Posts Tagged ‘Beta’

New Chrome Beta Takes The Speed Crown

Google released a Chrome 5 beta build this week that brings a significant boost to the browser’s JavaScript performance, improved support for emerging Web standards, and a number of noteworthy enhancements to the browser’s cloud synchronization framework. After running the beta for most of the day, I’m convinced that Chrome is reaching a sweet spot of feature richness and leading performance that will make it a real winner.

Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine benefits from a particularly profound advancement in the new beta. A major optimization effort by the V8 team in Denmark has increased the browser’s JavaScript performance by roughly 30 percent. When we conducted benchmarks to see how it compares to competing browsers, we discovered that it has taken the lead, edging in slightly ahead of the swift Safari nightly builds. The test was conducted with the SunSpider benchmark suite on a quad-core Mac Pro. The new Chrome 5 beta completed the benchmark in 338.4ms, the Safari nightly completed it in 373.4ms, Opera 10.53 came in third place with 389.6ms, and Firefox crawled in last with 741.8ms.

Another major improvement in the beta is support for synchronizing browser preferences and themes. For example, when you change your default home page setting in Chrome on one computer, the change will be propagated almost instantly to your other computers. This feature builds on the existing support for bookmark synchronization that was introduced last year. Chrome’s synchronization framework is progressing nicely, but there are still some holes that need to be filled. Support for synchronizing extensions and open tabs is still absent. I’d also really like to see Google bring Chrome bookmark synchronization to Android in the same way that Firefox has enabled Weave support for Fennec.

On the Web standards front, the beta delivers several important new features, such as support for Web Sockets and drag-and-drop. I’m particularly enthusiastic about Web Sockets, a feature that allows JavaScript code to establish persistent TCP connections with remote servers. It will open the door for lower latency communication between browsers and Web servers. This feature was pushed into the developer channel last year, but is just now reaching beta status.

This is the first Chrome beta to come bundled with a built-in Flash playerthe result of a partnership that Google and Adobe announced last month. The two companies plan to cooperate on a broader effort to overhaul the underlying standards that enable browser plugins. I’m not seeing any real difference in Flash’s behavior. The popular FlashBlock extension still works properly with the new system.

I’ve been a devoted Firefox user ever since Mozilla won my heart back with Firefox 3 in 2008, but I find myself increasingly drawn to Chrome as its performance continues to improve and feature set expands. It’s not surprising that the Google browser’s marketshare has been climbing. The responsiveness of the user interface is an area where it dramatically beats Firefox, especially on the Linux platform.

Although Chrome has come a long way, there are still some puzzling deficiencies that have yet to be corrected. The lack of proper tab overflow behaviorone of the major weaknesses that I identified in my very first Chrome reviewstill hasn’t been fixed. If Google can iron out some of those remaining rough patches, Chrome will be unstoppable.

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Bungie And Activision Announce Exclusive, Worldwide Companions

Bungie and Activision Announce Exclusive, Worldwide Partnership.

The story of Bungie is wild, winding, and full of majestic wonder. Weve treaded many pathways over these last nineteen years. But for all the twists and turns weve taken, were still doing what we set out to do from the beginning, back when the whole of Bungie Software Products Corporation consisted of two friends operating out of a basement in Chicago:

Making kick ass games that we want to play.

And as Bungie has grown, the industrys best and brightest have been totally accretive to our own creative margins. Its no secret that while the full might of our studio has focused on making Halo: Reach, another core team, led by our co-founder and Studio Creative Director, Jason Jones, has already begun laying the groundwork to bring our newest universe, stories, and characters to life.

Today, were poised to open a new chapter in Bungies historyone that begins with a partnership between Bungie and Activision and ends where we always knew it would, with World Domination. Our Next Big Thing now has a concrete path, leading from our studio to the platforms of our choosing. The business formalities are behind us. Our Constitution remains unchanged. We are still Bungie, still independent, and now we are free to bring our stories to an ever bigger audience.

Next up, the most ambitious game weve ever made, Halo: Reach. Built upon ten years of experience developing the Halo franchise, weve assembled the best team, the best technology, and the best talent to ensure that Reach is the game our fans deserve. Strap in and buckle up tight, were sending our baby out with a bang.

Once the smoke clears, all the pieces will finally be in place for Step 7. Dont worry, though. We wont let World Domination go to our heads. Were gonna keep making kick ass games on our own terms, and since youve been so supportive throughout the years, wed love to bring you along for the ride.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BUNGIE AND ACTIVISION ANNOUNCE EXCLUSIVE, WORLDWIDE PARTNERSHIP

10-Year Alliance Expands Global Reach for Leading Game Developer Across Multiple Platforms

Kirkland, WA and Santa Monica, CA April 29, 2010 — Bungie, the developer of blockbuster game franchises including Halo, Myth and Marathon, and Activision, a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the #1 online games publisher (Nasdaq: ATVI), announced today that they have entered into an exclusive 10-year partnership to bring Bungies next big action game universe to market. Under the terms of the agreement, Activision will have exclusive, worldwide rights to publish and distribute all future Bungie games based on the new intellectual property on multiple platforms and devices. Bungie remains an independent company and will continue to own their intellectual property. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The groundbreaking alliance will provide Bungie its first such partnership since splitting off from Microsoft in 2007, significantly broadening its global reach by providing the resources and support to develop, distribute and release games worldwide on multiple platforms and devices.

Activision will broaden its portfolio with a new franchise from one of the industrys most creative, successful and proven studios, whose games have sold more than 25 million units worldwide. To date, Bungies Halo games have generated approximately $1.5 billion in revenues, according to The NPD Group, Charttrack and GfK. Activision expects this agreement to be accretive to its operating margins as of the release of the first game.

We chose to partner with Activision on our next IP because of their global reach, multi-platform experience and marketing expertise, said Harold Ryan, President of Bungie. From working together over the past nine months on this agreement, it is clear that Activision supports our commitment to giving our fans the best possible gaming experiences.

Bungie is one of the premier studios in our industry and we are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to work with their talented team over the next decade, stated Thomas Tippl, Chief Operating Officer of Activision Blizzard. Bungie has developed some of the most compelling and successful games, multiplayer experiences and thriving fan communities, and this alliance underscores our long-standing commitment to foster the industrys best creative talent. Our unprecedented partnership with Bungie will enable us to broaden our pipeline of exciting new games as we continue to strengthen our industry position and pursue long-term growth opportunities.

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