14 DAY TRIAL // Google has pushed a new build to the Chrome dev channel with the usual number of small fixes and tweaks. It's only a minor update but if you want to be on the bleeding edge, you should grab the latest build, Google Chrome 4.0.249.4, from the download link below. The updated version fixes a number of issues across all platforms but the extensions gallery hinted at lately still isn't here.
Anthony Laforge, Google Chrome Program Manager, listed the bug fixes that apply to all platforms, “Some extensions crash after installing 4.0.249.0. Reload on crash infobar causes more crashes.” On Windows, the update “[f]ixed top windows crasher. Fixed a crashing race condition in bookmark synchronization. Make the character encoding indicator visible again on Windows.”
Mac users finally get Silverlight support and some bookmark bar improvements and “[p]asting some text into the Omnibox should no longer crash Google Chrome” on both Mac and Linux. With a big extensions announcement likely coming soon, the dev team is putting some finishing touches ahead of the broader launch like fixing the tab traversal in popups on Windows and several other bugs.
Finally, Google wanted to make sure users realize the fact that the new extension links in the fresh tab page that don't work are not a bug and the issue should be fixed soon. When the links first showed up, clicking on them would just redirect users to a Google Chrome landing page but a couple of days ago, a “place-holder” page was set up just saying “coming soon…”
Google isn't revealing anything for now but an extensions gallery is a sure thing at this point in time after being rumored for a few days. This is an important move for the company as extensions have proven to be among the biggest reasons for Firefox's success and the lack of an add-on ecosystem for Chrome has been keeping many from switching browsers. Chrome has had some support for extensions for several months now but without an easy way to get them and a very small selection, most users didn't even know they were available.
The latest releases of Google Chrome for Windows are available for download here.