Chrome posts

Filed under: Utilities, Macintosh, Google, Open Source, Browsers

Bookmark sync arrives on Chromium for Mac - here's how to make it work

by Jay Hathaway Nov 13th 2009

We've told you before about Google Chrome's slick new bookmark syncing feature, available in the Windows beta version of Chrome 4. It automatically keeps your bookmarks synced across multiple Chrome installations, using your Google Account. Well, this feature has landed in recent builds of Chromium for Mac (that's the open-source project Chrome is based on). To enable it, you'll first need to grab the latest version of Chromium.

Bookmark sync isn't on by default. To use it, you'll have to pop open your Terminal and do a little command-line magic. You'll want to right-click Chromium, show package contents, and then find Chromium inside the MacOS folder. Drag that to the Terminal, and then add the argument --enable-sync. Chromium should open, and you should see bookmarking syncing in your preferences.

Sign in with your Google account, and your bookmarks will be synced automatically to any other Chromium/Chrome browsers that you sign into. If you want to see where they're stored on the web, check a slightly strange location: a Chrome folder in your Google Docs account.

I know it seems like a lot of trouble to go through for bookmark syncing, but such is the peril of being on the bleeding edge of browser development. Bookmark syncing will very likely pop up officially in the Chrome Mac beta scheduled for early December.

Tags: bookmarks, browser, chrome, chromium, google, sync

Filed under: Macintosh, Google, Beta, Browsers

Google Chrome for Mac will hit beta by December

by Jay Hathaway Nov 12th 2009

OS X browser geeks, start salivating ... Reports from around the web are saying that Google's Chrome browser might get a finished Mac version in about month. Stephen Shankland at CNET has been vigilantly monitoring the Chrome development mailing lists, and some talk about Chrome's new extensions UI reveals that the Mac launch is scheduled for early December.

Chrome 4 for Windows is in Beta already, while Mac and Linux only recently got their first developer previews. Since the highest-profile new feature in the Chrome 4 Beta is browser actions (Chrome's equivalent of Firefox's add-ons), developers are getting their extensions ready for launch. Apparently, a product manager for Chrome posted a message advising developers to switch to the new browser actions system so they'd have more time to get their code in shape for a beta launch in "early December."

Tags: beta, browser, chrome, google, mac

Filed under: Internet, OS Updates

New Go integrates with Chrome and Chrome OS. Native, high-speed add-ons and web apps here we come!

by Sebastian Anthony Nov 12th 2009

You've heard of Chrome. You've heard of Chrome OS. Yesterday I brought you news of Go, Google's new programming language. Now... I bring you news of Native Client -- a tool that lets you run programs inside your web browser: Chrome.

A basic definition of 'Native' would be 'closer to the core of your computer'. Add-ons at the moment are executed at a great distance from your computer's processor. This is for security concerns mostly -- if the code is executed in the browser, it can't get at your core files. You're safe. But it's also slow. That's where Native Client steps in.

Google's Native Client software is special in that it runs at much higher speeds than your usual Firefox or Chrome add-ons. It runs much more like another application on your computer, rather than 'a web app' in the browser. It has security built-in that won't allow developers to program dangerous applications.

But it's not actually new. It's been around for months. What is new is that Go, Google's new language, will integrate fully with Native Client!

This means two very important things: a) web apps will be propelled to a new level of speed and complexity when coded in Go with Native Client and b) you are now looking at how applications in Chrome OS will be developed and run.

When you run programs in Chrome OS they will simply be Native Client web applications. There won't be a difference between Photoshop or Gmail, World of Warcraft or FarmVille -- they'll all be tabs in Chrome.

Everything will be a tab in Chrome.

One Google to rule them all. One browser to find them. One tab to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

[via CNET]

Tags: chrome, chrome os, ChromeOs, go, golang, nacl, native client, NativeClient

Filed under: Google, Browsers

Chrome OS browser saddles up and mounts your drives

by Sebastian Anthony Nov 12th 2009

Not only does Google's Chrome browser allow for file navigation (type 'C:\' into Chrome!), it makes sense that the browser in Chrome OS will act as a system navigation tool, much like Windows Explorer or 'My Computer'.

