This just in, surfing the web with Chrome just got even better. You folks recall Google’s new “Instant pages” feature that they’re adding in to Chrome 13, right? Well, this is something along those same lines. Google’s planning to bring the same sort of prerendering Chrome 13 users are seeing in Google search to the Omnibox. For those of you who don’t know, that’s basically a fancy word for Google Chrome’s dual address/searchbar.

Of course, you know what this means, doesn’t it?

Pretty much anything in the Omnibox- not just your search results- is fair game for this new functionality. That includes such things as bookmarks and even pages you frequently visit. Go on Facebook a lot? Chrome might just end up pre-caching the social networking site for you. The end result of this functionality is basically a massive kick-start to browser speed;Even though the browser itself uses the same amount of system memory, and hasn’t had any integral changes made to its coding.

A pretty awesome update, for sure- but the function’s not available in Chrome yet. It’ll probably be hitting Chrome Canary some time in the next few days, but until then, those of you who want to give Omnibox Prerendering a go are going to have to download the latest version of Chromium.

Once you’ve done that, it’s as simple as browsing to the about:flags switch and activating Omnibox Prerendering.

Via Browserscene)

Chrome session syncing is a rather useful function that allows you to access your open tabs and browser windows across multiple platforms and systems. Say you’re on your desktop computer, and you’re looking at a few web pages in Chrome. With session syncing, you can open up the exact same web pages on your laptop with the click of a button.  What’s more, it’s incredibly easy to set up. Well, easier than it used to be. You used to either have to use command switches or download a plugin. Now, however; you simply have to do the following:

Step 1: Open The Chrome Options Menu

See that little wrench in the upper right hand corner? Click on it, and then select options from the dropdown menu that appears. That’ll load your Chrome options page in a new tab.

Step 2: Access The “Personal Stuff” Tab

Pretty self explanatory. You’ll see three links on the left hand side of the page: Basics, Personal Stuff, Under The Hood. Click on Personal Stuff.

Step 3: Click on the “Set up Sync” Button

It’s right at the top of the page. Can’t miss it.

Step 4: Log In With Your Google Account Information.

If you don’t have a Google account, create one here.

Step 5: Configure Syncing

Here’s where it gets a bit more complicated- but not much. You’ll be presented with two tabs- Data Types and Encryption. The first tab’s pretty self explanatory- you can customize what you want Chrome to sync between browsers. The second tab merits a bit of explanation, however. Basically, Encryption adds a bit of extra security to the syncing process, generating a cryptographic key from your Google account. You can also choose to set up your own sync password/passphrase, seperate from your Google Account password.

That’s it! You’re done!

That was pretty easy, wasn’t it?

But What’s The Point?

Now, granted,this functionality is more of a novelty if you’re not using a platform centered around cloud computing; or at the very least, if you’re not using web apps.  It’s when cloud computing comes into the picture that it’s way more useful. See, I always carry around a USB stick with me. It’s got all my most important files on it, everything I happen to be working on at any given point in time. I do this so that I can plug it into any computer, wherever I am, and resume working on any of my projects whenever I see fit.

Session syncing kind of makes it obsolete. Pretty much any system that has the Chrome or Chromium browser installed on it is fair game, and can be used to access any files I’ve stored on the cloud. Pretty useful, no?

A free app designed for the Google Chrome web browser, Beatlab is a deceptively simple app that allows users to create and share their own music. It features a leaderboard system, calculated based on user votes. The voting system presents the user with two songs at random, and they choose which of the two they like better. At the end of each week, the votes are tallied and the winners of each ‘beat battle’ are listed. In order to save songs, Beatlab must be linked to a Facebook account.  Sounds pretty nifty so far, doesn’t it? Let’s take a closer look.

Interface/Aesthetics

Beatlab is both visually simplistic and aesthetically pleasing. It consists of a number of widgets suspended on a static background. Unfortunately, the positioning of each ‘widget’ is not customizable; near as I can tell, the boxes are stuck where they are. It’s a very minor gripe and not really one that detracts from the overall experience of using the program.

The central element of Beatlab is the synthesizer itself.  Upon opening the app, you’ll be presented with a grid. On the right side of the grid are the various sounds that you’ll use in creating your music. Buttons on the top left let you control the speed of the piece; buttons on the top right let you control the length. Numbers on the top act as a measurement of ‘sections’ of the song. I confess, I’m uncertain what units of measurement Beatlab uses, and ultimately as the numbers remain the same regardless of the song’s speed, they seem to exist more as points of reference than anything else.  To add sounds to the grid, you can either click, or click and drag. Boxes that are dark make no sound, boxes that are lit up make sound.

