chrome

On the heels of its SPDY success for goosing Web communications standards, Google is tinkering with an even lower-level protocol with a project called QUIC.

To see if the technology meets its potential without causing new problems, Google has built QUIC into developer versions of Chrome and enabled it for a fraction of users. The hope is that it will cut the round-trip time of the back-and-forth communications between computers on the Internet, according to a blog item posted Thursday by Google engineer Jim Roskind.

"If we're able to identify clear performance wins, our hope is to collaborate … Read more

Google Now notifications are expanding from Android to Chrome, and now the service can show information on TV shows you're watching and sales offers you've signaled interest in.

Chrome and Chrome OS have had a flag that lets people enable Google Now for weeks, but it hasn't been connected to an actual Google server. But a notification now appears that asks, "Enable Google Now Cards -- Would you like to be shown Google Now cards?"

I got the prompt to enable Google Now for Chrome through a menu bar item on OS X 10.8 … Read more

Google has released its promised photos app for Chromebooks, software that imports photos from an SD card, backs them up to the cloud, and spotlights the ones it judges to be the best.

The software, a Chrome extension, is available only for the Chromebook Pixel at present, but Google is "working to bring the app to other Chromebooks as well," said AJ Asver in a Google+ post Tuesday.

Sundar Pichai, head of Chrome, Google Apps, and now Android, gushed about the app in a February interview during the debut of the Chromebook Pixel, Google's high-end, $1,300 laptop. … Read more

PasswordBox keeps all of your online passwords in one convenient location and accessible from any computer. This application is slowly becoming a preferred tool around the office, as it's known for decreasing log-in time on Facebook and Tumblr.

The installation file will you set you up with the PasswordBox add-ons for popular browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and IE. It runs from within the browser environment and works the same way across the board. Installation was quick and relatively painless.

Essentially a vault for all of your online passwords, PasswordBox sets itself apart from competitors with some innovative … Read more

It's a Prizefight punch-out! The 7-inch tablet has established itself as the sweet spot for size and price, so we're facing off the recently updated Barnes & Noble Nook HD and the Amazon Kindle Fire HD!

The Nook HD gets a major software update and brings the entire Google Play ecosystem and Chrome as its primary browser.

Amazon has built a powerhouse ecosystem for content and Amazon Prime members get even more with the Kindle Fire, but will its more closed ecosystem hurt it?

Which is your pick to be the Prizefight King of the Ring? Barnes & … Read more

It's easy to get caught up in a personally curated YouTube video marathon. From a "G.I. Joe" PSA to sad cat diaries, there's no shortage of funny things to watch. Here's a collection of Chrome extensions that can do things like automatically crank up the quality of YouTube videos, or even pause them when you switch tabs.

AutoHD for YouTube YouTube has a setting that will choose the best quality for your connection and player size. The HD option can be forced to turn on for full screen, but doesn't apply to all … Read more

Google's controversial Chrome Frame, a secure Internet Explorer plug-in that fought to bring the modern Web to legacy versions of Internet Explorer, will soon be going the way of Reader, Wave, and other Google projects not deemed worthy of a future.

Chrome engineer Robert Shield wrote in a blog post on Thursday that Chrome Frame had outlived its usefulness. Basically, it wasn't being used. Google said that its lack of appeal was because the use of browsers that support modern Web site technology has advanced far enough beyond where it was in 2009, when Chrome Frame launched.

Gary … Read more

Google continues to slowly build Google Now into its services. It made the data-rich Now-styled notifications available through an advanced option setting in Chrome for Mac on Thursday, following basic implementation in Chrome for Windows and Chrome OS earlier this year.

You can activate Google Now notifications in Chrome for Mac by typing chrome://flags into your address bar, scrolling down to the Enable Rich Notifications, and changing the setting to Enable. The setting is limited to the most unstable of the browser's builds, Chrome Canary. Canary will only work on OS X 10.6 and newer.

Google Now … Read more

Google on Monday released a small update to its Chrome app for iOS users. The update, which brings faster Web page rendering for slow or unavailable networks, also adds the ability to run a search on Google using your voice. And depending on the search, you may just get an earful back from Chrome with the answer.

To search with your voice in Chrome for iOS, make sure you've updated to the latest version, 27.0.1453.10, from the App Store. Once you've downloaded and installed the update, activate the omnibox as you normally would when you … Read more