Google launches 'Jam with Chrome'

Paul Sawers, The Next Web

Google launched an experimental web app to let users play virtual instruments with friends.

Select from nineteen different instruments
Play with friends in 'Easy' mode or pro mode
App works with newest version of Chrome

Straight out of Google's Creative Lab comes Jam with Chrome, an experimental, interactive Web app that lets friends jam together from different locations…directly from their (Chrome) browser.

Tapping the latest Web tech, including HTML5-based features such as the Web Audio API, Websockets, Canvas and CSS3, Jam with Chrome lets you select nineteen different instruments, including guitars, drums and keyboards. You can switch between them at will.

The app defaults to 'Easy' mode, and there are four different auto-play functions that puts the instruments in the hands of the machines, while pro mode lets you control any of the musical tools with your keyboard. You can invite up to three other friends to participate in your Jam.

This release actually falls two days after the Internet giant rolled out Chrome version 23.0.1271.64, which included support for the Do Not Track (DNT) protocol. It also included track support for HTML5 video, which provides a standard way to add subtitles, captions, descriptions, chapters, and metadata to videos.

The HTML5 browser wars have started to take shape this year, with Mozilla's Firefox launching an HTML5 3D first-person shooter demo back in August, and Microsoft going all-in with a series of HTML5-based browser games aimed at Internet Explorer.

As for Jam with Chrome, this is evidently an experimental toy of sorts for Google, demonstrating the latent potential of HTML5 and Web-based applications. We've had a little play around with it, and it is kinda neat.

This story originally appeared on The Next Web.

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