The Google Chrome development team constantly works on three different versions of the web browser; A stable build, a beta build and a dev build.

The beta build offers a good compromise between stability and speed. The latest Chrome beta update promises a 30% to 35% speed improvement over the previous beta channel release which in itself is already faster than the stable release of the browser.

This alone might convince users who dig speed to make the switch to the beta channel – or the even faster dev channel. But the latest Chrome update available for Windows, Linux and Macintosh systems delivers more than just speed.

The developers have added a handful of features to the beta release. Bookmark sync for one has been extended so that browser preferences, themes, homepage and startup settings can now be synced as well.

Windows/Mac/Linux: Chrome's pretty fast, even if you're not updating with its beta or development channels.

Chrome: Chromey Calculator puts all of the best Google Calculator tricks right at your fingertips, along with a helpful list of your most recent calculations and the ability to turn recent results into variables for trickier calculations. More »

Google Chrome has rolled out a new beta in its product lineup and they are happier than ever since Google Chrome is faster than ever.

The official Google Chrome blog says,

Today’s new beta release incorporates one of Chrome’s most significant speed and performance increases to date, with 30% and 35% improvement on the V8 and SunSpider benchmarks over the previous beta channel release. In fact, looking back in time, Chrome’s performance has improved by as much as 213% and 305% on these two benchmarks since our very first beta.

As clear from the above quote, the new beta has speed, speed and more speed. An improvement of 30% to 35% is remarkable and there soon, there will be a time when Google Chrome will be the leader in web-browser technology.

Wikipedia is a trusted source of information – when you want a general reference or want to define something, without adding all the text in your document. I regularly use the online encyclopedia for my writing work, projects and when I want to refer to definitions or popular personalities. If you are a writer and regularly use Wikipedia pages for referencing, you are certainly going to love the Wikipedia companion extension for Google Chrome.

After the extension is installed, click the small “W” icon placed just right to the Chrome address bar:

This opens a small pop up window where you can type the keywords in a text box and search the Wikipedia website without leaving the current page.

The extension is useful, because I can search Wikipedia from the same browser tab and avoid distractions while I am writing something. The second advantage is that the extension lets you open the page in a new browser tab, in case you want to read the complete Wikipedia page. Here is how the pop window loads the content:

Statistics provided by Internet metrics company Net Applications confirm several trends in web browser and operating system usage. The Windows 7 operating system is still gaining market share mostly at the expense of its predecessors Windows XP and Windows Vista. Windows XP lost another 1.05% of market share accumulating to a total market share loss of 10.21% since June 2009 or 7.07% since October 2009 the month Windows 7 was released. XP’s market share in April 2009 fell to 63.41% which is still the largest share by far.

Windows Vista’s market share is going down as well from 17.58% in June 2009 to 15.60% in April 2010. Windows 7 gained 1.45% of market share in April closing in on Vista with its market share total of 11.68%. It will take approximately another four months before Windows 7 will become the second most used operating system in the world if the current trend continues.

Since our launch last December, all of us on the Google Chrome Extensions team have been excited to see a steady stream of new developers trying out our platform. Besides reading our documentation, Twitter account and our blog posts, a great way for an interested developer to get up to speed has been to participate in the extensions community. For example, in our discussion group, experienced developers often provide advice and answer questions for those working on their first extensions.

We wanted to take this community knowledge sharing process a step further. We reached out to our friends at Aviary, Zemanta, Web of Trust and Glue and had them discuss their experiences with Chrome extensions on camera. In the videos below, you’ll learn some of the innovative approaches developers from these companies used to create their extensions. You’ll also hear about the technical challenges they faced, the techniques they used to make their extensions more popular, and some of their upcoming plans:

We’re sure that these short videos did not answer all the questions you have, so if you’re attending the Google I/O conference on May 19th, make sure to stop by the sandbox area and meet the Zemanta, Aviary, Web of Trust and Glue teams in person. They’ll be happy to share the benefit of their experiences with anyone looking to write a Google Chrome extension. If you can’t attend, make sure to get involved with the community and we’ll get you on your way to making an excellent Google Chrome extension.

