Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a certification that encrypts data between an end-users' browser and the server. It is a headache to implement and increases connection latency and only a few of the major sites on the Web have instituted "always on" SSL/TLS protection on top of HTTP to create the more secure HTTPS. While SSL False Start is a good step in creating a safer Internet, it is not the cure for all SSL woes. But, it does look like a step in the right direction.

The developers were concerned that False Start would not be backwards compatible and that if it affected "user experience for even a small fraction of users, the optimization is non-deployable." So they tested it out by finding every site that uses HTTPS in Google's index and it came away with a 94.6% success rate, with 5% timing out and .4% failing. The time-outs turned up as sites that were no longer in service. The developers contacted the domains that failed and said that most have fixed the issue that made False Start fail. The list of sites that are not compatible with False Start is located in the Chromium source code.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Access have teamed up on a campaign called "HTTPS Now" that aims to secure the Internet. Yet, with SSL and encryption still a messy and expensive process, it could be a while before the EFF reaches its goal.

"There is no consistent library for implementing SSL in the browser," said Tom Bridge, a partner at Technolutionary, a technical services firm. "Firefox, Safari, IE, Chrome, they all use different processes for handling the SSL handshake. Encryption is still a heavy-math process, something that requires both RAM and processor time."

After some high-profile hacks, including Mark Zuckerberg's own profile, Twitter and Facebook have offered users options in their profile settings to always use HTTPS. Most of the major email clients use HTTPS as well.

I want RockMelt to work - I really like the idea. Right now it has too many performance issues, but if those can be resolved - it could be a good browser to use. I won't recommend that most readers use it yet, but I think I will continue to do so myself. Here's the best and worst, after 3 days of RockMelt.

RockMelt supports all the Google Chrome extensions, though it could support many of them better. It's fast and clean and nice like Chrome - if you don't like RockMelt you should just use Chrome.

Here's what's unique about RockMelt.

The Good News

• The left sidebar Facebook interface is useful

  Switch the toggle on the top of RockMelt's left sidebar and you can display your highest priority Facebook contacts there. Yesterday the company added a blue highlight around the avatar of any of those friends who have recently posted new content to Facebook.
  

  
  That's a great way to keep close tabs on anyone you want to develop a deeper relationship with or make sure you don't miss any updates from. I've highlighted a couple of hip cats with good taste, some bleeding edge engineers that rarely come out in public for air but whom I'd like to get to know better and a few family members and old friends I'm most interested in or concerned about.

  That's a good interface for my highest-priority sources of Facebook updates, though I'm friends with more than a thousand people. Now I know I won't miss my wife's updates.
  

• Search inside the streams of Facebook friends

  Pop out anyone's recent shared items and updates from Facebook and RockMelt has a very nice search interface to limit what's shown. What was that link my friend Alex shared on Facebook last week? RockMelt makes it easy to find out.



• Easy posting and sharing to Twitter and Facebook

  There are lots of ways to post status updates and share links on Twitter and Facebook, but RockMelt's integrated sharing buttons are the nicest I've seen so far.



• Right sidebar support for lists

  Facebook lists are a great way to see key contacts in context. I've got lists for personal friends, key geeks that might prove valuable in my work and old school friends. It's good to be able to change channels between those streams, and RockMelt does an ok job of facilitating that.

  If you view your Facebook stream by a list, then choose "Tear off window" - that list will remain accessible with a click of the Facebook icon. The sidebar should remember your state though. It should also let you put multiple icons in the sidebar for multiple lists, and show a badge number when my personal friends list, or key geeks list, has an update to check. That would make list support much more useful. Support for the new Groups is a whole other matter, but ought to be there.

The Bad News

• RSS badges in the right bar update funky

  I've got some medium-priority feeds that I'd love to have updated in my right sidebar of RockMelt, but the pipes seem a little confused. I don't trust it.



