browsers

Google co-founder expects Chrome for Android

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Google's new Chrome browser is for PCs today, but company co-founder Sergey Brin expects the technology will make its way to Android, the company's mobile phone operating system and software suite.

Chrome and Android were developed largely separately, Brin said in an interview at the Chrome launch event Tuesday. "We have not wanted to bind one's hands to the other's," Brin said. But you can expect that to change now that both projects are public and nearing their first final releases.

"Probably a subsequent version of Android is going … Read more

Firefox counters Google's browser speed test

Mozilla fought back on Wednesday with some performance results to show a forthcoming version of Firefox outpacing Google's new Web browser, Chrome.

During a launch event Tuesday, Google was eager to toot its horn about Chrome's performance running JavaScript, a programming language used to power many sophisticated Web applications such as Google Docs, Yahoo's Zimbra e-mail site, and Zoho's online application suite. Google showed performance results using its own collection of five JavaScript benchmarks and V8, Chrome's JavaScript engine, but Mozilla countered with a different test called SunSpider.

"We're very much in the … Read more

Chrome tops IE, Firefox in Acid3 test

Google's Chrome browser is outperforming the latest "stable" builds of both Firefox 3 and Internet Explorer 7 in the popular Acid3 test. The Acid test, for those who do not know, tests how well a browser complies with a given set of Web standards. While all three browsers pass the Acid2 test, Chrome currently clocks in at 78 out of 100 on Acid3, while Firefox and IE7 stand at 71 and 14 respectively. The only release quality build to beat Chrome is Opera, which scores an 83.

Even though Google has the stable builds edged out, we … Read more

Google Chrome: My first impressions

This should, in no way, be considered an official review--see CNET and CNET News for the proper shebang. I've just been using Chrome for a few hours and thought I'd dash off some quick thoughts.

First: It is fast as you-know-what. It feels super-responsive, so much so that I first thought it must be a trick. The tabs almost seem to click themselves; the autocomplete is so speedy that I thought it was reading my mind. After download and launch, it pulled in not only my bookmarks but, apparently, also my Awesome Bar history. Once I loaded it up and typed "T," Twitter.com was almost already loaded in the tab. It was slightly terrifying, actually. One note: Chrome did not import my Firefox Live Bookmarks--the RSS feeds that appear in a drop-down from the menu bar, and it sadly doesn't have this as a feature at all.

The "tabs-on-top" interface is actually a tiny bit off-putting at first. I'm so used to tabs being below the URL bar that I initially felt confused about which ones I had opened. Also, there are no traditional menus for...well, anything. There's almost no text whatsoever at the top of the browser window. No File, Edit, View, Tools, etc. You've got a wrench for the very minimal selection of customization settings and a button to the left of that where you access the menu items you normally find in "File," "Edit," and "Tools," along with a Developer option where you'll find Chrome's Windows-style Task manager (and a JavaScript debugger and console, which I think I might really need...see below).

There's not even a separate search bar; you conduct everything from the URL bar. I did discover that the Ctrl-K keyboard shortcut that normally puts your cursor in the search bar in Firefox adds a little question mark to the Chrome URL bar, so the browser knows for sure that you're conducting a search. But it's not really necessary. If you type anything but a URL into the URL bar, Chrome does a search. I like it, but it takes a little getting used to. … Read more

Speed test: Google Chrome beats Firefox, IE, Safari

Google introduced Chrome in part because it wants faster browsing and the richer Web applications that speed will unlock. So how does Chrome actually stack up?

Lars Bak, the Google engineer who was the technical leader for Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine, said at the launch event Tuesday he's confident Chrome is "many times faster" than the rivals at running JavaScript, the programming language that powers Google Docs, Gmail, and many other Web applications.

But when pressed for specifics, he told me to try them out. So I did.

Google offers a site with five JavaScript benchmarks. … Read more

Google Chrome shines

Google has released the beta version of a new browser, Chrome. In its comic-book pre-announcement, Google stated correctly that watching videos, chatting, and even playing Web-based games didn't exist when browsers were first invented. For the user, Google wants the browser to disappear and to focus on the applications and pages users are viewing, rather than on the border with its tools, and such. Google has rethought the Internet browser--some of its basic underpinnings are quite novel--but users will recognize some features as they exist in other, open-source browsers on the market today.

At the moment, only the Windows … Read more

Why Google Chrome? Fast browsing = $$$

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--On the Web, a site that responds a few milliseconds faster can make a big difference in people's engagement. It's for this reason that Google believes its new Web browser, Chrome, is a project worth investing in rather than a footnote in the history of the Internet.

Chrome, Google said during its Tuesday launch event, is much faster at showing Web pages than the most widely used browser, Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Google's hope is that performance will open up the bottleneck that chokes the speed and abilities of today's Web-based applications.

In … Read more

Google needs community to make Chrome a Windows killer

Google has a new browser, called Chrome. That's now old news. The Wall Street Journal suggests that it's all about taking on Microsoft, and it's probably right. Glyn Moody cogently argues that this is not about browsers at all, but rather about shifting the ground under everyone's feet to the "Google operating system." He's probably right, too.

Chrome, however, lacks the very same thing that Android and every other Google product lacks, with the exception of its Search/Page Rank technology:

Community.

Mozilla Firefox has community in spades. Mozilla isn't the one developing killer extensions to Firefox like Adblock Plus, Forecastfox, etc. The community does.

Even Microsoft has community in spades, though on the operating system side of its business, not its browser. Look at the ecosystem around Windows and Office: pretty impressive.

Google, however, seems to want to go it alone, whatever the collateral damage. It is telling that Chrome was a secret leaked and then announced to the world, rather than a transparent, community effort. Google did the same thing with Android, creating a closed-door community that left would-be Android developers riled.

Does it matter? Or is Google powerful enough to take on Microsoft by itself, community or no community?… Read more

Live blog: Google Chrome press conference

The official press conference launching the Chrome browser is scheduled to kick off at 11 a.m. PDT. See the live blog below for my blow-by-blow commentary. Google also plans to host a video stream of the conference in two formats: Windows Media Player | Real Player.

See all of CNET's Chrome coverage.