SlashGear » Google-Chrome

Chrome OS: Waiting Is The Hardest Part…Though Necessary

Joanna Stern — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:33:51 +0000

Google has more than emphasized that its Chrome operating system will be super speedy; it will boot in only seven seconds and surfing the web will be just be quicker. The irony is that you will actually have to wait for Google’s OS to arrive and for a pretty long time in the technology world. After giving a preview yesterday of what is in store from the Internet giant’s computing platform, Google’s Sundar Pichai said that they are “a year away” from releasing products with the operating system. Yep, we are going to be waiting for a solid 365 days!

When it comes to technology I’m an instant satisfaction type of girl, so naturally I was less than thrilled about the long wait before we start seeing new laptops with Google’s Chrome OS preloaded. (By the way, the fact that you cannot download and install the OS yourself is total BS and a subject for another column.) But, I am resigned to accepting the product delay not only because it relates to Google geeks’ needing sufficient time to work on the back end of the OS and on other techy stuff for quality assurance, but also because other improvements and developments in mobile technology over the next year or two will make the Chrome OS worth waiting for and make it an overall better experience.

More ubiquitous wireless connectivity. Given Google’s deep roots in, you know, the Internet it makes sense that they have built an entire operating system on top of the web browser. Not only will you have the main functionality of a browser, but you will be able do more through web applications that are to be developed over the next year. Point is Google wants you to spend your time online and it is clear that there will be very little functionality (details are few and far between on this) to the OS if it isn’t connected to the Net. With WiFi being spotty at best, I would assume that most Chrome notebooks will have some sort of 3G technology. However, beyond 3G’s kick to the wallet it is also slow.

The fourth generation of cellular wireless is beginning to be rolled out with sporadic WiMax coverage areas, but that uptake will be a lot wider over the next year or so. In addition, Verizon’s 4G LTE network which promises even faster speeds is slated to be rolled out during 2010 and into the next decade. With the evolution of 4G in the coming years, Google Chrome OS netbooks will be a lot more useful and powerful than they would be if introduced at this moment in time.

Improved netbook, notebook form factors. In the last year alone we have seen the physical evolution of the netbook. What started out as a notebook with a 7-inch screen has now evolved into almost a real size laptop. With 10 to 12 inch displays that can accommodate better ergonomics and longer usage, netbooks are not only better in terms of function, but have improved in design and style. And this is only going to get better in the 2010 with companies designing and releasing smartbooks that can accommodate different types of form factors because of the smaller and fanless processor architecture. By mid-2010 we will have even better looking and more interestingly crafted mobile computers that will have hardware, as we are told by Google, that will be optimized for the new OS.

Web applications with more functionality than ever before. Apple released its application SDK a few months before it actually rolled out its application store, giving developers time to create some of the most impressive applications around. It will be the same with Chrome OS. Similar to the way Adobe Air has provided a whole new crop of connected applications for the desktop, developers will be hard at work for the next year figuring out services and features to bring to the new platform, including many that will support hardware graphics acceleration and multithreading. I have no doubt that Google’s web applications will surprise us with their capabilities, just as Android and iPhone applications have during the last year. The more time for those to brew the better.

Chrome OS netbooks and notebooks if released today just wouldn’t be as compelling as those that will hit the market a year or two from now. (In fact, I actually think that the end of 2010 may even be too early for Chrome OS given the wireless ubiquity issue.) As Google has said, it is working on the future of computing and, as always, we must wait for the future to arrive, just as we must wait for our operating systems to boot up.

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Sony Vaio Chooses Google Chrome for Default Browser

Evan Selleck — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:49:18 +0000

Whether or not you’re a member of the Browser Wars was probably decided for you, long before you were born. One of those, “destiny calls” choices, and we’re sure that by now you’re probably stubbornly chosen your browser of choice. Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome. (Is Netscape around anymore?) But let’s face it, there are a lot of people out there who would like to make the decision for you, right? Computer manufacturers to start with, and then second on your list is probably your best friend. Sony wants you to choose a side.