• Social badges get overwhelmed and unresponsive

  RockMelt intends to put easy interfaces for your full Facebook and Twitter feeds in your sidebar. Maybe they work well if you've got less than the thousands of people I'm following, but for me the display is slow, unresponsive and choked up.



• Extensions that need toolbar space get no love

  RockMelt supports Chrome extensions and some work well. Apture works great, but anything that needs toolbar space ends up in the right sidebar and the fly-out windows turn flashy and messed up. Delicious and YoLink are the two I'm struggling with. I'd give up some adress bar space to get toolbar space for a few extensions. This might be the deal breaker for me, and the fact that the feed displays don't work reliably.

The Meh

• Pre-loading of search results in the background is a good idea, Google started doing it yesterday with its search previews feature and the same strategy makes Flipboard's UX all the more dreamy - but it's not that big a deal in RockMelt. And all the pages now sound an error audio notification for me when I click them. Chrome's unified search and adress bar is better anyway.

  Of all the things RockMelt could pre-load in the background, search results are of least interest to me. How about the updates from my high-priority Facebook friends, so I don't have to wait for those to load? How about my streams in my right sidebar? That would make a much bigger difference in my user experience that pre-loading search results does.

The verdict? I'm keeping RockMelt as my primary browser for now. Why? Because it's just Chrome with a Facebook sidebar and a team full of steam to fix the problems people have with the browser at launch. In the mean time, I use half-baked, broken software for a living - I can put up with its shortcomings.

If and when all the promised features work well, it's going to be a great way to browse with high-priority social contacts close at hand. So far though, it's probably too funky for very many other people to work with.

Give it a Try

To try Chrome's built-in GPU acceleration, you need to run a cutting edge version of Chrome (even more cutting edge than the canary builds). You can find recent build of Chromium - the open source project behind Chrome - here. You can easily install Chromium parallel to Chrome and the two installs generally don't interfere with each other.

By installing Chromium, you will also get a chance to test Google Chrome Labs. You can find more information about this feature here.

Once installed, you need to run the application with the --enable-accelerated-compositing flag. To do so, you can either run the program from the terminal and set this switch by hand, or - in Windows - check the properties for the executable and append the flag to the target in the properties dialog.

Chances are that you won't notice too much of a difference right now, though you will probably notice some speed-ups while viewing highly complex pages.

More Technical Details

If you are interested in the exact details of how Google's hardware acceleration in Chrome works, have a look at this design document Google also just published.

Tip of the hat to Conceivably Tech for spotting this new feature first.

So how can you access this new Labs section, which is still off-limits to users of the standard Chrome browser? We've got the details in our latest "weekend project."

For those that's don't know about Chromium, it's the open-source browser project which serves as the basis of what eventually ends up in the Google Chrome Web browser and the upcoming Google Chrome OS, an Internet-only operating system powered by Chrome.

Although Google recently released the (Windows-only) "Canary" build of its Chrome Web browser for early adopters who want to test drive the newest features before they go live in the more stable public builds of Chrome, there are some features, such as this, which are only available to those who run the latest build Chromium Web browser itself.

We heard of these latest additions thanks to the unofficial Google-watching blog, Google Operating System, a site known for keeping a close eye on the latest-and-greatest Google news. According to writer Alex Chitu, the Labs feature was turned on in one of the newest Chromium builds.

This build also includes a placeholder for the Chrome Web Store, an in-browser "App Store" for Web-based applications, due to arrive later this year.

Chitu also confirms something we were seeing as well: Labs doesn't currently work for those running a Chrome Developer build or even the Canary build: you must manually install the latest Chromium build instead. 

