Browsers have evolved far beyond their original mission of providing one-way windows into the world wide webosphere. Indeed, as more services migrate to the cloud, browsers only reinforce their new role as multi-function boxes of digital magic.
All the important Internet things are available in browser form—everything fromcommunication tools to productivity suites to disposable escapist entertainment. It's almost like the browser has become an OS in and of itself. In fact, you could say that's exactly where things are headed.
While there is plenty of debate out there as to which browser is best, for my money it's the sleek, minimalist package known as Google Chrome. And the data shows that most users agree: According to the latest numbers from W3Schools, 58.4 percent of people are using Chrome, more than double the next highest, Firefox (25 percent), with IE (9.4 percent) and Safari (4 percent) trailing far behind.
These numbers are based on visitors to W3's site, so they aren't a definitive representation of the greater population; Net Applications gave Chrome about 18 percent of the global browser market share for April, for example. But numbers aside, Chrome is a popular browser, and if you're not using it, you should at least consider checking it out.
One of the reasons for Chrome's popularity is its clean, polished UI and its versatility. While Chrome's abilities multiply greatly when you consider the near-bottomless library ofextensions, there's a bounty of stock functionality embedded all throughout Chrome's guts that you may not even know about.
Click through our slideshow for a list of 19 hidden tricks hidden inside Chrome that you really need to be using.
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