Items tagged with Browser
As video game streaming from the cloud becomes more prominent, Google is tinkering with the inner workings of its Chrome browser that could potentially benefit the medium. Some of those tweaks are being tested in the Chrome 94 beta, available to try out now for Android, Chrome OS, Linux, macOS, and Windows. One of the challenges with game streaming is dealing with latency. Today's services have gotten better about it, but there is still room for improvement. That is one of the areas Google is looking to address on the browser side of the equation, as far as in-browser game streaming goes. And specifically, with the WebCodecs API. "A low-level codec API would better support emerging applications,...
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There is a security update available for Google's popular Chrome browser, and you should apply it sooner than later. That is because it stomps out more than a dozen bugs, one of which Google says it is aware of being actively attacked the wild. That particular one is a zero-day exploit with a 'High' security rating, and is tracked as CVE-2021-30551. Most of the details of the actively exploited attack vector remain a secret. It is normal for Google to restrict access to bug details (and associated links with more information about them) until a majority of Chrome users are patched and no longer vulnerable. That is the situation with CVE-2021-30551. "We will also retain restrictions if the bug...
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As we slowly say goodbye (and good riddance) to Internet Explorer, the millions of users still using it will need a replacement. Microsoft is trying to make sure that the replacement is its own Microsoft Edge browser based on Chromium. The company is now claiming that Edge will be the best-performing browser on Windows 10, but is it just marketing, or is the browser up to snuff? Today, Microsoft’s Build developer conference kicked off, and with it comes a slew of announcements concerning developers, businesses, and consumers alike. One of the bigger announcements was about the upcoming Edge version 91, bringing some new features to the platform. The first feature is called “startup...
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Google already maintains a fairly rapid release schedule for its Chrome browser, but not fast enough, apparently. Instead of doling out new milestone updates every six weeks, Google plans to shorten the gap in between new browser version updates, to every four weeks. Buckle up folks and keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times, this could get interesting. If looking at the glass half empty, an accelerated release schedule opens the door up to bugs and quirks slipping through the cracks, and perhaps even security flaws. Especially during a pandemic when workers might not be firing on all cylinders, because of disruptive changes in everyday workflow. But let's stay optimistic, shall...
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Google has begun pushing out an update to its Chrome browser to patch a zero-day vulnerability that is potentially being exploited by hackers in North Korea. If you use Chrome—and many people do, as it wields the largest market share of all browsers—you should apply the update at your earliest convenience (and right now, if possible). The update shifts Chrome to version 88.0.4324.150 and is available for builds on Windows, Mac, and Linux. At the moment, Google is restricting access to finer grain details about the zero-day vulnerability "until a majority of users are updated with a fix." However, it has been assigned CVE-2021-21148 with a High security rating. According to what few...
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The most popular web browser around is Google Chrome, and lots of Android users who prefer the browser will be glad to hear the latest news about a new feature. A report indicates that Chrome Canary for Android will get a scheduler feature for downloads. This will allow users to schedule a download to happen when they aren't using their device in the middle of the night or any other time of their choosing. The new feature is called "download later" and offers a download dialog that allows users to choose a specific date and time in the future. The image seen below shows what the interface would look like and provides options to download now, when on Wi-Fi, and an option to pick a date and time....
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Google is looking at ways to extend the battery life of devices running Chrome with significant numbers of tabs open in the background. The search giant has announced that starting with Chrome 86, it will ship a new feature that limits JavaScript timer wake ups in background web pages. Chrome's new feature will be part of the chrome://flags settings area. The new setting will limit the JavaScript timer wake ups in background web pages to one wake-up per minute. Apple also limits wake-ups to the same time frame in Safari. Google will reportedly use the new feature in Chrome for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and Chrome OS. Ahead of rolling out the new feature, Google has been doing some research...