Recent changes to the code base reveal a 'mount library' that monitors newly-inserted devices such as USB memory sticks -- something an operating system usually does -- not the kind of thing a browser would usually worry about. We suspect that when you open a new tab in Chrome you'll have the option of a 'My Computer' view that will update in real time as you plug in new devices or insert CDs. Or perhaps when you insert a USB device an Explorer-like new tab page will simply pop into existence.

Currently the changes only appear in the Chrome OS branch of the source code, but it doesn't take a wild stretch of the imagination to believe that Google has larger, all-encompassing plans for the Mac and Windows platforms. This might just be the next step for the Google Desktop.

Watch out...Google is coming.

Tags: chrome, chrome os, ChromeOs, source code, SourceCode

Filed under: Productivity, Browsers

Make your Firefox more like Google Chrome with Pin Tabs

by Jay Hathaway Nov 5th 2009

One of the slick visual elements of Google's Chrome browser is pin tabs. They're those compact tabs that're only as wide as a favicon, and they save a ton of space in your tab bar. You could point out that Firefox doesn't have this feature, but I'd give you the Firefox fanatic's standard answer: there's an add-on for that! For Chrome-style mini-tabs in Firefox, grab the Pin Tab extension.

Pinning a tab using ctrl-click shrinks it and moves it to the left of your tab bar. A pinned tab is preserved across all sessions, and you can't accidentally upset it using the address bar. If you enter a new URL while a pinned tab is selected, that URL opens in a new tab instead. You can pin tabs by dragging them to the left of the tab bar, and unpin them by dragging them to the right. Pinned tabs save a ton of space, since they're several times smaller than regular ones, so this add-on is ideal for those who have dozens of sites open at once.

[via gHacks]

UPDATE: The developer of this add-on seems to have taken it down for right now.

Tags: add-on, chrome, firefox, pin tab, PinTab, tabs

Filed under: OS Updates, News, Web services, Google, Open Source

Google's new Dashboard sure would tie in nicely to Android, Chrome OS

by Lee Mathews Nov 5th 2009

When a few blog sites yesterday happened upon Google's YouTube video of the new Dashboard, they moved quickly to pull it down. Though the original video is still MIA, Google made an official announcement of the new feature on their own blog last night and the video above is now ready for public consumption.

While Dashboard is now live -- you can check yours out at

https://www.google.com/dashboard -- what's being talked about by most sites is how this move is all about transparency and privacy controls. Heck, even the official post hits on those points: "In an effort to provide you with greater transparency and control over their own data, we've built the Google Dashboard."

The post continues, "Designed to be simple and useful, the Dashboard summarizes data for each product that you use (when signed in to your account) and provides you direct links to control your personal settings."

That's fantastic, and I'm sure it's a big part of the story, but I can't help thinking that there's a tie-in to other Google projects. Perhaps Chrome OS and Android, for example?

Tags: android, chrome, chrome os, ChromeOs, dashboard, google

Filed under: Google, Beta, Browsers

Google Chrome 4 hits beta, includes bookmark sync

by Jay Hathaway Nov 3rd 2009

The latest Windows version of Google Chrome, version 4.0, is now in beta. It's reportedly a scorching 30% faster than the current release, and it includes a bookmark syncing feature that's been floating around in the developer preview version of the browser for some time.

Activate bookmark syncing on each of your computers, and Chrome will automatically synchronize any changes to your bookmarks across all your machines. It's made possible by the magic of XMPP, which also powers Google Talk. Sound good? Go ahead and download Chrome 4.0 Beta.

This beta version of Chrome is also notable for what it leaves out: extensions support. According to Stephen Shankland at CNET, Google is reworking the extensions interface for Chrome, so that feature is disabled for now. Shankland also tracked down some news on the upcoming Chrome Mac Beta. The team working on it has been instructed to fix all their high-priority bugs by the end of the week, and it looks like getting the Mac version out is near the top of Google's to-do list.

[via CNET]

Tags: beta, bookmarks, chrome, chrome 4.0, Chrome4.0, google chrome, GoogleChrome

Filed under: OS Updates, Google, Op-Ed

Clearing the air (again) about what Google Chrome OS is and isn't

by Lee Mathews Oct 28th 2009

Thanks in no small part to an errant Gizmodo post this morning, the blogosphere is once again atwitter with musings of a "leaked" Chrome OS build that we can all download and enjoy.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. First and foremost, the "build" they're talking about is a fan-built Linux distro with Chrome bolted on created using SUSE Studio. Second, no official Google project is going to be hosted as a subdomain on Google Sites. No way. They've already got a domain registered for ChromeOS.

