Google Chrome 10 beta - Faster JavaScript, GPU acceleration, and more!

Google has just released Chrome 10 beta (10.0.648.82 for all you perfectionists) and it brings with it a whole slew of new things to play with.

First off, there's a significant JavaScript performance boost thanks to the updated V8 engine. According to Google, this version of the V8 engine offers a 66% performance advantage over the current stable release. That alone is pretty impressive.

This beta also adds GPU acceleration for video. For those running video in full-screen mode this can mean a decrease in CPU usage of as much as 80%. A good thing for those living off battery.

Another new feature is that the browser setting page now opens in a tab of its own rather than in a separate window. A small change but one that makes a lot of sense. There's also a handy search box to allow you to find the specific setting you are looking for. Might not be needed by geeks, but dead handy for everyone else (Hey, Microsoft! Here's a setting that would be really handy for IE users ... fire up those photocopiers!).

Syncing now includes saved passwords, along with bookmarks, preferences, themes and extensions. Synced passwords can be encrypted with a separate passphrase.

Download Google Chrome beta 10 here.