Tag Archives: Chrome

Technology

Chrome for Android rolling out address bar redesign

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Back in September, Google started testing an “Omnibox Modernize Visual Update” to revamp a core part of the mobile browser. Chrome for Android is now rolling out a Material You address bar redesign that adds more Dynamic Color.

When you tap the Omnibox, Chrome’s address bar is no longer housed in the same pill-shaped container that’s seen when the field isn’t active. This new shape is slightly taller, more rectangular, and in line with Material You.

The search results, websites, and other suggestions that appear below are no longer just text on a light/dark background. Rather, each is now housed in a card that has a lighter background than the rest of the screen. This redesign introduces much more Dynamic Color than before (text and Omnibox only), while the borders help make the page appear less crowded with not too significant an impact on how much text appears.

This design is quite reminiscent of unified Pixel Launcher search, and brings that experience over to non-Google phones. Compared to the December iteration, it looks less like Launcher search as the field you’re typing now has a container. It previously had no boundaries, though the transition between pill to rounded rectangle is slightly jarring.

After appearing in the beta channel at the end of last year, we’re now seeing this address bar redesign in the stable channel with Chrome 109, though it’s a server-side update. All but one of our devices today has this new look, while we’ve yet to encounter it naturally on tablets.

If it’s not live yet for you, use the flag: chrome://flags/#omnibox-modernize-visual-update.

L: Pixel Launcher | R: Chrome

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Chrome address bar looks like Pixel Launcher search with redesign

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Given the large user base, Google rarely makes major changes to the interface of its browser. However, one in-development redesign plans to “modernize” the Chrome Omnibox on Android, and the end result looks a lot like the Pixel Launcher.

Update 12/10: Since September, Google’s work on the address bar redesign has continued and it’s now being more widely A/B tested. One of my devices received it naturally on the current stable release (Chrome 108), while it’s also live in beta (version 109). The company hasn’t committed to launching, but the wider availability is a good indication.

After using it for the past few days, I’m struck by how much it looks like the unified Pixel Launcher search that just rolled out with Android 13 QPR1. The similarity can be quite jarring, and I thought I navigated to the wrong screen. 

L-R: Pixel Launcher, Chrome current, Chrome new

The search fields, which are box-less, feature a colorful version of the “G” logo and voice/Lens shortcuts at the right. The list layout is also identical with an icon at the left and arrow on the other side. 

Original 9/22: When Chrome launched in 2008, one signature aspect of the design was how there was just one field for entering/viewing URLs and searching the web. Google dubbed this the Omnibox and in recent years has been working to make it more helpful by adding “Chrome Actions” that link to key browser settings. This joins how the box already shows quick answers to select queries and pictures.

Since at least Chrome 105 (currently in stable), there’s a flag called “Omnibox Modernize Visual Update.” Only available for Android, chrome://flags/#omnibox-modernize-visual-update “will show a new UI which is visually updated.”

Chrome 108 (Canary) offers the most evolved design with three “Enabled” variants in addition to the general option. 

The existing design is a very straightforward list of URL and search suggestions. That’s not really changing with the revamp, but each result gets placed in a card (with darker background) to help distinguish items. Additionally, the top and bottom cards feature rounded corners. This design is rather reminiscent of the unified Pixel Launcher search that’s live in the Android 13 QPR1 Beta. The consistency is an interesting approach. 

Meanwhile, the “no active color omnibox” variant/flag interestingly removes the pill-shaped container for a look that really mimics Pixel Launcher lookup. 

In the description, Google notably says that “this flag is for the step 1 in the Clank Omnibox revamp plan.” It highly suggests that Google has more planned that might also impact Omnibox functionality.

Like with all flags, this Omnibox redesign in Chrome for Android might not actually launch. That said, it’s less of a visual departure than Chrome Duplex/Duet, so the odds are definitely better.

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Enable This Setting to Stop Chrome From Hogging So Much Memory

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Photo: PixieMe (Shutterstock)

Chrome is a popular browser for a reason: It’s fast, powerful, and compatible with popular apps, services, and extensions. All that power, though, comes from somewhere, and ends up putting a strain on your RAM. Chrome is a memory hog. Fortunately, there’s now an easy solution to the problem.

