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Chrome Incognito Mode privacy lawsuit inches closer to trial
Court case seeks $5 billion in damages, questioning Chrome's privacy features
In a world increasingly driven by digital connections, ensuring user privacy is paramount. Whether you're using a public machine and don't feel like broadcasting your business, or shopping for a gift at home and want to avoid leaving behind potential spoilers, private browsing modes, like Chrome's Incognito Mode, have become a trusted refuge for those seeking a veil of anonymity. At least, that's how things are supposed to work, but a class-action lawsuit that emerged in 2020 claims that Google still collects browsing data, even when you're in Incognito Mode. We're still a long way off from any kind of resolution here, but this week the case is gaining a little momentum, as a court rejects Google's motion for summary judgment.
Android 14 will make scrolling in Chrome as smooth as iOS
The new nanosecond API can help reduce Chrome scrolling jank up to 2x
Let’s face it: Google Chrome on Android often doesn’t feel quite as smooth as it does on iOS. Chrome engineers acknowledge as much themselves, and with Android 14, they wanted to get to the bottom of why scrolling feels more natural and less janky on iOS than on the Google OS. This is where a new API in Android 14 comes in that allows Chrome — and even other apps later down the road — to deal with touch input sampling much better, resulting in up to 2x less visible jank in Chrome 116.
Google wants to make search suggestions on Chrome's new tab page 'more relevant and less obtrusive'
There's more testing to come but the feature is not where Google wants it
Chrome's new tab page does its best to serve as a jumping off point for the internet, but it could still be more useful. Earlier this year, Google introduced search suggestions that brought your recent queries to the new tab page on Android, but the experience has been less than ideal — or at least, Google seems to think so, as it recently announced plans to improve the feature.
Brave Search is now your best shot at an independent Google alternative
Independent indexing for image and video queries is finally available
Brave is one of our favorite browsers on Android, and it's been slowly expanding into different ventures like a VPN service and its own Google alternative Brave Search. While the goal with the latter has always been to provide a self-sufficient service without data from Microsoft or Google, Brave had to rely on some licensed results in the past. That's changing this week, as Brave Search has finally announced that its image and video search results will also be indexed fully independently now, with the full search experience now independent.
Google is making Reading mode settings slightly harder to access in Chrome
Morphing a functional settings strip into nested drop-downs isn’t a bright idea
Reading articles on websites can quickly get overwhelming with images, videos, and ads sprinkled throughout the text (hey, everyone's got to pay their bills). Like many of our other favorite web browsers before it, Chrome is trying to tackle this issue with a reading mode, even if it's arguably the worst implementation we've seen, with the original website always in view next to it. Now, we have word the feature’s user interface is in for a minor redesign on desktop.
Your Chromebook could soon decouple Chrome from ChromeOS
ChromeOS 116 might kick off the long-planned split between Chrome and ChromeOS
Google may just be on the finishing line when it comes to separating Chrome and ChromeOS on Chromebooks. The move has been in the works for years, and new evidence in the code shows that the company might start switching Chromebooks over to a decoupled browser, codenamed Lacros, with the next release of ChromeOS.
Google smartens up Search on Chrome for mobile
More subtle improvements to save you plenty of time and effort
A good search experience is all about gleaning the information you want to, without digressing too much or losing your train of thought. Google regularly adds new features to give you the most productive user experience possible with utilities like Touch to Search and Journeys on Chrome. Leveraging how Search and Chrome are deeply intertwined, Google has now released four seemingly minor enhancements for the Search experience on Chrome, all designed to save you time and deliver the results you seek.
Google Chrome will give you more control over syncing saved tab groups
The option is separate from sync controls for open tabs
Google Chrome is one of the most versatile browsers on Android, and even other operating systems, partly because it offers platform-agnostic sync. You just need to be signed in using the same Gmail ID on all the devices, and sync allows you to resume browsing right where you left off, even if it is halfway around the world. Now, Google is giving you even more options for syncing, with new toggles for syncing saved tab groups right from the tab strip on Chrome Canary 117 for desktop.
Google inches closer to replacing third party cookies with a fresh set of APIs
The Privacy Sandbox’s relevance and measurement APIs are going stable in Chrome 115
Third-party cookies are a privacy nightmare, making it possible for advertisers and bad actors to sniff through big chunks of your browsing history, all in the name of providing more relevant ads. While third-party cookies provide some benefits to websites and users, the consensus is that we need alternatives that are easier to reign in, control, and understand. Google has been pushing its Privacy Sandbox as an alternative to third-party cookies for years, and now, a few more features from said sandbox are shipping in the latest version of Chrome, 115.
