Google Chrome - Features

And yes .. I use it :-)

Google Chrome OS UI Concept Video

What is Google Chrome OS?

Google plans Chrome Mac beta for December

Google plans to release a Mac beta of Chrome in early December, judging by some chatter on a mailing list for the browser. Chrome 4.0 is available today as a beta version for Windows but only as a rougher developer-preview version on Linux and Mac OS X. The standout feature of the new version is customization through extensions, a technology that long has been a core asset of another open-source browser, Firefox. Google has been moving to a new extensions presentation technology called Browser Actions that let people interact with extensions through a small button toward the upper right of the browser window. "We've noticed that many of you have updated your extensions to take advantage of the new UI. We'd like to encourage the rest of you to do so as well," said Nick Baum, a Google Chrome product manager, in a mailing list posting. But here's the hitch: Browser Actions only work on Windows and Linux right now. That means those building extensions will leave Mac Chrome users behind for a time. But in telling those developers they won't have long to wait, Baum mentioned the deadline for the beta version. "The earlier you switch, the more time you will have to polish your experience for our Beta launch in early December," he said. And Google is on the case for adding Browser Actions to the Mac version of Chrome. "We realize this means dropping Mac support for a couple of weeks, but we already have people working on that," Baum said. "If you prioritize the Windows and Linux versions, we'll bring you cross-platform parity as soon as we can!"

link: Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET

Mac version of Chrome due before 2010

The Mac version of Chrome should be released before Christmas this year, suggests Google CEO Eric Schmidt. The executive made the revelation at a New York press conference, in the middle of answering a question about the browser's overall marketshare. Chrome's share has been disparaged by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who recently called the browser "a rounding error." Microsoft's Internet Explorer remains the dominant web browser worldwide. "I see a lot of Macs in this room, and a lot of very sophisticated people are using Macs now and we need to get a version of Chrome out for that, which we'll have in a couple of months," Schmidt said at the conference. The Mac port of Chrome has been in development for several months, and until recently was only forecast to ship sometime in 2010. The new schedule may indicate an accelerated development, whether due to overcoming hurdles or a desire to exploit an expanding Mac userbase. The Windows version of Chrome debuted in September of last year, and is notable mainly for a minimalist design, as well as dedicating a separate process to each tab. This allows the browser to isolate webpages that could pose security or stability problems.

link: Mac version of Chrome due before 2010 | MacNN

Google launches Chrome gallery; almost all ugly

Google Wave beta signup

Yes you can now, sign up.

Interesting … Google Chrome Operating System

From MacRumors:

Google announced that they are getting into the Operating System business with Google Chrome Operating System. The new OS is described as their attempt to "re-think" what operating systems should be.

Google Chrome OS will be an open source, lightweight operating system that is initially targeted at netbooks.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

The new OS will run on both x86 and ARM chips. The first netbooks will begin shipping with the OS in the second half of 2010. In the long term. Google does expect that Chrome OS will work anywhere from small netbooks to full size desktop machines.

While Microsoft has the most to lose from such direct competition from Google, Apple will also be affected by Google’s move into this space. In fact, Google’s ultimate goal seems to be the same target market as Apple’s. They are specifically shooting for ease of use and accessibility:

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

The Web will be a central part of the new operating system, and demonstrates the importance of supplying a robust browser experience. Google’s work on the Chrome browser will carry over into the new OS.

Apple Worth More Than Google

Digital Daily notes that Apple's market capitalization at $159.37 billion is now worth more than Google's which is at $157.56 billion. Apple's market cap first exceeded $100 billion in May of 2007. Apple was included into the S&P 100 index at that time. For interest, MacDailyNews compiled a list of the market values of other notable companies:

• Microsoft (MSFT) - $255,648,204,000
  


• IBM (IBM) - $169,964,678,000
  


• Apple (AAPL) - $157,012,662,240
  


• Google (GOOG) - $156,392,862,560
  


• Cisco (CSCO) - $142,125,692,160
  


• Intel (INTC) - $135,658,860,000
  


• Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) - $111,866,423,760
  


• Nokia (NOK) - $97,746,699,520
  


• Research In Motion (RIMM) - $71,143,935,000
  


• Disney (DIS) - $59,257,501,500
  


• Dell (DELL) - $50,483,256,060 
  

Tip: Syncing Google Calendar with mobile devices

Google Calendar

(Credit: Google)

Google Calendar is probably one of the most successful web-based calendar tools to hit the Web 2.0 scene, and no wonder. It has a very clean and easy-to-understand user interface, GMail integration, the ability to share calendars with others, SMS notification reminders, and like other web-based calendars, immediate accessibility regardless of what computer you're using (Well, as long as you have net access). But perhaps the most useful aspect of Google Calendar is that you can carry it with you on your mobile device, as long as you know how.

