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.

You Want Sidebar Tabs in Chrome? Here’s How

Posted on 26. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Many people have asked for the ability to move their tabs to the side in Google Chrome. This is a feature that first took off in Firefox, and fortunately the Chromium team has graciously put them into the early builds. Now, if you’re using Chrome 6 in the form of the development or canary builds, you can have sidebar tabs as well.

The first thing you need to do is add “–enable-sidebar-tabs” to your Chrome shortcut like this.

Open up Chrome again, and you can now right click on a tab and choose Use side tabs.

When I chose Use side tabs, my tabs simply disappeared, a strange sight for sure.

But when I hit Ctrl+T to open a new tab, they appeared on a sidebar to the left.

To revert to regular tabs, right click on an open tab and uncheck the Use side tabs option.

Once again, you’ll need to open a new tab to make them appear at the top – a little quirk that shows this feature still needs refinement.

I’m not sure what to think about sidebar tabs – I’ve never used them, so I am accustomed to using regular tabs on the top. I think the feature also need a bit of UI polish as well, but if you’re using Firefox just for the sidebar tabs, you might want to grab yourself the development build of Chrome and give it a shot.

Review: Chrome Canary – More Than One Browser Instance

Posted on 25. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

I had recently written a post at the Chromium-discuss Google Group about a recent problem I was having with Chrome instances.

The pace of Chrome’s development is mind blowing. So when I read the Chromium-dev Group news about Chrome Canary, I was happy that the team is allowing more instances of the browser to be run for those of us who have a keen interest in Chrome.

However, does Chrome really need to have a stable, beta, dev and now Canary release? Under normal browser conditions, it does not. But because the pace of releases are being sped up due to Chrome being implemented as an OS as well as an integral part of Google’s TV initiative, it makes sense.

The real purpose is to put a canary build out that can be frequently updated, and possibly rolled back. The Chromium team realizes that the more eyes that are on their early builds, the faster potential problems can be worked out, thus speeding up the development life cycle. Note that this build is currently only available for Windows users.

When I first installed Chrome Canary, I was surprised to see that I was given a choice for which search engine would be queried when I put a term in the omnibox. Actually since Yahoo how uses Bing for search results there’s really only two options here.

Looking at the versions of these two instances, it appears that for now the two are running the same build so there’s really nothing intriguing to report on about canary for the time being. Although canary will only be used to push the more risky features into the build, we’ll keep updating on any of the most interesting changes.

Google Plans to Accelerate Chrome Releases

Posted on 22. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

The Chromium blog has a post talking about their plan to begin releasing new stable versions of Chrome every six weeks. It’s a hurried pace, but the fact of the matter is that Google is ramping up Chrome to be used for a platform for technology in many different areas of the company’s strategy.

One of the reasons to increase the frequency of version updates is to make sure that the Chromium team is not putting out stable features just because there is a deadline to get a new release out. There are so many features being added or changed in the development build that it is hard to keep track of what is actually going to go into the stable build. Indeed, it seems the build is update almost every week as it is.

Chrome is going to be a central part of Chrome OS, of course, but it will also be a component of Google TV, arriving this fall on DISH Network. Technology such as the V8 JavaScript engine has also been ported over to Android’s browser as well. There are probably some other features of Chrome that are going to springboard other Google initiatives that we don’t even know of yet.

I guess I better finish up my Inside Chrome 6 series, the new stable release may be coming a lot sooner than I had anticipated.

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 Shows off Touch on a Chrome OS Tablet

Posted on 16. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

A few days ago Hexxeh showed off his newest Chromium project, which is porting his Chrome OS Flow build over to a tablet. Supposedly the device used is an O2 Joggler. Today, he’s posted an early version that is working with touch.

I can’t wait to get my hands on a Chrome OS tablet.

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…

From Zero to Almost Ten Percent: How Chrome Surpassed Safari

Posted on 30. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

It has been big news recently that Chrome has overtaken Safari as the third most used browser in the U.S. While this statistic is one that’s skewed towards the United States since Chrome and Safari have been neck and neck, the reality is that Chrome took third place worldwide over Safari back in September.

