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Google Releases Chrome 6
Despite being just 2 years old, Chrome has reached version 6. On average, Google release a new version every 4 months and version 5 appeared at the end of May 2010.
Call me a cynic, but I’m convinced the rapid release schedule is pure marketing hype. By the time Internet Explorer 9.0 finally arrives, Chrome will be at version 8 and will quickly overtake Microsoft’s browser. Although few people care about the numbers, it doesn’t stop journalists and bloggers like me reporting that a new version is available. How many news stories appeared about Firefox 3.6 or Opera 10.6? They had more new features, but the version numbers didn’t seem so important and they received far less press coverage.
Enough about the marketing conspiracies — what can Chrome users expect from the update?
New default theme
Chrome’s always been clean, but the new theme is subtler and more minimalistic than before. The window is transparent gray on Windows 7 and there are even fewer distractions.
Some of the menus have been combined, for example, Cut, Copy and Paste are on a single line. There’s also a new “Create application shortcuts” option which allows you to add web links to your OS desktop or menus.
Form Autofill
It’s taken some time for autofill to arrive on Chrome, but Google has an interesting implementation. Rather than simply associating strings with similarly-named input fields, Chrome remembers sets of addresses and credit card numbers. It works well and form details can be entered with a single click.
Synchronized extensions
If you’re using Chrome on more than one PC, you’re probably syncing bookmarks, passwords and possibly themes. The new version adds automatic synchronization for autofill and extensions. It makes Chrome quicker and easier to install when you upgrade your OS or switch platforms — there’s less reason for you to shop around for another browser.
Improved address bar
Google may call it the “Omnibar” but I never will! The most significant change is the removal of “http://” from the start of web addresses. It’s a sensible move since few users know or care what it means. Secure addresses are still shown with the full https:// highlighted in green.
The bookmarks star has moved to the right and the “Go” arrow has been removed (good riddance!) You might notice a few other icons appear, such as a cookie indicator.
WebM
Google’s own open source royalty-free video format, WebM, makes an appearance in Chrome for the first time. Whether it has a chance against H.264 remains to be seen.
Standards and speed
Needless to say, Chrome 6 has better support for web standards and is faster than its predecessor. It was already good in those respects, so the improvements are barely noticeable to most users.
The Developer Tools have also received an update. I suspect many will still prefer Firebug, but it’s an impressive set of tools that come with the standard browser.
There’s little to dislike about Chrome. You may not appreciate Google’s version numbering or ambitions, but they’ve produced a great browser which has attracted a significant following in a relatively short period.
Chrome can be downloaded from www.google.com/chrome. If you’re already version 5, click the Tool icon, About Google Chrome, and follow the update instructions.
Will Chrome 6 become your default browser?
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Google Releases Chrome 6
Despite being just 2 years old, Chrome has reached version 6. On average, Google release a new version every 4 months and version 5 appeared at the end of May 2010.
Call me a cynic, but I’m convinced the rapid release schedule is pure marketing hype. By the time Internet Explorer 9.0 finally arrives, Chrome will be at version 8 and will quickly overtake Microsoft’s browser. Although few people care about the numbers, it doesn’t stop journalists and bloggers like me reporting that a new version is available. How many news stories appeared about Firefox 3.6 or Opera 10.6? They had more new features, but the version numbers didn’t seem so important and they received far less press coverage.
Enough about the marketing conspiracies — what can Chrome users expect from the update?
New default theme
Chrome’s always been clean, but the new theme is subtler and more minimalistic than before. The window is transparent gray on Windows 7 and there are even fewer distractions.
Some of the menus have been combined, for example, Cut, Copy and Paste are on a single line. There’s also a new “Create application shortcuts” option which allows you to add web links to your OS desktop or menus.
Form Autofill
It’s taken some time for autofill to arrive on Chrome, but Google has an interesting implementation. Rather than simply associating strings with similarly-named input fields, Chrome remembers sets of addresses and credit card numbers. It works well and form details can be entered with a single click.
Synchronized extensions
If you’re using Chrome on more than one PC, you’re probably syncing bookmarks, passwords and possibly themes. The new version adds automatic synchronization for autofill and extensions. It makes Chrome quicker and easier to install when you upgrade your OS or switch platforms — there’s less reason for you to shop around for another browser.
Improved address bar
Google may call it the “Omnibar” but I never will! The most significant change is the removal of “http://” from the start of web addresses. It’s a sensible move since few users know or care what it means. Secure addresses are still shown with the full https:// highlighted in green.
The bookmarks star has moved to the right and the “Go” arrow has been removed (good riddance!) You might notice a few other icons appear, such as a cookie indicator.
WebM
Google’s own open source royalty-free video format, WebM, makes an appearance in Chrome for the first time. Whether it has a chance against H.264 remains to be seen.