How to Enable Google Chrome Labs

So how do you enable Google Chrome Labs? Here are the steps:

1. Head over to this list of the latest Chromium builds.
2. Click on the folder for your operating system (Linux, Mac or the folder "XP" which supports various Windows operating systems, including Windows 7)
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page to locate the folder containing the most recent build.
4. It appears that this feature was implemented in build # 57635, but it should be available in later builds, too, unless it gets pulled for some reason. I was able to install build # 57672, for example, and access the feature.
5. Install the latest build using the provided installer or files for your given OS.
6. Launch Chromium and in the browser's address bar type about:labs (without spaces between the colon and the words)
7. If you're on Windows, you'll see an option to enable "Tabs on the Left." Mac users will see the expose-for-tabs feature. Sorry, Linux users, there aren't any Labs available for you just yet. However, this section is sure to grow soon.
8. To enable a Labs feature, just click the hyperlinked "Enable" option. Then click "Restart Now" to reload the browser.

Note: both features can also be enabled manually, by using command-line flags instead. Just edit your Chromium shortcut with -enable-vertical-tabs for the Windows side tabs feature and -enable-expose-for-tabs for the Mac expose-tabs feature.

Also, Windows users: to actually turn side tabs on, you'll need to right-click on a tab and then select "use side tabs" from the menu that appears. Do the same to turn them off again.

His newest release, the unmodified "Vanilla" image, is a regularly updated, USB-compatible build of the latest Chrome OS source code.

What's "Vanilla?"

With "Vanilla" (the name Hexxeh gave to this Chrome OS build due to its unmodified nature), Hexxeh has sped up the timeframe of new Chrome OS releases by automating the build process. Now, explains Hexxeh via his website, builds happen every day. He also updates his Twitter account, posting about the biggest features (and bugs) each new build has to offer.

Unlike his other popular Chrome OS build called "Flow," the "Vanilla" release doesn't include any additional modifications or extra code. Instead, it's a direct compilation of the Chromium OS source code. However, there is a drawback to going this route: if your hardware isn't supported in a standard Chromium OS build, it won't work here either. (You can check your hardware's status here). If you need a more reliable and tested build, Hexxah still suggests using Flow.

Also, all the automatically released "Vanilla" builds are of beta quality and not guaranteed to work as they haven't gone through any sort of testing before they go live on his site.

On the plus side, though, "Vanilla" provides you direct access to the latest and greatest features being added to the Chromium OS code with very little delay. It even includes an auto-updater feature, which you can install after you get the build up-and-running.

How to Install Chromium OS "Vanilla"

So how do you install "Vanilla"?

1. To access the latest builds, head to the download page here. The newest builds are at the top of the list.
2. Click the USB icon to download the image. (It's a .GZ file) Windows users will need a utility to extract the files: I recommend using 7-Zip for that.
3. Once the files are extracted, use a program to write the image to a USB stick. (On Windows, I like the open source Image Writer for Windows). Regardless of which utility you use, you'll just need to point it to the .img file you extracted and the USB drive letter on your computer. (Mac and Linux users can basically follow these instructions for the Flow build, just modifying file names: Mac, Linux)
4. When the utility completes the install, you'll have Vanilla on your USB key drive. Remember: to boot from a USB key drive, your computer BIOS will need to support that.

That's it! Now you can play around with latest release of Chrome OS without having to overwrite your preferred desktop, laptop or netbook operating system.

If you have any additional tips on this project, be sure to add them to the comments section. Happy Friday, Internet!

Update: Thanks to @leemathews on Twitter we hear that recent builds are broken. Use something prior to 8-17-10, he advises. Thanks, Lee! He also has some more tips regarding hardware and clock issues in a blog post here.

However, you don't have to wait until Chrome OS debuts to install Chrome Web apps - you can test a few of them now by using a Chrome developer build or Chromium, the open-source browser behind Google Chrome.

Before you get started, you'll need to install a developer build of Google Chrome or its open-source counterpart, Chromium. I prefer using Chromium for this sort of project because it allows me to play around while still keeping my default Chrome install a separate, stable version.

Step 1: Grab a Developer Build or Chromium Build

To use a developer build of Google Chrome, go to this page and scroll down to the section called "Subscribing to a channel." From here, pick the "Dev Channel" for your current OS: Windows, Mac or Linux. Just click the appropriate link to run the installer and launch the browser.

If you would prefer to use Chromium, you'll need to head over to this site instead: build.chromium.org/buildbot/snapshots. On this page, you'll find folders instead of direct links, each labeled by OS. Click the link for your OS (Linux, Linux-64, Mac or XP -that's for all Windows users, by the way). Within each folder, you'll notice a list of build numbers accompanied by a "last modified" date. To get the most recent one, scroll to the bottom of the page and click through to the files listed. Here, grab the installer for your OS; for example, Windows users would download "mini_installer.exe". Run the installer and launch the browser.

Step 2: Edit the Shortcut

Next, you'll need to edit the desktop shortcut for the newly installed browser in order to add the command line flag that enables Web apps. In Windows, right-click on the desktop shortcut, click "Properties," then place your cursor at the end of the line in the "Target" field. Add a space then type --enable-apps in this field. Click the "OK" button and restart the browser.

In Mac, it's $ open /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app --args -enable-apps.

Step 3: Install the Extensions

Now, in Chrome/Chromium go to chrome://extensions, click "Developer Mode" then click "Load Unpacked Extension."

In the window that appears, you'll need to browse to Chrome's resources folder. (In Windows, you'll find it at:

• For current versions of Windows (Vista/7): %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\[Version]\resources
• For Windows XP users: %userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\[Version]\resources

Once you've navigated to the appropriate folder, you'll notice there are three subfolders: gmail_app, calendar_app and docs_app. Click the folder for the app you want to install and it will now appear in the extensions list in Chrome/Chromium.

Step 4: Load the Web Apps!

OK, here comes the fun part: loading the Web apps themselves. Click the "New Tab" button in Chrome/Chromium like you were about to launch a new Web page and you'll now see the available Web apps listed. Click the app's icon to load it into the browser.

Once the app is installed, it appears with a large icon that hovers a bit above the tab.

To load other Web apps, like those featured here, you have to first download the .crx file to your computer then open it using Chrome/Chromium.

You can find more apps to try by browsing through the discussion group for Chromium apps here. Plus, there are even more apps posted here and here, too.

Have fun!

With Weave, Mozilla Labs currently offers a very similar feature, though Weave hasn't made it into the default install of Firefox yet. In the past, Google also offered a synchronization plugin for Firefox, but the company discontinued this service in December 2008.

Link to Chrome OS?

Of course, we can't help but wonder if this work isn't also being done in preparation for the upcoming release of the Google Chrome OS. A lot of the work to get Chrome to sync between different instances is being done at the backend. If Google could get its netbook OS to seamlessly sync with applications on the desktop, then that would be yet another selling point for the Chrome OS.

Privacy?

Chances are that you are already storing your search history on Google's servers. With Chrome's synchronization feature, however, you would also store a complete record of all of your comings and going on other parts of the Internet on Google's servers. Mozilla Weave encrypts your data before it is synced with Mozilla's servers. In today's announcement, the Chrome team did not talk about encryption, though we would be surprised if Google didn't implement client-side encryption as well.

For some users, though, giving even more information to Google - even if it is encrypted - may turn out to be a deal breaker.

Get the Dev Channel Release (if you dare)

For now, only users who have installed Chrome's developer version and are subscribed to the Dev channel will see these new features. The Chrome Dev channel is the most frequently updated, cutting-edge version of Chrome, but these version are also far less stable than those in the more mainstream Beta and Stable channels. If you would like to switch to the Dev channel, instructions for installing this version of Chrome can be found here.

How to Install Chromium and Chrome on Your PC

First thing's first, if you haven't already installed a copy of Google Chrome on your PC, you should do so now. This new browser built on WebKit is winning converts right and left among the early adopter set these days, mainly for its blazing speed. From google.com/chrome you can grab the latest release or, if you're a little more daring, you can click the link to download the public beta version instead.

That was the easy part - the trickier part is installing Chromium, the open-source project that powers Google Chrome. You may have already visited the Chromium site over on Google Code in search of the download only to be confused when no obvious download link jumped out at you. Home, Docs, FAQ, Blog, Group, Terms - but no "Download." In fact, the only download link on the main page points you back to the stable version of Google Chrome. What gives?

