Google's web browser, "chrome", was released as a beta today. There are a lot of nice features built in, and it's a stable app even for being in beta. The render engine is based off of Web kit, and it has some features from Mozilla making it almost a hybrid of Safari and Firefox.

One of the first things you'll notice is how much of the page is in view. The interface is designed to display more of what you want to see, and less of what you don't need, like status bars and toolbars.

You'll notice that this browser, along with pretty much every new browser, has tabbed windows. But Chrome is different. Each tab has its own environment to exist in, with its own alocation of memory and on its own process. This way, tabs aren't sharing resources. But the best part of it is, if one tab crashes (maybe your game of duck hunt freezes) instead of losing every open tab, only that single tab is lost.

Another feature most modern browsers have is a search box in the upper right corner. If you notice, though, Google Chrome doesn't have one. So where did it go? Just type your search right where you would normally put a URL. Typing opens up searching, bookmarks, and history all in one place.

Some other features it has are

• Incognito mode - browse without saving history or cookies
• Import settings - copy your history, passwords, and bookmarks from Firefox right into chrome
• Simple downloads - a simple download manager at the bottom of the window, no intrusive and new popups
• V8 engine - Chrome can execute JavaScript much faster, making things like checking your E-Mail much faster
• Phish protection - Like in Firefox, chrome will alert you if you're on a suspicious web site

Along with the phish protection, Google went ahead and changed the way the current page URL is displayed. It will display the URL in a gray color, and the base URL in black. That way you can see exactly what web site you're on.

So is this a Firefox killer? Probably not. As nice as Chrome may be, it won't be replacing my Firefox. There's still no support for add-ons or skins. It also lacks the community that Firefox has. I can see it replacing Internet Explorer, but you never know. It's still in beta, and it's open source. Some great projects could come from it, let's just hope people put it to good use.