According to the Wall Street Journal, via Net Applications, right now Google Chrome only accounts for 2.6% of the global web browsing market. That’s not really even a dent, so to speak, so it looks like the combination of Sony and Google, at least for a small number of laptops, is a step in the right direction. Neither Sony or Google would comment on the financial scope of the deal, or even any of the geographical details regarding which laptops get what, but at least we have something to go on. Google Chrome is going to be pre-installed on some laptops, in the coming months. Like we said: it’s something.

Of course, Sony has a relatively small presence in the computer world, especially compared to the likes of Apple and other manufacturers, so it is probably not going to be enough. Enough, in terms, of making Google Chrome the number one web browser available. Then again, crazier things have happened. Which side are you on? And, was your decision forced on you by a manufacturer from the get-go? (Yes, you can install other browsers, but some times just using the default one is fine for consumers.) Let us know in the comments what you think.

[via Wall Street Journal]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Google Chrome OS & Android “may merge closer”; CEO Schmidt opposed development

Chris Davies — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:45:09 +0000

Google’s CEO and the search giant’s co-founders took to the stage this week to discuss Chrome OS, the future of Android and other open-source issues, revealing that the two headline-grabbing platforms – one ostensibly for smartphones, the other for netbooks – have “a great deal of commonality” and “may merge even closer.” CEO Eric Schmidt also made clear that Google do not envisage Chrome OS as a direct Windows competitor; in fact, he said, “Microsoft is welcome to put Internet Explorer on our operating system.”

“Microsoft is welcome to put Internet Explorer on our operating system, [though] it’s highly unlikely they would do it. They would have to port it and the port is not trivial…the ball is in their court. All of it is open. Even if we had an evil moment [and tried to block Microsoft], we would be unsuccessful.” Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google

Echoing recent discussion about whether a browser-based work environment is a realistic proposal, Schmidt also revealed that he was resistant to the idea of both the Chrome browser and the Chrome OS when co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page first suggested it six years ago. “I wanted the operating system to kind of be out of the way,” Page explained, “if you live your life in the browser maybe you don’t want all the stuff that came from Eric’s generation.”

The trio also touched on Twitter and Facebook, neither of which they now perceive as a threat – or at least not publicly, anyway – and which they have no intention of going into competition with; “we have a rule of not doing what everybody else does” said Schmidt. As for revenue streams, they believe display advertising “is likely to be the next billion-dollar business at Google.”

[via Android Community]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Google Chrome OS leaked screenshots: is this Microsoft’s newest rival?

Chris Davies — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:12:54 +0000

The first purported screenshots of Google’s Chrome OS have leaked, courtesy of a snap-happy Acer parts supplier and a momentarily careless Google demo rep. Apparently taken at the end of a demonstration of Chrome OS for Acer, installing the software in just 10 minutes on a formerly Vista Acer Extensa 4620Z laptop, even this early build of the platform showed its speed credentials: a desktop to desktop reboot in around 25 seconds.

UPDATE: The screenshots are fake, as we suspected might be the case. Just a video designer hoping to drum up business. 7/9/2009

More Google Chrome OS feedback after the cut

Only one restart was required to complete the install, and only the Google Talk app was loaded as standard. The so-called “Chrome Bar” at the bottom of the display has a blue “Start menu” button and clock, and auto-hides; the Windows key and space bring it back up, but on proper Chrome OS netbooks there’ll be a dedicated key. There’s also the possibility of adding a search box to the bar.

Two forms of navigation are present, “Exploration” and “Browser”; the former is a simple Explorer-type folder navigation, while the latter uses local search in the Chrome browser. It will also show “most visited” files. Icons can be resized, and there will be wizards – such as the internet wizard, which is described as “very quick” – to setup different features.

Of course, it would be very easy to fake screenshots like these, and only Google (and their hardware partners) can say whether they’re authentic or not. It’s probably too early to judge the visual side of the OS, as the Google rep apparently kept reiterating that it was a very early beta, but it looks as though simplicity is the order of the day.

