People who have put off giving Chrome a try now have several more reasons to set aside their usual browser for at least an hour or two.  Today, three significant updates – Chrome Instant, the Chrome Web Store, and WebGL – all graduated from the beta channel to the stable build.

Chrome Instant will be the most helpful feature for ordinary users.  A post on the Google Chrome Blog explained, "With Chrome Instant ( la Google Instant), web pages that you frequently visit will begin loading as soon as you start typing the URL.  (‘Look, Mom – no enter key!’).  If supported by your default search engine, search results appear instantly as you type queries in the omnibox."

Just enable Chrome Instant (in the "basic options" menu) if you want to try this out.

Meanwhile, people who like to sort through lots of options in search of something special may appreciate the Chrome Web Store.  The video below explains a little about it.

Finally, WebGL more or less translates to "hardware-accelerated 3D graphics," and if that piques your interest, a few demos are available here.

The people behind Internet Explorer and Firefox might have to start watching their backs more than ever due to these changes.