Before I start looking at recent advances that Google implemented into the Windows 8 version of its Chrome web browser, I’d like to take a moment to point out that I’m still not entirely sure how apps that run on the startpage but not installed from the Windows Store are called. Do I simply refer to them as apps? Or are they called Windows Store apps regardless of the fact that they have no connection with the built-in store?

Anyway, Google like Mozilla, is working on an app version of its Chrome browser that works directly as an application on Windows 8′s startpage. Before you can use the app version you need to make Chrome the default web browser on the system.To make Chrome the default browser load the settings using this url chrome://chrome/settings/ and locate the default browser option there to do just that. Once you have done that, you can use Chrome both on the startpage directly as a fullscreen application and on the classic desktop.

First thing that you may notice in the most recent dev version of the browser is an option to switch to the “other” version of the browser. You can switch from the desktop version of Chrome to the app version (Google calls it Windows 8 Mode) and vice versa taking all open tabs with you in the process.

Please note that you can only run one Chrome version at the time. If you have configured Chrome to launch in Windows 8 mode, the browser will launch in that mode even if you launch it from the desktop.

The two Chrome versions on Windows 8 previously were using different user profiles which Google in a recent version changed. Google Chrome on Windows 8 is now sharing the user profile, so that extensions, the browsing history and other data are available in both versions of the browser. This puts Google one step ahead of Mozilla who recently announced that add-ons synchronization between both browser versions is not included in the initial release.

According to the recent report by Strangeloop, a company that specializes in website performance, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was 8% faster in loading the majority of web pages when compares to the Google’s Chrome. As stated in the document, IE10 average load time was 6.392 seconds, beating Firefox (6.395 seconds) and Google Chrome 20 (6.906). Interestingly [...]

Chrome: If you bounce between a lot of different music services then chances are you've got a tab open in Chrome to one of them all day long. Unity Music Media Keys is a Chrome extension that makes that experience better by offering quick push button controls, and support for Apple's keyboard media keys. More »

Earlier this year at Google I/O, we gave developers a sneak peek at Movi.Kanti.Revo, a new sensory Chrome experiment crafted by Cirque du Soleil and developed by Subatomic Systems that brings the magic of Cirque du Soleil to the web through modern web technologies. The full experiment, which allows users to follow a mysterious character through a beautiful world of Cirque du Soleil performances, was launched today at the Big Tent event in New York City.

The experiment was created using just HTML5, and the environment is built entirely with markup and CSS. Like set pieces on stage, divs, images and other elements are positioned in a 3D space using CSS. To create movement, CSS animations and 3D transforms were applied making the elements appear closer and further away. Everything is positioned and scaled individually to create a highly realistic interactive environment. In addition, the experiment uses HTML5

For the past two days I have been noticing a issue with Google’s Chrome browser. Whenever I would start the browser, it would hang for a couple of seconds before the tabs of the previous session were loaded. This happened even if I had only one tab open that needed to be restored, so that I was pretty certain it was not caused by tab overload. I also tried switching to load the new tab page only on start up of the browser, which also did not resolve the issue. I’m experiencing hangs not only in Chrome Dev but also in Chrome Canary, which are both installed on a Windows 7 64-bit pro system.

• I have disabled all plugins and extensions to see if the issue was caused by addons but that was not the case either.
• I then tried to launch the browser in Incognito Mode and that too hung on startup for 5-10 seconds before the browser became responsive.
• Next try, a new profile. Starting Chrome with the parameter –user-data-dir=/tmp/test_profile_dir did not resolve the hanging on startup either.

• Clearing the complete browsing history did not have an effect either.
• Verified that known Chrome hang and crash issues where not causing the freezes on startup
• A restart of the PC did not resolve the issue either.

I grew pretty desperate at this point, and decided to uninstall Google Chrome on the PC to start with a clean installation of the browser afterwards in hope that this would resolve the freezes that I was experiencing. I first uninstalled Chrome Dev from my Windows system and all of the data it contained and restarted the computer afterwards. Once I did that I downloaded the installer from Softpedia, ran it, and started Chrome.

Guess what, the browser started without hangs or freezes. To make sure that this was not just a one time thing or so, I decided to open a few tabs before restarting it to see if that was the case. Well, Chrome is starting up fast and without issues now, even after restarts of the PC and some heavy use.

Keep in mind that you may lose data if you uninstall Chrome this way. If you do not want that to happen, configure Chrome to sync settings with a Google Account. This may however have the consequence that the cause for the problem is synced with your new Chrome installation so that you are experiencing it again.

