Every so often a technology comes along that is powerful, but for some reason invisible to most. HTML5 P2P is one such technology.

Basically it's a way to connect clients directly together without the need for an intermediary server to relay messages (though likely to coordinate the connections). I'm not sure how they are forging these connections, but I recall reading a paper some time ago, using servers to modify TCP packets in order to allow clients to connect with one another. Perhaps this is using a similar scheme?
http://www.i-programmer.info/news/81...r-browser.html

Although early, this promises social programs (eg. video chat), data sharing, and new security schemes. But what's most impressive is the technologies that will come from technologies like this.

Google is releasing a toolkit called WebRTC (Real Time Communication) to make using these facilities easier.
http://www.i-programmer.info/news/87...nications.html

HTML5 just got another powerful tool in it's belt. The web is becoming ever more powerful a platform.

Here is the official WebRTC site:
https://sites.google.com/site/webrtc/

Here is a beautiful app. It is a graphing calculator that plots multiple functions.

MARKET LINK: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...dbahk?hl=en-US
DIRECT LINK: http://url3.tk/graph.tk/

It's brilliant in its simplicity.

Google Apps is requiring HTML5 for its apps:

http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/...-browsers.html

This is a great move and should influence people to upgrade their old browsers and switch to a more modern Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, or Chrome.

One web.

Google may have been first to popularize the web-browser as OS platform first, but Mozilla isn't far behind! Introducing Mozilla's webian shell!

http://digitizor.com/2011/06/06/webian-shell/

The webian shell aims to do the same thing as ChromeOS, use the web browser as the only interface for web apps. The difference between this and ChromeOS is that this is a shell that runs on top of an existing OS rather than being bundled as part of an OS.

What's wonderful is that this will allow for OS developers to include this as part of their distributions, and offer a solution comparable to ChromeOS.

Here's a video of the Webian Shell:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/06/m...-in-a-browser/
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG_mATRHm3M

I like some of the concept ideas, especially split-screen, which would make browsing on a 'web' OS much more analogous to traditional windows.

I would also like to see automatic page zooming based on window width, which should have been an option years ago...

Chrome stable has been bumped to version 12:


http://chrome.blogspot.com/2011/06/c...-snazzier.html

That's good news! There are new security fixes and features to give users more control over their personal data (as stored in the browser).

There's also new 3D accelerated CSS! Oh la la!

I'm using Dev version 13, so I've seen these features before. Chrome continues to impress and is IMO the best modern browser .

Chrome is getting a touch-friendly UI:

http://chromestory.com/2011/06/googl...i-screenshots/

It seems that Chrome will be available for tablets afterall. With the ARM onslaught on the horizon, I'm really interested in learning how other aspects of Chrome (namely the V8 compiler) will transition to the new architecture.

The Samsung Series 5 Chromebook gets reviewed by Engadget:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/10/s...eries-5-review

It is a very good and level headed review.

It seems that this is a very solid piece of hardware for a reasonable price ($499 for 3G version, $429 for WiFi only). I'm very tempted to move to the 'cloud' though this is a little before my time.

Once more services come about, services that I can host locally, and technologies like onlive/netflix come around, I'll make the switch.

pro's:

instant-on is on like donkey kong! oh the times that i've tried to get my arch machine to do that, without losing either wlan, or some other module in the process.

fit-and-finish look really good.

battery life, macbook air territory.

con's:

to make the cloud really be your BFF, you prob have to go with the 3G option; from experience, too many spotty wifi networks in coffee shops, hotels, airports etc. to have everything hang between you and the cloud (i'm sure there's continuous devel going on with donwload/upload protection).

so $499 plus verizon's 3G plan (i guess no 4G then huh) i.e. 50-80 bucks/mo to whatever you are paying now.

some of the alternatives to this high-end 5-series (see what i did there ).

having toted a 1st gen acer netbook - yes, not in the same ballpark with this samsung, actually the aspire one doesn't even get to park in the same p-lot - and now splitting my mobile computing duties between the N900, 12" ultraportable, and the so occasional-wife-approved-dabble with the ipad2, i'm not quite sure where i'd fit this chromebook. i'm sure i'll find room and a mission for it somehow. looks brilliant!

Yes, instant on is a big feature, that makes the laptop feel much more like a smartphone in operation. Also, I agree that the hardware is really quite beautiful in its design. It's thin, light, and well proportioned.

Here's the thing: it comes down to the software. Users that use their computers for basic tasks (web browsing, document editing, etc) would have no problem using a Chromebook, in fact it would be a blessing as it would be easy to use and a painless experience even in a catastrophic situation (their laptop gets irreparably damaged).

Power users that are used to using offline apps that don't have online equivalents are in another boat altogether. It will be much harder transitioning to this type of a system.

I would easily use Chrome OS today had I the same facilities available on my box. I can easily host a local server for scripting, and holding media, etc, but app support would be lacking.

I would want:
- a SIP solution for making/taking calls
- a local web SSH client (these are available)
- a local web text editor (vim is nice, but I like graphical)
- a local file manager (for my server and beyond -- sftp)
- an IDE for my development
- a way to execute Java on the client (not sure if plugins are supported)
- and a few other odds and ends

While it is true that I use my browser most of all, I'm still tied to these other applications. Additionally, there is some content that I would really like to remain private, and cloud hosting is not appealing in this regard. I'm ok, with hosting my own web server, but the applications would need to be there to reach these documents.

I have no doubt that the cloud will quickly catch up to my needs, but its not there yet. This is why I will hold off on a Chromebook.

NaCl promises new capabilities, and I'm genuinely looking forward to this.

However, I'm very interested in the technology, and looking forward to watching it progress as more and more services become available!