Why does Chrome use so much memory?

Each tab you open is a new activity for Chrome to manage, and the browser makes a point of running each tab as its own process. That way, something can go wrong with one tab without affecting others. Chrome is also fast because of its prerendering feature, which takes up RAM to keep things loading as quickly as possible. Plus, the more tabs you open—and the most resource-intensive tasks you run in those tabs—the more RAM you’ll use.

It isn’t really an issue until it becomes one: If your system runs out of RAM, you run into performance issues, all because your internet browser can’t handle its RAM properly.

How Memory Saver can preserve RAM when using Chrome

Thankfully, Google has addressed these issues with a new feature called “Memory Saver.” With it, Chrome will automatically make unused tabs inactive while you’re working in other tabs. When you return to these inactive tabs, Chrome will turn them back on. According to the company, Memory Saver can use up to 30% less memory than running Chrome without it, which should solve most memory issues with the browser.

Memory Saver isn’t the only new “Performance” feature coming to Chrome. Google also introduced an “Energy Saver” feature as well, which reduces performance to preserve battery life, as essential for those of us who work on laptops.

How to use Memory Saver to free up RAM in Chrome

Memory Saver is officially rolling out to users over the next few weeks, however it’s available as a feature flag right now. Flags are “experimental features” Chrome tucks away from most users; some aren’t finished yet, which means they could have detrimental effects on your browser. However, since Memory Saver is nearly here, it seems like a safe flag to enable.

To check it out, paste the following link into your address bar, then hit enter: chrome://flags/#high-efficiency-mode-available. Here, click “Default,” choose “Enabled,” then click “Relaunch.” When Chrome restarts, head to Settings, and you’ll notice a new “Performance” tab on the left side of the screen where “Memory Saver” now lives. Click the slider to turn on the feature. If there are sites you’d prefer Chrome always keep active, you can click “Add” to add them to the list. Any time you return to a tab that was inactive, Chrome will let you know and tell you how much RAM it saved by making it inactive.

[9to5Google]

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RIP Passwords? Passkey support rolls out to Chrome stable

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Enlarge / Please don’t do this.

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Passkeys are here to (try to) kill the password. Following Google’s beta rollout of the feature in October, passkeys are now hitting Chrome stable M108. “Passkey” is built on industry standards and backed by all the big platform vendors—Google, Apple, Microsoft—along with the FIDO Alliance. Google’s latest blog says: “With the latest version of Chrome, we’re enabling passkeys on Windows 11, macOS, and Android.” The Google Password Manager on Android is ready to sync all your passkeys to the cloud, and if you can meet all the hardware requirements and find a supporting service, you can now sign-in to something with a passkey.

Passkeys are the next step in evolution of password managers. Today password managers are a bit of a hack—the password text box was originally meant for a human to manually type text into, and you were expected to remember your password. Then, password managers started automating that typing and memorization, making it convenient to use longer, more secure passwords. Today, the right way to deal with a password field is to have your password manager generate a string of random, unmemorable junk characters to stick in the password field. The passkey gets rid of that legacy text box interface and instead stores a secret, passes that secret to a website, and if it matches, you’re logged in. Instead of passing a randomly generated string of text, passkeys use the “WebAuthn” standard to generate a public-private keypair, just like SSH.

Enlarge / The passkey process works a lot like autofill.

Ron Amadeo

If everyone can figure out the compatibility issues, passkeys offer some big advantages over passwords. While passwords can be used insecurely with short text strings shared across many sites, a passkey is always enforced to be unique in content and secure in length. If a server breach happens, the hacker isn’t getting your private key, and it’s not a security issue the way a leaked password would be. Passkeys are not phishable, and because they require your phone to be physically present (!!) some random hacker from halfway around the world can’t log in to your account anyway.

You can authenticate a Chrome instance with iOS across ecosystems, but you’ll need to use a QR code.

