If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

On the SunSpider JavaScript peformance test, the new Google Chrome beta edges closer to TraceMonkey-enhanced Firefox. But the cutting-edge ‘Minefield’ version of Firefox edges ahead, too.

(Credit: CNET News)

Google began updating Chrome users with the new beta version, and my performance tests show the company has ratcheted the browser’s speed up another notch.

Google Chrome’s latest version, 0.3.154.9, shows a 37 percent JavaScript performance improvement over the initial beta released two months ago.

JavaScript is a programming language used to add some pizazz to innumerable Web pages, but more importantly from Google’s perspective, to power sophisticated Web applications such as Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Gmail. JavaScript is also up against Adobe Systems’ Flash and Flex, Microsoft’s Silverlight, and HTML 5, in the competition for what’s the best foundation for Web applications.

Using Google’s JavaScript benchmark I pitted the newest Chrome beta, version 0.3.154.9, against both the initial beta from September and the more raw 0.3.154.3 developer release from mid-October. A higher number is better on this test, and the first beta scored 1,851, the 0.3.154.3 developer release 2,265, and the new 0.3.154.9 beta 2,546.

Google’s tests aren’t the only game in town; many use the SunSpider test. Here, too, the new Chrome got a notch faster, getting the test done in 2,546 milliseconds compared with 2,904 milliseconds for 0.3.154.3. (We couldn’t test the first version because the testing site was down at the time.)

The new Chrome score catches closer to the 2,250 millisecond score of Firefox 3.1 beta 1 with its new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine enabled. (Tech-Recipes has useful instructions on how to enable TraceMonkey.)

On blogger Matt Asay’s advice, I tested Minefield, the cutting-edge version of Firefox that’s updated daily. (Minefield is downloadable from Mozilla’s FTP site for those willing to use very untested software).

It had the best SunSpider score so far on my machine, 2,147 milliseconds. However, Firefox still lags on Google’s speed test. Chrome’s latest score of 2,546 is miles ahead of the 215 score from Minefield.

The latest beta version of Google Chrome is a notch faster on Google’s JavaScript speed tests, where a larger number is better. The cutting-edge ‘Minefield’ version of Firefox takes a step back from the the 3.1 beta 1 of Firefox, without the new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine enabled. All the Firefox versions trail Chrome on this test significantly.

(Credit: CNET News)

Continue reading @ news.cnet.com

To set Google’s new web browser software ‘Chrome’ as your default browser, follow the simple instructions below:

1) Go to Google Chrome

2) Click on the upper-right ‘Tools’ button

3) Go to ‘Options

4) Then click on ‘Make Google Chrome my default browser"

Most of the times the above steps will work, and you will see a green-colored sentence that says: "The default browser is currently Google Chrome."

But sometimes this might not work, especially if you are using Microsoft Vista OS.

So you will have to follow these instructions instead:

1) Right click a shortcut to Google Chrome

2) Click run as Administrator

3) Allow Vista permissions prompt

4) Go to Google Chrome

5) Click on the upper-right ‘Tools’ button

6) Then click on ‘Make Google Chrome my default browser"

In order to uncheck the default browser button, you will have to go to your browser of choice and set that browser as ‘Default Browser’.

Jimmy P. Semaan

Zakeh Blog staff.

We’re not going to follow this manically but it’s worth checking in on how much-hyped Google Chrome is doing since its Sept. 2 launch. Net Applications puts use eight days in at roughly 1 percent of surfers, compared with 0.74 percent share for Opera in August, according to NewsFactor.com.

Or for another comparison, IE 8 beta 2 had 0.34 percent use on Wednesday. Firefox, which recently upgraded was at 19.73 percent. What does it mean? Nothing really except that Google with its wide reach can get from zero to 1 percent and higher when it wants. (That reach would be one of the aspects the Department of Justice is exploring now.) Can it keep share and keep building?

I stopped my first trial after a few video crashes and will wait a while before giving it another shot. Chrome has a lot of appeal for those who want fast loading and the Google brand. But, as Yahoo’s ( NSDQ: YHOO) David Filo mentioned earlier today, Google has had mixed success.

Read more @ washingtonpost.com

From The Washington Post.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–One of Firefox’s initial claims to fame is the fact that the browser can be extended with a multitude of plug-ins, and even though Microsoft caught up with Internet Explorer, Firefox still has an extension edge over Google’s new Chrome Web browser.

For now.

"We don’t have that in the beta today, but we definitely plan an extension API," or application programming interface, Sundar Pichai, a Google vice president of product management, said at the Chrome launch event here Tuesday. "It is one of the things we will get to next."

Read more @ cnet.com

Google has released the very first beta of their new web browser, Google Chrome. Chrome is a browser that, for now at least, is focused on offering a full browsing experience within a minimalistic user interface. To skip past the P.R. phrasing, Google Chrome is designed to be simple to use without sacrificing any of the features required for daily web browsing.
To get a little more in depth, Google Chrome uses the same rendering engine as Apple’s Safari browser, named Webkit. In recent history, the developers of Webkit have made great strides in creating what is, as of today, the fastest browser engine in terms of rendering speed. Google Chrome, currently version 0.2.149.27, seems to use a slightly older build of Webkit (version 525.13, to be precise), however, so some of the recent Webkit development gains will not have made it into the first release of the browser.
Other features of Chrome include a dynamic tab system which allows you to drag and drop tabs inside and outside of the browser window, an "incognito mode" in which the sites you visit are not added to your browsing history, and a feature similar to Opera’s Speed Dial, in which you are presented with your nine most visited websites, in thumbnail form, when opening a new tab.
If you wish to give Google Chrome a try, click the download link below. It’s an early beta, though, so don’t expect it to be perfect.

Link: Google Chrome
Download: Google Chrome 0.2.149.27 if installer fails, then use this.
Screenshot: View