Each Chrome extension has its own process?

After an initial dislike, I started using Google Chrome again on my notebook, but to my chagrin found that it was an even bigger memory hog than the trusty ol’ Firefox! Whilst with 3 of my oft-used sites open in Firefox it was at 96k of memory, Chrome with just the one tab open had 8 different chrome.exe processes in the task manager, with a combined memory footprint of 118k

Now I know Chrome creates a separate process for each tab but with only 1 tab, why 8 processes? I started killing the processes, starting with the least memory usage first and look what I noticed:

Each Chrome Extension creates its own process! And each Chrome Plugin creates its own process! What the…

I don’t know if the multi-process architecture is the inherent “good stuff” about Chrome but yes, that does help in keeping the browser running even though a related extension or plugin or tab has crashed. But that comes at what price? What if it were an older PC with just the 512 MB of RAM and a not-so-fast processor? Chrome would just C(h)rawl!

[Update]

Found this page at Chromium.org that says:

Chromium extensions will follow a multi-process architecture to share the same kind of stability and security that regular web pages have in Chromium.  All of an extension’s code runs in a single process, separate from the browser

Good idea but dunno how useful it’ll be with older and slower pc’s.

3G Spectrum Auctions Done – Vodafone doesn’t get AP

The auctions for the 3G Spectrum across the various telecom circles in India concluded today with the Government garnering a whopping ~70,000 Crores in bids. A total of nine companies participated in the bidding for 3G spectrum – all of the biggies and the wannabes in the scorchingly growing Indian Telecom Market. But only seven came away with a grin, and a huge bill to foot!

A clutch of 13 circles were bagged by Bharti Airtel and Aircel whereas 12 circles went to Reliance Communications. Idea Cellular got 10 circles, Vodafone and Tata Teleservices 9 each whilst STel got 3 circles. Etisalat DB and Videocon were left empty-handed.

However, due to the extremely high-profile nature of the circles it bagged, Bharti would have to shell out nearly Rs 12,300 crore for the 13 circles whereas Aircel, which also got 13 circles owes only around Rs 6,500 crore. Vodafone would pay approx. Rs 11,600 crore, Reliance Communications approx Rs 8,600 crore, Tata Teleservices approx. Rs 5,900 crore and Idea Rs 5,800 crore to pick up the 3G spectrum.

2010 Monaco Grand Prix – Sunday Race – Webber Bulls it around the principality

Mark Webber was untouchable around the principality of Monaco as he aced around the street track and picked up his and Red Bull’s second victory on the trot. It was a perfect race from Webber, as he led from pole-to-finish and took home maximum points. Teammate Sebastian Vettel finished 2nd, making it the second Red Bull 1-2 of the season. Renault’s Robert Kubica finished 3rd, after he was jumped at the start by Vettel. The race finished under the Safety Car, which was brought out as a result of an accident between Lotus’ Jarno Trulli and HRT’s Karun Chandhok.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa finished 4th followed by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton in 5th. Fernando Alonso – who started from the pit-lane after sitting out qualifying – drove a solid race and would have finished 6th but on the last lap, just as the Safety Car pulled in, Michael Schumacher passed him into taking the place. Alonso eventually was classified 7th, ahead of Nico Rosberg in 8th places with the two Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi taking home the last of the points in 9th and 10th respectively.

Update: Michael Schumacher’s overtaking move over Fernando Alonso was deemed illegal and he was penalised by adding 20 seconds to his race time, which drops him to 12th and moves up Alonso to 6th place. Rosberg, Sutil and Liuzzi move up a place with Sebastian Buemi moving upto 10th place to take the last point.

It was a right dramatic start for the Monaco Grand Prix as Williams’ rookie Nico Hulkenberg crashed in the tunnel on the very first lap, bringing out the Safety Car. This, after Webber made a clear start and Vettel got the jump on Kubica. Championship leader Jenson Button had a woeful start as his Mercedes Engine gave way on the second lap and he had to retire. At the restart, Webber maintained his lead as at the back of the grid Alonso made his way up the grid after a quick pit stop to get onto the hard tyres. Almost all the teams ran one-stop strategies as they switched onto the second type of tyre compound and nursed them through the race.

