Apple Mac HQ

No browser has made me completely happy.  Safari is my main browser, but I have tried just about every other browser out there for Mac.  Which means I had to give the Google Chrome beta a test drive.

The first thing I noticed when using Chrome is the placement of the tabs on top, which provides more browsing room.  I have longed for this feature since using it in the Safari 4 beta.  Google’s take on the tab bar is far more intuitive then Apple’s implemention in the Safari 4 beta.  Tabs run in separate process sandboxes in Chrome so one crashed tab will not bring down all the others.

The “Omnibox” combines the URL and search boxes into one.  Search engines can be added to search a specific web site, such as Wikipedia or CNET.

Themes provide a way to drastically alter the look of Chrome.  I didn’t care for any of the current themes, instead opting for the default look which is more “Mac-esque.”

As this is a beta, there a more then a few issues with Google Chrome.  It is missing many features compared to its Windows brethren, including a lack of bookmark syncing between Chrome browsers, no bookmark manager (how is that even possible?), not being able to install extensions, only running in 32-bit mode, and not being able to pin tabs (this option sizes tabs so only favicons show).

The most recent builds of Chromium, the open source project behind Google Chrome, can install extensions and do bookmark syncing, but still lacks a bookmark manager. It is great to see extensions come to another browser besides Firefox.  There are already a large amount of useful extensions that improve sites like Gmail, Google Wave, and Twitter.

Google rushed the Chrome beta so it would be out for Mac users this year, and it shows.  This browser is very stable (I can’t remember the last time it crashed for me) and zippy enough for every day use, but feature-wise is barebones.  It is available now for free.

Just in time for the new year, MacRabbit has released a Public Beta of their highly anticipated text editor, Espresso. Espresso is taking aim at the current integrated web development application leader, Coda.

I’ll spare you the fine details of what Espresso is, but it’s basically a web application suite rolled up into one application. FTP, CSS editing, and text editing in one beautiful package. Espresso is focusing heavily on a plug-in architecture. These plug-ins, called Sugars, greatly extend the functionally of the application.

I’ve briefly played around with the beta and one word describes the application so far, beautiful. Espresso is a gorgeous application that will no doubt have a large following.

You can pre-order the application for a introductory price of 60€. If you already own CSSEdit, the pre-order price is 50€. Espresso requires Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Just a quick note to let everyone know that Cha-Ching 2 Public Beta 1 has now been released. I know that some of my readers are interested in this based on my referral logs and people searching for “Cha-Ching 2.0.  You can read more about the Public Beta and some of the improvements on the beta announcement post on the Midnight Apps blog. One of my big wishes (Import Rules) is currently not implemented in the beta, but is planned for the 2.0 final release.

Among the improvements:

• Split Transactions
• Improved Interface
• New Tag Editor
• Flag Transactions For Review
• Much More

I’ll be posting a first impressions post in the next week or so.  If you’ve downloaded the beta and tried it out, post your thoughts in the comments.

If you like to play with the latest toys, you might want to give Radon a try. Radon is a new Webkit based internet browser that is focusing on speed and speed alone. The website claims that on average it’s 1.5x faster than Firefox, Safari, Camino, and others.

You can visit the developers website to download the latest version. I’ve included a screenshot of the application to give you a peak at what it looks like.

After testing the browser for a few minutes, I can say it’s definitely fast. Pages loaded up noticeably quicker than in my default browser, Camino. I was able to get into Yahoo Mail (Classic version only) and my corporate webmail account (Outlook Web Access) with no problems. Radon lacks a few simple features such as tabs and bookmarks. The entire download for the application is 1.2MB (1.1MB for the Tiger version). The application is beta software, so use whatever caution you typically use with beta software.

As with most beta software, Radon is not bug free. I noticed a few bugs while using the software, but as a quick web browser, it seemed to work just fine. Among the bugs I noticed:

• No bottom application window bar. The resize window corner is just floating in space
• After setting a homepage, the browser doesn’t actually connect to said homepage
• The home button doesn’t seem to do anything when clicked

Radon is fairly impressive when you consider it’s being developed by only two people. The Radon beta is currently freeware. If you really like it, they have a donation button too.