So Google has just released Chrome browser, which Mac user still have to wait for its Mac release. I tried to install on VMWare to see how it is like.

It is a WebKit-based with a brand-new V8 JavaScript engine, which supposed to be much faster than existing JavaScript interpreters. Also, Chrome currently supports almost as much CSS3 that Safari 3 supports.

Actually I haven’t really tested yet (cuz my main machine is a Mac of course, and my Vaio is dead now), but as long as I quickly took a look at the test page I made, some are not working quite right - e.g. text-shadow and box-shadow. Animation and Transform CSS work as expected. (Just like Safari 3.2)

So how about mobile? Current Android browser already uses WebKit engine, so Chrome Mobile will be the future browser for Android?

Yes. According to Sergey Brin, Chrome is going to be available for the platform later.

(This is not a real Android UI. I just photoshopped.)

Google launched the Gears Geolocation API for mobile on last week on their official Goolge code blog, and Mobile Blog, with a screenshot of a sample mobile site, Rummble and video demo of lastminute.com of UK.

On mobile devices with Gears installed, Javascript functions grab the cell-ID of nearby cell towers or GPS (if either is available) to improve the postion fix.

The two methods:
getCurrentPosition() makes a single, one-off attempt to get a position fix.
watchPosition() watches the user’s position over time, and updates the position changes.

Also,
lastPosition get an approximate position fix

The bad news is that API is available on Internet Explorer, Firefox and IE Mobile (selected devices only - incl. Samsung Blackjack II, HTC Touch Dual, TyTN, Palm Treo750 etc.) and will be available on Android. I was going to try it with S60, until I read the line on the announcement.

The good news is that they are currently implementing the editor’s draft of the W3C Geolocation specification with Microsoft and Mozilla guys.

maps.google.com/bayarea

I saw this Google ad on the MUNI bus I take for commuting (yes. I take a MUNI and company shuttle to commute to Sunnyvale from SF!) and tried it and like it a lot.

This is a nice additional feature on Google Maps that gives you step-by-step transit directions including estimate travel time. It covers MUNI, BART, CalTrain, etc. also walking route. (but it looks like ferry is not covered).

Google Maps Bay Area Transit

Today, Opera launched Widget SDK, enabling web developers to deploy web apps on desktop, TV and mobile devices. Unlike Apple’s iPhone $99 SDK, it is free of charge.

Watch the step-by-step instruction video:

More Mobile App/Widget SDKs:

• Apple: iPhone SDK
• Google: Android SDK
• Yahoo!: Blueprint SDK (this is what I am working for)
• Nokia: Widset
• Openwave: Mobile Widget
• Plasmo: Widget

My guess was wrong.

I somehow thought Google will partner with Firefox as a defaul browser for their new mobile project (now “Android”), however, Google’s choice was WebKit, accordeing to their SDK. Actually now I think this is a wise choice, since many (mobile) web devs are familiar with developing with WebKit thanks to Apple to make iPhone popular. And needless to say, WebKit for mobile including Nokia N-series is the one of the beat browser around.Anyway, as the storonger-than-ever WebKit is gaining even more power, “Sarfin’ Safari” (Webkit.org’s blog) has announced new features for Safari 3:

1. Enhanced Rich Text Editing
2. Faster JavaScript and DOM
3. Faster Page Loading
4. SVG
5. XPath
6. New and Improved XML Technologies
7. Styleable Form Controls
8. Advanced CSS Styling
9. Reduced Memory Use
10. Web Developer Tools