thechromesource – Google Chrome and Chrome OS News and Resources

Speed is a Big Deal, Measuring it is in Chrome 6

Posted on 28. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

The Chromium blog today has a post up about the importance of load times for a web page. In fact, it is so important that Chrome 6 will offer developers the ability to test load times on the fly while they are doing their thing. It’s actually a standard being worked out across all browsers called Web Timing. Developers can see it under window.webkitPerformance.  Not a bad idea, since Google has made it clear in the past that speed is a big factor in search rankings.

Consider the case in point by the Google Research blog that points to “more usage, as measured by number of searches, reflects more satisfied users”, meaning that controlled tests on this very subject prove the point that speed makes people happy. This continues to reiterate their insistence on emphasizing a fast-loading web, and for good reason. It’s what the people want out of their user experience.

That explains why I’m always unhappy when I’ve got to use this Windows 7 machine.

The Secret To a Ten Second Boot: Eliminate BIOS?

Posted on 28. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Do you ever find yourself sitting around waiting for your computer to boot? While I always seem to hear about the newest computers having faster boot times, I never have perceived any sort of difference in speed. Along with using solid state drives, the next generation of computers is supposedly going to eliminate the decades-old BIOS startup system which is essentially software that talks directly to your hardware prior to operating system startup.

Witness this test by some Lenovo engineers. As far as I can tell, no special effects were involved, although one may consider that to be the case since this laptop boots up so fast.

The technology is called UEFI, which stands for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface and one of the earliest OSs to support it was – surprise – Linux. While the Chromium site has no reference to UEFI, it sure is certain that the team is working on a custom BIOS. That means, according to this video, moving hardware initialization from the firmware to the kernel, among other optimizations.

The Multiuser Sketchpad – Social Doodling in the Browser

Posted on 27. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

In what may be one of the strangest – or awesomest – Chrome Experiements I’ve seen, longtime web experimenter Mr. Doob has come out with the Multiuser Sketchpad. Sure, it sounds pretty ho-hum when I put it in words, but this HTML5 based webapp is really cool once you try it out. Here is a fast-forwarded clip of a doodle.

The Multiuser Sketchpad reminds me of scribbling stuff on my desk in high school, but in a fascinating colloborative way. I’ll profess that I’m no artist, but some of the people who doodle on this really have some ability.

Experiments like this are just unbelievable. It’s really hard to describe what watching this is like, so just try it out yourself.  The web is going to further innovate with next generation browsers and cloud operating systems. It just makes every new social tool available to anyone. Go ahead, get your doodle on!

Is Dell Scrapping PCs with Ubuntu?

Posted on 25. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

I was alerted via Slashdot an article by PCPro UK that Dell is no longer making a push to offer Ubuntu-based laptops and netbooks through their website. This was reported for the Dell UK site, which right now is only returning printers when one searches the term “Ubuntu”. When I went to the USA version of the site a search brought back a slew of desktops, laptops and netbooks offering Ubuntu version 8.04.

With that being said, we wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Dell may attempt to scale back the options for devices loaded with Ubuntu. Despite no concrete evidence of Dell working on a Chrome OS product, their Linux team has been releasing builds that work with the Mini 10 netbook. Last month, a Dell executive that is based in South Asia told Reuters that the company wants to be “on the forefront” of innovations in the computer industry such as Chrome OS.

So, we’ll chalk up the sudden disappearance of Ubuntu products from Dell’s UK site as an experiment in consumers’ tastes. If someone in the UK wants to buy an Ubuntu-loaded device from Dell, they can still call and ask for one. The debate still is part of a Dell web page on the topic as well.

The Top Non-Bloat Non-Annoying Extensions in Google Chrome

Posted on 23. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

It seems like almost every day I read about some top ten list about the most useful extensions for developers, the most helpful extensions for graphic designers and the most important extensions for bloggers. I say all of that is garbage. I’ve spent a lot more time analyzing Chrome extensions than many others have, and I’ve really only found very few that can enhance your web experience. Seriously, here is a screenshot of the four I actually use.

