Information Madness

The latest update in the Google Chrome dev channel the Google Chrome 6.0.437.1 dev gets initial support for extension sync and a built-in PDF viewer along withregular bug fixes and the removal of the ‘go’ button. Google Chrome sync feature is not enabled by default, so consider it more experimental than other features introduced to the developer channel.

To enable extension sync, just launch Chrome with the following command line:

--enable-sync-extensions --sync-url=https://clients4.google.com/chrome-sync/dev

You can create a shortcut to Google Chrome and add that to the “target” field in the Properties dialog in Windows. Extension sync does exactly what you expect, it synchronizes changes to your extensions across multiple browser installs. It doesn’t work perfectly yet, which is probably why it’s not enabled by default. But everything should be working with the next one or two dev channel releases.

The another feature is the built-in PDF viewer. In the same way that Chrome now bundles the Adobe Flash Player, Google believes that this approach will provide a better and less bug-ridden experience for users. This feature also not enabled by default. You have to visit about:plugins and enable the “Chrome PDF Viewer” plugin. Even though it’s available in the list, the plugin doesn’t work on Linux yet. Google says it will become the default in the coming weeks after it’s done rounding out the rough edges.

According to Google, “Currently, we do not support 100% of the advanced PDF features found in Adobe Reader, such as certain types of embedded media. However, for those users who rely on advanced features, we plan to give them the ability to launch Adobe Reader separately,”. “We would also like to work with the Adobe Reader team to bring the full PDF feature set to Chrome using the same next generation browser plug-in API.”

Download Google Chrome for Windows, Linux and Mac:

For Windows Download and run the installer for the desired channel:

• Stable channel: http://www.google.com/chrome?platform=win
• Beta channel: http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html?extra=betachannel
• Dev channel: http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html?extra=devchannel

For Mac Download the desired channel:

Requirements: Intel CPU; Mac OS X 10.5.6 or later.

• Stable channel
• Beta channel
• Dev channel

For Linux Download the desired channel:

Requirements: Intel Pentium 4 / Athlon 64 or later CPU; 32- or 64-bit Ubuntu 8.04 or later, or 32-bit Debian 5. Support for other Linux distributions is planned; unpacking the .deb files by hand may work.

Note: Installing Google Chrome will add the Google repository so your system will automatically keep Chrome up to date. If you don't want Google's repository, do "sudo touch /etc/default/google-chrome" before installing the package.
Download and install the package appropriate for your system (just clicking on it should do the right thing):

• Stable channel: www.google.com/chrome?platform=linux
• Beta channel (for 32-bit and 64-bit systems): google-chrome-beta_current_i386.deb
• Beta channel (for 64-bit Debian/Ubuntu systems): google-chrome-beta_current_amd64.deb
• Beta channel (for 32-bit Fedora/OpenSUSE systems): google-chrome-beta_current_i386.rpm
• Beta channel (for 64-bit Fedora/OpenSUSE systems): google-chrome-beta_current_x86_64.rpm
• Dev channel (for 32-bit Debian/Ubuntu systems): google-chrome-unstable_current_i386.deb
• Dev channel (for 64-bit Debian/Ubuntu systems): google-chrome-unstable_current_amd64.deb
• Dev channel (for 32-bit Fedora/OpenSUSE systems): google-chrome-unstable_current_i386.rpm
• Dev channel (for 64-bit Fedora/OpenSUSE systems): google-chrome-unstable_current_x86_64.rpm