The main reason that America has lagged in this regard is probably the fact that Apple sells so many computers in the United States, coming with the well regarded WebKit-based Safari.

But the point of this post is to understand how Chrome got this far in a period of two years. When I first tried Chrome as an early adopter-type in the beginning of 2009, I liked the design interface and the idea of “sandboxing” where every tab was its own process. The problem with Chrome at that time was one of compatibility: there were sites that did not function correctly with Chrome, a surprise to me because of its WebKit roots.

Over time, which really isn’t long by Google’s measurement, Chrome evolved. Many sites needed to adapt some functionality to Chrome, but for the most part it was the folks at Google working fervently to make the best browser available. Perhaps they knew that they were making the foundations of an operating system at the time, who knows?

Extensions

In December 2009, Google launched the Chrome Extensions web site, an opportunity for the company to better compete with Firefox’s vaunted library of add-ins. Not only did they take an existing idea, they improved on it by putting security limits around extensions at their site, making sure that proper measures are taken to make sure that personal data and important computer processes cannot be compromised through the browser. Clicking around at the Extensions site the other day it appears that there are over five thousand now available.

Translate

In the beginning, Google offered an extension that you could install into Chrome and translate different languages of the web. Then they started adding it into the development Chromium builds, and finally it was released with the launch Chrome 5 to users a few months ago embedded in the browser itself. This feature is so easy to use, and it unlocks the web for everyone to read no matter their language. Google took an existing service they had and put it right into the browser where it’s the most useful.

No Messing With Flash

Maybe Google sees something in Flash that Apple doesn’t, but they decided to take a very different approach to handling Adobe Flash than Cupertino. Instead of eschewing it completely, Google has embraced the technology. Flash is used in YouTube videos, for some streaming music sites and I’ve recently noticed it needs to be installed to use Google Analytics. So, unlike other browsers that require you to install it and then update to newer revisions manually, Google preempts any inconvienence and risk by making it a part of Chrome.

In the End

Relentless innovation has gotten Chrome browser this far. This is due to Chromium as an open source resource as well as the amount of manpower that Google has thrown towards it in anticipation of Chrome OS. I didn’t even get to talk here about interesting features like the omnibox, bookmark sync and geolocation, but they are an aside to these three major developments that are propelling this browser’s growth. How much market share can this browser take from Internet Explorer and Firefox in the months and years to come?

thechromesource Daily: Links for 6/29/10

Posted on 29. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

The folks on the Chromium project are serious about browser security, turning their focus now to extensions.

Will the rival service to Facebook, which may or may not be called Google Me, look anything like Orkut?

Google Apps for Education is proving to be successful; students may soon be spending more time with this than Microsoft Office.

It really not likely that Google would ever completely shut down their operations in China, they will just be patient.

HTML5 means speed: A Google staff engineer recently said they plan to use the technology so that Gmail loads in one second.

Chrome OS Boss Leaves for Facebook

Posted on 28. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Chrome OS Engineering Director Matthew Papakipos has announced today on his Twitter account that he is leaving for Facebook.

“Now that Chrome OS & WebGL are in good shape, it’s time for something new. I’m going to work @ Facebook! Love the product and team. Woot!”

At least it’s nice to hear that Chrome OS is in good shape. One of the most memorable things that Papakipos did other than take the reigns of Chrome OS during its infancy was submit to a wide-ranging and lengthy interview with Ars Technica regarding the conceptual vision of Chrome OS. It’s really worth a read if you have not yet checked it out.

Papakipos had previously worked on HTML5 projects for Google. It seems as if this would be a big loss with Chrome OS looming in the fourth quarter for a launch, but Google has a stable of engineers on the project if you have ever taken a gander over to the Chromium.org site. Here’s hoping a replacement is named pretty soon.