Standards and speed
Needless to say, Chrome 6 has better support for web standards and is faster than its predecessor. It was already good in those respects, so the improvements are barely noticeable to most users.
The Developer Tools have also received an update. I suspect many will still prefer Firebug, but it’s an impressive set of tools that come with the standard browser.
There’s little to dislike about Chrome. You may not appreciate Google’s version numbering or ambitions, but they’ve produced a great browser which has attracted a significant following in a relatively short period.
Chrome can be downloaded from www.google.com/chrome. If you’re already version 5, click the Tool icon, About Google Chrome, and follow the update instructions.
Will Chrome 6 become your default browser?
Related Posts
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Ubuntu 10.10 Beta Released
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
FAQ Updates – Sep/4/2010
- Linux Open .CBR (Comic Book Archive) File - just got .cbr file from my friend and I want to open this file under Linux. I’ve downloaded comic books from the Internet but i am not able to open them. How do I open .cbr file under Linux?
- Disable / Turn Off Firewall in Ubuntu Linux Server - How do I disable firewall in Ubuntu Linux server edition using CLI and GUI methods?
- HowTo: Find Symlink under UNIX / Linux - How do I find symlink(s) under UNIX and Linux operating systems?
- HowTo: UNIX / Linux Open TCP / UDP Ports - How do I open the TCP or UDP ports under UNIX / Linux like operating systems?
- UNIX Disk Usage Command Examples - How do I find out disk usage under UNIX operating systems using GUI, CLI and Perl / shell programs?
- Use wget with Squid Proxy Server - How do I make wget work with Squid under UNIX or Linux operating systems?
- Network: Monitor Outgoing Bandwidth Latency / Jitter - I‘ve servers in two different data centers and connected via leased lines. How do I find out bandwidth latency and jitter between two servers using MS-Windows server, UNIX or Linux operating systems? How do I verify that my leased line based internet connection is stable between two data centers?
- Linux Syslogd: Nothing Gets Logged Using /dev/log And /jail/apache/dev/log - I‘ve configured my Apache in chrooted jail at /jail/apache directory. However, my syslogd is not working and nothing gets logged using /dev/log and /jail/apache/dev/log. How do I fix this problem under CentOS 5.x AMD64 with SELinux?
- UNIX / Linux: HowTo Use unison File Synchronizer - I know how to use rsync for Unix systems which synchronizes files and directories from one location to another while minimizing data transfer. However, I would like to synchronizing files between two directories, either on one computer, or between a computer and another server. How do I maintain the same version of files on multiple servers?
Ubuntu Linux: Install RT2870 Chipset Based USB Wireless Adapter
This blog post listed Linux Compatible USB wireless adapters. It seems that many new Linux users frequently have problems learning how to install RT2870 driver under Linux. I also received email requesting installation instructions for the same device. This quick tutorial will explains how to install RT2870 based chipset device with WPA2 authentication and TKIP wireless encryption.
Open Source Photography Software
I recently brought Canon EOS 500D mid-range DSLR cameras with good promotional discounts. My photography interests date back to my school days but I did not take photography seriously until recently. Now, I'm researching for quality open source photo-software which may be available to photographers. This blog post gives a quick and dirty view of the different photo applications available for Linux operating systems:
FAQ Update 10/Aug/2010
Top 5 Open Source Linux Server Provisioning Software
Server provisioning is nothing but load the Linux or UNIX like operating systems automatically with actual operating systems, device drivers, data, and make a server ready for network operation without any user input. Typically you select a server from a pool of available servers, load the operating systems (such as RHEL, Fedora, FreeBSD, Debian), and finally customize storage, network (IP, gateway, bounding etc), drivers, applications, users etc. Using the following tools you can perform automated unattended operating system installation, configuration, set virtual machines and much more. These software can be used to install a lot (say thousands) of Linux and UNIX systems at the same time.
The Best Open Source Graphics And Design Software
A few years ago Novell conducted an online public survey to determine which MS-Windows apps need to be ported on Linux desktop. Adobe Photoshop and other graphics application that user want ported to Linux. However, Linux comes with the sheer numbers of open source software projects produced by the community. You may overwhelmed by the choices available under Linux and not know where to begin.
HowTo: Migrate / Move MySQL Database And Users To New Server
I already wrote about how to move or migrate user accounts from old Linux / UNIX server to a new server including mails and home directories. However, in reality you also need to move MySQL database which may host your blog, forum or just your data stored in MySQL database. The mysqldump command will only export the data and the table structure but it will not include a users grants and privileges. The main function of the MySQL privilege system (which is stored in mysql.user table) is to authenticate a user who connects from a given host and to associate that user with privileges on a database such as SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE.
