Probably the coolest thing about Google Chrome is it's ability to turn an ordinary web page into an application. When you turn a page into an application, it protects it from browser crashes in other windows, it creates shortcuts directly to the page/application, and it gets rid of a lot of the browser chrome that takes up screen real estate. So for things like web mail and web applications, this is really great.

To turn a site into a Chrome application, open the browser and navigate to the site/page that you want to be the starting point when you open this application. Then click on the page icon in the upper right corner of the browser and select "Create application shortcuts..." from the menu. You'll be asked where you want shortcuts created: the desktop, start menu, and Quick Launch bar are all options. Choose the ones you want and click "OK".

Once you do this, you'll get a special browser window when you start this application.