Google Chrome 2.0.172.8 in beta channel now

Google Chrome developers have updated the beta channel release of the popular alternate web browser.

Google Chrome 2.0.172.8 is now available for download from the Google Chrome Beta section.

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Is the geek love affair with Firefox waning?

 

I remember a time not that long ago when most geeks agreed that Firefox was the best browser (oddly enough, I was still using IE because I wasn’t impressed by Firefox’s stability and resource usage). Since then things have changed a lot. All the major browsers have become a lot better, and as a result of this some who were previously loyal Firefox users are making the switch to other browsers.

Keir Thomas of PC World has the following to say:

This is an exciting time for Web browsers. Google Chrome is now available in alpha for Linux, and I downloaded it for Ubuntu. Despite the fact that I was running it on my rather underpowered Dell Mini 9, it started in the blink of an eye. Additionally, any JavaScript-heavy sites like Gmail or Google Docs were so responsive that it’s almost unbelievable.

Download Google Chrome v1.0.154.53 Final

        

Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.

View the full log of changes here: http://build.chromium.org/buildbot/perf/dashboard/changelog.html?url=/branches/release_154.next/src&range=10329:11798&mode=html

Chrome Experiments: Google Launches New Site to Showcase the Power of Chrome and JavaScript

Yesterday, Google announced a new beta version of Chrome, which features a significantly faster version of V8, Google’s JavaScript engine. Today, Google also launched Chrome Experiments, which showcases JavaScript intensive games, apps, and visualizations. The site is obviously meant to highlight the power of the combination of V8 and Chrome, though quite a few of the apps should also work on Firefox, Safari and IE. In our tests, however, Chrome did indeed provide the best experience.

Chrome Experiments currently features 19 apps, and Google plans to constantly update the site with new experiments and encourages developers to submit their JavaScript apps for inclusion.

Note: If you want to live on the cutting edge, here are the instructions for enabling the Chrome Beta and Developer channels.

Some Highlights

Here are some of our favorite apps in the current Google Chrome Experiments line-up:

Social Collider

Social Collider might just be one of the coolest Twitter visualization tools we have seen in the recent past. Social Collider shows the connections between different Twitter users. You can use a user name or keyword to initiate Social Collider, but it can also be used to visualize current Twitter trends.

Note: Using Social Collider can be quite CPU intensive, but the results are definitely worth it.

Google Gravity

This is an utterly useless experiment, but it shows off some of the surprising possibilities of using JavaScript together with the Box2D Physics Engine. After you have seen gravity take its toll on the Google homepage, also try to perform some searches.

Smalltalk

Smalltalk is another Chrome Experiment that uses the Twitter API to visualize real-time chatter on the Internet. Specifically, Smalltalk looks at comments about the weather in the US (sunny, foggy, windy, etc.). Besides JavaScript, Smalltalk also makes use of the canvas element in HTML5 and the jQuery framework.

BallDroppings

Josh Nimoy’s BallDroppings is a cool little musical toy that has already been implemented in a number of other languages. Here is the JavaScript version. Just draw a few lines on the screen and see what happens.

Browser Talk

 

Click here to access Google Chrome Experiments

To Download Google Chrome Click here