Chrome only: If the new geo-locating features that just hit the dev channel builds of Google Chrome make your privacy-conscious self a little worried, you can disable them with a simple change. More »

It seems like there is a never ending fight to manage time. I am sure everyone chasing the golden calendar at the end of the rainbow has read an article or two stating how to manage time. In reality, you budget your availability and focus to work more efficiently. You can’t manipulate time.

Some people mono-task, others use tools and gadgets to help make the most of their time. I am in the latter group. I loooves nerd tools. A few I commonly use are my Blackberry 8530 with a few apps, my netbook with apps like Launchy, Windows Live Writer, Screenpresso, Dropbox and both Firefox and Google Chrome with an obscene amount of extensions.

Below are a few Google Chrome extensions I use to help me work a little more efficiently.

1. FastestChrome – Browse Faster

The way FastestChrome works is, when you are reading something on the web, you can highlight a portion of text. When you do this, you will see a small bubble pop up with four icons—Google, Wikipedia, Oneriot and Surf Canyon—to choose form. By clicking on the Oneriot icon, you can see the real-time search results for the text you highlighted. It functions almost like the Kwiclick extension for Firefox.

When I found this extension, I wasn’t sure if I would use it much. I was surprised how handy it is. Even if you only use it for Google searches, it will save you time copy and pasting or typing in the search term into the Google search bar.

2. TitleTimeTacker

This extension is a great way to see how long you have been unfocused and chatting with people on Twitter or any site. In the tab, you will see an elapsed time of your visit in hours and minutes.

Chrome only: Google Chrome extension Iconized Bookmark Popup displays your bookmarks in a simple popup that saves space by showing just the bookmark icons—very useful for those of us who keep the bookmarks bar hidden.

Google could unveil its much-discussed, little verified Google TV, or at least the Android-based software the company is building at Google I/O in May, sources told Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal (paywall warning).

As I wrote in March, Google TV -- we don't have an official name for the software/service -- is a platform and service that will run Web applications through set-top boxes and onto televisions.

The set-top box is allegedly fueled by Android and Intel's chips, and will make Sony televisions and even Blu-ray DVD players function like computers, running Google's search, Chrome Web browser, YouTube and other programs.

Expect Google to foster third-party apps on Google TV, or whatever it will be called, much the same way developers write apps for Android smartphones. Imagine the fragmentation for Google TV apps!

Bloomberg claimed April 28 that Intel is contributing a special Atom chip that will run a new version of Google's Android operating system called Dragonpoint.

The Journal said Google could delay discussing the software until the technology matures, though that certainly didn't stop Google from launching Google Wave at the same developer event last year.

A couple things about this idea are compelling. First, it represents another leg on the Android stool.

Second, Google is trying to succeed where Apple TV and other services bombed. Imagine if Google TV succeeds in the wake of Apple TV.

That will open up a whole new front in the mobile Web war between Google and Apple. Keep an eye out -- I'll be watching this development closely.

 [via Google Chrome Blog]

Chrome only: Google Chrome extension Google Reader Notifier not only shows your current unread count and adds quick access with a popup dialog window, but it's also the official Google notifier for Reader.

Before you do too much browsing around this morning, you might want to hit Chrome's About menu and check for updates. Chrome's standard Stable release for Windows has an update out that fixes three security issues labeled as high priority, along with some Java and JavaScript tweaks. [Google Chrome Releases via Ghacks]

The developers of the Google Chrome web browser have released an update to the stable channel on Windows. The different release versions of the browser confuse at least some users. The easiest way to distinguish the browsers is to associated version 4.1.x releases with the stable channel and 5.0.x versions with the dev channel.

The browser was updated to Google Chrome 4.1.249.1064 fixing two bugs and three security issues in the process. One bug affected the JavaScript performance of the browser while the other reported an incorrect path for the Java plugin.

The security vulnerabilities have all received a high rating which is the second highest security vulnerability rating.

High Cross-origin bypass in Google URL (GURL).
High Memory corruption in HTML5 Media handling.
High Memory corruption in font handling.

 

Google Chrome users who are still running the stable channel on Windows are encouraged to update the web browser as soon as possible to fix the security issues and bugs.

Quick Tab is quick way to find the tab you're looking for when you have lots of them open. It displays the tabs you have open vertically and lets you search tabs. More »

tl

Chrome: Searching random bits of Wikipedia information usually involves abandoning your current page and/or opening up a new tab.