Google Chrome 9 Supports WebGL, Chrome Web Store

Google Chrome 9 is stable and includes WebGL support, a link to Chrome Web Store in the U.S. and Chrome Instant predictive-search technology.

Google Feb. 3 brought its Chrome 9 Web browser build into the stable channel Feb. 3, adding support for WebGL, Chrome Web Store and Chrome Instant.

WebGL provides hardware-accelerated 3-D graphics to the browser so that Chrome's users don't have to download additional software plug-ins to load and access 3-D Websites and applications.

One shining example of this is Google's Body Browser, which the company launched last December as part of its Chrome Experiments Web page.

Body Browser is a detailed 3-D model of the human body that allows users to peel back anatomical layers, zoom in, and navigate to different parts to identify anatomy or search for muscles, organs and bones.

Other experiments users will be able to check out with Chrome 9 include, WebGL Aquarium, Jellyfish and WebGL Music Visualizer.

Chrome 9 also signals the arrival of the Chrome Web Store application market to all Chrome users in the United States, numbering in the tens of millions.

Specifically, Google added a link to the Chrome Web Store on the New Tab page, along with two sample applications. New Chrome Web Store includes Autodesk, Sesame Street and Marvel Comics.

Google is working to bring the Chrome Web Store, whose use some media have reported is lacking, to users around the world soon.

Finally, Google leveraged its Google Instant predictive-search technology to create Chrome Instant, which loads Web pages users frequently visit as they start typing the URL.

Search results appear instantly as you type queries in the Omnibox (address bar), which means users won't have to hit the enter button to call up Websites. Users must enable Chrome Instant in the Basics tab of Chrome's options.

The Google Operating System also offers nine things users should try in Chrome 9, including Google Cloud Print and WebP files.

Chrome 9 arrives days after researchers at Net Applications said Chrome's market share had reached 10.7 percent through January, up from 10 percent through December.