Have you experienced issues with Chrome before in this regard? How did you resolve them?

Recently, Google has released a new stable build of its desktop web browser, which includes a new sandbox architecture. Now, the search giant has shared some good news with its Android users as they too will be receiving a new build that strengthens web browser’s security. According to the recent blog post, Chrome for Android [...]

Where do you go when you run into issues in Google Chrome that you can’t fix on your own? Say you get Shockwave Flash has crashed messages all the time, or can’t install extensions from third party sites. You probably fire up your favorite web browser, open your favorite search engine and search for the issue that you are experiencing in hope that someone else already encountered it before, and posted a solution online.

That works well for common issues and it is relatively certain that you will find a blog or forum post on the Internet to help you out. Sometimes though this first attempt at troubleshooting the issue may not have the desired result. Or maybe, you need help with an issue that no one has encountered before, for instance if you are running a cutting edge version of the browser that just got released.

There are two locations on the Internet where you get -official- support for Google Chrome. Google is unfortunately a company that tries to minimize support for the majority of its products. This means that you can’t call Google support because there is no such thing for us mere mortals. But there is also no email support available either. This is leaving users with support forums and product help.

The Chrome help site should be your first stop, as it is not only listing tips on how to use Chrome but also problem fixing help for common issues that users may experience while using Chrome. Plus, you avoid the embarrassment of posting a question in the support forum that is already answered here.

Chance is however that Chrome help won’t -uhm- help, which leaves you with the support forum. You do need a Google account to post here, and depending on day, time and luck, your post may be picked up by a Google employee. Usually though that won’t happen and it is more likely that other users try to help resolve your issue. Sometimes though you may not get a single response here.

Instead of giving up just yet, there is another option that you have to improve your chance of getting a response. You find posts by Google Chrome community managers pinned at the top of the forum. To get the attention of these community managers send them a message on Google Plus.

Be sure to be precise and polite when you do, as this improves your chance of getting a response. It is a little known tip that works surprisingly well if you run into issues. This actually works well if you have issues with other Google products.

The web is capable of amazing things and is becoming more capable all the time. To show some of the potential of a better web, we launched ChromeExperiments.com in March 2009 with 19 inspiring examples by the creative coding community of what’s possible when combining the latest web technologies with a little code and imagination. Some of those original experiments, like Google Gravity and Ball Pool, are still popular today. But we’re pleased to say that they’ve since been joined by hundreds of other contributions from around that world that have pushed the web even further.

Today marks our 500th experiment, and in celebration, we created Experiment 500 as a thank you note to everyone who submitted their work to the site. It’s an array of interactive particles, each one of them corresponding to a different submission. You can sort them by date or by category.

As you browse the experiments, you’ll notice that Chrome Experiments has evolved along with the web in the last 3.5 years. After Google Chrome added support for WebGL, for example, we started seeing beautiful 3D graphics experiments like Evan Wallace’s WebGL Water Simulation and HelloEnjoy’s Lights. When Web Audio came out, we received experiments that let users compose music together, such as Brandon Lockaby’s Multiplayer Piano and Dinahmoe’s Plink. This summer, with the release of Chrome for Android and iOS, we also announced a new gallery of mobile experiments, with submissions including AlteredQualia’s Multitouch Toy and Dominic Szablewski’s X-Type. Lately, we’ve seen real-time coding experiments become popular, like Mr.doob’s Code Editor.

It’s been a blast, and we can’t wait to see what’s next. If you create a HTML5 / JavaScript experiment that breaks new ground on the web, or is just pure fun to play with, please don’t hesitate to submit it. We can’t accept them all, but we’d love to see what you’ve done.

See you at number 1000.

Following the competitors, Google has finally started implementing a much requested and widely anticipated, “Do Not Track” feature. According to one of the Google’s spokesmen, the search giant has “undertook to honor an agreement on DNT that the industry reached with the White House early this year. To that end we’re making this setting visible [...]

An option to enable Do Not Track headers landed in today’s Chromium release which web users can make use of to notify servers, websites and scripts that they do not want to be tracked on the Internet. The main aim of Do Not Track is to provide Internet users with an option to opt-out of targeted advertising on the Internet.

The idea here is to provide users with an option in the browser to enable the Do Not Track header there. This has caused some controversy recently when Microsoft announced that it would enable DNT by default for all users of the Internet Explorer 10 browser as it goes against the idea of making DNT a user’s choice (in contrast to a browser developer’s choice for the user).

