ReadWriteWeb

Google just released a new beta version of Chrome, Google's first web browser, which addresses a number of issues we had noticed in earlier releases. Besides improving the performance and stability of a number of plugins, including Flash, Sliverlight, and Quicktime, as well as fixing some security issues, Google also finally added the ability to add words to the built-in spell checker.

Remember when we told you that your MySpace web browser is coming? Well today it has officially arrived. In the new version of the social browser Flock, they've finally integrated their number one most-requested feature: support for MySpace. Additionally, the Flock 2.0 upgrade includes support for Media RSS, a technology which delivers real-time image and video streams in a standardized format. With this feature, Flock can support any web service as long as they offer a Media RSS feed.

Today, Opera revealed the newest version of their web browser, Opera 9.6. As always, the latest update includes speed and performance increases, but the update delivers several new features, too. The one new feature that we were really excited to try out is how Opera 9.6 deals with RSS feeds. In this latest version of the browser, you can preview your feeds in an attractive magazine-style layout. But what we really wanted to know is could read your feeds like this once subscribed?

As more and more users awaken to the fact that their every step on the net can be traced, browser developers have started to incorporate private browsing modes into their products. Google Chrome has an 'Incognito' mode, Safari has 'Private Browsing,' the latest beta of Internet Explorer 8 features 'InPrivate Browsing,' and, according to an update on the Firefox wiki, Firefox 3.1 will feature a 'Private Browsing Mode.' Of course, these browsers can't hide any of your activity on the net itself, but at least when you are on a shared computer, these privacy modes let you conceal your online activity from fellow users.

Browsing the web is typically a very solitary activity, even if the Web 2.0 revolution has given us easy tools like FriendFeed or SocialMedian to share our online activities. However, a different breed of services like Browzmi or the Y Combinator funded Socialbrowse are trying to make the actual browsing experience more social by displaying your friends' actions right in the browser. Socialbrowse is releasing a new version of its service today which, besides being faster, lets you post any link directly to Twitter.

Even though we have quickly come to enjoy using Google Chrome after its launch yesterday, we still miss a couple of things from Firefox that Google's browser just doesn't offer yet. Most importantly, Google doesn't yet have any architecture in place that would allow developers to program extensions for it. For Firefox, the extension ecology that developed around it has a been a major contributor to its success and many users who might prefer the speed and simplicity of Chrome over Firefox won't be able to switch because they have become dependent on certain extensions they use every day.

Google watchdog Phillipp Lessen has scanned and posted a printed comic he says he received in the mail from Google today describing the company's forthcoming open source browser Chrome. The link to Chrome is currently a 404. Lessen's slide show is loading very, very slow. We've got another copy of it that loads much faster here. Long rumored to be in the works, this appears to be the first formal acknowledgment that Google really is working on its own browser - and it looks very cool.

Will you drop Firefox and use Chrome instead? Take a look at what the Google browser will offer - we're pretty interested in it.