[via Engadget]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Google Chrome v2 released: faster, more stable, new features

Chris Davies — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:28:23 +0000

Google have released the latest version of their Chrome browser, v2, including stable builds of the new features added in March’s beta. Among the most obvious changes are a full-screen mode – triggered by hitting F11 - and a form autofill tool, which remembers common details such as name, address and phone number and automatically populates those fields in online shopping sites and registration forms.

Video overview of Google Chrome v2 after the cut

There’s also extra control over which thumbnails appear on the Chrome tab page, giving users the ability to delete sites from that display if they’d rather not have record of them. Meanwhile, under the hood there’s increased stability – apparently in excess of 300 bugs have been vanquished since Chrome’s launch – and increased speed.

That speed boost comes courtesy of a new version of WebKit and an update to the JavaScript engine, V8. The latter ensures that Chrome still moves speedily even with multiple JavaScript pages open. Chrome v2 is a free download from google.com/chrome; existing users will be automatically upgraded.

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

New Google Chrome beta: up to 35% faster

Chris Davies — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:52:23 +0000

Google’s Chrome browser turned a lot of heads when it first launched back in September 2008, and the search giant surprised even more people by dropping the beta tag from the browser only a few months later. Now there’s news of a new version of Chrome, still free and back with beta status, but reportedly between 25- and 35-percent faster than previously, depending on benchmarking. There are also new features like side-by-side tab views and autoscrolling.

Side-by-side tab viewing – as shown in the short video below – involves dragging a tab off the edge of the browser window, whereupon a new pane shuffles into view so you can compare the two. Other fresh features include form auto-filling, full-page zooming and of course the new speed boost: it’s actually twice the speed of the original Chrome beta, and that was never accused of being slow.

Chrome is a free download, but is currently only available for PC users, not Mac OS X. Such users will probably be too busy playing with Apple Safari 4, which launched last month, and boasts such things as 30x faster JavaScript than IE7.

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Google OS rumor reignites after mystery surfers recorded

Chris Davies — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:03:55 +0000

Rumors that Google is developing its own OS have once again been ignited, as traffic-measuring experts Net Applications revealed that one-third of visitors from Google computers are running computers that block recognition of their platform. According to Net Applications, this is not an incidental situation: Google would have to be purposefully choosing to mask the identity of their computers’ OS.

“We have never seen an OS stripped off the user agent string before. I believe you have to arrange to have that happen, it’s not something we’ve seen before with a proxy server. All I can tell you is there’s a good percentage of the people at Google showing up [at Web pages] with their OS hidden” Vince Vizzaccaro, executive vice president of marketing and strategic alliances, Net Applications

Google themselves, unsurprisingly, have declined to comment on the situation, but that has done nothing to staunch the flow of rumors. Some are predicting a desktop version of the search giant’s open-source Android OS, deployed as a way of introducing Linux to entry-level users.

Meanwhile, others believe Google is being a little more cautious, and instead working on an application infrastructure that would bridge local hardware and network applications, such as its online office suite and GMail. Similar suggestions were made at the launch of Google’s browser, Chrome.

[via BGR]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

SlashGear Week in Review – Week 36 2008

Chris Davies — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 01:30:43 +0000

Netbooks returned to the top of the page this week, as Dell finally confirmed their first entrance to the budget ultraportable market. The specs of the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 may not be all that surprising – given both the regular leaking pre-announcement and the fact that all of these machines are pretty similar – but the brand name will likely make it the netbook to beat. In a way it’s a shame, because there are far more exciting devices – such as the Raon Digital Everun Note – that, by virtue of being less well known, will struggle to make themselves heard.

The new Dell will likely be causing some sleepless nights at ASUS, who up until now have been top dog with their Eee PC. After suffering plenty of criticism for spreading the brand thin, they’ve even dropped the Eee name altogether for their latest luxury netbook, the N10.

The second major headline this week has come from Google’s stable, in the shape of their new internet browser, Chrome. An open-source project to take on Internet Explorer, FireFox and the rest, Google are making all the right noises about “shared development” but at the end of the day this is undoubtedly their attempt to wrest the desktop from Microsoft.