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While the Android ecosystem moved in large part to support 64-bit architectures way back in 2014 with Android 5.0, one of the most commonly used web browsers has lacked 64-bit support. Chrome has only been offered for Android devices in 32-bit form, but that is now changing. Chrome 85 finally brings a 64-bit version of the popular browser to Android devices. Current stable builds are version 83 and version 84, which are both 32-bit apps. However, it has been confirmed that Chrome Dev and Chrome Canary for Android are both 64-bit software. What this means for users is faster operation and consistently better scores on benchmarks like Octane 2.0. Improved performance on benchmarks should equate...
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An interesting new feature is currently rolling out to Chrome users on Android devices that can show the definition of any word in a text passage. When users are reading a text page on the Chrome browser with their Android device, they're able to tap a word to see a definition or knowledge graph information on the bottom of the screen. As of this writing, the feature hasn't widely rolled out. Depending on the word that users tap, the definition could include a small image. Users typically see a picture of the book if they are receiving a word definition. When the word touched is an object or element, small images are offered. When given a dictionary result, users are also presented with a pronunciation...
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Heavy Chrome users know that it can be hard to manage all the tabs that they tend to have open at one time. Google feels the pain and has announced that it's bringing a new way to organize Chrome tabs called tab groups. The feature is available right now in Chrome beta channel and will come to the stable channel at a later date. Google says with tab groups, users will be able to right-click and group tabs together and label them with a custom name and color. Once the tabs are grouped, they can be moved and reordered within the tab strip. The new feature will allow users to group tabs by topic or by job if working on multiple projects at the same time. Google says that some early users have grouped...
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Many people were surprised when Microsoft threw in the towel for its original Edge browser and opted to build an entirely new desktop browser that was powered by Chromium. Microsoft predicted big things for its Chromium-powered browser, and the new Edge is now gaining ground on its competition. Recently, Microsoft Edge passed Mozilla's Firefox to become the world's second most used desktop browser. Data confirming the second-place ranking for Edge came from analytics firm NetMarketShare, and the changing fortunes for Firefox occurred in March. It is currently the second most-used desktop browser in the world, with a market share of 7.59 percent with Firefox very close behind at 7.19 percent....
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Homer Simpson spoke for all of us when he said, "Mmm...crumbled-up cookie things" in Lisa the Greek (Season 3, Episode 14). I mean really, who does not like cookies? Or cookie things? Be that as it may, cookies in browsers are not always so delectable, and so Google is changing the recipe for developers with the release of Chrome 80. Chrome 80 will begin rolling out today, and then starting later in the month, Google will be enforcing a new cookie classification system within the latest stable browser build. This will start with a "small population of users" and then gradually increase to include more Chrome users over time (though Google doesn't specify how fast it plans to ramp things up)....
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After beta testing an experimental feature in Chrome for several months without any major issues, Google decided to flip the switch in its main Stable release, and chaos ensued for hundreds of organizations and thousands of machines. Apparently the experimental feature was not quite ready for prime time, as IT admins suddenly had to contend with a mysteriously broken browser. For those affected, it was not immediately clear what exactly caused all the ruckus. All they really knew was that tabs were suddenly crashing and showing up as blank. This is referred to as a white screen of death (WSOD) error. The issue manifested itself on Chrome browsers running on Windows Server terminal setups and...
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Brave is a company that was co-founded by ex-Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich after he was booted from the organization in 2014. Brave today launched version 1.0 of its browser, and it is available for most platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. Brave is launching into a market that is ripe with competition and is trying to differentiate itself from other browsers by positing itself as a fast option that is focused on privacy with strong default settings. The browser also has cryptocurrency-focused private ads that allow users to support content creators but promises to share no personal information about the user. To encourage users to watch Brave's ads, it has a Brave Rewards...
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Google is putting the final touches on a handful of new features headed to its Chrome browser, and today we get a glimpse of a few of them. For power surfers, the most interesting changes are those that apply to tab management. This is going to be more convenient on both desktop and mobile, with iOS users already having access to a tab grid layout. That same feature will arrive on Android sometime in the "next few weeks." Here is what it looks like on an iPhone running iOS 13 (with the new dark mode in IOS enabled)... You can rearrange tabs, but when it rolls out on Android, users will be able to group them as well. They can do this simply by tapping and dragging a tabbed page onto another within...
