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How Google Speeds Up The Chrome Release Cycle (Slideshow)

With the release of the first versions of Chrome 7, we noticed a subtle speed increase in graphics-heavy websites  and suggested that Google is improving Chrome’s overall graphics performance. Our readers later found that GPU acceleration can already be manually activated in Chrome. Google has now officially confirmed that “there’s been a lot of work going on to overhaul Chromium’s graphics system” and that the browser will “begin to take advantage of the GPU to speed up its entire drawing model.”

It is the feature that Microsoft has been promoting for several months for its upcoming IE9 beta and a feature that is about to be activated in Firefox 4 Beta (5) early next month. Browser are beginning to take advantage of the multithreading capabilities of graphics processors to speed up their 2D and 3D performance. Google said that the functionality has been integrated in the “tip-of-tree Chromium” lately and the team “figured it was time for a primer.” Google says that it will be using the GPU to “speed up its entire drawing model, including many common 2D operations such as compositing and image scaling.”

The foundation of the GPU acceleration in Chrome is a new (modified) sandbox process called the GPU process. Via this process, Chrome can take graphics commands from the renderer process and send them to OpenGL or Direct3D. This approach enabled Google to separate the rendering of a web page into different independent layers, such as  CSS, images, videos, and WebGL or 2D canvases. While some layers can be rendered on the GPU already, such as WebGL, others still depend on the CPU (text, images). Google says that blending the layers again by using the CPU would have erased all GPU speed gains, so Chromium now combines the layers by using the GPU. You can try this already simply by launching Chromium with the -enable-accelerated-compositing flag switch (make launch the browser from the command line menu and use the switch as an extension. Example: C:\Users\Wolfgang\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe -enable-accelerated-compositing)

Google said that it plans on offloading more and more work onto the GPU to “achieve impressive speedups”. Details are provided in a separate document on Google’s site.

The latest Nightly Builds of Chrome (Chromium) have also been equipped with a new “labs” feature that is apparently designed to deliver experimental features. It can be accessed via an about:labs command in the URL bar and shows, in this latest version (Chromium 7.0.508.0 Build 57738) vertically organized tabs on the left side of the screen, which resembles the navigation structure of a website. It’s an interesting concept if you have a widescreen monitor that can accommodate side tabs, but it may be a rather useless feature on smartphones or even netbooks. I personally like Mozilla’s Tab Candy (Panorama) approach to organize tabs much better.

Source: ConceivablyTech

Google has a plan to become a force in everything from TV to gaming, and today it’s become clear that plan involves the upcoming Chrome Web Store.

Video game website 1up was able to grab some photographs of a presentation Google delivered to a room of game developers at the GDC Europe conference. The presentation showed off the Chrome Web Store, a marketplace for HTML5 apps Google announced during its I/O conference earlier this year.

The presentation revealed some new details about Google’s new app store. It takes a lot of cues from Apple and its successful iPhone app store. App icons, categories and “Top rated games” are all part of the new interface. We find the “Apps your friends like” section to be especially intriguing: is Google going to use Gmail, Buzz or something else to determine who your friends are?

Unlike Apple’s app store though, Google won’t be taking a 30% cut of revenues generated; in fact, it will only be taking a “processing fee” of around 5%. That could be a major draw for developers who want to keep more of the money their apps earn. According to the presentation, the Chrome Web Store is launching in October.

What’s Google’s Plan for the Chrome Web Store?

Two of Google’s biggest enemies, Facebook and Apple, have been threatening Google’s dominance of the web through two different platforms: social and mobile. Facebook’s growth shows no signs of stopping, and it makes the company a real threat to Google’s core search and advertising businesses. Apple, on the other hand, has attracted scores of developers to its iOS platform while products such as iAds threaten to eat into Google’s profits.

The Chrome Web Store will play a part in Google’s attempt to respond to both of these threats. Popularizing web apps is the best way for Chrome OS to become a viable alternative to Windows, Mac OS X or iOS, while getting users to stick around on a web property it controls. Expect it to also play a big role in Google’s attempt to take over the television.

Google can make a lot of different plays with the Chrome Web Store. The search giant is pitching its marketplace as a big platform for gaming, a market Google covets. It’s sure to be a key selling point of Chrome OS, which is supposed to launch later this year. The Chrome Web Store gives Google a path to competing with game consoles through integration with Google TV. It could even become the app platform for the company’s much-rumored Google Me social network.

Google’s got big ambitions for the Chrome Web Store. The question is: what’s Google’s master plan for its web-based app platform?

Source: Mashable

Google Chrome adds better theme support, gallery in the works

Extensions in the wild may be a little slow in appearing, but themes for Google Chrome? They’ve just gotten a lot easier to install and there may be a flood of them available very shortly.

Right now, there are only two demo themes available — Snowflake (screenshot) and Camo. Based on the thumbnail in Chrome’s new tab, Google has a whole lot more that are nearly ready for public consumption. The actual link returns a 404 error, and then, of course, the thumbnail breaks accordingly.

Once the link goes live, you’ll have easy access through Options -> Personal stuff. Buttons have been added to reset Chrome to its default theme or download something new.

It’s a huge step forward from the old method – renaming and replacing a .dll in your application data folder. CNet’s Stephen Shankland reports that this is working on Mac OS X as well.

To try it out, you’ll need to update your dev channel build or download it from Google.

Source: DOWNLOAD SQUAD