Next up comes Apple, who have confirmed a special event for this coming Tuesday, September 7th, in San Francisco. The expected announcement is for new iPods, with the nano and touch being tipped for the biggest changes (and leaked information hitting the headlines almost daily). However new patent documentation this week – covering a variety of multitouch and other UI methods – once again adds fuel to the rumors of some sort of Mac Tablet. SlashGear will be at the event, running our usual Live Blog, so join us at 10am EST at http://live.slashgear.com/ to find out everything Apple announce, as they announce it.

It must be a constant source of frustration to Microsoft that their Zune doesn’t inspire the same frantic rumormongery and excitement as the iPod does. The Seattle company has new versions on the way too – in fact one branch of Fry’s sold a 120GB model early – but the effect just isn’t the same.

CEDIA has been running this week, and there have been plenty of new projectors, TVs and other home entertainment gadgets to please. Hitachi’s super-thin 50-inch plasma caught its share of headlines, as did Sony’s fresh HD projectors. If you’re looking for content to play on them, TiVo will happily oblige with their new HD XL DVR, boasting a whopping 1TB of storage.

Coming up over the next few days is CTIA Wireless, and we’ll be bringing you the top stories both here and at our sibling sites Phone Magazine and SlashPhone.

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Google admits mistake with Chrome Terms of Service

Chris Davies — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:45:45 +0000

Google’s Chrome is still gathering momentum – a quick glance at our stats over the last 72hrs show that 6-percent of visitors are using the new browser – but it’s not without its issues. SlashGear readers have been sharing their experiences here, and reporting everything from scrolling problems through Facebook issues and full-on crashes. Perhaps more concerning, though, were the Terms of Service, which seemed to give Google permission to use your content as it sees fit. Now Google have admitted that they made a mistake.

Section 11 used to contain the following, apparently pretty boilerplate and used by Google for its other, content creation apps (such as Blogger and GMail):

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

Now, having been updated, Section 11 reads as following:

11. Content license from you
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.

The Google team are now going through the different language versions of Chrome (of which there are in excess of 40) to alter the licence wording, as well as removing the incorrect sections from the download installer. The changes are affective immediately and retroactively, which means that if, as we know many readers did, you installed Chrome as soon as it was released, you’ll be covered by this new version of the ToS.

Ironically, Google needn’t have publicised this change (though not doing so with such controversy about it would’ve been ill-advised). Section 19 of the ToS allows them to alter the content of the terms & conditions of use at any time, without Chrome necessarily informing you that it has happened:

19. Changes to the Terms
19.1 Google may make changes to the Universal Terms or Additional Terms from time to time. When these changes are made, Google will make a new copy of the Universal Terms available at http://www.google.com/accounts/TOS?hl=en and any new Additional Terms will be made available to you from within, or through, the affected Services.

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Google Chrome browser full launch presentation video

Chris Davies — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:36:39 +0000

News of Google’s Chrome browser may have slipped out early on Monday, but that didn’t stop the company having the proper launch event at the Googleplex on Tuesday. That presentation saw Google developers walk through the functionality of Chrome and what makes it particularly special; it also gave them an opportunity to announce Chromium, which is the open-source project side of the browser.

Check out the full launch presentation video after the cut

At the Chromium project site, the source code for Chrome – including the new JavaScript V8 virtual machine – is already available. Google have also added documentation about the project and a JavaScript benchmark suite.

The video of the full presentation is available below. It’s not been edited, so at just over fifty minutes it’s a not-inconsiderable watch. You might want to skip forward to the questions & answers session, where Google representatives are asked about the potential for adverts to be integrated into Chrome.

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Chrome hands-on: Teething pains & Terms of Service privacy concerns

Chris Davies — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 03:50:46 +0000

After several hours running Chrome and exploring its functionality, hands-on reports are coming in from all over the web. As you might expect for the first release of beta software – even software Google claim has been in development for two years and tested thoroughly at the Googleplex – there are various bug sightings and issues. Multiple SlashGear readers are finding that vertical scrolling, particularly on notebook touchpads, is presenting some problems, with the most common complaint being an inability to scroll back up the page.

