Google I/O started today by demonstrating improvements to the “Chrome” browser. Improvements on the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and demonstrations of online applications, such as Tinkercad, started off the keynote. They spoke of the success of the “Chrome Web Store”, announced that the store would give the developer 95% of the revenue (keeping only 5%) and that Angry Birds would soon be available, for the first time, in a browser (it will have some exclusive levels, too).

They revealed that in addition to software developers embracing “Chrome”, motion graphics designers seem to also want to utilize it: an interactive video project titled “3 Shades of Black” was demoed with a great frame rate. There was also a sprite demonstration (is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene), showing the vast improvement of the new version of Chrome in terms of speed.

Next was the reveal of “Chrome Books,” a new portable computer that runs everything from the web using “Chrome OS”. Google is betting that many of the tasks that are being done on laptops can be done with smaller, more inexpensive devices that run everything from the cloud (almost nothing is stored on the device, it is all accessed via the internet). Features such as “instant on”, built-in security and no need for backing up your computer make “Chrome Books” a compelling idea. It was also revealed that there is a “jailbreak” mode, for people to tinker with the OS and hardware.

It will connect to the services mentioned yesterday (YouTube Premium and Google Music Beta) as well as other applications such as Netflix. In addition to the online features, there are offline applications: Gmail, Google Calender and Google Docs, as well as applications built for The New York Times and The Huffington Post.

The two flagship devices were also revealed: The Samsung Wi-Fi “Chrome Book” will cost $429, the 3G version will cost $499 and the Acer “Chrome Book” will cost $349 – easily rivaling MacBook Air’s price-point. They’ll be available on June 15th in the USA, The UK, The Netherlands, Spain, France, Germany and Italy.

“Chrome OS” was also advertised as a great tool for businesses where a main web console can manage subordinate consoles – this system would cost $28 per month/user. A similar system would also work well for school and government implementation – that system would cost users $20 per month/console. These two subscription plans include warranty, replacement and auto-upgrade.

It will be interesting to see how this affects the market. Do you think this is a competitor to the MacBook Air?