Thursday, August 22, 2013

Google debuts Chrome 30 beta with easier searching by image, APIs for apps, new gestures and WebGL for Android




Two days after releasing the stable version of Chrome 28, Google has announced the release of Chrome 30 beta for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. Aside from making it easier to search by image, this release is very developer-focused: new APIs and experimental features are the name of the game.


Chrome beta now lets you right-click or long-press an image, and search for it via your default search provider. Here’s how this looks for a Google search:


image search Google debuts Chrome 30 beta with easier searching by image, APIs for apps, new gestures and WebGL for Android


Chrome beta for Android meanwhile has received new gestures. You can swipe horizontally across the top toolbar to quickly switch tabs (instead of swiping from the edge of the screen), drag vertically down from the toolbar to enter into the tab switcher view, and drag down from the menu to open it and select the item you want without having to lift your finger.


Screen Shot 2013 08 21 at 11.20.42 PM 730x401 Google debuts Chrome 30 beta with easier searching by image, APIs for apps, new gestures and WebGL for Android


The official Chrome 30.0.1599.14 beta changelog is quite short:



  • Easier searching by image.

  • A number of new apps/extension APIs.

  • Lots of under the hood changes for stability and performance.


The second point is worth expanding on as there are quite a few new additions for developers. These encompass both Chrome on the desktop and Chrome for Android.


The biggest developer addition is undoubtedly WebGL support on Android, now enabled by default for devices with high-end mobile GPUs. The JavaScript API is used for rendering interactive 3D graphics and 2D graphics (check out the demos here).


Next up, Chrome apps on the desktop have received support for a few new APIs, including webview.request, media gallery write support, and downloads. Even better, developers can now use Chrome Web Store managed in-app payments (more details here).


Chrome 30 could arrive as soon as September, but will most likely show up in October. We’ll keep you posted when it’s available.


Top Image Credit: T. Al Nakib







via http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheNextWeb/~3/RMsqaW9o0V4/

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