A Speedier Google Chrome for all users

It's been about 8 months since we launched Google Chrome. Aside from exclaiming how fast it is, users have been sending us lots of feedback and feature requests. We've increased our focus on speed and also added some of the most-requested features. Some of these improvements made it into the Beta version that we first released in March, and we've continued to improve the Beta since then. Today, we are moving the Beta version to the stable channel for all users to enjoy.

Here are some improvements that you'll notice right away:

Improved New Tab Page: The most requested feature from users was the ability to remove thumbnails from the New Tab page. Now you can finally hide that embarrassing gossip blog from the Most Visited section.

Full Screen Mode: If you've ever given a presentation or watched a large video using Google Chrome, you might have wished you could use every last pixel on your screen for the content. Now you can hide the title bar and the rest of the browser window by hitting F11 or selecting the option in the Tools menu.

Form Autofill: Filling out your information in forms over and over again can be tedious. Form autofill helps by showing information you've previously entered into the same form fields automatically. If at any point you want to clear out your information, that's easy to do from the Tools menu.

And here are some improvements that aren't immediately visible, but will make web browsing with Google Chrome more enjoyable:

Increased Stability: Google Chrome is more stable than ever--we have fixed over 300 bugs that caused crashes since launch.

Increased Speed: Making the web faster continues to be our main area of focus. Thanks to a new version of WebKit and an update to our JavaScript engine, V8, interactive web pages will run even faster. We've also made sure that JavaScript keeps running fast even when you have lots of tabs open. Try opening a bunch of web applications and then running your favorite benchmark. You can read more about V8 in our JavaScript scalability post on the Chromium blog.

To hear more about these improvements, check out the following video by Product Manager, Brian Rakowski:



If you're already using Google Chrome, you'll be automatically updated to this new version soon. If you're new or if you're itching to try this right away, you can get the latest version at google.com/chrome.

Finally, a note on version numbers: we're referring to this as Chrome 2, but that's mainly a metric to help us keep track of changes internally. We don't give too much weight to version numbers and will continue to roll out useful updates as often as possible.

Darin Fisher, Google Chrome Team

Improvements to Google Update for Administrators

If you're an IT administrator, you may be interested to know that today, on the Open Source blog, we announced a way to manage the update cycle for Google Chrome via Google Update for Administrators. This means that administrators are now able to specify how often to check for updates, how applications should be updated, and whether to allow installation of certain applications.

Read more on the Open Source blog.

Posted by Jason Toff, Google Chrome team

11 short films about a browser

For those of us who live and work on the web, the browser is an unsung hero. It's become the most important piece of software on our computer, but rarely is it given proper recognition, let alone fêted.

We invited some creative friends to make short movies about our own browser, Google Chrome, and then watched as they came back with dozens of interesting ways to portray the browser. After finishing his video, artist and illustrator Christoph Niemann wrote to us about his approach:

"Instead of thinking of what I wanted to show, I tried to think about what I did NOT want to show. I realized that when I use a computer or browse the web these days, the one thing I do NOT think about is... a computer.

There was a time when I knew the meaning of every single item in my system folder and had to wisely allocate RAM to an application before burdening it with a complex task. Dealing with a computer has become much simpler these days (if everything works), but much more difficult and complex (especially if it doesn't behave) — almost like dealing with a living creature.

I wanted to find a simple metaphor that explains what a browser does, without showing a screen, a keyboard, the letters WWW, pixels, zeroes or ones.

Initially I thought of my mom (the browser) who brings me (the user) a plate of spaghetti bolognese (the Internet). But since spaghetti bolognese is not a rewarding thing to draw, let alone animate, I went for the next best metaphor, which can be seen in the animation."

Along with Christoph's video, there are great shorts by Motion Theory, Steve Mottershead, Go Robot, Open, Default Office, Hunter Gatherer, Lifelong Friendship Society, SuperFad, Jeff&Paul, and Pantograph. You can view the individual Chrome Shorts on our YouTube channel as well as a quick compilation below. 

We're really excited about the imagination and range of their ideas, and we hope you enjoy them.

Posted by Ji Lee, Creative Lab

3D graphics in the browser (no joke)

A few weeks ago, we joked about creating a special version of Google Chrome that made the web 3D. Well today, all joking aside, a team at Google is actually taking a step in that direction by introducing O3D: a shader-based API for 3D graphics in the browser.

This API allows for the development of sophisticated 3D applications that rival experiences one would expect in native applications. Technology like this will eventually make launching high quality games as easy as clicking a link in your browser.

Read more about O3D on the Google Code blog or explore the API at code.google.com/apis/o3d.

