The nice thing about Google Chrome's auto-update feature is that almost all users are running the latest version of the software. This is really important for web developers, who no longer have to worry that a large number of users haven't upgraded from Chrome 2 or Chrome 3. It's not necessary to test a site in multiple versions of Google Chrome and it's safe to use features added in the latest version of the browser.
Gmail's help center lists the supported browsers and includes the minimum version number required next to each browser, except Google Chrome.
Unfortunately, even if Chrome installs the latest version, you can't use it until you restart the browser. Google started to add a little orange dot next to the wrench icon and show messages like: "Old school's not cool. Google Chrome is woefully out of date because it hasn't crashed or restarted in a while. Restart Chrome to apply update."
Printing is one of Google Chrome's weakest points. Google's browser still doesn't offer print preview and, until recently, you couldn't print selected text. In Google Chrome 6 for Windows, you can select some text and some images from a web page, click on "Print" in the unified menu and choose the "selection" option.
In other Chrome-related news, Chrome 7 beta will be released next Monday and print preview has been pushed back to the next release (Chrome 8). "Because the M7 feature freeze was on Aug 30, moving this to M8. Each cycle is six weeks."
Last month, I mentioned that Google Chrome tested a feature that automatically loads web pages when you type in the address bar. Since then, the feature has been added to Chrome Labs in the Dev Channel and has already graduated from Chrome Labs.
A recent Chromium build added instant search to the Options dialog, but the feature is disabled by default. Here's the official description:
"Instant lets you view web pages and search results faster than ever. With Instant enabled, most web pages begin loading as soon as you type a URL in the Omnibox, before you hit Enter. In addition, if supported by your default search engine, search results appear instanly as you type queries in the Omnibox, and in-line predictions help guide your search. Becasuse new search results are requested each time you press a key, anything you type into the Omnibox may be logged as a search query by your default search engine."