Just days after the last update, Google has pushed out another update to Chrome.
This time it is just a small aesthetic change, and in no way relates to any browser security issues.
“This release includes only a single change that adds an image link to the new tab page which directs new users to the themes gallery.” says a note from Google.
As usual, the update will be pushed out to current Chrome users, or can be downloaded directly from the Google Chrome website.
Web browser market share results are out for September 2009 thanks to Market Share by Net Applications.
Internet Explorer has had more than a 1% drop this month, falling from 66.97% to 65.71%, it’s biggest single month drop since November 2008.
Other browser have had a good month, with Firefox moving from 22.98% to 23.75%.
Safari has moved from 4.07% to 4.24%, while Google Chrome has passed the 3% mark moving to 3.17% – up from 2.84%.
Opera has also had a good month, most likely helped by the release of Opera 10, hitting a share of 2.19%, up from 2.04%.
The browser wars seem to be slowly eroding Microsoft’s dominance, which can only lead to greater innovation and better browsers for consumers.
Google has pushed out a new Chrome release to the stable, taking Chrome 3 to version 3.0.195.24.
The update fixes one security hole in the V8 JavaScript engine which is rated as high severity and could allow an attacker to run arbitrary code in the Google Chrome sandbox.
As usual, the browser will be pushed out to current Chrome users, or can be downloaded directly from the Google Chrome website for new users.
Microsoft have come out publicly saying they are unhappy with Chrome Frame, as it will leave the browser open to twice as many vulnerabilities.
“Given the security issues with plugins in general and Google Chrome in particular, Google Chrome Frame running as a plugin has doubled the attach area for malware and malicious scripts. This is not a risk we would recommend our friends and families take” said a Microsoft spokesperson.
Google has hit back, with the following statement.
“While we encourage users to use a more modern and standards compliant browser such as Firefox, Safari, Opera or Google Chrome rather than a plug-in, for those who don’t, Google Chrome Frame is designed to provide better performance, strong security features, and more choice to both developers and users, across all versions of Internet Explorer.”
“Accessing sites using Google Chrome Frame brings Google Chrome’s security features to Internet Explorer users, providing strong phishing and malware protection (absent in IE6), robust sandboxing technology, and defenses from emerging online threats that are available in days rather than months.”
That settles that – for now.
The Google Chrome development team have released a new tool called Google Chrome Frame.
“Google Chrome Frame is an early-stage open source plug-in that seamlessly brings Google Chrome’s open web technologies and speedy JavaScript engine” and currently works in Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8.
This plug-in would allow organisations to keep Internet Explorer 6, but still allow users to see pages that use HTML5 and advanced CSS features.
More information can be found on the Google Chrome Frame website.
Google has gone on record stating that they expect to release Google Chrome for Mac by the end of the year.
Chrome for Mac is currently available for testing on Mac, but lacks many privacy features and is not recommended for every day browsing. The Google Chrome team hope to have this sorted out before the year’s end.
Google is also looking at increasing its market share. “If at the two-year birthday we’re not at least 5 percent (market share), I will be exceptionally disappointed. And if at the three year birthday we’re not at 10 percent, I will be exceptionally disappointed,” said Chrome Engineering Director Linus Upson.
The test version of Google Chrome for Mac can be downloaded from the Chromium website.
Overnight, Opera has released Opera Mini 5 beta 1, and includes many new features.
The browser, which is available for free on a wide variety of phones, now includes tabbed browsing, speed dial, support for both touch and keypad phones, and a password manager.
The preview browser can be downloaded directly to your mobile phone, or from the Opera Mini Next website.
Just after the first year of Google Chrome, Google has released Chrome 3.0.
The new release, with version number 3.0.195.21, includes a faster V8 JavaScript engine, a redesigned New Tab page, an improved Omnibox, Themes capability, and new HTML5 features.
Existing Chrome users will have the update pushed out to them, and for new users, the browser can be downloaded from the Google Chrome website.
The browser is quickly heading for a 4.0 release, which will finally include Mac and Linux versions.
Opera Mini 5 for mobiles is on it’s way, at least according to Opera’s Espen André Øverdahl.
Little information has been revealed, but a splash page has been put up on Opera Next, with the tag line “Coming very soon: The next generation in mobile browsing”.
We will let you know as more information and a beta is released.
Mozilla has updated both Firefox 3.5 and Firefox 3 to close several security holes, 3 of which were rated as critical.
A full list of changes can be found in the Firefox 3.5.3 and Firefox 3.0.14 release notes.
The update will be automatically pushed out to current users, or can be downloaded directly from the Firefox website.