Fridaygram: Chrome tools, Goldberg machines, Lehrer songs

April 13, 2012


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By Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

If you use Google Chrome and you like to live on the edge, you might want to try Google Chrome Canary. There's a new version of Chrome Canary pretty much every day, and it gets the latest features. Of course, because it's built every day, sometimes it’s not very stable and it falls right off the leading edge it's balanced on. That’s why, for safety, you can install and run the stable version of Chrome alongside the Canary version.

Recent Canary builds have added cool new features to the developer tools section of Chrome. Specifically, you can now test mobile environments by simulating different screen sizes and by emulating touch events using the mouse. These features are on the Settings page of developer tools.


If you haven’t visited Chrome's developer tools before, you might be pleasantly surprised at all the nifty things available there. To get to developer tools, click the Wrench in Chrome, then choose Tools > Developer Tools. Have a look around – if you need a guide, see the documentation.

Some developers make hardware too, and a bunch of them competed in this year’s Rube Goldberg Machine Contest at Purdue University. The winning team broke a record – their own record – by building a machine that takes 300 steps to inflate and pop a balloon. When you consider that 14 people spent 5000 hours on this project, you realize the power of creativity mixed with craziness.

Finally, take a moment to celebrate Tom Lehrer's birthday week by listening to some of his classic tunes. As a math professor / musician / parodist, nobody expresses the spirit of Fridaygrams better than Tom Lehrer.


Fridaygram posts are just for fun. They're designed for your Friday and weekend enjoyment. Each Fridaygram item must pass only one test: it has to be interesting to us nerds. Disclaimer: we do not advocating poisoning pigeons, whether in the park or elsewhere.