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Chrome gets extensions (late, I know)

Sean — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:47:41 +0000

If you’re a follower of the antics of “The Big G”, then you will be all over their Chrome browser. Having used it for quite a while now, I can say that it sure is a neat piece of software. Well, it just got neater with the addition of extension support and the opening of the extension library. Hold your horses though – it is only in the “Developer Channel” version (v4 series).

Apart from the odd concern about privacy regarding what you type into the address bar (since Google use it to generate suggestions and therefore can track your browsing habits if they wish), what Google have done is shake up the browser market yet again. Like Firefox did to Internet Explorer, promoting standards-compliance, extensibility and customisation, Chrome is now doing to all the other browsers. It is the fastest one out there by quite some margin, and is more stable too. Security is supposedly beefed up too, and the combination of all these features have spurred Mozilla on to improve their own browser, and quickly.

With Firefox 3.6 boasting even faster JavaScript performance, a new look planned for 3.7 (which seems to closely mirror the stripped-down look of Chrome) and new improvements regarding extension stability, security and performance, the Battle of the Browsers looks to be far from over.

Google makes the web faster

Sean — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:23:27 +0000

The web is becoming a bigger and bigger element of ordinary people’s lives. Things they would have done in a program like Microsoft Office are now being done in web apps. Shopping is done online. Surely you will have noticed in your professional careers that more and more work is being done with a web twist. This is why the infrastructure of the web is so important for all developers, not just ‘web developers’.

So, what is this all about? Well, Google have recently begun a big campaign to ‘make the web faster’. They’ve been providing new tools to measure website speed, tips on how to improve it and now, new infrastructure to support it. Welcome to Google DNS, folks!

Yes, Google have launched their own public DNS servers. While OpenDNS has been going for a while, it never really had the backing of a giant like Google. Maybe they should have offered this backing, who knows what went on behind the scenes. All we do know is that Google plans to operate public DNS servers with no censorship, enhanced security and above all, blistering speed.

If this does work out and Google end up making the web faster, what do you think will turn up in the future? Productivity apps are already popping up everywhere, but what is the next step? Distributed and/or remote OSes? Give us your thoughts!