Forecastfox Weather

Everyone needs to know what the weather is like outside. Just looking out the window is really not good enough. Fortunately, there is a comprehensive weather extension I’ve found called Forecastfox Weather. It allows you to put in your location, and it sits comfortably in your extension collection, telling you via icon what the weather right now is like.

When you click on the icon, you get in depth information on your local weather.

It gives you a forecast for the next few days, saves your recent locations at the top, and even gives you local radar. What else do you need? It’s like the total opposite from the uber-worthless WeatherBug.

PageRank – LinkExtend

I very recently wrote an article about PageRank – LinkExtend. I really feel that everyone who uses the web needs to be aware of a site’s PageRank. Without going too deeply into Google’s ranking system, PageRank basically allows one to see how relevant a site is based on the number of links that go back to the site. When you have the extension active, you can also see what the PageRank of a site is when you use Google Search, helpful for finding authoritative resources instead of straight-up junk sites.

Google Search.

RSS Subscription Extension

This one is pretty simple, yet surprisingly useful; whenever you’re at a site that offers a RSS feed that you can put into your reader, you can click on an icon in your omnibox.

TabJump

There is really a lot of tab-madness going on. You know what I’m talking about – too many browser tabs. I have way too many opem at any time, and I know that many other people have the same problem. TabJump helps that. It sits comfortably in the omnibox until you need it to understand the tabs, and most helpfully it can reopen that tab you regretfully closed.

When you click on the green arrow, you get a breakdown on all the tabs you have opened.

In the End

There are only so many Chrome browser extensions which are useful that don’t simply annoy you while you’re trying to get things done. I’ve evaluated a lot of them to be able to make this post – but if there is one important one I have missed, I’d like to know about it. Let me know, and I’ll take a look!

By the way, if you’re going to make a top “whatever” list of the most useful Chrome extensions, take note that I’m going to be paying attention. No one will realistically be using most of them, and you will get called out right here on this blog. Dear readers, I’m hoping you’ll help me out on this. Thanks.

Google Ups the Reward For Chromium Security Fixes

Posted on 20. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

For the past six months, those who have been able to find a flaw in Chromium were awarded cash prizes for doing so. Now that this program has been ongoing for some time, the Chromium team has decided increase the amount given out for the most critical of flaws found, moving from $1,337 to $3,133.70. Most awards will remain at the $500 level, depending on the published severity guidelines.

The Chromium project has lead to Chrome being one of the most secure browsers on the market. The annual conference where researchers try to compromise browsers and other computer platforms, Pwn2Own, had no takers for Chrome browser this year. It could be because Chrome is still the newcomer on the market. Nevertheless all of the other major browsers ended up getting hacked at Pwn2Own.

It’s unknown whether or not the decision from the Chromium team relates to Mozilla recently raising their Security Bug Bounty Program award up from $500 to $3,000. With that being said, moving the amount just above Mozilla’s while keeping the cachet of the original award may mean something when thinking about Firefox versus Chrome: actions speak louder than words.

More Installable Webapps for Chrome Available

Posted on 16. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Once you’ve taken the time to add in the apps that are packaged with Chrome 6/Chromium, you can also add others. These are usually built with the .crx extension file name.

Vlad Nastasiu has put on his web site a good array of these – Facebook, Youtube and Google Reader to name a few. DownloadSquad also has an extensive listing. You can follow the Chromium Apps discussion group for more ongoing information as well.

1. Make sure that you have enabled apps in Chromium/Chrome 6.

2. Download the .crx file to your computer.

3. With the enabled-apps shortcut of Chrome open, you can open up the .crx file.

You’ll get a screen like this.

Confirm, and you’re good to go! Want to know how to make your own apps in Chrome? Check out Google’s Guide to Installable Web Apps.

Hexxeh’s Working on a Chrome OS Tablet

Posted on 13. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

He ain’t talkin’ any more about it, but he posted this picture of a tablet running Chrome OS Flow earlier tonight.

I’m guessing based on the wires plus that this thing look torn apart that there’s no touch capability or input otherwise yet. But since Hexxeh’s been able to get a broad amount of hardware working on Flow maybe something significant will come out of this.

