Google Chrome Beta adds plug-in free webcam support

Google has released a new beta for Chrome browser, primarily for web-developers, to test and try out two new APIs. These are the getUserMedia API and the Gamepad JavaScript API, both of which set the stage for a complete implementation of WebRTC with multimedia options. Google is one of the developers working on WebRTC, which is an open framework for communication over the web, and is currently under consideration to become part of the HTML5 standard.

The getUserMedia API allows web apps direct access to a user’s camera and microphone through the web browser, without using any plug-ins. This API can interact with CSS filters and WebGL to apply effects on the captured video. Google has posted a handful of demo videos that showcase some crazy effects created using this method. On the other hand, the Gamepad JavaScript API is a lot less exciting, but perhaps far handier as it gives developers direct access to input from a gamepad installed on the system. This Chrome Beta release also integrates Google Cloud Print into the browser.