Google Chrome is working on an option to temporarily unblock third-party cookies
Blocking some cookies may be detrimental to site functionality
Google Chrome has established itself as the most popular browser across platforms, with Microsoft going to great lengths to dissuade its installation on Windows, which ships with the Edge browser. However, the desktop version of Google’s browser has been a hotbed of changes lately, mostly focused on making the user experience more personalizable. Now, Google is taking the next step forward with granular control over third-party cookies which you can disable temporarily using a new switch on Chrome Canary 117 for desktop.
What’s new in Chrome 115: Google’s Reading Mode is here
Plus work on visual improvements for Memory Saver
Google Chrome 115 has been released in early stable on July 12, 2023, with the broader rollout beginning on July 18. The new release is just a tad late, but it makes this up with some choice improvements to the browsing experience, particularly on desktop computers. There are a few new features to dive into, such as the new Reading mode or improvements to the Memory Saver.
Google Chrome can save your address and credit card numbers to autofill online forms for speedier checkout. Your address and credit card information is kept safe, and Google Chrome syncs the data across all devices signed in with that Google account, including your Android phone, tablet, and all our favorite Chromebooks.
Google Chrome mashes together translucency and Material You on Windows
The company is testing an eclectic mix of Mica material and Material You
Anyone running the current stable build of Google Chrome (version 114) on desktop knows the UI doesn't make it easy to tell the currently active tab apart from the others. It is usually just a shade darker or lighter than the others, but as much as we love dynamic theming, one of the world's most popular web browsers ought to have a better UI. Google seems to have received the memo because it's now testing a mix of dynamic theming and Microsoft's Mica material to differentiate the active tab.
Google Chrome is testing a way to jump straight to the juicy bits about a business
Waste fewer taps trying to look up restaurant reviews
Ever since this year’s annual I/O developer conference made Google’s focus on AI more apparent than ever, we have been seeing AI-related features make their way into everything from Search to Workspace. However, Google Chrome continues marching onwards with a steady influx of new features on desktop and mobile. We just caught a glimpse of a particularly handy way to look up businesses quickly in Chrome.
Brave Browser starts protecting against sites snooping on your system
Brave puts an end to unauthorized website scanning of local ports
Malicious websites use all manner of tricks to worm their way into our systems, but in order for them to be most effective at their nastiness, they need to know what they're facing. That often means scanning our phones and computers, looking for open network ports and identifying the programs running on them. The data that generates can effectively "fingerprint" your device, letting the malicious site identify and track you — even if you use a browser with safeguards like an ad-blocker. So far, your best protection has been to install a third-party browser extension that blocks local port scanning, but now the Brave browser is tackling this problem head-on, by preventing websites from scanning open ports on your device in the first place.
Chrome is experimenting with the option to share your saved passwords
Chrome's password manager should be picking up some more advanced features
Google Chrome offers its own built-in password manager, but that effort has trailed behind some of its third-party competition. In recent years, though, it's been making improvements, like adding a shortcut to the password manager on Android, as well as allowing users to add notes to existing credentials. Now, we're checking out early work on what could be Chrome's next addition, with an option to share saved passwords with others.
DuckDuckGo now has its own PC browser for keeping what you do online private
The Windows beta is ready for public testing
DuckDuckGo's mission is all about user privacy. That started with its search engine, and we've seen it expand to a Chrome extension and the company's mobile browser. Now DuckDuckGo is once again pushing the boundaries of data protection, announcing the public beta of its own privacy-centric browser for Windows.
Google upgrades ChromeOS accessibility with image to text conversion for PDFs
Letting screen readers to their thing, even without alt text
For as many incredible things that our phones and computers can do, it's easy to forget that not everyone's able to interact with these systems in the same way. Google has thankfully been a trailblazer when it comes to accessibility, including making web content available to everyone. Chrome's reading mode and PDF viewer are both part of this commitment, and can be invaluable to those with visual impairments. Now a new image-to-text feature in Chrome on ChromeOS will help screen readers work with PDFs, even when images lack alt-text descriptions.
Google's got plenty of Chrome love to go around with new features for iOS
iPhone users are getting new Google Lens, Maps, Calendar, and translation goodies on Chrome
Google wants Chrome to dominate not only PCs, but also mobile devices. There's no doubt that Chrome is one of the market's leading browsers, and that's likely to continue as long as it keeps picking up new features at its current rate. If you have Chrome installed on your Android phone, you probably already have access to a number of handy features that enhance your browsing experience. For the iPhone-toting users, some of those features are rolling out to Chrome on iOS this week and in the coming months.
How to set up two-factor authentication on Amazon
Bump up your Amazon safety with its two-step verification. Here's how it all works
Two-factor authentication/verification is now so common you probably do it without thinking. This type of security asks you to confirm your identity via another channel, like sending a text code or an email. It's an easy process and a powerful defense against identity theft, which is why it pops up when you use an unfamiliar device.