Hardware cost: $80. I was thinking it must be one of those Chinese ARM tablets, but Hexxeh confirms its x86.

I’m really hoping that we see a tablet with Chrome OS come out this year.

Old School’s Not Cool

Posted on 13. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

This shows how often I restart my browser. I was confronted with this window trying to see what dev version I’m using.When you’re out of date, you’ll now see a exclamation point next to “About Google Chrome” in Tools. Although I know that there was an update last week, apparently they really want me to upgrade.

w3schools: Chrome Adoption Growing Fast

Posted on 12. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Back in January, I remarked about how quickly Chrome browser had been gaining share of the early adopter market. Back then, 10% of those who used the w3schools.com web developer site were browsing with Chrome. Now six months later that figure has jumped to over fifteen percent. Here is the month by month stats for 2010.

Those growth numbers are pretty impressive, don’t you think? They are markedly different from other browsers, whose numbers do move nearly as fast as Chrome.

So the data here tells one that those who develop for the web are increasingly interested in at least checking out what Chrome is all about. Recently Chris Blizzard from Mozilla told Gizmodo that they aren’t afraid of Chrome, and the data here suggests he’s right about that notion: Firefox has not lost any share to Chrome, it has mostly come at Microsoft’s expense.

NetApplications is reporting that worldwide use of Chrome is somewhere around 7%, so those who are using it to  develop and otherwise create for the web are double that amount. That seems pretty logical to me.

Gmail Busts Out Rich Text Signatures

Posted on 09. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

In a post earlier yesterday, the Gmail blog announced the addition of Rich Text Signatures to everyone’s (I think) favorite email client. While this may add a hodgepodge of images in lines of email conversations, as Gmail becomes a defacto email client for not only regular users but also businesses, adding features like this is smart business.

So, things like colored text, backgrounds, linked text and images are now available to adorn on your signature just the way you like it.

Now I can put my logo into my signature, just so people know who I am (yeah right).

It looks like the only option for this right now is to provide a URL for an image’s location. I’m assuming this is because Google doesn’t want to have to load these images from their own server; you want to use a pretty picture you’re going to have to host it yourself.

I can’t wait to get one with a middle finger as the signature. Seriously, some Gmail users have been angry and repressed for not having this feature. Send me one, if you want to make me laugh. I’m trying to write some fun posts over here.

Firefox 4 Sure Looks a Lot Like Chrome

Posted on 08. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Firefox 4 Beta 1 certainly looks familar. I can’t seem to place where I’ve seen this interface before. Oh, I know, it’s the one I see every day when I use Chrome. You be the judge.

Tabs have been moved to the top of the window, the color scheme has changed accordingly and even the input boxes on the main toolbar area now have a rounded look to them. I can’t wait to download this and check out the generation-leaping JavaScript engine this thing is supposed to have.

Aviary Adds “Browser/OS” Option for Screen Captures

Posted on 06. Jul, 2010 by admin.

Do I detect the solution to a problem coming? In edition to having developed a Chrome extension, a company called Aviary also has a browser-based screen capture utility, recently added a “Browser/OS” drop-down box as one of its options for snapshots.

Really, what purpose would there be for adding this to your ability to create a screenshot unless it was for a certain web-based operating system coming out at the end of this year? Taking a picture of your computer screen shouldn’t require what web browser or operating system you are using, except when the resulting file is stored somewhere other than your hard drive, such as in the cloud.

As Google begins to internally test Chrome OS, we’ll slowly start to see these types of little functional elements occur. Although Aviary is not owned by Google, they are an Apps partner and signed on early to be a part of the Google Apps Marketplace. In a past interview with another company that has been an early partner with Apps Marketplace, MindMeister, I was told that Google keeps product liasons in close contact with these third party companies.

I’m going to need to be able to take screenshots in Chrome OS as well as edit images and this may just be the ticket to doing that. Have you come across any other way it’s going to be possible? I haven’t other than perhaps by using Aviary.

