Time flies when you're having fun! Google's Chrome web browser turns 2 today, and oh how it's grown! It's quickly climbing up the ranks as one of the most popular web browsers, and there's good reason as to why — it's fast and easy to use! Take a look back at a few of our favorite Chrome tips, tricks, extensions, and developments over the past two years in this slideshow!
Not only do they have an impressively successful chart-topping album on their hands (one that they produced on vinyl, no less!), but Arcade Fire now also has an unbelievable new video titled "The Wilderness Downtown" made in conjunction with Google and set to their song "We Used to Wait." The "Experience," as it's called (because it truthfully is much more than just a video), is engineered to display best when viewed in Google's Chrome browser, but will work on others. And the entire experience is made using HTML5, showcasing its ability for gorgeous video and interactivity.
Find out more about this exceptional project and create your own experience after the break.
Google's lightning-fast Chrome browser is quickly moving up the food chain after recently being named the third most-used browser. And with so many people to please, developers everywhere have come up with some fantastic extensions to help make your browsing life a bit easier. One I'm already in love with is called View Thru, which lets you see the full URL of a shortened link. Want to discover a few more? Just keep reading!
See the rest after the break.
Similar to PageAddict for Firefox, Chrome plugin StayFocusd helps you block out all of the time-wasting websites to stay focused on the task at hand. The plugin, installed directly to Chrome's toolbar, restricts the amount of time you can spend on any number of websites you elect to block. 
You can control the amount of time you allow yourself on certain sites (the default setting is 10 minutes) and also control the days of the week you're able to access the sites — so Facebook and Twitter can be fair game on weekends, for example.
Each site's controls are completely customizable; you can block entire sites, or you can choose to block only certain site pages. For example, you can block google.com/reader or google.com/pacman (note to self: block that page) without blocking other Google sites like the main search page.
Chrome has been making its way up the browser food chain lately, and during the first I/O keynote yesterday, Google revealed just how many people are actively using Chrome. Can you guess how many?
If you're a big fan of apps on your mobile phone (and who isn't?), then Google is betting you'll dig its newly announced Chrome Web Store, which brings apps and games to your web browser. Similar to iTunes or the Android App Market, developers will be able to build apps to sell through the Chrome Web store across various platforms — Mac, Windows, Linux, along with a number of different browsers (you don't have to use Chrome to access the store) — that will be accessible in 40 different languages in 70 countries to start. The apps are downloaded directly to your browser (like a "super bookmark"), which eliminates problems you'll find when building applications for different operating systems.
What kind of apps can you download? Well, if Plants vs. Zombies is one of your addictions, you can download that, or you can play LEGO Star Wars on your home computer. Can't argue with that. Look for the Chrome Web Store's grand opening later this year.
We've already seen a few sweet little ads for Google's Chrome browser, but this time they're making things a bit more scientific to display just how speedy Chrome is. Using a few contraptions like potatoes, paint, a sound machine, and electricity, Google puts Chrome to the test and demonstrates that the browser is actually faster than the speed of sound when searching the web. Don't believe me? Check out the two-minute video below, then keep reading to check out a behind-the-scenes look at how the commercial was made. Both are pretty interesting, if not totally geeky.
To see the second video, just keep reading.
It just became the third most popular Web browser, and now Chrome is even more customizable. A new Chrome extension allows you to view the number of unread messages in your Gmail inbox. Think of Chrome extensions as apps for your browser, or small shortcuts that allow you to access content or receive new information quickly. The Gmail extension adds a small icon to the right of the address bar in Chrome, displaying the number of unread messages. You can also access your inbox by clicking on the icon.
Chrome extensions are currently available for Windows users only; though Google says that extensions are coming to the Mac version of Chrome soon. To download the Gmail extension — and more than 2,000 others — visit the extensions gallery.
Just over a year after its launch, Google Chrome has made quite an impact on your Internet browsing. Taking over the title as third most used browser from Safari, Chrome users now inhabit nearly five percent of the browser market, according to a recent report. Although Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser commands over 60 percent of Internet usage, and Firefox takes a 24 percent market share, Chrome has been a fast riser to the top of the browser game.
I use Chrome on a regular basis on my home computer (although it is still a little buggy), but I find it an easy transition to make from Firefox (the browser I use most at work). But what about you — are you using Google Chrome? What do you like or dislike about it?
