The latest version of Google’s browser, Chrome 9, just hit the Web today and it comes with a couple of new features, like hardware-accelerated 3D graphics and Google Instant search directly from the address bar. Beyond that, however, the update comes with something else – a lesson on the evolution of the Internet and an introduction to “Web Apps” for the Internet layperson.
According to the announcement, the Chrome Web Store just opened to everyone in the U.S. and has been added to the New Tab page – and this is the real takeaway for today.
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First, Google announced that Chrome would now support WebGL, which allows for the creation of hardware-accelerated graphics in the browser using HTML5’s canvas element. An entire gallery of demos shows off swirling Mandelbrots and 3D bodies rotating on your screen.
As for Google Instant, it comes disabled, but turning it on is as simple as clicking the wrench icon, selecting “Options”, then the “Basics” tab and checking the box next to “Enable Instant for faster searching and browsing.” What this means, though, is that if you start to type in “ReadWriteWeb” and you don’t type very fast, you’ll potentially end up at Google Reader (reader.google.com) somewhere along the way.
The Real Story? Redefining Our Idea of a “Program”
Beyond these two additions, Google emphasized the recently-added Chrome Web Store. With this release, the Chrome Web Store is available throughout the U.S., so it is now available direction from the New Tab page.
What’s significant about this and the four videos about the Web Store embedded at the bottom of Google’s announcement? It’s an attempt of a kind we’ll likely see more and more of in the near future, as Google, Apple, and others try to redefine the idea of a “program” in peoples’ minds.
“When the Web started, Websites were simple. […] The Web, in essence, was about reading,” explains the first of four videos. “Doing was reserved for programs you installed in your computer.”
The video, which was released with the Chrome Web Store last December, goes on to explain the evolution of websites, saying that “websites offer features that are pretty much like those found in applications installed from a CD.” The next video is an introduction to the Web Store, with the subsequent two videos adding up to pretty graphics to show off what’s possible inside your browser these days.
Google doesn’t usually make much of a production of releasing new versions of Chrome. They are, after all, on version 9. It took Internet Explorer 16 years to get through 9 versions, and really, the 9th one is still in Beta. (Chrome, by comparison, has gone through 9 versions since 2008.) So why now? Again, the Web Store is something Google will push harder and harder in an effort to redirect our definition of “program”. It’s the next big step on our way to using Chrome OS and existing entirely in the cloud.
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