Google yesterday shifted Chrome 6 into beta, a move that puts the browser one step closer to a stable release.

Chrome 6 -- specifically version 6.0.472.33 -- includes speed and stability improvements, Google said, as well as a tweaked user interface and enhanced synchronization of bookmarks, passwords and other data among machines running the browser.

In a post to the Chrome blog, Google engineer James Hawkins claimed that Chrome 6 is approximately 15% faster in rendering JavaScript than its predecessor.

The browser, already known for a sparse design that some rivals have started to mimic, also received a minor makeover. Some elements were shifted -- the bookmark icon has been moved to the right of the address bar -- and others were compressed. Chrome now sports a single menu, down from two earlier, that hides all but the most basic browsing command, such as page forward, page backward and page reload.

More: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9180616/