Google just launched the latest developer version of Chrome, which now includes preliminary support for Google's geolocation API. Google's Geolocation API allows developers to pinpoint your computer's location by looking at the WiFi networks around you,

Since debuting in December, more than 2,000 extensions have been created for Google Chrome. Now, Chrome users have access to about 40,000 more, thanks to support for Greasemonkey scripts in Chrome 4.0 for Windows and the Chrome Developer builds for Mac and Linux.

We’ve covered Greasemonkey and the browser-awesome it can provide in the past, but if you aren’t familiar, the plugin (originally for Firefox) allows site-specific JavaScript user scripts to run on a page, providing additional options and functionality. So, for example, you can install a script that will give additional YouTube viewing or download options or pipe-in data from other sources and display it alongside other content.

In Chrome 4.0, you can go to Userscripts.org, the big clearinghouse for Greasemonkey scripts, and install many of the more than 40,000 scripts directly in Chrome (about 15-25% of the scripts won’t work yet). On the backend, Chrome will convert those scripts into a Chrome Extension, which you can then manage and uninstall the scripts with ease.

This is a huge boon for productivity lovers. Greasemonkey scripts are a great way to add easy functionality to web pages and the fact that they can be installed and uninstalled the same way as regular Chrome Extensions flat-out rocks. If you are running the development version of Chrome for Mac (or the Chromium Nightly Builds) or the beta for the Linux version of Chrome, you should also have Greasemonkey support.

It’s not an unequivocal “yes,” but an awkward “no comment” from a Google product manager may indicate that touch capability is being built into Chrome OS.

At an event in London at Google’s headquarters attended by TechRadar, Senior Product Manager of Search Anders Sandholm “chuckled nervously” in response to the question of whether Chrome OS would include multitouch capability, the technology made ubiquitous largely by Apple’s iconic iPhone. It’s one of the glaring omissions from the Nexus One, so much so that there’s a hack to enable multitouch support available.

IBM is teaming up with eyeOS, the maker of an open-source, web-based operating system. We've had our (ahem) eye on eyeOS for quite some time. It's receiving renewed interest in the wake of the much anticipated launch of Google Chrome OS.

IBM will offer eyeOS 2.0, available in January, to all customers who buy IBM's System Z mainframe servers. SystemZ servers are used mainly by large organizations for data processing purposes. So eyeOS will be used as a desktop in the cloud for potentially thousands of enterprise users.

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Google just announced the launch of Chrome Frame, a new open-source project that will allow Chrome's rendering engine to run within Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6,7, and 8. This plugin, which is available now, will give developers the option to ask users if they would prefer to switch to the Chrome rendering and JavaScript engine. Users simply continue to use Internet Explorer and the switch will be completely seamless, with no noticeable changes to the user interface.

Chrome Now Runs Inside Internet Explorer

As Google's Mike Smith and Alex Russell told us when we talked to them about this project, a lot of companies have good reasons why they can't just simply switch away from Internet Explorer. After all, these enterprises often have made large investments in an infrastructure that is only compatible with IE. As Google pointed out to us, though, this shouldn't hold back developers who want to explore the possibilities that newer, faster and more modern browsers like Chrome can offer.

Google just released an update to its cutting edge developer version of Google Chrome that adds a lot of polish to the way Chrome handles extensions. Interestingly, while the stable versions of Chrome are still stuck with the 2.x series, the versions in the developer channel are now already designated as 4.x versions. At this point, users of the developer channel version can already easily install extensions, change themes, sync bookmarks, and profit from a faster rendering engine, while users of the more conservative stable version don't have access to any of these features yet.

Exactly one year ago today, the Google Chrome browser was launched to the world. And, in Google-like fashion, they took the unconventional route of announcing Chrome via comic book. Do you remember all of the discussion around Google’s decision to enter the browser market?

Now, 365 days later, Google is commemorating Chrome’s first birthday with some impressive stats. To get the full picture of where Chrome stands today though, we need to look at all the numbers.

The Chrome Road Ahead

While Google’s commemorative blog post talks a great deal about birthday cakes and birthday balloons, the numbers-oriented company did reveal a plethora of interesting facts about the browser. Here is what Google shared:

“Since September 2, 2008, there have been:

Google is stepping up its efforts to increase awareness, and ultimately market share, of its Chrome web browser with a new Sony partnership. Under the deal, Chrome will come pre-installed on Sony’s Vaio line of computers according to the Financial Times.

