I'm sure it was only a few months ago when Google first announced Chrome to an unsuspecting web audience. Ok, it wasn't months, it was a year ago, but they've released three major revisions in a single year. At this rate, they'll over take Firefox 4 which isn't planned for the end of 2010. Perhaps the plan. Maybe web users might think Google Chrome v4 is the more advanced browser as it's excelled above Firefox, which is stuck at v3.x. Unlikely, Opera is now at v10 and it still struggling to take ground from Firefox and Opera.

Google Chrome v3 is now available and it does ship with some new interesting features. For example, there's full support for the latest HTML5 standard. It's ultra-fast as you would expect, as well as shipping with a themed user-interface. Other highlights included an improved tab page when you open a new tab and a few minor enhancements. No Mac version though, which some people had expected for the Chrome v3 release.

Google Chrome v3 link.

The hype over Firefox has resulted in the browser becoming the number one alternative to Internet Explorer. Indeed, for most people, Internet Explorer isn't even a viable option. The first thing they do, after installing Windows, is to make sure Firefox is on their computer. With the various synchronisation tools, it's easy to download the browser and then get your favourite bookmarks, passwords and other settings installed, almost immediately.

However, many overlook the rather fantastic Opera, which isn't a new browser. Indeed, the latest Opera 10 for Windows and for Mac was released this week and this release is worthy of your attention. The user-interface has had a makeover for the latest version and looks brilliant on both the Windows and Mac version. Indeed, it's closer to the planned interface overhaul for the forthcoming Firefox 3.7, which won't be here until next year. Other new features include a turbo mode, which will speed up your web browsing on slow broadband connections, visual tabs and speed dial visual bookmarks.

Opera 10 for Windows and for Mac links.

We're looking forward to the new version of Opera. It's a superb, fast and well-designed web browser that makes using the Internet a breeze. The only downside for us is that you can't synchronise your bookmarks and other information, through a third-party synchronisation tool such as Xmarks, which supports Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and now Google Chrome ( in beta). No Opera support yet, which is a shame. Would have been good to use Opera at home, with either the standard IE or Firefox browser at work.

Opera 10 RC is now available and ships with a host of new features. It still doesn't contain the Unite features which are being kept separate within the beta Unite browser, which is available from Opera Labs.

Note that Opera 10 is officially released on the 1st of September. We'll write a more substantial blog entry then, detailing the new features.

Opera 10 RC for Windows and for Mac links.

There are a handful of websites that we tend to visit everyday. These can include our favourite social networking sites, our Google Mail account, football forum and others. We open our web browser, find the site and then open various tabs to skim through the information. However, for many situations, a web browser is overkill for doing simple such as using Google Mail. All the controls are within the browser interface and could be self-contained within a simple user-interface.

Fluid for Mac 0.9.6 is a simple free tool that will enable you to turn your favourite websites in to a dockable application that you can use to launch within its own window. You can give your site specific browser it's own dock icon and even add an option to your menu, so you can see, for example, a drop down list of the latest news or RSS feed.

Fluid for Mac link.

Spend weeks or months configuring Firefox, downloading and testing various add-ons, themes and adding your favourite bookmarks, only to find that a system crash or drive failure means you lose the whole lot need to start all over again. It is a problem. As our web browser is becoming the central hub for our system, if you rely on your browser to store all your most private information, then if you lose this data then you have to run around and find all this information and hope you've written it down on paper.

Firefox Backup Extension 6.2 is one solution and it's free. It will backup your preferences, your download and installed extensions, cookies, passwords and much more. Better still, you can then restore the data on another computer, so it's a good tool for rolling out the same configuration across multiple computers.

Firefox Backup Extension link.

Nearly every one of us will use the same web browser across multiple computers. Problem is, add a bookmark to your laptop-based Firefox, turn on your desktop and the bookmark won't appear automatically. You need a system for synchronising this information across your computers. Up until recently we were big fans of Foxmarks. This company completely re-focused, renamed themselves Xmarks and released updated Firefox add-ons. At the same time, Mozilla Weave was slow and sometimes would hijack your browser whilst it was synchronising data with the remote server.

Mozilla Weave 0.5 has been released and the roles have reversed. Whilst Xmarks keeps coming back with an 'error 3' warning when trying to sync our data, Mozilla Weave 0.5 works perfectly and is faster than it's ever been. We've now ditched Xmarks and moved across and haven't looked back since. Don't forget you can also use Mozilla Weave to synchronise your Firefox preferences, passwords and other key info.

Mozilla Weave 0.5 and Xmarks for Firefox links.

For anyone who has tested the latest beta of Opera 10, you'll have noticed the polished user-interface, including a much-improved Mac version. It's made the current Firefox 3.5 interface look dated. Indeed, we have the Chromifox extension installed and this makes the plain Firefox interface look rather basic.

However, quick on the heels of the Firefox 3.7 visual previews, Mozilla have released some visual ideas for v4. These included an all-glass user-interface option for Vista or Windows 7 users, a unified stop/refresh icon and a more polished design. Problem is that Firefox v4 is going to be a a long-time from release, so don't expect it any time soon. For now, you might be better off seeing if there are any Firefox themes, such as the Firefox 3.7 Mockup Redux 2.5.

Firefox 3.7 Mockup Redux 2.5 link.

Although we put this online yesterday, it's the big release we've all been waiting for. Firefox 3.5 is here and it's been worth that wait. Our immediate thoughts was that this appears far faster than the previous Firefox 3.0.x. Pages loads more quickly, images render more smoothly and so on. The latest version also supports more of the latest web standards, including HTML 5.

Mozilla Firefox 3.5 is available for download in 70 languages and across multiple platforms, so you can grab a version for Windows as easily as you can for your Mac. It ships with a private browsing mode which will enable you to surf the Internet, without leaving a trace behind on your computer. Ideal if you share a desktop computer between family members. You'll need to check whether you favourite add-ons are compatible with the new version.

Mozilla Firefox 3.5 link.

We've been using Firefox 3.5 for a month or so now and you wouldn't know it was only a release candidate. Very stable, very fast and it's going to be a key release when it's available - and the rumour is tomorrow, the last day in June. However, if you have multiple editions of Firefox 3.5 installed across various computers, you'll want to keep your bookmarks, preferences and other information in sync.

Mozilla Weave 0.4 for Firefox is an updated version of the Firefox synchronisation tool that has always made sure your bookmarks and passwords are in sync, but the latest version will now synchornise your preferences. It also will give you the same identity support (based on Open ID) across your editions of Firefox, so you can quickly access a secure web page, so you don't have to remember your login information.

Mozilla Weave link.

We're big fans of Opera 10. Although we can't use it at work - it isn't supported by our CMS - it's a key browser and works well on our Mac laptop. Safari seems lightweight in comparison. The latest Opera Unite, which we put online yesterday, now enables you to take your Opera 10 to a new level. You can use it to share date, files, photos and other information with other users. This means a small team, who chose to use Opera Unite as their primary browser, could share their files and work. But should they?

Opera Unite doesn't use any encryption to protect your most important data. Now, for most people this is going to be fine. But if you wanted to share documents which contain information about how to admin your server or company accounts, then you may want to think again. On top of this, Opera Unite requires you to open and use an Opera account, where the data goes via their proxy server. You have to agree to this via the Opera Unite EULA and that you won't use the service to share data where you do not own the content (or a license to share your files). In theory, Opera could track the files and content you are sharing as it goes via their servers.

Opera Unite for Windows link.