As we were expecting, Google has now released Chrome for Mac, which can now be downloaded by Mac OS X 10.5 or later users.
If you're everything like us, you've been anxiously awaiting the chance to get your hands on the new browser since last year's release of the Windows version.
Of course, Google Chrome for Mac is just a beta release, and, you won't be able to use applications like Gmail that run on Google Gears, but you can take advantage of other Chrome improvements such as speed and Google search right from the address bar.
Here's a video demo that Google has released:
After you install Google Chrome on your Mac, you can optionally import your Safari or Firefox settings, which means your bookmarks and certain preferences can carry over from your existing favorite browser. Given that Chrome Extensions should launch any day, you might not even have to live without your favorite add-ons for very long (though at this time extensions are not available for the Mac version).
Avast!, a run-time antivirus software is a darling for numerous of the internet users! If you are an Avast! user, you might be in really excellent company since Avast has over 100 Million users.
After achieving those big numbers, Avast has now decided to duo up with Google Chrome to bring you a fast and secure browser along with a widely used Antivirus solution. This would be implemented from mid-November of the upcoming year (2010) along with its new release of version 5.
The users who install the new version of Avast! will be notified (or more exactly recommended) to install Google Chrome browser along with it, provided the computer doesn't have the Google Chrome browser.
Google is apparently in the early stages of a research project that appears to aim as high as perhaps replacing the HTTP protocol, the basic technology that essentially makes the World Wide Web possible.
In a rather obscure post on the Chromium blog, the development branch of their Chrome browser, Google reveals they've been working on a new protocol dubbed SPDY for "SPeeDY" for its target of making the web faster.
While HTTP is an "elegantly simple protocol" that has powered the web since 1996, the tone of Google's post is nearly patronizing, as if HTTP were our doddering old uncle that's had his day and needs to be put out to pasture. Then again, Google's hubris is perhaps warranted as one of the only companies with sufficient clout and resources to indeed spur on the "evolution of websites and browsers" with an entirely new protocol designed to speed up the communication between web servers and clients.
Google reveal they've already got a prototype web server and a Chrome client with built-in SPDY support that they've been testing in the lab. With these tools they've reportedly been able to see an up to 55% speed increase in page loading, and feel like the project is now stable sufficient to warrant soliciting feedback from the web community. The SPDY documentation is currently available, as well as the source code. Google encourages feedback on new protocol in the Chromium Google Group.
The latest Google Chrome beta build ushers in a great new feature: bookmark syncing. If you use various computers, or even just appreciate a cloud backup of your browser bookmarks, this feature will be a boon.
You can grab the new beta build 4.0.223.16 here, which also contains speed improvements by as much as 30% since the current stable release. For more information on how the bookmark sync works in the new build, head on past the break for an introductory video from the Google Chrome team.
Whether it's a laptop and desktop, machines at home and at work, or more than one machine in the house, it's a pain to try to keep them in sync - you inevitably don't have access to that one bookmark you're looking for no matter which machine you're on. That's undoubtedly the reason Xmarks syncing extensions was so popular in our "Favorite Firefox extensions" Lunchtime Poll.
The bookmark syncing feature actually debuted earlier in the developer version of the browser, but needed setting a command-line flag. Now that Google Chrome supports bookmarking sync natively - if only in beta - will any of you consider switching or perhaps just adding it to your browser arsenal?
Remember that for now, unluckily, this is only enabled in the Windows version of Chrome (Mac users are sadly still waiting for an official version). You'll also have to of course download the beta and also allow each computer individually for syncing, by choosing "Synchronize my bookmarks" from the Wrench menu.
A web monitoring firm Net Applications said Google's Chrome is the fastest growing browser in the market according to the firm's newest data, media reported Tuesday.
Chrome's share increased to 3.6 percent from 3.4 percent of the global market from Sept. to Oct., while the largest loser was Internet Explorer (IE), which was down from 65.7 percent to 64.6 percent.
Mozilla's Firefox, which rose 0.3 points to 24.1 percent, with Safari rising from 4.2 percent to 4.4 percent and Opera showing nearly no growth at 2.2 percent.
Net Applications uses a network of around 40,000 internet monitoring stations and the figures are for global market, and thus Chrome's increases represents huge numbers of internet customers.
The data also shows that both Chrome and Firefox users are far more likely to be using up to date versions of their browser than those using Internet Explorer. Google announced that Chrome now has 30 million active users. Though trailing market leaders Internet Explorer and Firefox by a wide margin, it's growing fast.
As formerly anticipated, Chrome OS is a Linux distribution that includes a custom version of Chrome as the default browser. Google has lately posted a build of the custom Chrome and some people installed the .deb package (it's no longer available formally, but you can download it from other sources).
Chrome for Chrome OS is not extremely different from the browser you can already install in Windows, Linux or Mac. The main difference is that the browser contains UI elements from a traditional operating system: clock, battery status, network settings.
Since Google Chrome will contain most of the features that are necessary to use an operating system, it's obvious that the browser is the only visible component of Chrome OS, a lightweight browser-centric operating system.
There's no reason to nervously wait for Chrome OS, when you can already use Google Chrome in your favorite operating system and get the same features. A metaphor has become actuality, but the result fails to impress.
Google always keen to share updates about the browser Google Chrome. This past month, Google launched a new stable release with speed improvements and updates to key features, as well as a little something extra to make your browser pop: themes. Today, Google excited to build on this initial splash of color. They invited leading artists, architects, musicians, illustrators, filmmakers and fashion and interior designers from around the globe to create artwork for an unusual canvas: the modern web browser. The result? Artist Themes for Google Chrome, a fusion of art and technology, with a hundred Artist Themes that they hope will enrich and personalize your web browsing experience.
Google honored to have had the opportunity to work with artists including Jeff Koons, Jenny Holzer, Karim Rashid, Jonathan Adler, Oscar de la Renta, Anita Kunz, Tom Sachs, Kate Spade, Donna Karan, Kid Robot, Casey Reas, Dolce & Gabbana, Michael Graves, Todd Oldham, Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Mariah Carey (and that's just to name a few!). Google would like to extend our thanks to all the artists for lending their vision, imagination and hard work to this collaboration.
