New Google Chrome beta release allows bookmark syncing

BEIJING, November 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Google has updated its Google Chrome browser with a new beta release which allows users to synchronize bookmarks between different computers.

The download has to be performed manually and given it is a beta release may still have some glitches. For those who use a computer at work, a desktop at home and a laptop on business travel, such a facility will prove invaluable. The service is provided through the use of XMPP technology, the same Instant Messaging protocol used in Google Talk. Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) (formerly named Jabber) is an open, XML-based protocol originally aimed at near-real-time, extensible instant messaging.

Firefox has long had synchronization through the use of Xmarks, though the extension has to be added manually. The ability to sync bookmarks is likely to make Google Chrome that much more popular. It has already seen significant growth in its global user base from 3.4 percent to 3.6 percent from September to October this year. While it still lags behind Internet Explorer and Firefox, Google Chrome's simplicity, speed and functionality has attracted many users.

"As with every release, this new beta comes with many speed improvements," Google said in a statement on its blog. "In particular, as web applications we use every day become increasingly dynamic, browsers like Google Chrome need to be able to construct and change elements on web pages as fast as possible. We've improved performance scores on Google Chrome by 30 percent since our current stable release, as measured by Mozilla's Dromeao DOM Core Tests, and by 400 percent since our first stable release." Chrome was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2 2008. The first public stable release arrived on December 11 2008.