Posted by Jason Toff, Google Chrome team

Videos from Japan and Czech teams

About two months ago, the Google Japan team helped create a video for Google Chrome that was well-received by local viewers and bloggers. We thought it might have transcontinental appeal, so we decided to also share it on the Google YouTube channel in English. The video, shown below, has since had over 2 million views.



The video was created by Pantograph, who also provided us with some behind-the-scenes photos of their production process:



More recently, the Japan team has come up with some new animations highlighting some of Google Chrome's features in a fun way. Check out the video below and watch how the character surfs on a cursor, cures a sick tab, speeds on his motorcycle, and buys a wedding ring.



Similarly, the Czech team put together a few flash banners that show off some features of Google Chrome.  The banner below, by David Böhm, is just the first of several commissioned from popular Czech cartoonists trying to capture local flavor through comic strips - a very Czech medium.  Whether they discuss Chrome's speed or simplicity these videos are just as charming and quirky in translation.



As always, you can see the latest Google Chrome videos on the Google Chrome YouTube channel.

Posted by Jason Toff, Google Chrome team

A faster way to fill out forms

Hi there -- first, a quick intro: I'm Fiona and I'll be posting periodically with tips on using Google Chrome. From time to time, I'll also be responding to hot issues you bring up in the Google Chrome Help Forum.

Ever since Google Chrome debuted, many of you have been asking for a way to save what you enter in forms. After all, who can honestly say that they enjoy typing their name and mailing address over and over again?

So, just in case you missed it, I wanted to highlight the autofill feature that's included in the beta version of Google Chrome. With autofill enabled, the browser saves what you type in form fields. The next time you fill out a form that you've completed in the past, what you've previously entered pops up below each field. Use your mouse or Tab on the keyboard to select the text you want to use.



The autofill text is stored on your computer as part of your browser profile. Many sites disable this feature when collecting sensitive information, such as credit card numbers.  Also, you can always go to the Clear browsing data menu to delete saved form data from your computer or turn the feature off entirely in the Options menu.

Not using the beta? Hang tight -- the feature will graduate to the stable version of the browser eventually. To learn more about the form autofill feature, visit the Google Chrome Help Center.

Posted by Fiona Chong, Google Chrome Team

Google Chrome’s Universal Terms, explained with the help of some user-experts

A recent Slashdot post about Google Chrome’s Terms of Service (TOS), sometimes referred to as the even wonkier acronym, EULA (End-User License Agreement), raises a number of points about Chrome’s TOS and asks a couple of direct questions:

• Does this mean that Google reserves the right to filter my web browsing experience in Chrome?
• Is this a carry-over from the EULAs of Google's other services (gmail, blogger etc), or is this something more significant?

We read further into this piece through the comments and saw that many readers were able to accurately address these points – most of them better than we could ourselves – so we thought we might as well give them the credit they deserve.

On the question of “Is this a carry-over from the EULAs of Google's other services,” maxfresh responds: “It is obvious from section 1 of the same TOS that this is google's standard boilerplate TOS, or as they call it, their 'Universal Terms' that covers all of their services, including search, mail, adsense, adwords, blogger, etc...”

Maxfresh has it right here. This is the exact same language we use in many other Google Terms of Service. We are trying to be consistent across all of our products and services, hence the uniformity.

Regarding whether “Google reserves the right to filter my web browsing experience,” mariushm says, “It's probably just a safety measure for their anti-phishing features,” while Korin43 writes that it’s for “things like safe-search, phishing filter, and other options like blocking non-secure items on a secure webpage.” Another reader, fermion, notes, “it could be some malware protection mechanism in which users are not allowed to go to suspected malware sites without warning….”

mariushm, Korin43 and fermion are all correct. Google provides features such as Safe Browsing that warn you if you are about to go to a suspected phishing site, and we verify the URL you are planning to go to with a database of known phishing sites. Other relevant factors include the need for Google to comply with the law relating to your web-browsing experience, such as regulations against hate speech, child pornography and so on.

Maybe the most fitting context for all this is provided by acb: “In any case, it's open source (under the name Chromium [google.com]), so if you don't like Google's EULA, or any other part of their plans for Chrome, you will be able to download and run one of the third-party, de-Googlised builds of Chromium, or even build your own. It seems unlikely that Google would impose particularly unpalatable terms on Chrome, given that it comes with its own competition built in.”

Amen, acb. As an open-source browser, we believe Google Chrome stimulates innovation on the web, while at the time just making life easier for people. Thus far, we have millions of active users, and the response continues to be outstanding. Regardless, we appreciate the input from users around the world, and we think these kinds of open discussions are helpful, even if it’s to temper what !ahugedeal describes as follows: “This looks like FUD to me.”

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Posted by Gabriel Stricker, Director, Global Communications & Public Affairs