Google Chrome 18 features enhanced graphical capabilities, available now

Google has updated Chrome to version 18, bringing improved graphics performance to its increasingly popular web browser. It's enabled GPU acceleration for Canvas 2D (a graphical element of HTML5) for the first time in a stable release. The new addition should improve gaming and web app performance dramatically, while reducing the strain on your CPU. Google has also turned its attention to the WebGL graphics standard — it's licensed TransGaming's SwiftShader rasterizer, a software-based solution that allows older computers to access basic 3D web content. SwiftShader's benefits won't be felt by most of us, as it will disable itself on more modern machines, but it's certainly a welcome addition to Chrome's ever-expanding feature set. For those of you with Chrome already installed, your browser should've already auto-updated to version 18, but if you're looking to try it for the first time, you can find the download link in the source below.