Google has released the latest Version 29 of its Chrome Web browser with various updates and fixes for Windows, Linux, Mac and Chrome Frame platforms. Also released by Google is a new stable channel version of Chrome OS.
The stable channel update for the Chrome browser for Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome Frame, Version 29.0.1547.62, was unveiled in an Aug. 28 post by Jason Kersey of the Chrome team on the Google Chrome Releases Blog. The update fixes an issue with printing from Google Docs applications, Kersey wrote.
Another later stable channel update, specifically for Mac and Linux users, was released Sept. 2, according to another post by Kersey. That version is 29.0.1547.65 and contains a Flash update, as well as fixes an issue with Sync, he wrote.
Chrome OS also was updated with a new stable release, according to an Aug. 29 post by Josafat Garcia of the Google Chrome team, on the Google Chrome Releases Blog. The latest version of Chrome OS, Version 29.0.1547.70, includes bug fixes, stability and security enhancements for all Chrome devices, wrote Garcia. The update includes fixes for issues involving Flash games sites running out of file descriptors and causing systems to freeze, as well as a fix for a bad link that made it difficult for users to redeem Chrome goodies in the Files app, wrote Garcia.
A fresh Chrome OS development channel version has also been posted, Version 30.0.1599.21, for all Chrome OS devices, according to another Garcia post. The new version includes several improvements and bug fixes.
Also posted by Google was an update for Chrome Beta for Android to Version 30.0.1599.24 that includes several fixes, according to an Aug. 30 post by Kersey.
The updates are done regularly by Google as features are added and as known problems are corrected. In August, Google released maintenance updates to its Stable, Dev and Beta software channels for users on all Chrome OS devices, as part of its regular code refreshes.
Earlier in August, Google issued software updates for its new Chromecast television dongle and for its existing Chrome Web browser, Chrome for iOS and Chrome Beta for Android applications.
Also in August, Google updated its Chrome DevTools toolset with three new tools that will make it easier for developers to write their code and produce their products. The tools include Workspaces, which allow developers to live-edit source files within DevTools with bidirectional disk persistence; CSS preprocessor mapping; and Snippets, which let developers create, edit, save and execute custom JavaScript snippets.
In July, Google announced previous updates for many of these applications, including a new version of its Chrome browser for iPhones and iPads, as well as a new Chrome Beta version for Android that introduced a new Web audio API and support for WebRTC.
In June, Google introduced a video game, Cube Slam, to demonstrate and show off WebRTC capabilities. WebRTC allows users to see, hear and communicate with each other using only a Web browser, whether they are playing a game or participating in an online video conference. Google has been working on WebRTC projects for some time as a Google Chrome Experiments project. The technology could find its way into many other business and consumer uses in the future. The Cube Slam video game lets users play face-to-face against their friends by simply using a WebRTC-enabled browser.
In April, a Dev channel version of Chrome OS caused problems for some Google Docs users, so the company recommended that developers revert back to an earlier version that didn’t include the glitch. The affected Dev channel software was Version 28.0.1485.1.