Nevertheless, there is clearly something going on between Google and Facebook. It’s rumored that Google is planning to launch its own Facebook-like application, while Facebook could foray into real time or social search. It will be fun to watch these two companies try some things that their rival specializes in, and we’ll see how this battle shakes out.

thechromesource Daily: Links for 6/25/10

Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Those who have used Chrome’s dev channel know this; but this Chromium post explains many changes that stable users soon will see.

The White House and Google have violated the Obama Administration’s lobbying pledge, according to The Examiner.

There is expected to be an Intel x86 launch of Android netbooks and tablets in Q3; will this be a possible Chrome OS rivalry?

At the O’Reilly Velocity 2010, Google’ s Urs Holzle, a VP of Operations, talked about how much faster the company has made the web.

Google’s UK and Ireland managing director seems to be expecting an internet and mobile revolution.

Those Repository Files Must Mean Something

Posted on 21. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Last week, DownloadSquad’s Lee Matthews discovered some public repository files that referenced three hardware manufacturers: Dell, Acer and HP. A few days later, those files were then replaced by a different listing that included some legacy hardware such as Amiga, Atari and Commodore, among others.

This has got to mean something. One thing that jumped out in my mind when Matthews first reported this story was that Dell is not on the official list of hardware partners. When I contacted a source who is working closely with some official partners on hardware about Dell, I was told that there are no new announcements for the time being.

It seems the three manufacturers and there repository files on the Chromium site point to the logical conclusion that they will be the first companies associated with official Chrome OS products. It’s a different move than the route that was taken for Android where a more upstart company, HTC, took the first leap into the mobile OS and rode that platform to the success that it is today. I really don’t see HTC having the same spotlight it now holds with smartphones if it had continued down the Windows Mobile path it was on a few years ago.

Regardless, I have a great deal of respect for Dell, Acer and HP as longstanding companies producing computer hardware. The fact that they are getting behind this project further validates to me that Chrome OS will be a strong competitor in the consumer computing market over the coming years.

Adobe PDF Files Now Integrated into Chromium

Posted on 17. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

How will Apple combat the PDF on the web? They have already said that they won’t support Flash, and Adobe has since slowly backed away from support for anything related to Apple. It’s a smart move on Adobe’s part, and gives Google a chance to move in on the vacant space.

The Chromium Blog has just posted a bit about PDF files now being integrated into the browser. This is something I had expected to happen with the advent of Adobe’s Flash player being baked into Chrome, and this is a logical step forward since these files are ubiquitous on the web. At the forefront of this move are issues with security. There have been problems (and McAfee has pointed them out) with suspect PDF files causing havoc on machines.

In the Computerworld article linked above, a McAfee security specialist recommended sandboxing Adobe Reader files, something that is now being done by the Chromium team to further enhance Chrome’s overall security in the future.

With Google supporting Adobe’s formats (OK, two of them) they legitimize them on the web. There’s nothing wrong with that, other than the fact that they are tacking a stance that further differentiates them from Apple. It seems only logical to think that with Flash already being in the fold that supporting Adobe Reader’s PDF file format to be complementary to what has already been done with integration. Despite Apple’s concern everyone uses Flash and Reader so instead of chucking it out, why not find ways to solve the problem at hand?

At the same time, what is wrong with simply integrating PDF files into the web the way it’s done with Srcibd? This may just be another move for Google to pre-empt that company, just like purchasing YouTube gave them the defacto platform for video. Integrating PDF files gives Google the platform for enabling documentation that may have all sorts of importance to people that want to publish on the web yet still retain some degree of control.

This is starting in Chromium with the dev build, and surely will soon move to the beta and stable releases of Chrome.

Dell an Official Chrome OS Partner?

Posted on 14. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Recently, DownloadSquad deftly discovered that the Chromium repository referenced three manufacturers and their private hardware builds – from Acer, HP and Dell. While the first two companies were already on the list of known partners with Google on the project, Dell was left out for some reason.

However, the Dell Linux team has periodically been releasing updated builds of Chromium OS, announcing this fact in the Chromium discussion board. It is hard to speculate at this point, but one must start to wonder if the three hardware manufacturers plan on announcing releases of their Chrome OS products at the same time. Whatever the case may be, we know to expect any release information to come directly from these manufacturers at some point in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The releases that have been put out by Dell have been aimed at their Mini series of netbooks, so it’s easy to wonder whether they will be launching a Chrome OS product that is a 10″ netbook.