Google

So let’s talk compatibility. Today passkeys essentially require a portable device, even if you are logging into a stationary PC. The expectation is that you’ll use a smartphone for this, but you can also use a Macbook or iPad. The first time you set up an account on a new device, you’ll need to verify that your authenticating device—your phone—is in close proximity to whatever you’re signing in to. This proximity check happens over Bluetooth. All the passkey people are really aggressive about pointing out that sensitive data isn’t transferred over Bluetooth—it’s just used for a proximity check—but you’ll still need to deal with Bluetooth connectivity issues to get started.

When you’re signing in to an existing account on a new device, you’ll also need to pick which device you want to authenticate with (probably also your phone)—if both of these devices are in the same big-tech ecosystem, you’ll hopefully see a nice device menu, but if not, you’ll have to use a QR code.

Enlarge / Chrome’s passkey support by OS, which incredibly does not include Chrome OS.

Google

Second big issue: Did everybody catch that OS listing at the top? Google supports Windows 11 with passkeys—not Windows 10—which is going to make this a tough sell. Statcounter has Windows 11 at 16 percent of the total Windows install base, with Windows 10 at 70 percent. So if you happen to make a passkey account, you could only log in on newer Windows computers.

Passkeys get stored in each platform’s built-in keystore, so that’s Keychain on iOS and macOS, the Google Password Manager (or a third-party app) on Android, and “Windows Hello” on Windows 11. Some of these platforms have key syncing across devices, and some do not. So signing in to one Apple device should sync your passkeys’ access to other Apple devices via iCloud, and the same goes for Android via a Google account, but not Windows or Linux or Chrome OS. Syncing, by the way, is your escape hatch if you lose your phone. Everything is still backed up to your Google or Apple account.

Google’s documentation mostly doesn’t mention Chrome OS at all, but Google says, “We are working on enabling passkeys on [Chrome for] iOS and Chrome OS.” There’s also no support for Android apps yet, but Google is also working on it.

Enlarge / The Chrome passkey screen looks just like the normal password manager, but without the text boxes.

Google

Now that this is actually up and running on Chrome 108 and a supported OS, you should be able to see the passkey screen under the “autofill” section of the Chrome settings (or try pasting chrome://settings/passkeys into the address bar). Next up we’ll need more websites and services to actually support using a passkey instead of a password to sign in. Google Account support would be a good first step—right now you can use a passkey for two-factor authentication with Google, but you can’t replace your password yet. Everyone’s go-to example of passkeys is the passkeys.io demo site, which we have a walkthrough of here.

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Chrome gets memory and energy saver modes • TechCrunch

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Google today announced two new performance settings in its Chrome browser: Memory Saver and Energy Saver.

Modern browsers eat up a lot of memory, and while that’s not a problem if you have 32GB of RAM, Chrome using multiple gigabytes of your memory can quickly slow your machine down if you’re on a machine with lower specs. The Memory Saver mode promises to reduce Chrome’s memory usage by up to 30% by putting inactive tabs to sleep. The tabs will simply reload when you need them again. The Energy Saver mode, meanwhile, limits background activity and visual effects for sites with animations and videos when your laptop’s battery level drops below 20%.

Image Credits: Google

The features are now rolling out with the release of Chrome 108 and will be available globally for Windows, macOS and ChromeOS in the coming weeks. You can exempt individual sites from going to sleep or, of course, turn these features off completely.

Google’s announcement comes a day after Microsoft announced that its Edge Browser put 1.38 billion tabs to sleep in September alone. According to Microsoft, sleeping a tab in Edge typically saves 83% of the memory it would normally occupy. The company rolled out its version of these features, which can automatically put tabs to sleep after five minutes of inactivity (and can bring this down all the way to 30 seconds of inactivity), a couple of years ago and then once again improved it with the release of Edge 100 earlier this year. Edge also features a gaming mode, which can automatically reduce CPU usage when it detects that you are playing a game on your PC.

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Google Outlines Why They Are Removing JPEG-XL Support From Chrome

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Following yesterday’s article about Google Chrome preparing to deprecate the JPEG-XL image format, a Google engineer has now provided their reasons for dropping this next-generation image format.

As noted yesterday, a patch is pending for the Google Chrome/Chromium browser to deprecate the still-experimental (behind a feature flag) JPEG-XL image format support from their web browser. The patch marks Chrome 110 and later as deprecating JPEG-XL image support.