Google Calendar Sync lets you sync your Google Calendar with your Microsoft Outlook calendar.

(Credit: Google)

There are basically two ways to access or sync Google Calendar with your phone. The first is to sync Google Calendar with the calendar software on your computer, and then sync the calendar information to your phone, essentially utilizing the computer as an intermediary. If you use Outlook to sync up calendar information, Google has conveniently offered a Google Calendar Sync tool for use with Outlook that allows 2-way syncing. Aside from Google's own syncing tool, there are other third-party Google Calendar syncing applications like OggSync, Jotlet, and Calgoo, though many of them aren't free. From there, you can sync Outlook with your phone, and you're ready to go. For the Mac, I personally have had great luck with Spanning Sync, a third-party application that will sync up Google Calendar with iCal. Similarly, you'll then have to sync the calendar information to your phone via the computer.

Then there's the second method of accessing Google Calendar with your phone, and that's over-the-air. The most obvious way to do this is to just head to http://mobile.google.com/calendar using the phone's built-in browser. From there, you can add and remove events just as you normally would, but with a scaled down user interface. If you have an iPhone, you'll be treated to a specially formatted mobile Google Calendar page with a user interface optimized for the iPhone's touch screen display. However, this doesn't always work if you don't have a reliable Internet connection, plus it can be painfully slow. Thankfully, there's a way around this as well, and that is to sync Google Calendar with the built-in calendar on your phone.

Google Sync for BlackBerry

(Credit: Google)

If you have a BlackBerry, Google has developed an application called Google Sync for BlackBerry, which will sync Google Calendar with the BlackBerry's own built-in calendar. And if you have a Windows Mobile phone, third-party applications like OggSync for Windows Mobile/Pocket PC will work as well. However, if you're one of many thousands of people with just a regular phone, GooSync is probably your best bet when it comes to over-the-air synchronization of your Google Calendar and your phone's built-in calendar. GooSync offers a free as well as a premium service (The premium service is $39.50 a year and offers multi calendar support, a contacts manager, and more), and supports a wide variety of phones. You should still check out their Supported Devices page to see if your phone is on the list though.

As with any of these applications, your mileage may vary as to how well they work, depending on the kind of phone you have, your net connection, and so forth. If you have any more ideas on how to sync Google Calendar with your mobile device, let us know in the comments!

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From TechCrunch: This Week’s Plaxo Merger Rumor: Google

In the words of one Silicon Valley insider that I spoke with today, “Plaxo has been desperately, desperately, desperately trying to sell” for quite some time. Late last year they got serious and hired an investment bank, Revolution Partners, to help move things along.

The rumor mill really got going when Revolution Partners started making their calls and sending out the company’s financial information to potential buyers. A rumor about a Facebook acquisition turned out to be false. Now Wired is reporting that Google may be doing the deal, for $200 million. Writer Megan McCarthy says she’s 100% sure a deal has been done, and thinks Google is the most likely buyer.

Plaxo did around $5 million in 2006 revenue, doubling that to $10-$12 million in 2007. 2008 projections are $20-$25 million. The company has 1.8 million worldwide visitors per month (Comscore).

Did Google buy them? The two companies are certainly friendly. Plaxo has been a big supporter of Google Open Social from the start, and has consistently adopted new Google social products. And Google’s new Social Graph API gels nicely with what Plaxo has done with Pulse.

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Google Lego Logo: Google Offers Lego 50th Birthday Wishes

Google has a special logo up on the Google home page today. The Google logo is made up of legos, to celebrate Lego's 50 year birthday.

Google's culture has always had a special place for Lego. Google's first servers were "modded" up with Legos. The Google founders have admitted to having a special "fondness" towards Legos, and we all know that computer geeks can't get enough of their legos. Google has Lego art in their offices. Lego fans have built Google logos in Lego, and so have Googlers themselves.

Google and Yahoo all over ......

Mercedes-Benz USA has an answer to complaints that car navigation
directions don't measure up to those from sites like Yahoo, Google and
Ask.

