I noticed today that Mozilla have made an ‘Aurora‘ (or pre-beta) build of Firefox available, meaning that they now have nightly, pre-beta, beta and release versions of their browser available. I guess this is all part of their plan to increase the release frequency for new versions of Firefox.

Of course, having multiple releases of the browser at varying stages of readiness is an idea that Google Chrome has been using for quite some time now. And as for frequent releases – the dev channel of Chrome is currently on version 12, with major new versions being pushed out every 6 weeks!

There’s no denying the influence that Chrome has had on every other browser. The UI layout is now widely mimicked - as is the technical infrastructure that makes it the quickest and most secure web browser. Also, Chrome has ensured that web standards and infrastructure are moving at the same rapid pace as when I first got an internet connection in the mid 90′s.

This display of affection for Chrome has been inspired by my use of a Cr-48 at work (it still feels awesome that ‘at work’ means ‘at Google’!). Chrome OS is looking good so far and it’s made me realise how rarely I need a desktop operating system while I’m not actually sat at my desk. I no longer have to worry about losing files – everything is stored on the web. The laptop itself is super-light and has a battery that lasts for a whole working day if I need it to. Also – it was kind of magic the first time I signed in to see all my bookmarks and settings already configured, after it seamlessly synced with both my google.com and gmail.com accounts. The only negative so far has been its shoddy response to multitouch scrolling on the trackpad.

Like tablets, I don’t see Chrome OS as a replacement for a ‘main computer’ but for portable computing I am much preferring it to the Xoom. I’ll write a post about my Xoom at some point – I’m a big fan of that, and especially Honeycomb, but I don’t think tablets are laptop-replacements and this post is already too long.

Of course, another thing about both Chrome OS and Android is that they’re open source software. As people fragment away from using Windows on their desktops and laptops, I think it’s awesome that two of their main choices are open source operating systems.

Yeah that's right, we have Segways.

I’ve been at Google for a week now although it really doesn’t seem like it. I’ve been meaning to get some photos but I keep forgetting (apart from the segway ones from a few hours ago) so here are the edited highlights:

I’ve explored the whole office space – taking in the Liquid Galaxy Google Earth booth, pods for having naps, the gym (I didn’t stay in there very long), the beach huts, the sushi bar, the deli and the main cafe serving 3 amazing meals every day. I also have the most kitted out desk I’ve ever had – MacBook Pro, a beast of a workstation, dual 24″ monitors and a nerf gun with a laser sight. Well, I say “laser” but a more accurate description would be “weak red LED behind a lens”.  Oh, and at the end of the week I rode round the office on a Segway! I even avoided breaking my legs, unlike one unlucky colleague a few months ago (notice the missing grip on the left-hand Segway – the other casualty of that incident).

The work itself is crazy. So many different systems, acronyms, technologies and products but I’m not allowed to talk about all that in public so I won’t…

I can’t believe it was nearly 6 months between blog posts. The flurry of activity that started this blog, and my iPhone development hobby, was ended pretty quickly when Google asked me to interview. I may blog about that at some point (I have plenty of notes), but it means asking for permission from the recruiters as I may have clicked through a Non-Disclosure Agreement without realising it.

Suffice to say, it took up about 4 months of my spare time thanks to a very drawn out interview (and re-interview) process. It ended badly in that I didn’t get a job, but other positives came from it too…