HowTo: Configure Wordpress To Use A Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Research shows that if your web pages take longer than 5 seconds to load, you lose 50% of your viewers and sales. You can speed up your wordpress blog by using a CDN to display content to users faster and more efficiently. You can distributes common files or content such as css, javascript, uploaded images, videos and much more through a CDN, which serves the content from the closest cdn edge server to the end-user. In this tutorial, I will explains how to configure Wordpress, Apache/Lighttpd webserver, Bind dns server to use a CDN to distribute your common files such as css, js, user uploaded files and lighten load on your web server.
Top 20 Nginx WebServer Best Security Practices
Nginx is a lightweight, high performance web server/reverse proxy and e-mail (IMAP/POP3) proxy. It runs on UNIX, GNU/Linux, BSD variants, Mac OS X, Solaris, and Microsoft Windows. According to Netcraft, 6% of all domains on the Internet use nginx webserver. Nginx is one of a handful of servers written to address the C10K problem. Unlike traditional servers, Nginx doesn't rely on threads to handle requests. Instead it uses a much more scalable event-driven (asynchronous) architecture. Nginx powers several high traffic web sites, such as WordPress, Hulu, Github, and SourceForge. This page collects hints how to improve the security of nginx web servers running on Linux or UNIX like operating systems.
10 Tools To Add Some Spice To Your UNIX Shell Scripts
There are some misconceptions that shell scripts are only for a CLI environment. You can easily use various tools to write GUI and/or network (socket) scripts under KDE or Gnome desktops. Shell scripts can make use of some of the GUI widget (menus, warning boxs, progress bars etc). You can always control the final output, cursor position on screen, various output effects, and so on. With the following tools you can build powerful, interactive, user friendly UNIX / Linux bash shell scripts.
Ksplice: Upgrade / Patch Your Linux Kernel Without Reboots
Generally, all Linux distributions needs a scheduled reboot once to stay up to date with important kernel security updates. RHN (or other distro vendors) provides Linux kernel security updates. You can apply kernel updates using yum command or apt-get command line options. After each upgrade you need to reboot the server. Ksplice service allows you to skip reboot step and apply hotfixes to kernel without rebooting the server. In this post, I will cover a quick installation of Ksplice for RHEL 5.x and try to find out if service is worth every penny.
List: Linux Compatible USB Wireless Adapter (WUSB)
A regular question from my mailbag:
I am in the process of up grading my computer. Where can I get a list of the WUSB for Linux?
Wireless USB adapters are pretty popular for desktop and laptop usage in home. It is capable of sending 480 Mbit/s at distances up to 3 meters and 110 Mbit/s at up to 10 meters. Newer N series can work at 270Mbit/s at up to 300 meters. However, 50-100 meters are acceptable ranges. Unfortunately, finding Linux compatible USB wireless adapter is a big challenge due to driver issues. Over a past few years, I've used and installed various USB wireless adapters and created my own small HCL for it. In this quick blog post I will list all working USB wireless adapter.
HowTo: Speed Up Linux Software Raid Building And Re-syncing
It is no secret that I am a pretty big fan of excellent Linux Software RAID. Creating, assembling and rebuilding small array is fine. But, things started to get nasty when you try to rebuild or resync large size array. You may get frustrated when you see it is going to take 22 hours to rebuild the array. You can always increase RAID resync performance using the following technique.
The Story Behind The Largest Distributor Of The Linux Operating System
Interesting read and I wasn't aware of some of the facts behind the open-source entrepreneur Bob Young. From the BBC article:
Bob Young is a self-confessed contrarian with a strong desire to change the world by allowing people to share and collaborate. The approach has served him well and has helped turn the Canadian into a multi-millionaire. Bob YoungFrom the outset, his software company Red Hat bucked the trend set by the big players like Microsoft which stubbornly guarded every line of code and charged whopping fees to maintain it.
HowTo: Configure Vbulletin To Use A Content Delivery Network (CDN)
The last time I wrote about CDN, I wrote about how to configure CDN for wordpress to speed up your wordpress blog to display content to users faster and more efficiently. However, a few regular readers like to know how to configure the Amazon CDN or other CDN network to use with Vbulletin forum software. In this quick tutorial, I will explains how to configure Vbulletin, Apache/Lighttpd webserver, Bind dns server to use a CDN to distribute your common files such as css, js, user uploaded files and lighten load on your web server.
HowTo: Debug Crashed Linux Application Core Files Like A Pro
Core dumps are often used to diagnose or debug errors in Linux or UNIX programs. Core dumps can serve as useful debugging aids for sys admins to find out why Application like Lighttpd, Apache, PHP-CGI or any other program crashed. Many vendors and open source project author requests a core file to troubleshoot a program. A core file is generated when an application program abnormally terminates due to bug, operating system security protection schema, or program simply try to write beyond the area of memory it has allocated, and so on. This article explains how to turn on core file support and track down bugs in programs.
