Some of you may already know that Google released their own web browser some time ago called Chrome. They have been making regular updates to it and it is coming along quite nicely. Their main motivation for releasing their own browser is clear. Most of their products are browser based so it is in their best interest that people have access to the best browser technology they can get.
Even though their main focus was stability and speed, they still managed to introduce some great new features to the boring old web browser.
One main feature they lacked at introduction however, and still lack, is an addon framework like Firefox and at the time this was the major deal breaker for me. There are a couple of key Firefox addons that I find it difficult to live without and the main one is Adblock Plus.
I was very happy today though, to discover a convenient way to block ads (and other intrusions) for Google Chrome. It's a neat little proxy server called Privoxy. The basic idea is that you run Privoxy in the background and then configure your browser to use it as a proxy. This will work with any of the major browsers too (IE, Firefox, Opera, etc.) not just Chrome. You can find detailed instruction for getting it working with Chrome here.
The second addon I find indespensible is called GMarks. GMarks allows Firefox to have a drop down list of bookmarks that are hosted by none other than Google on their bookmark service Google Bookmarks. By keeping your bookmarks on the web, you can access them from any computer you happen to be at. Very useful, but Google didn't think to make this service part of Google Chrome which I think was a missed opportunity.
The solution to accessing my bookmarks from Chrome isn't optimal but it will do. I am a fan of yet another Google service called iGoogle. When you go to Google search page, you should see a link to it in the upper right corner of the page. This is essentially a customizable version of Google that lets you add little 'gadgets' to your page. And one of these gadgets allows you to view and manage your Google Bookmarks.
With these two important pieces in place, I'm ready to start using Chrome more and more in my daily browsing. Check it out.
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