Windows/Mac/Linux: If you're living life on the bleeding edge of Google's Chrome browser, good news: Google just pushed out an update to the dev channel, improving HTML5 audio and video for all platforms, bringing extension and bookmark sync to Macs, and more.

The Windows build didn't see many changes, but Mac users should be particularly happy with the update. Having been excluded from extension support when the Chrome extension gallery first opened, Mac users can now officially join in the fun. (See these 18 extensions worth downloading for Chrome to get started with Chrome extensions.) Mac users also gain support for much-needed bookmark sync and support for favicon-only pinned tabs.

Filed under: Linux, Beta

The Google Chrome developers have released a new version this week with enhanced support for extensions and—dare we say it—a proper extensions menu item so you can access Chrome's extension manager with ease.

Windows and Linux versions received some minor tweaking. The updates to the Mac version include fixing a slew of keyboard commands and updating the way secure HTTP sites are displayed, to more clearly alert the viewer that the site has a bad security certificate.

Think you can make a better fast-booting, Chrome-focused OS than Google? Want to craft a custom Linux system that boots from a USB stick? SUSE Studio gives you 15 GB to do exactly that, and you do it all online.

SUSE Studio is what powered the fan-made "Chrome OS" we posted yesterday, which, in that case, was a semi-stripped-down system loaded with the developers' version of Chrome, Google webapp links, and OpenOffice. If speed and cloud computing aren't your bag, you can create a fully functional system with Firefox, 3D graphics, and whatever apps you can find installed. Want your system to start up with an AWN dock and Launchy keystroke launcher running? Not a problem.

Even if you don't know all that much about Linux, it's pretty easy to build a system you can boot from a USB stick or live CD/DVD, run inside a virtual machine program, or actually install it—or, heck, even test it out in your web browser.

Windows/Mac/Linux: The official, actually-made-by-Google Chrome OS won't hit netbooks until late 2010, but you can try out a custom-built Linux distribution that's somewhat stripped down and puts Google's browser at the center of everything.

"Chrome OS" was built using SUSE Studio, a distribution and virtual appliance builder spawned from the OpenSUSE Linux distribution. It loads up with a Chrome icon, uses built-in webapp links to Google Calendar, Gmail, and other Google services as apps, and carries a copy of OpenOffice, just in case you need some straight-up desktop editing done. Most importantly, it holds the latest development copy of Google Chrome inside, along with a pre-built Flash plug-in.

One year ago, Google Chrome came out of nowhere to re-ignite the browser debate. Today, it's reached (development) version 4.0, and it's anchoring a much-anticipated operating system. Here's a look back at where Chrome's been in 12 short months.

Linux users are some of the first to tout (or demand) the benefits of 64-bit computing, and it looks like the devotion may pay off. CNET points to Chrome developer mailing list posts indicating that a 64-bit build of Chrome's open-source, development-stage Chromium counterpart is well underway, ahead of versions for Windows or OS X. So while Microsoft and Apple will have built-in 64-bit browsers for their 64-bit systems, Linux gets a helping hand in the browser field from the big G.

Linux: If a lack of third-party plug-in support (i.e. Flash) kept you from trying out Chrome on your Linux system, then avoid no longer. The "early developer version" now supports many plug-ins, and they seem to work pretty well.

You'll need to add --enable-plugins to your Chrome shortcut's command line operation to get the "buggy" plug-in support, but it seems worth the hassle, as YouTube and Hulu videos are playing relatively stable and smooth. Google's updated their alpha-level Chrome builds to include the newest start page tweaks as well, and it's generally a browser worth checking out, even if a few standard settings and convenience items are still missing.

Grab an Ubuntu-ready package from the link below, or build the latest Chromium on any Linux system.