2010 Monaco Grand Prix – Saturday Qualifying – Red Bull & Mark Webber continue red hot streak

Red Bull and Mark Webber continued where they left off in Barcelona as they yet again clinched pole position, this time for the Grand Prix of Monaco. Mark Webber scored his second consecutive pole position and will hope for a second consecutive victory on the twisty and narrow street circuit where the pole-sitter has won all but one of the last six or so races. Renault’s Robert Kubica was surprise second fastest, ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa will start from P4 as he represents his team’s best chance for points and maybe a podium finish as teammate Fernando Alonso crashed out in final practice and was unable to participate in Qualifying. Alonso will start from the end of the grid and any points would be a bonus. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton sits in P5 followed by the Mercedes’ of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher in P6 and P7. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello occupy the P8 and P9 positions with Force India’s Vitantonio Liuzzi completing the top ten.

I missed the live telecast of the qualifying session but am catching up on the repeat as I speak so excuse me for the lack of any descriptions.

Read the Qualifying report at: BBC Sport | Grandprix.com | Formula1.com

Moi Latesht Gadget

I normally don’t splurge on electronic gadgets. The HP Notebook and Sony Ericsson Cellphone were my only gadget-buys in more than five years. But seeing as Mr. EB was coming back from the Queen’s Land after a very long and fruitful stay, I thought to myself: “Ok. So the Pound Sterling is weakening each day. Let me get something via him and then pay back the amount when the Pound is at its lowest ”

Hence, got hold of him to get back two iPods (a 8GB one for moiself and another 32 GB waala for moi bro). Common sense dictated that an iPhone was a waste of money with all the jailbreaking involved and whatnot! And even though I listen to music on my notebook/phone usually, a touch device on which some gaming also can be done was appealing. 

What sweetened the deal a bit more was that I got two iPod dockable speakers with inbuilt FM Radio worth £50 for Free . All of this for a little more than £350. Naaaice…

2010 Spanish Grand Prix – Saturday Qualifying – Webber edges Pole in Red Bull Romp

Red Bull continued their vice-like grip on the pole positions for this season as Mark Webber edged out teammate Sebastian Vettel to grab the pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. The Red Bulls were fastest throughout the three practice sessions and that continued into the Qualifying sessions. Vettel and Webber traded quickest laps throughout the session and whenever Vettel posted a quick time, Webber usurped it during his run.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton grabbed 3rd spot on the grid with a late surge, unseating Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso into 4th place. Jenson Button and the rejuvenated Michael Schumacher will take up the 5th and 6th places on the grid. Renault’s Robert Kubica, Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa and BMW Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi rounded off the top ten positions. Force India’s Adrian Sutil was unlucky as he was holding onto P10 at the fag end of Q2 but Kobayashi usurped him at the last minute.

Q1 saw the usual back-of-the-grid runners getting dropped off, with Hispania’s Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna starting at the back. They were joined by the two Virin’s of Lucas Di Grassi and Timo Glock and the two Lotuses of Jarno Trulli & Heikki Kovalainen and somewhat surprisingly, the Williams of Rubens Barrichello.

Late News: IRCTC sells Air Tickets too!

It’s been doing this since December 2009 but I came to know today itself! What, you ask?

Well, IRCTC (The Indian Railways Catering & Tourism Corporation), the online ticketing provider for the Indian Railways has started its sub-portal, through which one can now buy Airline Tickets as well! And its not just to the fancy tourism n’ pilgrimage places. But to several of the minor and major cities in India.

http://air.irctc.co.in/

The interface is a bit clunky and the search results are all cluttered together. And do they employ 15 year olds to do their html coding etc? Coz the results page is filled with blinking-AND-coloured-text! At least they don’t have that glittery trail following the cursor (my 1990’s Geocities page used to have that )

If any of you peeps have booked air tickets through this AIR IRCTC website, do post in your experiences in the comments. Tx.