Google releases first Chrome 11 beta

Chrome 11 includes a new logo. The Google Chrome development team has released Chrome 11.0.696.16, the first beta of version 11 of the company's WebKit-based web browser. Previously only available in the Chrome developer channel (aka the Dev channel), the first Chrome 11 beta, aimed at developers and early adopters, includes several changes and capabilities, many of which are aimed at web developers.

As previously reported, Chrome 11 features the addition of a new logo that drops the previous 3D bubble look for a flatter and more simple look. Compared to previous development builds of the 11.0.x branch, version 11.0.696.16 includes support for GPU-accelerated 3D CSS and the HTML5 Speech Input API, which is based on work that the company has been doing with the HTML Speech Incubator Group.

Using the new API, developers can create web apps that have the ability to transcribe a user's voice into text via speech servers that take the recorded audio and turn it into text – a demo is provided on HTML5Rocks.com.

More details about the development preview can be found in a post on the Official Chrome Blog by Software Engineer Satish Sampath and in the release notes. Chrome 11.0.696.16 is available to download for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux from dev.chromium.org. Alternatively, current beta channel users can use the built-in update function by clicking Tools, selecting About Google Chrome and clicking the Update button.

The latest stable release is Chrome 10.0.648.151, a maintenance update to the 10.0 branch that blacklisted several HTTPS certificates.

See also:

• Mozilla moves to Google Chrome style slipstreamed releases, a report from The H.

(crve)