The release of Chrome OS looms ever closer, but still there are a number of enhancements and changes being rolled in that should make for a somewhat nicer experience, and TechCrunch has highlighted a few. Perhaps most major among those changes is the ability to browse the internet without signing in, but if you want to update your bookmarks or save any form data you’ll still need a Google account. There’s a new side bar that appears to give access to other apps, replacing tabs on top, and it also adds in battery and WiFi strength indicators. There’s also something of a debate going on regarding whether Chrome OS should have support for compressed archives (.zip and .rar files and the like).
Curious to see how the latest preview release of Internet Explorer 9 stacks up against the competition when it comes to HTML5 performance in Windows? So was Download Squad , and it’s now revealed its findings in some vivid, if not entirely scientific tests. The end result is that Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox 3.7 were well ahead of the pack in the 1,000-fish stress test (with Firefox about 5 or 10 percent ahead of IE), while Opera was stuck somewhere in the middle, and Chrome placed a distant last (and maxed out the CPU) — all with hardware acceleration enabled, of course, although that had to be done via command line switches in the case of Chrome. Head on past the break to check out the four-way showdown for yourself, as well as an earlier test with just IE9 and Chrome.
We’re getting closer and closer to Google’s planned Chrome OS release this fall, but still the hardware side of the equation is looking a little less shiny. As of today we don’t know exactly who will be bringing Google’s little laptop OS to retail first, but now we have a few more clues. Google’s code repository contains build configurations for Acer, Dell, and HP hardware, suggesting the OS is being tested by those manufacturers, and while this isn’t hard confirmation of device support it does back up what we’ve heard previously.
Well, this one’s come a bit out of left field, but it looks like Chrome OS could be set to get a pretty big new addition: a remote desktop feature dubbed “Chromoting” (at least for now). That word comes courtesy of an apparently authentic message from Google software engineer Gary Kačmarčík posted on a Chrome OS mailing list, which goes on to explain that the feature would let you run “legacy PC applications” right in the browser, and that it would be “something like” Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Connection. No more details than that, unfortunately, nor is there any indication that the feature will actually be included in the initial release of Chrome OS that’s launching this fall , with Kačmarčík only going so far as to say that Google is “adding new capabilities all the time.” Google adding ‘Chromoting’ remote desktop functionality to Chome OS? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Jun 2010 13:55:00 EDT.
When we heard an upstart named People of Lava were going to beat Google to the punch with an all-in-one TV set, we were confused, amused and skeptical all at the same time. Thankfully, Expert Reviews made a special trip to Sweden to see the company’s Android-powered television in action, and now we know what the unit actually does — it switches between an Android interface and a discrete TV mode without actually mixing the two in any appreciable fashion. Disappointing as that might seem, the publication rather enjoyed the Android side of things, which features not only the above widgets but also a full Chrome web browser, a TV app marketplace, spacious Google Maps page and more. Before you pull out your wallet, though, know that the edge-lit, LG-powered display is intended for the sub-lux crowd; when the Scandinavia ships in September, it’s expected to run as much as £2,000 (around $2,898) for the basic, 42-inch model — or roughly $2,700 more than just sticking with your existing TV and adding a Bonux box for Android functionality
Citing a renewed focus on security thanks in part to a recent series of cyber attacks originating in China, The Financial Times is reporting that Google is abandoning support for Microsoft’s Windows. Citing several anonymous employees of the search giant, the FT said that as recent as January, new Google employees were permitted to run Windows on their laptops, but the use of the OS on desktops was strictly forbidden. The continued use of a Windows machine is said to require authorization from high ups, and any employee that requests a Windows rig will need approval from the CIO. At the moment, authorized OSes are said to include Linux and Apple’s OS X. But for all of the talk of security concerns, the FT’s sources allege that the move also has as much to do with Google’s desires to ween its employees off of competing products as it prepares to launch its Chrome OS
Google Chrome’s application shortcuts turn any web site into a separate item on your Windows 7 taskbar, but unfortunately many sites have low-res icons that make your taskbar ugly. Here’s the simple trick to make your taskbar beautiful again. More » Google Chrome – Windows 7 – Taskbar – Windows – Microsoft Windows
A couple of weeks ago, Google released a video demonstrating the speed of its Chrome web browser. The video proved that rendering a web page in Chrome is faster than some random (though admittedly very quick) events, such as blasting a potato through a tube. And if you thought that’s quite silly, you’re not alone: Opera thinks so, too. Opera’s answer to the Chrome Speed Test comes in the form of two very silly individuals, who are trying to determine whether loading a web page in Opera is faster than cooking a potato
This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here . The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. Name: ExtensionFM Quick Pitch: Turn the web into your personal music library
Lifehacker’s got a quick Q&A with one of Chrome OS ’s UI designers. It’s quite interesting if you want to get into their mindset about how they make a browser into an entire OS. Plus, they’re thinking about touch! [ Lifehacker ] More » Google – Google Chrome – Lifehacker – Clients – WWW
You’ve been biding your time, enduring the evils of Firefox, Safari, Opera and perhaps even Internet Explorer (dare we speak its name), slowly summoning your courage to give Google’s alternative a try. Well, kiddo, we’ve got good news and bad. The good news is that if your box lovingly depicts fruit or a well-dressed penguin, you’ll no longer get short shrift: Chrome 5 is out of beta and stable across Mac and Linux for the first time, with browser sync and a host of new HTML5 functionality to boot. The bad news is that Chrome has some quirks of its own…
Google TV was announced today. But what exactly is it? Give us two minutes.
Google’s Chrome browser is making waves and has more than doubled in size since last June. The browser now has 70 million users up from 30 million last year, the company said at its developer conference today in San Francisco. Chrome is gradually gaining on rivals Firefox and Internet Explorer, garnering a 6.73 percent of the market. Firefox has about four times as large a share as Chrome with a quarter of the market behind it, according to Net Applications
Not one to rest on its laurels, the Google Chrome team is hard at work on Chrome 6 . The official move to the 6.0 designation in the Chromium developer builds officially started a few days ago. The move to a Chrome 6 branch for Chromium means that the final tweaks and polishes on Chrome 5 are almost complete. Chrome 5 is a big release — not only is it blazingly fast, it’s also going to be the first stable release for Mac and Linux users.
Chrome: If you’re a big fan of the bookmarking/web clipping service Instapaper for your read-it-later needs, you’ll be excited to try out Instachrome. It brings simple navigation bar integration of Instapaper to Google Chrome. More » Google Chrome – Browsers – Clients – WWW – Google