All in all, the interface is pretty to look at and easy to use, with no bugs or glitches that I was able to detect. It loads fast, and it’s responsive- both points in its favor.

Additional Features

Here’s where the ‘deceptively simple’ bit comes in. See, you aren’t actually stuck with just the default sounds that the synthesizer gives you. Not only can you choose from a number of built in ‘sound sets’, but you can also upload your own, or choose from a library of sounds that other users have uploaded. Near as I can tell, there’s no limit to the number of sounds you can add or upload. Of course, this is one area where Beatlab runs into another minor issue- there’s no way to control the pitch of a sound in the program. If you want a flat note, you’ll have to find or upload one yourself.

You can also view and edit the songs of other users, or upload created songs as mp3 files, to use as you please.

Final Score: 5/5

Beatlab delivers what it promises, that much is certain. The interface is polished, crisp, and responsive, and the program is easy to use with a layer of complexity for those willing to dig a bit deeper. Anyone using the app will likely be able to create at least a few catchy tunes for themselves or their friends to listen to; it’s unlikely most people will be able to create anything beyond that. Anyone looking for a professional-level synthesization program should look elsewhere; that’s not Beatlab’s intended purpose. All in all, it’s a fun diversion, and well-put together.

And you can’t go wrong with the price- it’s free. Download a copy for yourself here.

(Tested on Windows XP with Chrome 11.0.696.60)

This is very much similar to the other Chrome video that was recently released, retracted and then released again. Still, these clips resemble the Google Search ad that was on during the Super Bowl, so should we expect some television playing time with these?

The newest version of Firefox 4, Beta 5, has hardware acceleration. So I decided to see which browser ran the Asteroid Belt test better: Chrome 7 with the “-enable-accelerated-compositing” switch, or the integrated acceleration within Firefox.

Curious about Google TV? Aren’t we all. AndroidandMe is saying that the set top box will be available from DISH Network for $300, and at Google I/O the company showed off some of its best features. Here is another clip that shows more of this new dynamic for TV that is arriving sometime this fall.

There’s a lot of content that is going to be accessible from this box. Plus, did you see them accessing the internet? Yeah, that’s Chrome. Now, if only there was a tablet to complement this…

While having a built-in spell checker for Chrome is helpful sometimes, it can also be a bit annoying with the amount of squiggly lines that it can create if you’re using words not traditionally found in the dictionary. If you want to turn off the default spell checker feature, here’s how.

The first thing you’ll need to do is go to the options menu under the wrench icon.

In the options menus, you will need to click on the Under the Hood tab.

From Under the Hood, you will need to scroll down to the Web Content area, and then click on the Change font and language settings button.

In the Font and Language Settings window, you’ll need to click on the Languages tab.

From there, you’ll need to uncheck the Check spelling option.

Note that Chrome does allow you to check spelling in other languages, depending on your location. While turning off the spell check option is not easy to find in the options menus of Chrome, hopefully this helps out.

Although Chrome to Phone is pretty cool, I didn’t realize that you could also trigger Android apps using the service. In this official Google video clip, it shows beaming a map to your smartphone with it loading the Google Maps application.

Pretty sweet.

Enterprise users rejoice: Chrome is now being offered as an MSI you can download directly from Google.

An MSI is a file extension in Windows that allows enterprises to easily package a piece of software and deploy remotely. Having an MSI for Chrome makes it easy for large companies to quickly install it to thousands of workstations. Depending on businesses perspective on Chrome, this may help to boost the browser’s market share once Google decides to promote this.

If your company is making the switch over to Chrome and deploying it to a large amount of workstations, give us a shout. We’d like to hear about companies using Chrome on a large-scale basis to see how the deployment went, as well as the motiviation behind doing so. Are you just trying Chrome out in your organization, or are you making the switch because you think Chrome is the best browser? Let us know.

It’s really hard to track down correct browser statistics.

Depending on who you trust for browser information, the situation gets muddy very quickly on what is going on. According to NetApplications, Chrome’s browser share actually went down, but StatCounter is showing a month over month gain in share.

ConcievablyTech’s Kurt Baake has written a great article on the subject, and it looks like they are leaning toward the StatCounter data. However, major publications such as the Wall Street Journal still rely on NetApplications.

It’s hard for me to believe that Chrome’s market share actually went down given that Google is marketing their browser all over the web. But as TheNextWeb points out, sales of Windows 7 has been strong, and that has led to more use of Internet Explorer 8 that comes with the OS – and is not all that terrible of a browser, mind you.

Anyways, can we find a freaking consensus on this information? That would be really nice.