For an internet browser, I’ve always been using firefox. I’ve tried switching to other things like chrome or Opera, but Firefox is just always the best. A few nights ago, my friend sent me something about a new browser called RockMelt. The message was clearly pre-written by the program, so it must have been an invite sent through the browser. My friend’s pretty smart, so I trusted him and downloaded the browser.

RockMelt: Sometimes we like to pretend we’re our own browser, but we’re really just google chrome.

RockMelt is chrome. Same tabs, same download bar thing that pops up out the bottom, and same incredible speed (except downloads. Those are slow.) The only difference is that it has two bars on the sides. On the left, you have all your facebook friends that are online. You can click on their icons to start facebook chat or see their status, or you can click your own picture on top and update your status, change your chat status (online, offline), or log out. On the left, there’s a button you can use to send RockMelt invites (you get three, and you can only send them to facebook friends.) Below that is the facebook icon, and a number. The number is how many updates are on your news feed, and you can click that you see them all. Below that is your notifications, below that is twiiter, and below that is an icon you can use to add your own icons to the bar on the right.

Because little bars on the sides make everything better! *cough*except downloads*cough*

The bottom line is that RockMelt has great speed (because it’s chrome.) but the download speeds could be better (because it’s chrome.) The parts that actually make RockMelt it’s own browser, the bars on the sides, are great. If you’re one of those people that has a facebook tab open in the background, find a friend who can give you an invite. And yes, I wrote this on RockMelt.