Check out the video walk-though of the Google Chrome browser after the cut

Alternatively, scrolling can be too fast, with no way to slow it. Other issues present more of a problem. Some users are having trouble with Google’s webapps, with reports of Google Docs and GMail login pages either refusing to load or only loading partially. Others have suggested problems with streaming media, with some finding YouTube videos can crash Chrome entirely.

The Chrome Terms of Service have also come in for some close examination. Broadly speaking, there are three factors that have led to concern for some: Google’s asserted right to use content in advertising and promotion; Google’s ability to update Chrome without first alerting the user; and the potential for Google to introduce advertising.

By installing Chrome, while you retain copyright to any content you “submit, post or display on or through” the browser, Google has the opportunity to use it for service promotion or marketing. They can also make that content available to other companies “for the provision of syndicated services”; it’s hazy to what extent that could include personal data. Update: Google have responded to the concerns about Section 11.

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

Google also reserve the right to update Chrome in the background, without first alerting the user. Although regular updates are generally a good thing for stability and user protection, many will be wary of what happens in the background without them permitting it to run. Attempting to block the updates counts as a contravention of the ToS, which – in theory – could be grounds enough for Google to terminate any account you have with them.

12.1 The Software which you use may automatically download and install updates from time to time from Google. These updates are designed to improve, enhance and further develop the Services and may take the form of bug fixes, enhanced functions, new software modules and completely new versions. You agree to receive such updates (and permit Google to deliver these to you) as part of your use of the Services.

Finally, and to some most concerning, the possibility of advertising being introduced to Chrome. Google makes its money through adverts, and while right now Chrome does not contain any as part of the browser itself, the company has left itself open to include them in future. If if chooses to, there are multiple ways it could be added, including embedding them in-line in a viewed webpage or incorporating them into the window structure of Chrome.

17.1 Some of the Services are supported by advertising revenue and may display advertisements and promotions. These advertisements may be targeted to the content of information stored on the Services, queries made through the Services or other information.

17.2 The manner, mode and extent of advertising by Google on the Services are subject to change without specific notice to you.

17.3 In consideration for Google granting you access to and use of the Services, you agree that Google may place such advertising on the Services.

At a press conference officially announcing the Chrome browser, Google representatives dodged a direct question asking if advertising would be placed on a webpage. They did, however, confirm that a “huge” investment had been made in the development of the application.

Have you downloaded Chrome? How have your first impressions been? Let us know your experiences – and your thoughts about where Google intends to take Chrome in the future – in the comments.

SlashGear Google Chrome Video Walkthrough:

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Google Chrome browser available to download; Install feedback

Chris Davies — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:11:09 +0000

Google’s Chrome browser is now available for download. The Chrome site now has details of the browser’s functionality, including video interviews with the development team and video demos of each major feature. However this first beta release is only available for Windows XP and Vista; Mac and Linux owners will have to wait.

First impressions of the Google Chrome browser after the cut

On first install, Chrome asks to import settings from your current browser including favorites, cookies and search engine preferences. The install itself is fast and doesn’t require a system reboot. With two Chrome tabs open (the introduction pages) there are four mentions of the chrome.exe process in Task Manager, altogether using 51,968K.

Vincent’s first impressions of Chrome:

1. Super faaaaaaaast!

2. 78/100 on Acid3 Test

3. Tabs work great

4. Bookmarks are easy to maintain and move around

5. Gears is installed by default – works great with Wordpress and WYSIWYG

6. Haven’t seen a site that doesn’t render correctly — even those heavy in Ajax

7. Flash sites run well

8. Works with VMWare for OSX with Windows XP (see video below)

9. Silverlight not yet compatible

We’ll be testing out Chrome and putting together our first impressions over the next few hours. Remember, this is early beta software, so you probably don’t want to be putting all your eggs in a Chrome basket and relying on it for sensitive tasks such as internet banking; it will take a little time before the first security reports come in.