The automaker has partnered with Google and Yahoo to allow users to send customized Google Maps and Yahoo Local Maps directly from a computer or Web-enabled cell phone to their car computer.

A new "Send to Car" icon that will appear on both companies' mapping
sites will allow you to send customized directions, maps, addresses and
points of interest to your Mercedes' GPS navigation system.

Once you get in your car, pushing the "i" button in your Mercedes
will download the information directly to your car's computer for
either immediate or future use.

Better yet, other people can send directions to your car while you're driving.

The high-tech car tech is called Search & Send and will become part of the current Mercedes roadside and emergency GPS service, Tele Aide.

It will be available on the Mercedes S-class sedan and CL-class coupe as of September 5 and the entire 2008 C-class lineup.

From Engadget: Google is working on a mobile OS, and it's due out shortly

Can it be true? Is the Googlephone nigh at hand? Not that we haven't been hearing this time after time (after time after time,
etc.), but we've actually got some hot news from a number of very
trustworthy sources about Google's plans for the mobile space. Namely,
Google's mobile device platform is well on its way, and will be
announced in the very near future.

We understand that the
"Gphone OS" (our name for it, not theirs) began development after
Google's very quiet 2005 acquisition of mobile software company
Android, started by Danger cofounder and former-prez / CEO Andy Rubin.
At Google, Andy's team has developed a Linux-based mobile device OS (no
surprise) which they're currently shopping around to handset makers and
carriers on the premise of providing a flexible, customizable system --
with really great Google integration, of course.

As for the
timeframe on this thing, we keep hearing Google will announce its
mobile plans some time post-Labor Day (September 3rd); from what we've
heard Google isn't necessarily working on hardware of its own, but is
definitely working with OEMs and ODMs to get them to put the Gphone OS
on upcoming devices. Think of it more in terms of Windows Mobile or
Palm OS (in the early days) -- Google wants to supply the platform, but
we don't think they want to sell hardware.
Still, don't entirely rule out the idea. Andy Rubin knows how to make a
device and put it in peoples' hands, so nothing is impossible on the
hardware side. Either way, we're totally stoked to peep the software,
we've been waiting for the Googlephone for years on years.

Still,
we can't help wondering what El Jobso thinks about all this. Apple has
been so buddy-buddy with Google lately, especially on the iPhone
-- and now Apple's mobile team is on the verge of outright competition
with one of its closest partners. We know that's how the industry
works, but it's got to sting a little, you know?

From Rediff News: Forget iPhone, the Gphone is here

Google, the nearly $13.5 billion search engine
major, is believed to be a fortnight away from the worldwide launch of
its much-awaited Google Phone (Gphone) and has started talks with
service providers in India for an exclusive launch on one of their
networks.

Talks are believed to be taking place with Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, respectively India's first and third largest mobile
telephony operators, and state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam.

Sources
close to the development said a simultaneous launch across the US and
Europe is expected, and announcements would be sent to media firms in
India and other parts of the world. US regulatory approval, which is
expected soon, is the only hurdle that Google is waiting to cross, they
added. Google plans to invest $7-8 billion for its global telephony
foray.

In India, it is also believed to be in talks with Indian
providers to offer data and content and platforms including Instant
Messaging (IM) and Search functions. However, these could not be
confirmed.

A Google spokesperson said, "We don't comment on
market rumour or speculation. However, Google is committed to providing
users with access to the world's information, and mobile becomes more
important to those efforts every day. We're collaborating with partners
worldwide to bring Google search and applications to mobile users
everywhere. However, we have nothing to announce at this time."

Reports
of the Internet major getting into handset manufacturing as an answer
to Apple's iPhone has been doing rounds in cyberspace and international
media for some time. These reports suggest that Google has developed a
prototype that will hit the markets in a year's time. The US-based
company has neither confirmed nor denied these reports. The Wall Street
Journal too had reported that Google had invested "hundreds of millions
of dollars" in the project and was involved in discussions with
US-based T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless.

Globally, Google is
likely to participate in the upcoming auction for 700 MHz spectrum for
which it is prepared to spend up to $4.6 billion. The firm is also
introducing ads to YouTube videos which could be replicated on mobile
phones. Ironically, Google recently partnered Apple to produce services
such as e-mail and maps for its iPhone handset. And Eric Schmidt,
Google's chief executive, said recently that more Google services for
the iPhone would be rolled out.