14 DAY TRIAL // Google Chrome 21 has now landed in the stable channel. Few releases come with a long list of new features these days, since a major one comes out every six weeks. The latest addition to the Chrome family brings support for the getUserMedia API which enables websites and web apps to access things like webcams and mics.
Support for Retina display laptops is also new, and there is better support for gamepads with the addition of a JavaScript API, and better Cloud Print integration.
The getUserMedia API is fast getting wide support. Opera 12 debuted a few weeks ago and was the first to incorporate the feature. In the meantime, both Google and Mozilla have been working on their own implementations.
Chrome 21 is now the second stable browser to come with getUserMedia. Firefox is getting support in a few months, when the current Nightly lands in the stable channel.
"The getUserMedia API is the first step in WebRTC, a new real-time communications standard which aims to allow high-quality video and audio communication on the web," Google wrote.
"The getUserMedia API also allows web apps to create awesome new experiences like Webcam Toy and Magic Xylophone," it explained.
As Google notes, getUserMedia by itself is more of a gimmick than a useful feature. But hardware support needs testing and getUserMedia is a prerequisite for WebRTC, which will enable native video and audio calls within the browser.
Also new in Chrome 21 is a JavaScript API for gamepad support. Chrome already supports gamepads for Native Client games, but the JavaScript API opens up the feature to the web at large. You're going to be able to use your gamepad in a lot more Chrome games and even with websites.
Finally, Chrome 21 comes with a high-resolution version of the UI. For now, that's only usable and needed on Retina display MacBooks. Note that this is only about the UI, the web itself is far from ready for these high resolutions.