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Chrome is coming – why should we care?

Chris Davies — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:07:41 +0000

Google have already admitted that they pulled the trigger a little early on the Chrome announcement yesterday; it was meant to hit the headlines today, in fact. As of writing, the www.google.com/chrome site still isn’t live, which means all we have to go on is the Chrome comic and some background understanding of Google’s webapp offerings.

Chrome is Google’s next step toward making webapps behave – or users treat them – more like traditional desktop apps. Address bar and window-free apps are just the surface gloss; what’s key to Chrome’s likely success is its native inclusion of Google Gears and the custom JavaScript app, V8, that the company has had a special team working on.

Gears, which has been available as a separate download for some time now, allows users to run online applications without a network connection, or alternatively speed up webapps by caching data to reduce the amount of data transferred to and from the server.

JavaScript V8, meanwhile, promises both improved performance and, more importantly perhaps, stability. Chrome teases out individual tabs into separate processes, each referring to the JavaScript and plug-ins – themselves separate processes again. If an individual tab crashes, it doesn’t bring the whole system down. In fact, in the Google Chrome comic, they themselves refer to this as more similar to how your OS handles individual programs:

“We’re applying the same kind of process isolation you find in modern operating systems” Arnaud Weber, Software Engineer, Google

Together, they add up to improved and more stable webapp performance, with better memory management that, at this early stage, sounds ideal for the current crop of low-powered devices such as netbooks. Webapps, with minimal (or no) local footprint, make good sense for machines like the ASUS Eee PC or Acer Aspire One, where onboard storage is minimal. However users still want performance and, considering their connection speed could vary wildly from a tethered cellphone to WiFi, as little network dependence as possible.

It won’t just be Google’s apps which benefit from the streamlined JavaScript V8 engine, however; all online software will (hopefully) see a speed boost. That could be enough to make Chrome the browser of choice for mobile devices, certainly, and plenty of desktop users who can’t afford, don’t need or would rather not buy into standalone software.

The software Google release today will be early Beta, certainly, and too early to realistically judge performance. Nonetheless, it could begin to redefine what users expect from their browsers.

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Google Chrome browser announced: integrated search, improved JavaScript

Chris Davies — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:02:49 +0000

Google have announced plans to take on Microsoft and Firefox with their own open-source browser, codenamed Chrome, by releasing a specially drawn comic by Scott McCloud explaining the app. Based on the existing Webkit rendering engine, Chrome will integrate not only tab-based browsing but Google Gears and a newly integrated search and address system called Omnibox.

Omnibox will replace the individual address and search boxes and offer search suggestions, popular pages and history pages. It will also automatically replicate a webpage’s own search box, allowing site and query strings to be entered simultaneously. An Amazon search, for instance, could be triggered by entering “amazon”, pressing tab and then the search term.

Chrome will also include some of the more popular features from existing rivals. It will have a homepage of nine instant-access shortcut thumbnails, as found in Opera 9, with a sidebar of recent searches and tabs. The tabs themselves will be switched to above the window, not below it as on Firefox, and there’ll be a privacy option similar to Internet Explorer’s recently announced InPrivate mode, in which no record of sites or searches will be stored. A malware and phishing protection system will be integrated and constantly updated, with Chrome automatically downloading a list of dangerous sites in the background.

A special team in Denmark have been working on an updated JavaScript Virtual Machine, called V8, will also be an integral part of Chrome. It promises to speed up JavaScript and reduce memory bloat, which will make a significant difference in webapps, together with highlighting any core offenders, whether webpages or plug-ins, that use up more memory than they should. Chrome will allow webapps to create their own, address and toolbar free windows, better replicating traditional desktop apps and continuing Google’s attempts to blur the difference between what’s online and what’s local.

Intended for release as an open-source project, the Google Chrome browser has no specific release date attached to it. The project webpage is http://www.google.com/chrome but it’s not active at time of writing. You can see Philipp Lenssen’s scans of the Chrome comic here.

[Google Blog via Blogoscoped]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear