First of all, Happy 2009!

It’s just the second week of 2009, Google is already giving us surprises.
Things that I’ve noticed so far are Google Pagerank update, change of their favicon (as you can see below) and the release of pre-beta version of Google Chrome 2.0.

Google Latest Favicon In 2009

Google Chrome 2.0

The speed of Google Chrome development is awesome, this is only the fourth month since it’s first release of Chrome 1.0. The version I just upgraded mine is pre-beta (Alpha release) Chrome 2.0, which is not available for public download.

A peak at pre-beta Google Chrome 2.0

This version is a developer preview version where latest features will be included for testing purposes. It could be very unstable at times and might require manual configuration too, but I just can’t stop myself from getting a peak at the features in its next release. On top of my own curiosity, I also feel like sharing this latest news with my readers as well.

So, here goes the new features that you’ll see when Google Chrome 2.0 is released :-

• Importing bookmarks from Google Bookmarks
  Now you can import bookmarks you stored at Google toolbar.
• New version of WebKit rendering engine
  Meaning better browsing experience with new features like form auto-complete, full page zooming, auto-scrolling, better CSS support (CSS gradients, canvas drawing, reflections, and masks), spell checking improvements, and so on.
• Use different browser profiles
  Good when you are sharing the PC with others, so each user will have separated profile (different bookmarks, history, cookies, etc.)
• Support of experimental user script
  Similar to how Firefox allows Greasemonkey script to run.
• A new HTTPS-only browsing mode
  A brand new concept in web browser as it will only load HTTPS sites with no SSL certificate error. Basically, HTTPS is a secured browsing channel where all data transmitting there will be encrypted. This feature is particularly useful considering the Internet users will be doing more online transactions than before.

For more detailed feature lists, go here.

There is a good news for Linux and Mac users too as Google Chrome 2.0 is now using own version of HTTP library (discarded WinHTTP library) and soon will support Linux and Mac systems.

So, are you already a Google Chrome user and what do you think?