No reasoning was provided for this deprecation, which is odd considering JPEG-XL is still very young in its lifecycle and has been receiving growing industry interest and support. Now this evening is a comment from a Google engineer on the Chromium JPEG-XL issue tracker with their expressed reasons:

“Thank you everyone for your comments and feedback regarding JPEG XL. We will be removing the JPEG XL code and flag from Chromium for the following reasons:

– Experimental flags and code should not remain indefinitely

– There is not enough interest from the entire ecosystem to continue experimenting with JPEG XL

– The new image format does not bring sufficient incremental benefits over existing formats to warrant enabling it by default

– By removing the flag and the code in M110, it reduces the maintenance burden and allows us to focus on improving existing formats in Chrome”

Google finding “not enough interest from the entire ecosystem” around JPEG-XL is rather surprising considering that the bitstream was only frozen in late 2020 and the file format was only standardized last year and the coding system since earlier this year. While JPEG-XL has been available with Chrome, it’s been off-by-default behind a feature flag, and so until that browser support matures (or were to mature), obviously web developers aren’t aggressively pushing JPEG-XL. The libjxl tooling also remains in a pre-1.0 state.

A few Phoronix readers wrote in following yesterday’s article to note that Google is now also not pursuing WebP 2 as a released image format. Rather their WebP 2 effort is to be “used as a playground for image compression experiments.”

So moving ahead with JPEG-XL support to be removed from Chrome and WebP 2 not being pursued as a released image format itself, it’s looking like Google will be focusing on ultimately further advancing WebP and AVIF for next-gen images.

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Fortnite players to get Chrome Punk skin for free, check your eligibility

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FortniteMares 2022 is finally here and has introduced several new items, game modes, and cosmetics for players to celebrate the Halloween season. From eliminating zombies across the map to escaping them on a Witch’s Broom Mythic, players have long been waiting for what is expected to be a thrilling experience.

Now that the update is finally here, it has also brought several cosmetic collaborations ranging from Rick and Morty’s Summer and Mr. Meeseeks to Evil Dead’s Ash Williams. Additionally, several other survey skins and concept royale skins could also make their way onto the island.

However, for players who are unable to purchase outfits in the item shop due to various reasons, Fortnite has something for everyone in their bag of treats. Players can now get their hands on free outfits and cosmetics if they complete a certain amount of quests during FortniteMares 2022. Here’s everything you need to know about it.

Fortnite announces free Chrome Punk skin to be rewarded to players during FortniteMares 2022

Complete #Fortnite Chrome Punk Quests for a FREE SKIN, Backbling & Loading Screen

1. Earn 10 Account Levels
– Reward: Chromeseed Backbling

2. Earn 25 Account Levels
– Reward: Graveyard Rave Loading Screen

3. Earn 50 Accounts Levels
– Reward: Chrome Punk Skin

VIA: @iFireMonkey

Complete #Fortnite Chrome Punk Quests for a FREE SKIN, Backbling & Loading Screen1. Earn 10 Account Levels- Reward: Chromeseed Backbling2. Earn 25 Account Levels- Reward: Graveyard Rave Loading Screen3. Earn 50 Accounts Levels- Reward: Chrome Punk SkinVIA: @iFireMonkey https://t.co/towakfBkEG

Epic Games recently added new Chrome Punk quests to the game files with the latest Halloween update. As stated, players will have three different tiers of quests to complete before they get their hands on a Chromeseed Backbling, Graveyard Rave loading screen, and Chrome Punk outfit for free.

Here are all the descriptions of the quests and their rewards:

  • Earn 10 Account Levels: Chromeseed Backbling
  • Earn 25 Account Levels: Graveyard Rave Loading Screen
  • Earn 50 Accounts Levels: Chrome Punk Skin

This means players will need to increase their account levels by completing weekly, daily, milestones, and special FortniteMares 2022 quests from the Quest tab. However, players should bear in mind that the account level is different from their XP level, which can be checked by navigating to the Career tab in the game menu.

As of now, there is no end date for the quests, but Epic may make an announcement at a later date. Additionally, Chrome Punk has also been added as an NPC on the map and can be seen roaming the island. The official description for them in the Characters tab reads as follows:

“Hacking and carving a path to victory. Chrome Punk is a renowned pioneer in the underground ‘gourd-core’ music scene. His attitude is unmatched except by his brother, Punk, with whom he had a falling out.”