It is really hard to say at this point since we have seen such a precipitous decline in the popularity of netbooks since the arrival of Apple’s tablet, so it would most likely do Dell and the other two companies well to find some middle ground on a netbook/laptop hybrid that encompasses an innovative form factor paired with performance specs to wow enthusiasts, all at a competitive price.

Sounds like a tall order. No wonder Google is letting the manufacturers do the talking on this one.

thechromesource Daily: Links for 6/9/10

Posted on 09. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Chrome OS will run legacy PC applications using a process unofficially called ‘Chromoting’ according to the Register.

In a partnership with HP, a launch of cloud-enabled printers will be coming soon allowing your printing to be wireless in the cloud.

The Dell Linux team has updated their build of Chromium, specifically for its line of netbooks.

Interestingly, Apple has been credited with spotting some bugs in the Chrome browser.

ZDNet asks, what will be the effects of Android and Chrome OS on the release of Linux distributions?

Is Chrome OS Just a Web Browser?

Posted on 08. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

It’s hard not to think that Chrome OS will be just a glorified web browser when it is released later on this year. The reason for this is because Google has been very adamant about their message that the web will be the platform of the future, and Chrome OS serves to be a way to serve up the web in a different manner than we have seen before. But when you hear this, it makes one start to wonder whether or not all we’re getting is a bootable version of the browsers we know of today.

The Chrome browser plays a part in the development in its counterpart operating system, as we’re starting to see with Chromium that Native Client is going to have to play a big part in the interface between the web and hardware. It’s being implemented in Chrome browser as well, so it will be interesting to see if we will see some cool Native Client stuff prior to the release of a Chrome OS gadget although an official device will be better optimized to do this because of the requirements that have been made by Google in the regard.

One thing that has been brought up in the Chromium discussion list (join here) is that a way to get around the issue of connectivity is that Chrome OS could use the browser interface as the way to run apps both online and locally. Local apps will still be based on web technologies, and all of the executables and information to need them will be securely stored on the hard drive. This will be the stopgap while emerging wireless internet available continuous to become more ubiquitous, one issue that is of great concern when you start considering a completely web-based computing solution.

So, without going much more into detail, no Chrome OS is not just a browser. It is a web-enabled solution paired with hardware that runs on an underlying Linux architecture to allow for processes that run just like any other operating system, but will be a tad more locked down in terms of applications for users.

I guess that would be kind of a mouthful to explain to someone, right?

Freescale Semiconductor Working on Chrome OS

Posted on 03. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

The folks at Freescale Semiconductor were kind enough to invite us to their offices yesterday in Taipei to show off the fact that they are actively working on Chrome OS for ARM processors.

I learned a lot during my time at Freescale, and I now better understand that it is taking a good deal of work to port Chromium over to the ARM architecture as opposed to x86. They had a version of Chromium running on their iMX515 processor that was from last year’s Google open source build.

I happened to have the latest spring release of Chromium on a USB drive in my bag while I was there. However, the build that I had was specifically for x86 and the reality is that a lot of work has to go into making Chromium compatible with ARM’s low power, mobile specific platform.

Here are some pictures that they allowed me to take, giving an indication that they are working closely with Google to ensure that Chrome OS will not just run on Intel processors. My time at the Freescale office in Taiwan yesterday gives me an indication that there will probably be ARM devices running Chrome OS in the first quarter of 2011.

More Chrome OS news will be coming in the closing days of Computex, keep checking our RSS feed or follow us on @thechromesource if you’re a Twitter addict like I am.

What’s the Newest Chrome Build Look Like? Here’s a Look

Posted on 26. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Yes, the new version came out many weeks ago, and now someone has captured the spring release of Chrome OS on video (plan on us doing this in the future, we promise). Notice how there is a profile element to logging on, full screen mode and integrated Flash capability now available.