Google announced the availability of Chrome 21?today, a new version of the increasingly popular Web browser. It includes a number of improvements and several noteworthy new features, including proper support for Apple’s retina display.
Under the hood, Chrome 21 brings official support for the getUserMedia JavaScript API, a feature that allows Web applications to access the user’s webcam and microphone. We first reported on the getUserMedia?API back in January when Google originally introduced experimental support in the developer channel.
In that article, we demonstrated how to use the feature to build a simple photo booth Web application. At the time, the feature could only be accessed by launching the developer build with a special flag. In Chrome 21, the feature is now available out of the box.
When a Web application attempts to access a camera or microphone stream, the browser will display a prompt requesting the user’s permission to proceed. The bar that displays the prompt will also allow the user to select which devices to use for audio and video. This makes it possible to, for example, indicate that you want to use a USB headset for audio.
Loading comments...