Third, it's not really that close to what Chrome OS is going to be.

Don't count on any desktop apps - such as OpenOffice and Gimp - to be included. The aim as I understand it from sources at Google is to provide a portable computing experience that relies very heavily upon access to the cloud.

Google's vision is for you to boot, sign in to the OS using their single sign-on cookie which preps your browser to access all your Google goodies (GMail, Docs, Picasa Web, etc.), and get down to business with the Chrome browser. Sign out of your session on your netbook, sign in on your desktop onto which you've managed to get Chrome OS installed and your desktop will look exactly as you left it on your netbook. Your sessions are saved in the cloud and follow you from machine to machine.

For users who want a fast-booting alternative with quick access to a browser, Chrome OS might be the right choice. Personally, though, my Windows 7 and Fedora installs resume very quickly from sleep and I'd rather have access to my full-blown desktops.

Bottom line: we won't know how cool Chrome OS is until Google gives us a peek - whether that's a genuine leak or a developer build.

Tags: chrome, chrome os, ChromeOs, google, google chrome, GoogleChrome

Filed under: Macintosh, Google, Browsers

Google Chrome for Mac is official: developer preview now available

by Jay Hathaway Oct 23rd 2009

If you've been waiting patiently for Google Chrome to come to the Mac, but you're not an early adopter who likes to take chances with nightly builds, you'll be happy to know that the first official Developer Preview of Chrome is out now. Chrome brings speeds comparable to that other Webkit browser you may have tried on your Mac, Safari. It's also got a growing library of themes, in case the default Chrome blue turns you off.

With Safari 4 switching away from the tabs-on-top after trying them out in beta, the orientation of the tabs is Chrome's defining UI feature. Chrome's multi-process architecture also keeps one crashing tab from taking all your other tabs down with it. Sure, you can "restore all tabs" when Firefox crashes, but that's still more of a pain than it needs to be. Chrome is also making strides toward supporting extensions. It'll also import bookmarks and settings from your other browsers, so it's easy to make the switch.

[via Ars Technica]

Tags: chrome, developer preview, DeveloperPreview, google chrome, GoogleChrome, mac

Filed under: OS Updates, Google

Yes, there's a Chrome OS folder now, but don't get your panties in a bunch yet

by Lee Mathews Oct 13th 2009

TechCrunch's MG Siegler got all excited over the weekend about the appearance of a Chrome OS build folder on Google's Chromium.org server. Yes, the snapshots are now being posted - actually, they have been since October 5th, by the look of things - but there's nothing to get excited about just yet. Sorry, MG.

For starters, what's in the folder is what's in the other top level folders - a browser build for a specific OS. This isn't Chrome OS per se, it's the Google Chrome browser build for Google's upcoming OS. You know, like the Mac, Windows, and Linux versions available for download from the very same server.

But let's move on. Assuming you're the easily excited type, the screen above shows what you get when building Chrome for Chrome OS versus Chrome on Linux. My thanks to Johnathan Frederickson, who commented on the TC post and actually played around with Google's .deb packages.

As you can see, there's really not much to look at apart from the clock and the little circle in the top left corner.
When clicked, the circle takes you to a sign-on page, currently only available internally to Google staffers in all probability. I'll wager that has something to do with the single sign-on cookie we read about a while back.

Tags: chrome, chrome-os, chromeos, chromium, google

Filed under: Google, Open Source, Beta, Browsers

Chrome gets a real extension manager in dev channel build

by Lee Mathews Sep 30th 2009

While it's not quite as "pretty" as the add-on manager built in to Firefox, at least it's there. Yes, Google Chrome has a built-in extension manager - for those of you running the developer channel build.

To access the page, just head to the wrench menu or type chrome://extensions in the omnibar and hit enter. Chrome (or Chromium) will display a list of all your installed extensions (yes, LastPass an alpha out for testing and you can read about it here on Download Squad). Any extension can be disabled, uninstalled, or reloaded (presumably in the event one decides to crash like a Sea King helicopter).

It's definitely nice to see a full-featured extension interface appear in Chrome. Now all we have to do is wait for developers to port over some of our favorite Firefox add-ons - or create some killer new ones.

