Google Chrome 8 Gets GPU Acceleration, Cloud Printing

Google Chrome 8 has hit the Dev channel for Windows, Linux and Mac.

With the new release, Chrome brings in new features which includes GPU Acceleration, Cloud Printing, and Instant search added into the Labs section.

After installing Chrome 8 (download link below), head to the Labs page (type in about:labs in the omnibar) to see all of the experimental features.

GPU Acceleration
The GPU acceleration uses the graphics card to render the HTML5 canvas elements. This greatly improves the performance.

Background Webapps
Chrome webapps can run in Background, and continue running even after all Chrome windows are closed.

Instant
Instant feature brings Google’s Instant into Chrome. After enabling Instant you will start getting result as you type a URL in Chrome’s Omnibar. The result displays as a layer on top of your current page, and hitting Escape or deleting your search closes the layer.

Cloud Printing
Google Cloud Print enables any application (web, desktop, mobile) on any device to print to any printer, using their Google id.
You can enable Cloud Printing from Options -> Under The Hood.
However, this feature is not yet fully functional.

Sync data with a passphrase
You can sync all data with a passphrase. Once you set it, nobody can sync your data to another instance of Chrome without your passphrase.
Open up Chrome’s options, go to the Personal Stuff tab, then click “Customize” in the Sync field. In the “Encryption” tab, set up your passphrase.

All the features sound exciting but before you decide to switch to the Dev channel, remember that as name says its is a developer channel, so you should expect some problems.

Get: Google Chrome 8