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Link Bubble, originally released in 2014, is a web browser that displays pages in floating windows. Tabs were replaced by free-floating 'bubbles', which would expand and collapse the page content with a tap. Think Facebook Messenger, but with web browsing.
Brave Software acquired Link Bubble from developer Chris Lacy a few years back, aiming to turn it into a friendlier ad-blocking browser. The name was eventually changed to Brave, but now the owners are reversing course. It's Link Bubble again, and there's a more conventional browser app available called Brave. Yeah, it's kind of a mess.
The new owners of Link Bubble made it open source yesterday, but that's just the beginning of what Brave Software (led by former Mozilla CEO and JavaScript inventor Brendan Eich) has planned for the project it purchased from dev Chris Lacy. The company has started explaining its vision for Brave, and it's an ambitious one. Brave will redirect links to HTTPS, block tracking cookies, and (most importantly) strip out ads that invade your privacy. Unlike other ad-blockers, Brave will be able to insert friendlier ads that will help support publishers.
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- The GitHub page tells us who purchased Link Bubble from Chris Lacy. Brave Software is the app's new owner, a company with roots in the open source community. Its CEO is Brendan Eich, a man who co-founded Mozilla. Sergey Zhukovsky is the team's Android senior software engineer.
Link Bubble is the Facebook Chat Heads of browsers, a way to open links and save them for later without having to hop around between apps. Over the summer, developer Chris Lacy sold the app off. Under new management, the app became available for free within a month.
The thing about Marshmallow is that it added a lot of granular control over your apps, but it did so in such a confusing and redundant way that it kind of made things worse in my opinon. Apps now have their individual properties page where you can control their notifications (despite that being also available in Sound & notification), permissions (despite that being accessible in one list under Settings -> Apps -> cog icon -> App permissions), and defaults and supported links (despite that also being accessible in that same cog setting). It's this last part that we'll talk a little bit about today, but brace yourself, this will be baffling, inconsistent, and unnecessarily convoluted. But what would Android be without some unnecessarily convoluted setting hiding somewhere that only you could find and then fix for all of your stumped friends and relatives?!
One of Android's differentiating features has been the ability to multitask, especially by allowing apps to coexist on one screen or to show elements on top of each other. Although the concept of floating apps was prevalent for years on the platform, Facebook Messenger popularized the idea of less intrusive bubbles, which simply put round icons at the edges of your screen to allow quick access to your chats and contacts. Link Bubble further pushed the envelop on that approach, taking the bubbles and making them work for you in the background.
A mysterious startup bought the floating browser app Link Bubble from Chris Lacy a few weeks back, and today comes the first big change—Link Bubble is completely free now. The unlocker app is no longer listed in the Play Store and all premium features are included with the free download.
Chris Lacy's Link Bubble floating browser was a cool idea right out of the gate, but you might notice that development has been slow. Today Lacy explains that his little indie dev company simply doesn't have the resources to do what needs to be done with the app, so he's sold Link Bubble (and TapPath) to an unnamed US startup. What does that mean to you? For starters there's a huge update today.
Chrome is the go-to browser for most of the Android world, but those who need a little variety or customization hold the long-standing Dolphin in high regard. The latest beta for Dolphin Browser adds a completely revamped user interface (which the developers seem to do at least once a year now) and a goody basket full of new features. Easily the best among them is support for the official Dolphin extension OneTap, which essentially copies the background-loading app Link Bubble. Nice.
Android fosters a wide and varied app ecosystem, enabling companies both large and small to produce compelling software. The ability to write an app and easily distribute it to most of the world has given rise to independent developers like Chris Lacy, the man behind Action Launcher, Tweet Lanes, and most recently, Link Bubble. Chris took some time to answer a few questions and tell us a little about his experiences developing apps for Android.
Another month has come and gone, which means a ton of app posts on Android Police to sift through. In point of fact, there were fewer notable apps released in March than in the last few months - that's why our primary picks are down to just six. But most of these should be useful to most users, with Per-App Modes and Pixl Preview applying only to root users and Photoshop owners, respectively.
Link Bubble is already a pretty great app, but developer Chris lacy is apparently not content to rest on his laurels. There is already a Play Store beta program you can join to get the latest tweaks and features. Just a few steps and you're in.