Chrome gets bookmark sync with version 4.x

Google has issued the first developer preview version of its Chrome browser to reach the version 4.x milestone, a phase that should bring some advanced features in the forthcoming HTML 5 specification for Web pages but that for now just sports a cloud-based bookmark synchronization tool.

Google's Chrome browser is getting a bookmark sync tool.

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

"Once you set up sync from the Tools menu, Chrome will then upload and store your bookmarks in your Google Account. Anytime you add or change a bookmark, your changes will be sent to the cloud and immediately broadcast to all other computers for which you've activated bookmark sync," programmer Tim Steele said in a blog post Monday. Steele introduced the Chrome bookmark feature less than three weeks ago.

I set up the bookmarks feature with no trouble on version 4.0.201.1 of Chrome for Windows; note that to get it to work, you must specifically enable it at launch by adding the "--enable-sync" option to the launch command. The wrench menu (think tools) offers the new menu item to synchronize bookmarks. Clicking on it springs open a dialog box that prompts you to log in with a Google account; doing so then sends the bookmarks to the server.

The Mac version of Chrome--which by the way now enables by default plug-ins such as Adobe Systems' Flash and has grown much more stable--didn't yet support bookmark sync Monday night, so I couldn't test the actual synchronization itself on my present home setup.

Google doesn't draw much attention to version numbers, using them more as developer placeholders than beacons for marketing or support purposes. Google updates Chrome automatically, so users often get new versions without even knowing about it. But the new versions can indicate when the company is making significant changes behind the scenes.

Conspicuously absent thus far from the bookmark sync feature is any mechanism to synchronize with Google Bookmarks, the company's cloud-based bookmark service that can be used through the Google Toolbar or the Web site itself. Google has said it's focusing on the basics first with Chrome.

It's intriguing when Google adds new cloud-based services, given its interest in moving people away from dependence on individual PCs and toward Net-based services hosted on central servers. In that same vein, Google is working on several other features that expand what the Web can do via an upcoming version of its underlying language, HTML 5.

Among the HTML 5 features set for Chrome 4.x are Web Workers, which let the browser perform background processing tasks without interrupting a Web application's user interface, and local storage, which helps a Web application work even when a computer is disconnected from the network. Another HTML 5 technology, built-in video and audio that doesn't require a plug-in such as Flash, began arriving in Chrome version 3.

HTML 5 is very much in flux, though. Microsoft, maker of the dominant browser, has only recently joined the HTML 5 discussion in earnest. And last week, Google's Aaron Boodman raised a broader issue, questioning the merit of labeling many new HTML features as version 5.

"I would like to propose that we get rid of the concepts of 'versions' altogether from HTML. In reality, nobody supports all of HTML 5," Boodman said in message to an HTML 5 mailing list. "Instead of insisting that a particular version of HTML is a monolithic unit that must be implemented in its entirety, we could have each feature (or logical group of features) spun off into its own small spec. We're already doing this a bit with things like Web Workers, but I don't see why we don't just do it for everything."

Version 4 of Chrome also is slated to get a top-requested feature, the ability to recognize when Web pages offer an RSS or Atom feeds and to subscribe to them with a service such as Google Reader.

[mrcjacobs]

I've been running the Linux version on my Ubuntu rig and I have to say that it's 1 fast and stable browser. Firefox frequently chokes on flash laden pages but Chrome makes quick work of them. I think I may have found my new favorite browser.

[forever4now]

I alternate between Firefox 3.5 & Chrome on Ubuntu 9.04. Both are evolving quickly & offer some great features. Unfortunately, Chrome on Linux still lacks a lot of features that are available on the Windows version.

I've been playing with some of the built in HTML5 stuff in Firefox 3.5 (audio, video, etc.) & it is REALLY cool! I can't wait until more HTML5 stuff is added to both Firefox & Chrome.

[FF2009]

^^Chrome on Windows lacks allot of features, let alone on Mac and Linux. A browser without add-ons is a NO use to me.

I'll be happy when Chrome has Firefox add-ons like Adblock and Noscript. Then I am sold.