A few years ago, a similar skin called Punk was released in the item shop. It had a similar structure to that of Chrome Punk and was deemed by the community as above average at best. However, his pickaxe from the set Bash Burner was considered pay-to-win due to its faster swing rate, and was later nerfed by Epic.

FortniteMares 2022 begins today and players will be able to experience horror on the island until November 1 at 2 am ET, when it ends.

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Major New Google Chrome Security Bug: You Need to Update Your Browser ASAP

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If you’re using Google Chrome or a Chromium-based browser — whether on MacOS, Windows or Linux — it’s time to check for a critical security update. On Friday, Google released a Chrome update to patch a significant vulnerability that is actively being exploited in ongoing cyberattacks. Google urged users on all operating systems to update Chrome as soon as possible.  

The security lapse involves a collection of back-end libraries called Mojo, which are used by Chromium-based browsers, including Opera, Brave and Microsoft Edge. The zero-day vulnerability is classified as high severity and has been labeled CVE-2022-307. Google’s update patch fixes the vulnerability and updates your current version of Chrome to version 105.0.5195.102. 

If you haven’t applied a recent update — or if your updates aren’t automatically enabled — here’s how to check your version of Chrome and get updated quickly. 

Read more: Change These Browser Settings to Boost Your Privacy

How to update Chrome on Android 

By default, Android phones and tablets are set to allow Google Chrome to automatically check for and install updates. If you’ve disabled this setting, you can easily reenable it by opening your Play Store app, selecting Google Chrome, then tapping the three-dot menu on the app’s Play Store page to open your update settings. 

Here’s how to check whether your Google Chrome app is updated in Android. 

1. Open your Play Store app. In the top right corner, tap your profile icon. 

2. Tap Manage apps & device to bring up the Overview tab.

3. The second option on the Overview tab will either say All apps up to date or Updates available. If you see Updates Available, tap it.

4. In the list of apps that appears, find Google Chrome. Beside the app’s name, tap Update.

How to update Chrome on iPhone or iPad

For App Store users, Google Chrome should be automatically set to search for and install app updates. Here’s how to manually check whether updates have been applied. 

1. Open the App Store app on your iPhone or iPad.

2. Tap Profile Properties in the top right corner (that’s your circular profile icon). This will open a screen labelled Account. Scroll down to Available Updates.

3. Search for Google Chrome. If Chrome is listed, tap Update to install the latest browser updates. You may be asked to provide the App Store with your Apple ID and password. If so, supply them and the updates will begin downloading and installing. 

If Chrome isn’t listed under Available Updates, you can also go to Google Chrome in the App Store. If an option to update Chrome appears, you can tap the button to begin updating. Alternately, you can update Google Chrome from within the iPhone Chrome app itself. 

1. Open Chrome, and in the bottom right corner of the app, tap the three-dot More menu. 

2. From the screen that pops up, scroll all the way to the right to find, and then tap, Settings.

3. Scroll down to Safety Check and tap it. In the new Safety Check menu that shows up, tap Check now. From here, Chrome will begin updating if a newer version is available. 

How to update Chrome on desktop

Whether you’re using MacOS or Windows, your Google Chrome update process is the same. Here’s how to check for updates and get them installed quickly. 

1. On your computer or laptop, open Google Chrome and click on the More menu found in the top right corner of the browser (it looks like three dots, stacked vertically).

2. Here you’ll be able to see if an update has recently been released. If you see a green icon, an update was released less than two days ago. An orange icon means there’s been a pending update for four days now. And a red icon means an update has been waiting for you for at least a week. 

3. Near the bottom of the More menu, click Help and then click About Google Chrome. 

4. In the new screen that opens, click the Update Google Chrome button. Can’t find the button? Great. That means you’re already up to date. 

5. If you’ve clicked the Update Google Chrome button, finish by clicking Relaunch. 

Chrome will now restart and you’ll be totally up to date.

