Chrome has more tools for Web surfers to cloak their online preferences, creating a shield that could make it more difficult for Google and other marketing networks to figure out which ads are most likely to appeal to which individuals.

So you want to tell me google is blocking their own advertisements? I dunno...

I was dissappointed to see that despite the name, the browser does not sport a futuristic "chrome" visual theme. 

Guess this just goes along with the trend of naming technological things with words that have nothing to do with their actual appearance or function.

it's available for download now:
http://www.google.com/chrome

I've been playing with it for the last few hours. I have to say its not too bad. My biggest complain is the colour scheme. 

Its fast and quite responsive. To the end user (once I setup the bookmarks bar and home page) its quite the alternative. It shows what can be done when you start again. 

Obviously its a beta, and has some quirks, like not remembering the zoom size I set on a page (or having the option to), for example I reduce the size of the inq when I read it. sites that do some user agent are giving me grief, same as firefox 3 initially with Hotmail.

They've done a good job incorporating lots of background architecture work without making it difficult or different to the user



"Imagining nine tabs opening when you select one - none of which I chose. Thank heaven there are choices."

When you open a new tab, nine tabs don't open. The new tab only contains thumbnails of the nine most visited tabs, which you can click if you wish to visit any of those. It's like opera's speed dial, only difference being that in opera you have to set those nine thumbnail links manually, while chrome will automatically set those acc. to frequency of visit, and it'll also display most recent searches, etc.

I am amazed at all the new reported functions consisiting of so very many things I do not want my browser to do. This must be aimed at the web 2 crowd. Imagining nine tabs opening when you select one - none of which I chose. Thank heaven there are choices.

so where's the link to download ? (you guys are normally quite thorough and provide links), hmmm, are you sure this isn't the same browser as was announced April 1st? A quick google for 'google browser' shows lots of pages but none have a link - oh well, back to dusting my collection of hens teeth