Pros

• Support for HTML5 and WebGL
• Super fast
• Chrome Web App Store is fun
• Minimalist design
• Instant works on both search and web pages

Cons

• Sometimes pages fail to load properly or at all

Review

The latest version of Google Chrome has been released. Although Google releases a new version every couple of months, the browser is constantly evolving and getting faster with each release. I have used all of the main browsers in their latest iterations and although they all claim to be fast, Chrome is by far the fastest. Start up is almost instantaneous and you can basically get straight into your web browsing. With the new Google Instant feature web browsing is even faster and easier than before. All of your web pages and searches start loading as you type which is really good because you can quickly see if there ahve been any updates on the pages and searches become much more efficient.

The Chrome web store is another new feature on the browser. Basically, there are a series of apps which are essentially websites and allow you to play games,write documents or edit photos. For example, there is a game called entanglement which is a simple yet addictive game all done in HTML5. The whole concept is based around that of Chrome OS where everything is based on the web. Installing an app is as simple as typing in the URL and the apps will always have the latest updates. The web browser is basically the same Chrome OS in that it tries to focus everything in the cloud and i once you use it, you can really see the benefits.

Another benefit of Chrome is that it automatically updates. Every time a new update is released, you don't need to worry about it. Chrome will always have the latest update installed on your computer.

One of the biggest downsides is that all of the apps need a constant internet connection which is sometimes not possible. As well as this, I have an issue that after about 15-20 minutes on the browser, none of the pages load anymore. All websites just show the loading circle and I can't browse until I close and reopen Chrome. This can get a bit annoying at times but the sheer speed of Chrome can make up for it.

Conclusion

The new version of Chrome adds a  whole lot more to browsing. The apps made in HTML5 have amazing presentation and are fun to use. The instant search makes web browsing more efficient and easier and Chrome still maintains its trend of being faster than the competition as well as previous builds.

Do you want a quick way to get Microsoft points? Well actually its not that quick but at least it is legal and free. You don't here those two words together often.

Microsoft has launched their latest campaign to bribe users to use their Bing search engine. Essentially, you install the Bing Bar and everytime you make five searches using the bing searchbar you get 1 point upto a maximum of 10 per day. Then occasionally there are certain offers which when clicked (usually boasting the features of Bing) gives you 3 points. These points can be exchanged for prizes which for now is only available for US residents. However the downloadable content such as music, ringtones and Microsoft points can all be available to everyone as long as you give them a US address (The best way is to use a hotel address) and they will email you the redemption code.

There are a few problems with this plan though. An average game for PC costs 2400 Microsoft points. It will take you 240 days to get this many points if you search each and every day for a maximum of 10 points. Adding in the occassional offers, you will still take ages to collect the points necessary to get anything decent. On top of this there is the privacy concern. You are basically giving everything you search for to Microsoft so they can "analyse" it.

After several failed attempts like Searchperks and Cashback do you think Bing Rewards will be enough to make users switch to Bing?

Google said it has enhanced its popular internet search engine to dig deeper into pages to uncover the exact tidbits of information people seek.

While typical search results provide links to websites deemed relevant to queries, Google now weaves in direct connections to spots on pages with snippets of information that might be of interest.

"We've enhanced the search snippet with two new features that make it easier to find information buried deep within a page," Chris Kern of Google's Snippet Team wrote in a blog post.

The features help by providing links to relevant sections of the page, "making it faster and easier to find what you're looking for," Kern added.

The refined snippets let searchers "jump" to information they want instead of having to scour websites listed in results, according to Google.

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Official Google Blog: Seeing the world with improved Google Search results