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Chrome extensions with 1.4M installs covertly track visits and inject code

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Google has removed browser extensions with more than 1.4 million downloads from the Chrome Web Store after third-party researchers reported they were surreptitiously tracking users’ browsing history and inserting tracking code into specific ecommerce sites they visited.

The five extensions flagged by McAfee purport to offer various services, including the ability to stream Netflix videos to groups of people, take screenshots, and automatically find and apply coupon codes. Behind the scenes, company researchers said, the extensions kept a running list of each site a user visited and took additional actions when users landed on specific sites.

The extensions sent the name of each site visited to the developer-designated site d.langhort.com, along with a unique identifier and the country, city, and zip code of the visiting device. If the site visited matched a list of ecommerce sites, the developer domain instructed the extensions to insert JavaScript into the visited page. The code modified the cookies for the site so that the extension authors receive affiliate payment for any items purchased.

To help keep the activity covert, some of the extensions were programmed to wait 15 days after installation before beginning the data collection and code injection. The extensions McAfee identified are:

Name Extension ID Users
Netflix Party mmnbenehknklpbendgmgngeaignppnbe 800,000

Netflix Party 2

 flijfnhifgdcbhglkneplegafminjnhn 300,000

FlipShope – Price Tracker Extension

 

 adikhbfjdbjkhelbdnffogkobkekkkej 80,000

Full Page Screenshot Capture – Screenshotting

 

 pojgkmkfincpdkdgjepkmdekcahmckjp 200,000
AutoBuy Flash Sales gbnahglfafmhaehbdmjedfhdmimjcbed 20,000

As of Wednesday, all five extensions have been removed from the Chrome Web Store, a Google spokesperson said. Removing the extensions from its servers isn’t the same as uninstalling the extensions from the 1.4 million infected devices. People who have installed the extensions should manually inspect their browsers and ensure they no longer run.

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Samsung Internet 19.0 beta finally brings Chrome bookmark syncing

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Last updated: August 23rd, 2022 at 13:24 UTC+02:00

Samsung’s proprietary mobile internet browser is getting a new beta update, and it’s a pretty big one! With Samsung Internet 19.0 beta, the company is finally addressing one of the browser’s main weaknesses and is adding new options for syncing bookmarks from Google Chrome (PC). Furthermore, the latest beta version improves private browsing while enhancing Smart Anti-Tracking and phishing detection tools.

One of the reasons why many PC users don’t use Samsung Internet on their Galaxy phones and tablets more often is that the mobile browser makes it extremely difficult to sync Google Chrome bookmarks cross-platform. However, with Samsung Internet 19.0 beta, users can now access and sync Chrome bookmarks on their phones and Samsung Internet bookmarks on their Chrome PC browser through the Samsung Internet Chrome Extension with relative ease.

Samsung Internet add-ons now work in Secret Mode

Here’s another much-needed change introduced by Samsung Internet 19.0 beta: add-ons can now work in Secret Mode. Before version 19.0, add-ons were disabled in Secret mode, which meant that Internet users had to choose between Secret Mode privacy and a more personalized experienced. Now users can have both.

Furthermore, Samsung Internet 19.0 beta expands on some of the Smart Anti-Tracking improvements that version 18.0 beta introduced. According to Samsung, “trackers are becoming increasingly sophisticated at avoiding detection and collecting personal information without the awareness or consent of the person being tracked.”

Thankfully, Samsung Internet 19.0 beta can now detect domains that conspire with classified trackers, thus offering enhanced privacy and protection. In addition, the new Internet beta version improves lookalike phishing detection to prevent users from navigating to fraudulent websites designed to imitate legitimate ones.

Introducing improved privacy and anti-phishing

Samsung Internet 19.0 beta also adds a new Privacy Info feature in the form of a Lock Icon in the address bar. Users can tap this icon to quickly verify the security of the connection to the websites they visit, see the number of blocked trackers, check for cookies, and have instant access location, camera, and microphone permissions.

And last but not least, Samsung Internet ad blockers are now accompanied by a chart that helps users visualize how many ads got blocked daily and weekly.

The new beta version is now available through the Play Store and Galaxy Store. Samsung expects the beta testing period for Internet 19.0 to end in time for a Q4 2022 public release. We’ll keep you posted.

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