They're probably not trying to hide the download from you; it's just a matter of knowing where to look. Developers get this, but us "ordinary" tech enthusiasts may need a little assistance. You see, the Chromium builds are all stored online at build.chromium.org/buildbot/snapshots. If you're a Mac or Linux user, this is where you can grab your copy, by the way.

Windows users need to head directly to the link at build.chromium.org/buildbot/snapshots/chromium-rel-xp. Once there, you'll notice a list of build numbers accompanied by a "last modified" date.

To get the most recent one, scroll to the bottom of the page and click through to the files listed. The easiest way to install Chromium is to download the "mini_installer.exe" file. This is a simple executable that installs Chromium on your PC.

Make Chromium Extension-Ready

Once installed, there's one more step before you can begin playing around with extensions in Chromium - you need to enable them. To do so, you're either going to need to modify the Chromium shortcut or create your own new shortcut.

Windows XP

On a Windows XP computer, you can just modify the "Target" field in the file properties. To do so:

1. Go to C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Local Settings\Application Data\Chromium\Application\ and locate the file called "chrome.exe."
2. Right-click on the file and choose "Properties." Click the "Shortcut" tab.
3. In the field labeled "Target" change the text to read (and yes, you need the quotes): "C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Local Settings\Application Data\Chromium\Application\chrome.exe" -enable-extensions
4. Click "OK" when you're done.
5. Make sure this modified shortcut is the one you use to launch Chromium from now on. You may want to copy it to your desktop to be sure.

Windows Vista/Windows 7

On Windows Vista or Windows 7, you can't simply modify the "Target"; you have to create a new shortcut instead. To do so:

1. Go to C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Local\Chromium\Application
2. Right-click in the white space of that folder somewhere and click "New" on the menu that appears.
3. Choose "Shortcut" from the menu to launch the Create Shortcut wizard.
4. In the window that appears, enter in the following where it asks you for the location of the item: C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Local\Chromium\Application\chrome.exe -enable-extensions
5. Click "Next" then "Finish"
6. A new shortcut will appear in the folder. Make sure this shortcut is the one you use to launch Chromium from now on. You may want to copy it to your desktop to be sure.

Launch Chromium and Install Extensions

Now that you have Chromium installed and modified, you can play with extensions. To install an extension, you simply click on the hyperlink for the extension, which is usually labeled "extension_name.crx." A box will pop up asking you to confirm; just click "OK."

Here are some extensions you can try now:

• AdSweep: an add-on that hides advertising on web pages you visit, similar to how AdBlock works. It uses JavaScript to adjust the CSS of a page and is also available as a user script.
• PageRank checker: a simple extension that shows the Google PageRank for the current web site.
• Cleeki: an extension that delivers the functionality of IE8's Accelerators to other browsers.
• Gmail Checker: One of the Chromium sample extensions that displays a toolstrip that shows how many messages are in your Gmail inbox.
• Subscribe in Google Reader: Another sample extension which adds a button to the URL bar when a page has a feed that can be subscribed to. Clicking the button takes you to Google Reader.
• BuildBot Monitor: A third sample extension which shows the current status of the Chromium Build Bot.
• Chritter: a Chrome Twitter notifier that shows recent tweets in the tooltip
• Delicious: the official alpha version of the social bookmarking extension. (Note: you may have to save the file on disk and then drag on to the Chrome window to trigger the install instead of just clicking on the link).

Final Note

Keep in mind that Chromium isn't going to give you the same everyday experience of using the stable version of Chrome. While playing around with it, the browser actually crashed on me a couple of times - two times too many to make it worth switching over to permanently. This may just be an issue with the particular build I installed and will be corrected in a future version, but that's what you get when you play with cutting-edge tech.

At least I was finally able to get my hands on the extensions and really see what they were all about. And for that, it was well worth the headaches. Extensions are incredible!