Google Chrome Speed Tests as Seen by Google [Video]

Google showing off there speed tests for Chromes latest beta. They have so much time to play around. I wish I had their time. Or money.

Google Wants 3D Graphics Acceleration Directly In Chrome [Chrome]

Google's ANGLE (Almost Native Graphics Layer Engine) project, launched today, will allow their Chrome OS to be able to access graphics hardware using the OpenGL ES 2.0 API. What this means to you: 3D graphics in your browser!

So ANGLE, which will get Chrome (and presumably Chrome OS) use WebGL, the 'cross-platform web standard for accessing low-level 3D graphics hardware, will be mostly for Windows, because Windows can't run WebGL without OpenGL drivers installed. OS X and Linux can, because they already use OpenGL to a larger degree.

The main point is that with Google putting so much development emphasis in the browser, the ability to have 3D acceleration on all platforms means it's much more viable to get richer (desktop-like) apps in there.
[Gizmodo via PCWorld]

Form Autofill with Details in Latest Chromium Build [Features]

As of my last Chromium update I got a chance to select whether I want or not to use the Form Filling feature. It includes address details and credit card details as can be seen in the image below:

More addresses and cards can be added as well.

I'm still using the LastPass plugin as autofill service but will sure try out Chromium's soon. Currently it is saved locally and not in the cloud so won't have it handy at different locations you're using the browser. 

Extensions beta launched, with over 300 extensions!

Extensions beta launched, with over 300 extensions!: "These last few days, it seems that the extensions team has developed a newfound love for the F5 key. We all keep refreshing the 'Most recent' page of our new gallery, obsessively checking the newest amazing extensions that developers have uploaded. Today, we get to share this nervous tic with millions of Google Chrome's users. We're launching extensions in the beta channel for Windows and Linux (Mac is in progress). We're also opening our gallery, which, as of now, contains more than 300 extensions!

An extension system has been one of our most requested features for Google Chrome. It's a tribute to Mozilla and the Firefox project that nowadays, users just expect all browsers to have built-in extensibility.

We started the project by presenting a design doc that outlined our vision to create an extensions system based on web technologies - a system that is easy to use, stable, more secure and that wouldn't slow down Google Chrome. It wasn't always easy to balance our goals, and sometimes we had to make tough trade-offs.

Since we built all of this in the open, we had tons of help. Developers started using our code shortly after the first check-in, and have been sending us feedback on our mailing list ever since. Being able to see the extensions people were trying to build and the problems they faced made it more fun to design the system, and motivated us to keep fixing the bugs.

Today, we're really happy to release a beta of extensions that begins to deliver on our initial vision. Extensions are as easy to create as webpages. Users can install and uninstall them quickly without restart, and extensions have a great polished look that fits in with Google Chrome's minimalist aesthetic. When developers upload an extension it is available to users immediately, with limited restrictions and manual reviews only in a few situations.

On the technical side, we've been able to use Google Chrome's multiprocess architecture to help keep extensions stable and safe. And Chromium's extensive performance monitoring infrastructure has helped us ensure extensions affect Google Chrome's speed as little as possible. You can learn more details about the internals of our system in the videos below.



We still have a long way to go - next up, we're going to be working hard to get extensions to all Google Chrome users, and we're already brainstorming the next set of API improvements. Oh and, we should also fix some bugs ;-).

For those of you who want to learn more about extensions, let us know if you want to join us in a small get together tomorrow in our campus in Mountain View. Space is limited - we'd love to see many of you there so do RSVP early and we'll email you more information if are selected to attend. You can also meet with our team at Add-on Con, where we are going to participate in a couple of panels. Finally for those of you who are far away, we are planning some online developer tutorial sessions. If you are interested in attending these, please fill in this form.

Posted by Erik Kay and Aaron Boodman, Software Engineers

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Google Chrome Frame Turns Internet Explorer into a FrankenChrome Browser [Downloads]

Google today released a new browser plug-in called Google Chrome Frame that creates an unholy union between Internet Explorer and Google Chrome, rendering web pages in IE using Chrome's rendering engine.
That rendering technology includes Chrome's support for HTML5 and its lightning-fast JavaScript engine. How does it turn IE into Chrome? By creating a new frame inside of Internet Explorer that basically embeds the Chrome browser. It's sort of like the previously mentioned IE Tab tool that embed IE in Firefox, so users can access the now-rare IE-only sites. In this case, though, it's embedding Chrome in IE instead of the other way around, for the much more common dilemma of sites that won't render correctly in Internet Explorer.
The (most) obvious question: Why would I install this plug-in rather than switch browsers to Chrome? The folks at Google point to IT lockdown that won't allow users to install a new browser; Ars wonders whether such restrictive IT departments would be any more likely to approve this plug-in. If nothing else, it's a pretty bold move on the part of Google.
The other obvious question: How do I get it working? Actually, you don't have to do anything—it's up to web developers to throw a single tag on their pages to ask Internet Explorer to render a page with the Chrome Frame, if it's installed. We're pretty sure it'll only be a short while until someone comes up with a tweak to make Chrome Frame a default rendering tool on every page, but until then, it's up to the web building community to take notice.
The Google Chrome Frame plug-in is a free, open-source download for Windows only, and works with IE6, 7, and 8. It's currently in its early stages, so expect an occasional bug or two.

