New Chrome adds Google Instant, more

Fulfilling a pledge to hasten the pace of Chrome releases, Google has issued its first beta edition of Chrome 7. However, the biggest changes in the browser come with a new developer-oriented release.

The new developer version 7.0.536.2 has been in the pipeline for several weeks. The new features include the activation by default of WebGL 3D graphics technology, an option for built-in Google Instant search results, and hardware acceleration for some CSS transformations — a way of handling dynamic changes using the Cascading Style Sheets formatting standard.

"A lot of the work that's being done in 7.0 is largely not user-facing and in some cases is a legitimate work in progress," said Chrome team member Anthony Laforge in response to comments criticising the version 7 release as insufficiently novel. "With our new release cycle and about:labs, I'd suggest you stay tuned, things are going to start moving quite fast."

For more on this story, read Chrome gets acceleration, WebGL, Google Instant on CNET News.