Tags: chrome, chromium, crx, dev-channel, developer, extensions, google, google-chrome

Filed under: Security, Google, Beta, Browsers

LastPass extension for Google Chrome now available, and it rocks

by Lee Mathews Sep 30th 2009

A number of Download Squad readers have been echoing the same sentiment in recent posts about Google's browser: as soon as LastPass is available, we're leaving Firefox for good.

Well, gang, grab your parachutes, it's time to bail! The LastPass crew has released an alpha version of their Google Chrome extension, and it rocks. Check out the screens after the break!

Tags: 1password, add-ons, chrome, chromium, extensions, google, google-chrome, lastpass, password, password-manager, roboform

Filed under: Features, Windows, Freeware, Browsers, Lists

14 portable web browsers for Windows

by Lee Mathews Sep 14th 2009

Just about everyone has a usb flash drive by now. Apart from all that data you're packing (which you no doubt have encrypted in case your drive gets lost -- but that's a post for another day), why not pack up your favorite web browser and take it along for the ride.

There are a lot more options than you think - here are 13 different options for users of Windows PCs. Don't see your choice on the list? Share it with us in the comments!

Mozilla

Portable Firefox (current) [download] and Portable Minefield [download]
John T. Haller's Portable Apps project is always right on top of the latest Firefox updates, so it's the place to go if you need the Fox in your pocket. The most recent unstable branch is provided as well, in case you want to test it without installing.

PocketFlock v2 [download]
The kicked-up Firefox remix for social networking types is also available in a portable version, thanks to enthusiast Dave Ferrite.

Tags: browser, chrome, firefox, flock, iron, opera, portable, portable-apps, usb flash drive, UsbFlashDrive, web browsers, WebBrowsers

Filed under: Utilities, Google, Browsers

Chromium Updater keeps you on the bleeding edge of Mac Chrome development

by Jason Clarke Sep 10th 2009

Mac users are tired of hearing about how Chrome is the greatest thing to hit the web since, well, Firefox. While Windows users have been happily using Chrome for a year now, the Mac version of Chrome is only now starting to reach a usable beta state. Unfortunately, Google tends not to update the official Chrome beta for Mac very often, at least compared to the multiple-builds-per-day that are occurring to Chromium, Chrome's developer build.

The latest versions of Chromium are quite usable, but you can get out of date in a matter of mere hours. Fortunately, the folks over at TechCrunch hacked together a script with an Automator process for the purposes of checking for and downloading the latest Chromium build.

The net effect is that you can now download a small app called Chromium Updater who's sole function is to update Chromium, then launch it. Of course, all the scary hand-waving beta software warnings apply: don't use a beta browser for mission critical tasks, etc. But if you feel comfortable dealing with beta software, you will probably be pleasantly surprised by the current state of Chromium, and the rate at which it improves.

Tags: beta, beta software, beta-software, BetaSoftware, chrome, chromium, firefox, google, mac version, mac-version, MacVersion

Filed under: Google, Open Source, Beta, Browsers

Google Chrome to reach v4 before Firefox? Work begins on Chromium 4.0

by Lee Mathews Aug 12th 2009

Version numbers probably mean more to the general public than to regulars at DownloadSquad. When it comes to Chrome, however, Google seems like they're hoping to catch up with Opera by the end of next year.

After doing an install from Buildbot's snapshots, I checked Chromium's about screen. Lo and behold, build 23129 is tagged as 4.0.202.0. While it's just a number, it means, of course, Chrome will likely hit v4 long before Firefox ever does.

Other than the version number I haven't noted any obvious changes as of yet.

Technical Program Manager Anthony LaForge posted a note to the Chromium-dev board announcing that the move was made to reflect the code freeze on Chrome v3. "There is still a bit of work that needs to be done for 3.0 in terms of stability and fixes," he wrote. "To that end we will be pulling changes into the 195 branch (what will become the stable release)."

This isn't the first quick version-to-version jump Chrome has seen. Chrome 3 hit the dev channel less than a week after Chrome 2's release back in May. Looks like I was off the mark about Chrome hitting version 8 or 9 before Google ditched the beta tag on GMail...

Tags: browsers, chrome, chromium, google-chrome-4, nightly-build, snapshot, version-change

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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