Google's announcement of its Chrome browser heralds the return of the venerable thin client concept, this time using system OS-level memory management and streamlined browser performance to usher in a new era of next-gen Web applications.

But there's a twist. Chrome couples application development with Google's ethnographic resources, meaning the lines between marketing messaging and interface design will become near-invisible. Services (flickr, myspace, etc) will blend in as quietly branded bits of functionality that will only become more pervasive and robust as "invisible" browsers like Chrome grow in ubiquity.

And with growing numbers of users increasingly creating original content online, the idea of an OS-level, walled garden with Google as its gatekeeper has cultural implications as well.

Here's a short browser rundown:

• Internet Explorer 6 & 7 (largely obsolete)
• Firefox (great open architecture)
• Flock (Firefox + marginal social media bells and whistles)
• Opera (optimized rendering engine)
• ...and now, Chrome: the browser that will erase the word "browser" from our lexicon.