Google Chrome is an open-source web browser available for free download. It distinguishes itself from competitors with a minamlistic design and functions such as private browsing mode, thumbnails of favorite websites (now also a feature in Apple Safari), and an address bar search function that makes recommendations based on your search data.

Chrome regularly updates malware and phishing blacklists, and offers desktop shortcuts to specific Google applications. The browser uses a unique Javascript engine built for speed; based on CNET's tests, version 4 of Chrome for Mac is 35% faster than Safari and twice as fast as Firefox.

Chrome is free. The latest version for the PC is 3.0, which was released to the public on September 15th, 2009. There is currently no official stable release for Mac, but an alpha variant called Chromium is currently at version 4.0. The latest versions mainly add speed improvements, but they also offer customization options for the home screen.

New features in Chrome 3.0 include themes, a new-tab page that resembles the often-visited page that comes up when you open a new tab in Apple Safari 4, and some changes to the Omnibox.

Google announced at an event on November 19th, 2009 that the public release version of Chrome for Mac would finally launch before the end of the year. A Linux version was also mentioned, but no release window was given. Google simply said that it's coming along "very well."

On December 8th, 2009, Google finally launched the public beta version of Chrome for Mac and Linux. You can download it at the Chrome website. Extension support is now in beta as well.