the green "Share" button inside that box.

That's it on your end. To finish the connection, the person with the other account just needs to do the following:

1. Sign into Google Cloud Print and click on the "Printers" tab.

2. There, they'll see a message informing them that you wish to share a printer; they need to click "Accept." Once they do, your Android phone or tablet will show up as an available printer in their list.

3. Now, they just need to install the Chrome to Mobile extension on their desktop Chrome browser. Once it's set up, they'll be able to click the phone icon in the browser's location bar and beam links to your device the same way you can.

If for any reason you change your mind and want to revoke the link-beaming privilege, it's easy: Just go back into Google Cloud Print, click on your phone or tablet, and click the green "Share" button again. There, you'll see a list of everyone who's been granted access to the device. All you have to do is click the "x" next to a person's name to remove him from the list.

Happy beaming!    

(Hat tip to François Beaufort -- and thanks to Denver Lobo for sharing!)

JR Raphael writes about smartphones and other tasty technology. You can find him on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

Article copyright 2012 JR Raphael. All rights reserved.