Google Chrome Frame [Google Code via Ars Technica]

Google Chrome 3.0

You shouldn't read too much into Google Chrome's version numbers. Just because you can now install Google Chrome 3.0, it doesn't mean that Google wants to appear more mature than it already is. For Chrome, version numbers are just a way to highlight major milestones.

Three months after the first developer preview, Google Chrome 3.0 is out of beta and ready to replace the current stable version. Since Google updates the browser automatically, you might not even notice that you use a version that brings new features.

Even if it's one of the fastest browsers available today, Google Chrome continues to improve its performance. 'We've improved by more than 150% in Javascript performance since our very first beta, and by more than 25% since the most recent stable release,' mentions Google.

The new release supports themes so you can customize the browser with one of the 28 new themes. Not all of them are good-looking, but they're easy to install and you don't have to restart your browser after changing the theme.


Google Chrome 3.0 has an updated new tab page that lets you customize the pages reordering them using drag and drop, by pinning the pages you use frequently and removing the pages you no longer visit. Google simplified the page by removing the list of search boxes and the recent bookmarks.


A feature you won't probably use too often, at least for now, is the support for the HTML5 video and audio tags. Like Firefox 3.5, Chrome includes video codecs that allow you to embed videos without using slow and unreliable plug-ins like Adobe Flash. You can test this feature in TinyVid.com, an experimental Ogg video uploading site, or in YouTube's HTML5 demo page, which uses an H.264 video."

Rumor: Tegra-based devices running Chrome OS this month?

Here’s a nice, juicy rumor to start the day off on the right (or wrong) foot. After those recent supposed screenshots of Google’s upcoming Chrome OS, Taiwan’s Shanzai.com is now reporting the following:

“According to our reliable sources on the Mainland, both Lenovo and Acer are planing to launch Tegra-based devices running Google’s Chrome OS, and the word on the streets is that it could even happen sometime later this month.”

If true, that would be pretty wild. It’d also serve to steal a bit of thunder from a certain company based in Cupertino, California that’ll be announcing new products on September 9th. I’ve no doubt that Tegra+Chrome OS smartbooks (or MIDs or netbooks or whatever) will eventually make it to market, but to see one or more of them this month would be a bit surprising considering we’ve been hearing mid-2010 for just about everything else.
As always, take this news with a grain of salt until it can be officially substantiated.
Exclusive: Lenovo and Acer to launch Tegra devices with Google’s Chrome OS [Shanzai]

כתבה ראשונה דרך Google Chrome הדפדפן החדש של גוגל

אז הנה הוא כבר פה. היום בבוקר קראתי שגוגל הולכת להוציא דפדפן חדש מחר. במשך היום הצלחתי לקרוא את הקומיקס שאיתו פרסמה גוגל והסבירה (חתיכת שיווק) מה שונה ב-Chrome ולמה כדאי להשתמש בו. והנה אני יושב לי עכשיו, בערב, וכותב פוסט בבלוג שלי על גבי או אולי בעזרת הדפדפן החדש. החיים יפים.

הנה הוכחה...

היתרונות של הדפדפן שנמנו על-ידי גוגל בקומיקס ובמסיבת העיתונאים הן:

מבנה הטאבים השתנה וכל טאב יותר תהליך (Process) נפרד במעבד ולכן כאשר טאב נתקע (וזה קורה לכולם) הוא לא משפיע על טאבים אחרים. תוצרים אחרים הם אבטחה יותר גדולה מכיוון שטאבים לא מעבירים מידע ביניהם. Chome בודק כל אתר שהוא מעלה מול רשימת אתרי Phishing שמתעדכנת כל הזמן ומקטין בכך את הסיכוי ליפול בפח.

המוטיבציה היתה לבנות את הדפדפן סביב הטאב ולא את הטאב כתכונה של הדפדפן. כמו-כן, מה שעמד לנגד עיניהם של המפתחים בגוגל הוא שכיום חלק ניכר מהאתרים שאנו גולשים בהם הם למעשה תוכניות או סקריפטים ולא סתם תוכן אינטרנט פשוט. לכן, הם פיתחו מנוע וירטואלי (V8) או Virtual Machine שיודע לעבד את הסקריפטים האלה, המיני-תוכנות, בצורה מקבילית וללא צורך בצואר הבקבוק שהיה עד היום נחלתם של מפענחי הג'אוה והג'אוה-סקריפט.

בקיצור, קיצור זמני המתנה, הפחתה של משאבי המערכת בעת ריצה, שגיאה בטאב אחד לא משפיעה על האחרים ועוד הרבה אבטחה. נשמע לי טוב. אה שכחתי להזכיר שבדפדפן הוא בקוד פתוח ולכן כל דפדפן אחר יכול לעשות שימוש באיזה חלק של הקוד בו יחפוץ. חופשי לשימוש ההמונים כמסורת גוגל עד היום.