Google Chrome Canary 10 - Designed To Mess With

There are numerous versions of Google's Chrome web browser that have been released for different audiences.  Most often mentioned here have been the 'Stable', 'Beta', and 'Dev' versions.

Earlier this year, Google released a separate version of Chrome (for early, early adopters) they call Canary.

The difference between Chrome Canary and the others is that it can be run along side any of the other versions ... without changing them.

That's where today's barrage of announcements from Google comes in, and how you can try them out without effecting your current settings in Chrome.

If you missed any of this press from Mountainview, there's a whos who of coverage at Techmeme.

An update on the development of the much anticipated Chrome OS (along with a 'test notebook'), a re-launch of the Chrome App Web Store, and Chrome itself with a new 'Crankshaft' V8 compiler, taking the browser to yet another speed benchmark.

(The Official Google post can be found here and a great rundown from Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Land is here).

Back to Chrome Canary.  Earlier today, I tapped the Canary 'wrench' (at the riht top of the browser), then 'about' and the browser updated to version 10.0.603.3.  Significant or not, this is the first time we've seen a 'Ten' in any release of Chrome.

Crankshaft, a new compliation infrastructure for V8 is already onboard for testing.

More importantly, you can test out the apps in the Chrome Web Store while leaving your existing Chrome install just the way it is.  Canary will run separately and even, in most cases, simultaneously with other versions of Chrome.

I had a lot of fun trying out various apps this afternoon using Canary.  Printing from anywhere to your home and office printer has been made easier. Tweetdeck has a new web app and much more is in store at Google's App Store.

In the past two days, Google has just gone from 'throwing stuff at the wall' to see what sticks (or what users like) .... to taking on just about every competitor in some way while embracing a slew of new 'partners' ...... not the least of which is Verizon who was chosen to deliver 3G to the test laptops in the US.

This launch event was 'Preview 2011' andit looks like an exciting year for developers ..... and all of us!

Edited 1:15 ET 12/8/2010 for content, links