The browser will send the Do Not Track header with connection requests when the feature is enabled by the user. From there, it depends largely on the advertising companies as there is no legal requirement to accept the request. If it is honored by the advertiser, user tracking is disabled. This does not mean that ads won’t be displayed to the user. The advertisement displayed may however not be as personal as it would have been if the Do Not Track header would not have been included in the header.

Google Chrome is the only major browser that did not support Do Not Track until now. Firefox, Opera and Internet Explorer 10 all support the feature. The feature is available under Privacy in the Chrome settings. The easiest way to get there is to enter chrome://chrome/settings/ in the address bar, scroll down, click on show advanced settings to reveal additional browser preferences including the Privacy section here.

To activate simply check the “Send a ‘Do Not Track’ request with your browsing traffic box. Chrome from that moment on will include the DNT header with all requests that it makes. Expect the setting to go through all versions of Chrome in the coming weeks and months.

There are numerous reasons to make sure that your web browser does not leak information to the Internet or the browser maker if that is not required for functionality that you use. Preferences that handle features such as third party cookies or prefeteching are usually not found in a single location where they can be easily managed.

When it comes to privacy in Google Chrome, preferences can be found on the browser’s settings page and on the experimental chrome://flags page.

The Google Chrome extension Privacy Manager tries to resolve these issues by providing one-click access to these privacy settings. It adds an icon to the browser’s address bar on install that displays all privacy management options that it makes available in the browser.

All privacy related settings can be turned on or off with a single click of the mouse button:

• Third party cookies
• Auto fill – Automatically fill out forms
• Instant mode – Chrome will search for and display search suggestions in the address bar while you type
• Safe browsing mode
• Search suggestions
• Spelling service
• Translation service
• Hyperlink auditing – Chrome can send auditing pings when enabled
• Referrers – Can break websites if disabled
• Network Predictions – Pre-revolsing DNS queries and prefetching websites
• Alternate error pages

You can move the mouse cursor over the information icon to display information about one of the privacy settings; helpful if you do not know how the feature is related to your privacy on the Internet. All settings are privacy related, with some enabled, others disabled. If you do not mind the implications, you get fast access to some experimental features here that you can enabled in the browser. It is important to note that some settings, referrers for instance, may break websites when disabled.

Privacy Manager’s second big feature is the option to clean data on start of the browser. This works similar to the browser’s own clear browsing data feature, but with additional data locations to select. This includes among other Web SQL and File systems.

Chrome: If you tweak Chrome's privacy settings pretty often (like cookies, autofill, history, and others), Privacy Manager puts every single on of those settings in a simple dropdown, with on/off toggles for each one. More »

Security is one of the core principles of Chrome, and as mobile usage proliferates, we’re committed to providing users a safe browsing experience regardless of the device they're on. With today's Chrome for Android update on Google Play, your browsing experience on Android just got safer. 

This release strengthens Chrome for Android’s sandbox technology, which helps ensure malicious mobile websites are contained and do not impact the entire browser. This is made possible by the innovative multi-process architecture in Chrome for Android, in conjunction with Android’s User ID (UID) isolation technology. This more in-depth sandboxing capability will be automatically used for devices with Android 4.1, Jellybean. 

This update will also fix a number of bugs and is available to users with Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich and up. We hope you enjoy this update and continue to enjoy the speed, simplicity and security that Chrome is known for wherever you go.

If you are running Chrome Canary, and maybe other versions of the web browser as well, you may have noticed the + icon that Google has added to the browser’s address bar. If you do, you also may have noticed that the classic star icon, used to add a bookmark to the browser, has been removed at the same time.

The bookmark star has been replaced by the rather blunt plus (+) icon that Google calls Action Box. The reason for this is that it displays multiple actions when clicked on. It first lets you bookmark the page, and second share the page. Chrome stable users can enable the Action Box in the chrome://flags experimental feature listing. A restart of the web browser is required afterwards. I could not get the plus icon to display its contents though.

Clicking on the Share this page entry displays a popup highlighting Chrome extensions that you can use to share websites that you find interesting. This did not work at the time of writing in Chrome Canary, as no popup was displayed on the screen. The feature did work in the latest Chrome Dev version though.

A click on add to Chrome installs the extension right away in the browser bypassing the Chrome Web Store. The more suggestions link opens a custom store page highlighting all sharing extensions that work with the feature. Available extensions include WordPress.com, Twitter, Flattr, Gmail, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Google+, Reddit and AddThis. Bookmarked pages are still displaying the yellow star icon in the browser’s address bar.