On 1st 2nd September 2008 Google launched a new opensource browser project named Chrome.

UPDATE: You can download the beta project from the Google Chrome website.

Instead of me talking you through the project, Google and Scott McCloud have put together a cool little cartoon.

However, as a brief summary:

• Google Chrome is Google’s open source browser project.
• The browser will use the popular Webkit HTML rendering engine used in Safari and Adobe AIR.
• The browser will include a brand new JavaScript Virtual Machine called V8.
• The browser will include Gears to allow developers to enhance the user experience.
• Google Chrome will use special tabs, like more traditional browsers, but set above the address and menu bar.
• Each browser tab will run on its own process. If one tab fails for some reason, the whole browser will not need to be restarted, losing valuable work or tabs. This is similar to functionality found in Internet Explorer 8.
• The browser has an address bar which includes a more intuitive auto-completion feature called ‘omnibox’. It is said to be less ‘irritating’ than current auto-complete/suggest functionality common to Firefox 3 or Google Suggest.
• As a default homepage Chrome presents you with a kind of speed dial feature, similar to the one found in Opera.
• Chrome has a privacy mode, which allows you to create an incognito window and nothing that occurs in that window is ever logged on your computer. Again, this is similar to functionality found in Internet Explorer 8.
• Web apps can be launched in their own browser window without address bar and toolbar, much like Mozilla’s Prism project.
• To fight malware and phishing attempts, Chrome constantly downloads lists of harmful sites.

(Click on the images to see a larger view)

You can find out more information from Google’s blog post on the subject.