Week 5: What do we do without Google?
March 18th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
What comes to everyone’s mind when the word Google appears? Search Engine. However, Google has come a long way from just being only a search engine. What do they have? Google documents, Google Mail, Google Maps and so much more. Then, there is also Google Chrome. Google Chrome was first released as a Beta version in Sept 2008 for the Windows platform. By Dec 2009, beta versions for Mac and Linux was released. And Finally, Google Chrome 5.0 was released on 25th May 2010!
Although a late user of Chrome (2 months), I am an avid fan of this browser. All along, I have thought that Safari (for my Mac) is one of the best I have ever used, but Chrome proves to be better!
Here’s some of the features that draw me to Chrome.
1) Speed
Chrome uses the V8 Javascript engine which has features such as dynamic code generation, hidden class transitions and precise garbage collection (TOO MANY TECHNICAL TERMS!). Tests by Google in September 2008 showed that V8 was about twice as fast as Firefox 3.0 and the WebKit nightlies. Below is a interesting video of speedtests conducted by Google!
2) Simplicity
Google started out as a search engine, so when Chrome comes out, the search engine feature is not forgotten. The address bar is a all-in-one tool. Other than the usual url function, one can do a google search using the address bar too! Tabs can be arranged in any other we like by dragging and dropping. Also, if a individual tab crashes or freezes, it does not affect the other tabs at all!
3) Translation in the browser!
Chrome is the first browser to incorporate machine translation in the browser itself, without requiring additional plugins or extensions. When the language on the web page does not match the language preferences set in the browser, Chrome will automatically ask to translate the web page into your preferred language.
The translation bar at the top!
This is by far my favorite feature of all! I surf a lot of foreign websites and often need to translate text over. In the past, I usually have to open another tab and proceed to google translate to do it. But with Chrome, I no longer have to do that. HOW CONVENIENT!
There are actually many more features that the user can explore with Google Chrome. There are also themes to spice up your browser! So don’t wait anymore! Download Google Chrome! It’s awesome! 