It marks Chrome’s first distribution deal with a hardware vendor, and though Sony’s own share of the computer market isn’t itself big enough to launch Google’s browser into the stratosphere, it’s still an important milestone on Chrome’s road map.

The financial specifics of the deal weren’t disclosed, and a Google spokesperson called the Sony partnership merely “experimental.” Still, it’s clear the search giant is starting to come out swinging against Microsoft’s continuing hold on the browser market along with Mozilla’s Firefox.

Google is stepping up its efforts to increase awareness, and ultimately market share, of its Chrome web browser with a new Sony partnership. Under the deal, Chrome will come pre-installed on Sony’s Vaio line of computers according to the Financial Times.

It marks Chrome’s first distribution deal with a hardware vendor, and though Sony’s own share of the computer market isn’t itself big enough to launch Google’s browser into the stratosphere, it’s still an important milestone on Chrome’s road map.

The financial specifics of the deal weren’t disclosed, and a Google spokesperson called the Sony partnership merely “experimental.” Still, it’s clear the search giant is starting to come out swinging against Microsoft’s continuing hold on the browser market along with Mozilla’s Firefox.

Remember when Chrome OS was announced? The first thing everyone asked was, wait, if this is Google’s operating system aimed primarily at netbooks, what happens with all those fabled Android-based netbooks we were supposed to see this year?

Well, it seems we just got an answer, at least a part of it, as Asus has all but given up on developing an Android-based netbook. After showing off such a device at the Computex Taipei electronics show in June, Asus went oddly silent about it. Now, it got just a wee bit more official: “Currently, I still don’t see a clear market for smartbooks,” said Jerry Shen, CEO of Asustek Computer, at an investors’ conference in Taipei.

Already noted for its speed, Google Chrome has released a new beta today promising another 30 percent performance improvement. There are also a few new features that let you add significant customization to the look and feel of the browser.

One of my favorite features of Chrome, the quick links to your 9 most visited sites when you open a new tab, is now customizable, letting you move any site you’d like quick access to into one of the slots.

Meanwhile, the so-called Omnibox (the address bar in other browsers) has become a bit easier to understand, with a series of icons “helping you distinguish between suggested sites, searches, bookmarks, and sites from your browsing history.”

As for the performance improvements, the Chrome team explains how they did it on their blog:

Within the next two weeks, Google will release a new development version of Google Chrome that will include the ability to sync bookmarks between different computers. As Tim Steele, a software engineer on the Chrome team explained in a message to the Chrome developer group, the synchronization will be managed through a Google account. Changes in one install will be reflected in another Chrome instance in real time thanks to the Chrome team's use of the Google Talk servers as the messaging backend for this service.

For now, Google will only sync bookmarks. In the long run, the Chrome team also plans to sync other data types, including browser history. In the announcement, the Chrome team did not specify if passwords will be synced as well.

Ever since Google had officially announced Google Chrome OS, its operating system initially aimed at netbooks, with somewhat vague ambitions to become a full-fledged Windows competitor, there have been many speculations on how can Google compete with Microsoft, what its adoption rate might be and so forth.

Well, according to DigiTimes, Acer is poised to release its (previously announced) dual boot Windows XP/Android netbook in August. The appearance of world’s first Android-based netbook might provide answer to some questions about Chrome OS, but it’ll surely create some new ones.

It’s only been a few days, but it feels like weeks since Google announced Google Chrome OS and stirred up the blogosphere and the imagination of techies and Microsoft haters everywhere. The response, the analysis, and the debate has been constant ever since. Can it beat Windows? Can it even run Photoshop?

Two days ago, we profiled the ongoing battle between Microsoft and Google, focusing on areas where the two companies compete. Almost everyone has framed Google Chrome OS as a direct competitor to Microsoft Windows. But I am about to argue that this is the wrong way to view Chrome OS.

Google’s goal isn’t to have the majority market share. The goal is to force you on the web more and for longer. Why? It’s all part of Google’s simple equation to monetize the world.

Just after we heard a number of rumors about the possible arrival of the rumored Google OS tonight, Google actually went ahead and announced that it will indeed release its own operating system - the Google Chrome Operating System. For now, Google plans to aim this OS at the netbook market. The OS will only become available for consumers in the second half of 2010, but Google promises that it will open-source the code later this year. According the the announcement on the Google blog, the OS will run on standard x86 chips as well as ARM chips, and Google is already working with a number of OEMs to bring devices that run the Google Chrome OS to the market.