[cougar888]

@FF2009

If you use version 3+ on chrome you can add extensions. I am currently using AdSweep for chrome and It works great. It blocks just about everything that Adblock does. Plus building extensions for chrome is really really easy. I already built one to stream music from my home server to my work browser. It was my first extension and a piece of cake.

[Police_States_of_America]

need to integrate with Google Bookmarks asap

[kieranmullen]

I was very surprised to find out that when I first used Chrome last week, there was no integration with Google Bookmarkss that I saved using the Firefox and Internet Explorer toolbar. This should have been one of the first things they did.

[tm_anon]

It's good for Chrome but my neighbor brought up a very interesting problem. I just switched her to FF 3.5 from IE 8 and her only problem was bookmarks.

I fixed that with XMarks which is made for Firefox, IE and Safari. If I'd switched her to Chrome, right now she'd be out of luck, having to move each bookmark over one by one by one.

On top of that, three of her favorite features on FF involve three addons I told her about; Adblock Plus, XMarks and Fire.fm (she likes the music playback features while still being able to browse the internet).

While Chrome is integrating some great new features, getting a good developer base for addons should be priority one right now.

[bedanand]

This is the most awaiting feature. Opera already had this kind of feature so google chrome users will be happy to see this.

www.get-windows-7.com

[cougar888]

You do realize that you can click the wrench then Import Bookmarks to get all the bookmarks moved over easily right? If you are talking about synchronizing across multiple machines, that is a little different and this addition will help with that.

[rakeshsuthar]

rakesh suthar

[DavidMessa]

Do you guys know that everything you write/produce in a Chrome browser becomes the property of Google. At some point, because of the mass-media pressure they changed some paragraphs in the TOS. Anyway, for what they did I've started to not trust Google anymore. I'm glad with my Firefox browser. Maybe a little slower, but not evil.

[hutwarmer]

So, if what your saying is true, than this post, on CNETS website, on some server somewhere, not owned by Google, is owned by Google? Interesting. And when I create a document in Google Docs using gears and save it on my desktop, that is owned by Google too? Wow.

Do tin foil hats make you sweat a lot?

[FF2009]

^^that is exactly correct. People say that Google tracks their users but they fail to realize that the moment you log online your privacy is out of the door. Your ISP and every website you log on knows what you watch, listen too. In other words. There is no privacy online.

People are too paranoid this days. lol

[clamenza]

just because isp tracks one thing doesn't mean i have to like google tracking others.

just because my neighbor can probably see through my window with high-powered binoculars set up at certain angles and altitudes, doesn't mean I just keep my blinds up 24/7.

People are too dumb these days.

My question is " Why does Picasa 3 keep getting hung up and won't work and stops responding. I had heard that this was the best photo program that is simple to use on the Web. I get very aggravated with it altho I do like a lot of its features. b

[cougar888]

This question would be better asked on Google forums. What do you mean that it gets hung up? What OS are you using? What are you doing when it hangs? etc ... You would need to answer these questions and post it to a Google forum and I'm sure they would help you out.

[bayxsonic]

This is ridicolous! Chrome has been launched less than a year ago and they are already working on version 4!
I can't wait for the day they'll release Chrome 100...

[freebird1974]

No kidding, Firefox has been out for about 5 years and they are only on version 3.

[xinnianhao]

I can't wait until google chrome is version 100 x, which will probably be soon.

[knowles2]

At the rate they are going now it will take 100 years to get to stable version 100.

Even base it on the dev version you talking 25 year at there current pace of development which is bound to slow down after a couple of years.

[freebird1974]

Before Firefox I used Internet Explorer, those were the dark days. I tried opera, safari, and chrome. But none compare to Firefox. I encourage ANYONE I do computer work for, anyone thinking about buying a PC or laptop, anyone contemplating what browser to use, to use Firefox exclusively.

One of the many wonderful features of Firefox is it was built on the Netscape code-base that should be enough to tell you that Firefox is the best.

[jjthoele]

I would like a Google toolbar for Chrome.