LIVE From Google I/O, Day 2: The Web Rules - Forbes

It’s all about the Web here on Day 2 of Google‘s annual I/O developer conference. In contrast to yesterday’s focus on the search giant’s Android mobile operating software, today will focus on the power of the Web, in particular Google’s Chrome operating software for cloud computing.

There’s another keynote whose highlights I will liveblog below, though it’s hard to see how Google will outdo yesterday’s skydiving demo of Google Glass wearable computers. No doubt Google has reserved a surprise or two, though. Update: The big announcement is Google Compute Engine, a rival to Amazon Web Services, which powers many websites.

And we’re underway once again with VP Vic Gundotra. Sundar Pichai, senior VP of Chrome and Apps, will be the main presenter today. He’s talking mostly about Chrome and cloud applications. We are in the middle of a revolution, he says, in which Web traffic and usage is rising rapidly thanks in large part to mobile devices.

Now Chrome has 310 million active users, he says. Also: Some 60 billion words typed and a terabyte downloaded every day. He claims that Chrome (the browser) is the most popular worldwideâ€"really? Chrome was built for a better Web. We want it to act as a layer for services across all your devices.

Brian Rakowski, VP of Chrome, comes on to demonstrate the notion that so many of us use so many different devices that a common layer (Chrome, Google clearly hopes) is so important for users to get the most out of the Web. He shows how he does the various work and other activities during the day on various devices, carrying his recent actions, including tabs and bookmarks, from a laptop to a smartphone to the new Nexus 7 tabletâ€"all synced via the Chrome browser. The developer crowd is eating this up.

People have been asking to use Chrome on your iPhoneâ€"and so, in a big reveal, later today Chrome will roll out in the iTunes App Store. But we get a sneak peek now. “It’s a silky smooth experience,” he says, with easy dragging of browser windows and the like.

There’s also Chrome for the iPadâ€"the size difference requiring a different user interface. And it’s synced with other computers. More cheers.

Pichai says the overall vision is to provide a personalized Web you can reach anywhere consistently. This applies to work as well. Some stats: 5 million businesses have “gone Google” with Google Apps, along with 45 states and 66 of the top 100 universities. He takes a jab at Microsoft‘s Sharepoint software used for people to share material and collaborate online.

Google Drive is a key part of the company’s longstanding attempt to capture more business among big enterprises. In 10 weeks, more than 10 million users have signed up for Google Drive (though if you already use Google Docs, it seems to happen almost automaticallyâ€"or it did for me). Now it will be available on Apple‘s iOS devices. One nice feature: You can search using words to find photos that aren’t labeled; type in “pyramids,” and with optical recognition, you will see any photos with a pyramid in them. Google Drive is also now on Chrome OS.

And here’s another fairly big announcement: Today, Google Docs works for editing offline. This has been a big concern of people who worry about not having or losing a connection. Changes are saved to a local cache if you’re offline and synced automatically when a connection returns. Google is also working on offline Presentations and Spreadsheets, but those aren’t available yet.

Pichai says Google is updating the Chrome OS on its Chrome computers about every six weeks. He calls it the “(always) new computer.” And another reveal: Google will make Chromebooks available in 100 Best Buy stores across the U.S., with other retailers coming later this year.

Urz Holzle, senior VP of technical infrastructure, comes on to talk about the infrastructure behind all these Chrome applications. Today, he’s announcing Google Compute Engineâ€"this is the cloud computing service everyone expected, the one that competes with Amazon Web Services and others. It’s now open in limited preview.

Overall, over 770,000 cores, or computer processor units, will be available to tap into, Holzle says. “This truly is the best time ever to develop for the Web,” he says.