Google Chrome version 28 released

Google Chrome 28 has finally left beta, and is available as a stable public release. The two main changes are the new rendering engine and notification system.

The new rendering engine is a big change for Chrome, but it will be hardly noticeable to users. Chrome previously used Webkit, which according to Google had become unwieldy and difficult to develop with because it’s used on so many platforms (Safari, and the BlackBerry 10 navigator, for example).

Google says it has made Blink much cleaner than Webkit, having removed nine million lines of code. This should result in an even faster and more efficient browser.

Notifications are so far only available on Windows and Chrome OS. These are a way for notifications to appear outside the browser window. Chrome apps and extensions can use these rich notifications, with formatted text and images to provide extra functions without users having to leave the page they are viewing. The notifications can include actions, like responding to an email or taking a web-cam photo. Support for Mac is coming soon.

Download Chrome for Windows or Mac.