Sync Your Chrome Extensions Between Computers

Posted on 05. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Chris Pirillo has a great video that shows the capability to synchronize extensions with Chromium. Ever been somewhere and forgot that great extension allowing you to open tabs you recently closed? (I use TabJump) Or what about that badass weather extension, except you know that’s not really the name of it? Well, now starting with the developmental builds of the Chrome browser, that’s not going to be a problem.

Wow, that Visual Tabs extension looks mighty interesting, I may have to do a review of that one…

Does Chrome Only Have “Perceived” Speed Superiority?

Posted on 18. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

It was brought to my attention today that another intrepid blogger has taken a highly technical view on the Firefox versus Chrome debate. Since we’ve put up articles and videos directly related to this topic, it seems that we should give these thoughts a fair view here. The contention here is whether Chrome is really that fast, or if it is simply a perception from its user interface.

Here are some graphs and videos, check out the link to get more information on the terminology. I learned a lot from this post, and here’s hoping that you do too.

How About Some Chrome Browser on Your PSP?

Posted on 15. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Yeah, I didn’t really believe the title of this YouTube video until I actually saw it myself. But it appears that some enterprising person was capable of tossing a little Chrome browser action on their Sony Playstation Portable. Nice work.

Instructions:

PSP Google Chrome browser + how to install

DOWNLOAD :
http://lolq.eu/s/psp_chrome/

HOW TO INSTALL:

Connect your psp to your computer

Copy the ‘pspchrome’ folder in x/psp/common/ on your memorystick

Disconect your psp from your computer

Go to the psp web browser, write in the address bar ” file:/psp/common/pspchrome/index.html ”

Then pspchrome will open, choose the language, and it will start.
You may now set it as your home page or mark it in your bookmarks

Hacker News Extender Now Available for Chrome

Posted on 10. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

I’ve just been told there is now a HN extension for Chrome Browser, and I’ve got it installed. It allows you to use keyboard shortcuts to quickly scan through the latest trends. I like it, and it appears from the readme for the extension that there will be more functions added soon.

Get the Hacker News Extender here.

From the readme:

Why is this?It started as a way to let you use keyboard shortcuts. It’s turning out to be a bit more.

How do I use it?
Read the code (but start from the bottom).
Fine, here’s a (probably out of date) summary:

On all pages
j: next
k: previous
u: upvote

On the home page
<enter>: open story
o: open comments

In comment threads
g i: returns to home page
h: downvote
n: next comment skipping replies
p: previous skipping replies

But seriously, just read the code.

Where to Download Chrome OS

Posted on 07. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Forecastfox is a Useful Chrome Weather Extension

Posted on 24. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Since the days of the notorious WeatherBug process hog, I have never really been into weather related add-ins, widgets or whatever-you-may-call-them. That’s probably because they have not been useful, end up taking too much of my PC system resources or a combination of the two. So when I installed the Ensolis Forecastfox extension for Chrome browser, I found it quite useful despite my misgivings. In fact, I think I like it.

After installing the extension you’ll need to configure your location by putting in your zipcode at the options menu. This can be done either by right clicking on the Forecastfox tab, opening the forecast and selecting option from the bottom or going through the extensions menu. If you are a frequent traveler, you can set up multiple locations and easily switch locations depending on where you are.

Finding out the current weather is real easy when you have the temperature and conditions displayed in the browser at the top right: 

Click on the Forecastfox extension icon, and you get a quick rundown of the forecast for the next week, with the information being pulled from the Accuweather database. I was surprised how quickly this data was pulled, perhaps Ensolis caches the data as it is updated from Accuweather:

The extension also gives you a nice little red box at the top when there are severe weather warnings, as was the case for me a few days ago when there was a frost advisory in my area.

Forecastfox actually is a Firefox add-in that has been ported over by Ensolis as a Chrome extension. This is not a bad thing: the folks who developed this already had an existing product that they had a good following on (20 million downloads). I think we can expect to see more solid add-ins for Firefox be moved onto the Google browser platform as adoption levels continue to rise.

Try out Forecastfox for a good weather extension in Google Chrome. I promise it’s not like WeatherBug.