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Computer users looking for an alternative browser to Microsoft Edge, Firefox, or Chrome might be familiar with Vivaldi. The big claim to fame for Vivaldi is that the browser is very customizable. Its feature set has carved it out a niche on desktop systems, but there was no version for mobile devices until now. Vivaldi has now launched for Android. Vivaldi for Android is in beta and bills itself as a fully-featured browser for Android; the company's first foray into the mobile browser world. The mobile browser looks just like the regular browser and has the same set of tools integrated. The tools include Panels, Speed Dials, Notes, and Capture. The mobile browser launches in the speed dials section,...
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Well, that was fast—websites have already found another end-around in Google's Chrome browsers to detect when a user is running in a private session, otherwise known as Incognito mode. This is an obvious privacy concern, though realistically, some users are simply ticked at not being able to easily thwart paywalled websites. This was supposed to have been addressed in the recent Chrome 76 update. For several years, websites have been able to leverage the FileSystem API in Chrome to detect if a user is running in Incognito mode. Sites requiring a subscription to access content—otherwise known as a paywall—could therefore block access during a private browsing session. In Chrome...
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There are a multitude of suspicious website spread across the web. Should you stumble across a less-than-upstanding site for whatever reason, the common thing to do is close your browser window and carry on. Google wants to change that, though. Google now wants to know when you run across scammy sites so it can ultimately make the web a safer place for everyone. To facilitate a safer internet, it has launched a new Chrome extension that allows users to report suspicious sites to Safe Browsing. The extension is called the Suspicious Site Reporter. The extension helps to protect users by gathering data on sites the user deems suspicious and reporting them to Google Safe Browsing, which Google says...
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Opera has announced a new browser called Opera GX, which is the world's first gaming browser. The browser allows the user to control their PC CPU and memory usage to make streaming smoother. GX might be the ideal browser for people looking to take advantage of streaming game services, such as Google Stadia, that will be launching soon. The browser is in early access for Windows 10 now, and as of today, gamers can download the browser and try it out. The final version of the browser will launch later this year. Opera GX Control Panel is a new method to control how much of the CPU or RAM the browser is allowed to use. Users can toggle controls chose to devote a portion of RAM to the computer resources...
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At long last, The Tor Project has officially ported its Tor browser to Android devices with the first stable release for Google's open source operating system. It is now available on Google Play and will also make its way to F-Droid within the next day. Previously, Android users had access to test builds, with the first alpha version being released last September. Now after "months of hard work" and listening to feedback from its users, The Tor Project has released Tor Browser 8.5 to Android (alongside a desktop upgrade to 8.5 as well). "Mobile browsing is increasing around the world, and in some parts, it is commonly the only way people access the internet. In these same areas, there is often...
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I’ll Chrome might be the most popular browser out there, but it still has issues that fans want resolved. Google has been working on resolving many of the big complaints that Chrome users have with features like the Never-Slow mode that aims to cut back on the resources that Chrome is notorious for hogging. Google also added a caching feature for Chrome this year that aims to make browsing faster. Another new feature that Google is working on has surfaced, and this one aims to make the browser much cleaner looking for those who tend to surf with lots of tabs open. The feature is called Tab Groups, and it organizes tabs into multiple groups to make them easier to find and work with....
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Chrome is the most popular browser on the market even though it is far from perfect. One of the biggest complaints that Chrome users have is that the browser tends to be very resource intensive using up memory and excess processing cycles that can slow down the entire system. It appears that Google is finally ready to do something about the resource-intensive nature of Chrome with a new mode that would place limits on resources the browser can consume. Details of a mode called "Never-Slow Mode" have surfaced on Chromium Gerrit and indicate that the mode would place hard limits on the resources a webpage could consume. Developer Alex Russell explains that the mode "would enforce per-interaction...
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