LABS GALLERY: Google Chrome 4.0, Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Betas Up Browser Ante

by Jim Rapoza

Outside of speed and engine improvements, the only really noticeable new feature in the beta of Chrome 4.0 is Bookmark Sync, which taps a user’s regular Google account to enable bookmark syncing among multiple versions of Chrome.

Syncing bookmarks through Chrome 4.0 is as simple as choosing Bookmark Sync from the Tools menu and then entering your Google log-in credentials.

Bookmarks are also available in the user’s Google Docs folder.

Bookmark syncing can be turned on or off in the Chrome Options window.

A new feature introduced in the beta of Firefox 3.6 is Personas—essentially browser themes that can be easily created and deployed.

When a user finds a Persona that he or she would like to use in the browser, just a single mouse click (on the Wear This button) is required to enable the Persona.

Like traditional browser themes (or chrome, as they used to be called), Personas add images and change the look of the browser.

Personas can be managed from the Themes tab of the Firefox Add-ons window.

Firefox 3.6 can also track the status of plug-ins in the browser, notifying users when plug-ins are out of date.

The HTML 5 video capabilities in Firefox see a boost in 3.6, with the ability to choose full-screen for native video viewing in the browser.

With the new HTML 5 video feature, users can watch full-screen video in the browser without the need for third-party video-viewing plug-ins.