03 Sep 08 Google Responds to Chrome EULA Controversy

“Google’s new web browser Chrome is fast, shiny, and requires users to sign their very lives over to Google before they can use it. Today’s Internet outrage du jour has been Chrome’s EULA, which appears to give Google a nonexclusive right to display and distribute every bit of content transmitted through the browser. Now, Google tells Ars that it’s a mistake, the EULA will be corrected, and the correction will be retroactive.”

Continue reading at Ars Technica

03 Sep 08 Google Chrome Security Flaw

“Just hours after the release of Google Chrome, researcher Aviv Raff discovered that he could combine two vulnerabilities — a flaw in Apple Safari (WebKit) and a Java bug discussed at this year’s Black Hat conference — to trick users into launching executables direct from the new browser.”

continue reading at ZDNET

03 Sep 08 Google Chrome Launch Video

YouTube

03 Sep 08 Marshall Kirkpatrick Wonders about Google Chrome TOS

Marshall Kirkpatrick writes:

“one thing we hadn’t noticed until this evening was a curious section of the Chrome Terms of Service.”

“The terms include a section giving Google “a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.” That seems pretty extreme for a browser, doesn’t it?”

Read Write Web

03 Sep 08 Firefox counters Google’s browser speed test

“Mozilla fought back on Wednesday with some performance results to show a forthcoming version of Firefox outpacing Google’s new Web browser, Chrome.”

CNET

03 Sep 08 The Inside Story Behind Chrome

Chrome development team from left, Mark Larson, Brian Rakowski, Darin Fisher, and Ben Goodger Photo by Joe Pugliese

Steven Levy of Wired has an excellent article that outlines the back story behind the Chrome browser.

Check it out here.

02 Sep 08 10 Features of Google Chrome

02 Sep 08 The Story Behind Google Chrome

Watch a video from the development team on the thinking and features behind Google Chrome.

02 Sep 08 Google Chrome Tour Videos

One box for everything

Web search. Web history. Address bar. Suggestions as you type. One unified box serves all your browsing needs. Learn more.

New Tab page

Every time you open a new tab, you’ll see a visual sampling of your most visited sites, most used search engines, and recently bookmarked pages and closed tabs. Learn more.

Application shortcuts

Use web apps without opening your browser. Application shortcuts can directly load your favorite online apps. Learn more.

Dynamic tabs

You can drag tabs out of the browser to create new windows, gather multiple tabs into one window or arrange your tabs however you wish — quickly and easily. Learn more.

Crash control

Every tab you’re using is run independently in the browser, so if one app crashes it won’t take anything else down. Learn more.

Incognito mode

Don’t want pages you visit to show up in your web history? Choose incognito mode for private browsing. Learn more.

Safe browsing

Google Chrome warns you if you’re about to visit a suspected phishing, malware or otherwise unsafe website. Learn more.

Instant bookmarks

Want to bookmark a web page? Just click the star icon at the left edge of the address bar and you’re done. Learn more.

Importing settings

When you switch to Google Chrome, you can pick up where you left off with all the bookmarks and passwords from your existing browser. Learn more.

Simpler downloads

No intrusive download manager; you see your download’s status at the bottom of your current window. Learn more.

02 Sep 08 Live Webcast Liveblog

The webcast has begun.

11:08 PST They are taking about evolution of the web. (The video stream doesn’t seem to be working.)

11:13 PST They are taking about what made google successful and how to apply that to Chrome:

They want the “browser to stay out of the way”

Under the hood:
“more choices for users but avoids headaches for developers”

Webkit (chosen for speed)

11:17 PST
Multi-process architecture:
“fundamental underlying advantages of Chrome”

New Javascript engine called V8:

11:20 PST PC only at first 43 languages in 122 countries:

11:21 PST Open Soure Project Chromium under BSD License

User Interface

“window manager for webpages and apps.”

Unfortunately the video stream is not working for me so I cannot see the demo…

11:30 PST The search box and the address bar are combined into one.

11:33 PST Incognito Mode: keeps porn off your site.

11:35 PST The downloads interface is simplified.

11:36 PST They have removed much of the user interface when you’re using web based applications. “they (webapps) want to break free of the window”

11:36 PST Create application shortcuts. Creates an app on your desktop and removes the much of the UI.

11:40 PST Multi Process Browser Architecture… When one of the websites/tabs you’re on crashes it doesn’t crash the whole browser… Also allows much better performance.

Security: rendering webpages doesn’t require very many permissions. The rendering engine has virtually no permissions… IE the sandbox

Read Write Web has coverage of this as well.

11:42 PST It has a ‘task manager’ to see what processes are using which resources not unlike your OS does.

11:44 PST Now showing what happens on a stuck tab/process… Guy kills it using a task manager.

11:46 PST Raw performance. Webkit rendering engine demo of speed.

Loading pages in IE (slow)

Loading pages in Chrome is way faster

11:47 PST Javascript Engine:

“we like fast performance”
“we want to do more”

They wrote a javascript engine from the ground up.

*we lost our connection here.

Check Techcrunch et al for some analysis.