The favicons are certainly functional - as a sufferer of 'too many tabs' syndrome, at the very moment, the only information I have about each of the ~30 tabs cu

The favicons are certainly functional - as a sufferer of 'too many tabs' syndrome, at the very moment, the only information I have about each of the ~30 tabs currently open in my Chrome browser is the favicon. This packs far more information into the 48x48 (or whatever resolution) then trying to squeeze in a title like "Am" or "Ha" for Amazon or HN. (Totally agree on the complexity, seems like it followed the iOS Store model of interface design!)