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Say goodbye to third-party cookies and hello to microtransactions
Your browser may someday auto-pay the creators you love
Payments and content subscriptions for the best entertainment apps are arguably the bane of the internet age, but for companies, they are a proven business model which generates recurring income. However, imagine an existence online where you just surf the web unhindered and your browser compensates content creators directly without your repetitive involvement. Chromium developers are working on such a system, thus creating an exciting future for our favorite browsers on Android.
Vivaldi 5.2 lets you save your favorite pages for later reading
A powerful new translation tool is here too
Since Chromium-based browser Vivaldi moved out of beta in April 2020, it's been regularly updated with a slew of nifty features. It's notable for it's privacy-first approach, and powerful customization tools like changing the appearance of pages, language settings, and desktop-style tabs. Now with version 5.2, Vivaldi is adding the ability to save pages for later in a creatively named tool called the Reading List. It's also got a handy new tool to translate text on the fly.
Chrome is about to be more forgiving with accidentally closing your tabs
An upcoming Chrome change instantly loads recently closed tabs
We've all made that annoying mistake of accidentally closing our Chrome browser tabs and windows. It's especially a hassle to wait for Chrome to reload them — it takes even longer depending on your network and how heavy the webpages are. Accidental closers won't have to grieve much longer, as Google is working on a nifty "magic trick" to remove the time spent waiting for Chrome to reload your tabs.
Wow, y'all really hate tab groups in Chrome for Android
A new Chromium bug report hopes to bring back an option to turn them off
Any time a developer releases a new feature, the hope is that users will find it helpful. That isn't always the case. For example: the new tab groups feature in Chrome for Android, which is now the default behavior after being introduced in January. While the grouped tabs initially came with a chrome://flags option to turn it off, that option has been removed, and tab groups are now permanently enabled in all current versions of the browser.
How to bring back Chrome's native notifications (and get rid of the duplicate desktop ones)
*Windows Action Center sound effect*
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Notifications on Google Chrome are basically dead... well, at least the ones the browser itself generates. A while ago, the company made an effort to join its notifications with the user's OS-bound notification center and, depending on how you've set that up (or not), that can end up being more annoying to deal with. Fortunately, there's a way to bypass that nonsense!
The snazzy Google light bar from the Chromebook Pixel and Pixel C may be coming back
Code in the Chromium repository indicates that Lenovo might put it on a new machine
The distinctive blue, red, yellow, and green light bar on the Google-branded Chromebook Pixel laptop and Pixel C tablet was a delightful bit of subtle branding, and it's a shame we haven't seen it on subsequent models like the Pixelbook. But according to a snippet of code spotted in the Chrome repository, it might be coming back on a future Chromebook machine from Lenovo.
Chrome 90 gets a speed and security boost with an overdue policy change
HTTPS coming to the fast lane
After years of propping up widespread adoption of the protocol, Google will release Chrome 90 as the first version of the web browser to transmit data to and from sites using HTTPS instead of HTTP by default.
Vivaldi Browser 3.6 lets you tweak websites to your liking with Page Actions
A QR code reader and external download manager support is also on board
Vivaldi may "just" be another Chromium fork, but the browser packs some unique features. Its interface is customizable to the bone, offering desktop-like tabs, a bottom bar, and a forced dark mode. Now the Android browser is expanding these capabilities to websites with version 3.6, giving you the option to modify their appearance. Vivaldi also gains a QR code reader, new Speed Dial features, and support for external download managers with this update.
CloudReady to lose support for VirtualBox and Flatpak in wake of Google acquisition
All part of a plan to pull users away from the service?
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What if you could give your janky old laptop PC a fresh-faced Chrome OS-inspired makeover? That's the promise of CloudReady, a free operating system based on the open-source Chromium OS that essentially converts legacy Windows, Macs, and even older Chrome OS devices into brand-new Chromebooks. Now Neverware, the company behind the endeavor, has announced that it's officially joining up with Google — but there may be some unwanted consequences for consumers.
Microsoft Edge's latest update adds new themes, sleeping tabs, and more
History and tab sync are finally rolling out to all users
Since its switch to Chromium, Microsoft Edge has become one of the more reliable cross-platform browsers available to users. It even trumps Google Chrome in that it doesn't gobble up as much memory — a real boon for systems with limited RAM. To offer an even better experience, Microsoft is now unveiling a major update that adds a bunch of new features to the browser.
Chrome to let users take screenshots in incognito mode
You’ll finally be able to share your shame with ease
If you're somewhat wary of your privacy and don't want Google to keep track of all the sites you've visited, you're probably very familiar with Chrome's incognito mode, which allows you to navigate the web in a private session, preventing sites from accessing local cookies, and also removing all temporary data when you're done. While this is very useful for a variety of purposes — I'll let your imagination run wild, Chrome didn't allow users to take screenshots while going incognito until now. Thankfully, this is about to change.
Chrome exempts Google sites from user data settings — but supposedly it's just a bug
Sites like YouTube and Google Search appear to be storing data in Chrome that should have been deleted
Earlier this month, software developer Jeff Johnson wrote about a strange issue he'd discovered that allowed Chrome to keep certain data stored from Google sites like YouTube and Search even after it was supposed to be deleted. This isn't a good look from Google, especially in light of recent events — but the company has responded with an explanation.
Google could be forced to sell Chrome if the Justice Department gets its way
A potential path to curbing Google's advertising dominance
Google has been in hot water with government authorities time and time again, most recently when it comes to its acquisition of Fitbit in the EU. Now it looks like Google might have more tough times ahead in its home territory as the US Justice Department is reportedly considering forcing Google to sell the Chrome browser along with parts of its advertising business.
Closing your perfectly innocent incognito tabs will no longer cause Chrome to freeze
The problem persisted for about two months
For the last two months, spanning from Chrome version 84 to 85, some people have been experiencing spontaneous interface freezes, mostly when trying to close their last incognito tab. Google acknowledge the issue quickly and promised a timely fix, and it seems like it's finally rolling out with the latest minor Chrome update. People on version 85.0.4183.127 report that the freezes have stopped for them, and the corresponding entry in the Chromium bug tracker has been marked as fixed.
Kiwi Browser shows signs of life, teases team-up with fellow Chromium browser in future
Kiwi's first release in almost a year is still based on Chrome 77
Chrome might be most people's choice for browsing the web, but that doesn't mean it's the only option out there. Kiwi Browser is based on the same underlying code that powers Chrome, but it has its own unique features, including being one of the few mobile browsers to support desktop extensions on Android. The project hasn't seen many public-facing changes in the last year, but now a new release is coming down the pike.
Vivaldi started putting more options into its various bottom bars with version 3.2, and now, a year after the browser's initial beta release on Android, the company has decided to allow users to go all-in on bottom navigation. Version 3.3 of the Chromium-based browser lets you move the tab and address bar to the bottom of the interface. There are also smaller improvements to content and ad-blocking.
Vivaldi 3.2 makes its bottom bar more consistent and improves privacy
And the Tab Strip is now called Tab Bar
Vivaldi went stable on Android this year, but the developers behind the Chromium-based browser aren't resting on their laurels. Following the introduction of a forced dark mode for all websites in June, the team is now turning its attention to making the bottom bar more consistent. It's also going more private by giving users enhanced control over tracker and ad blocking via access to additional blocklists.
Google is testing a concept dual-touchscreen Chromebook
But ChromeOS isn't even a great experience with one touchscreen yet
Thanks to the way ChromeOS is developed, we often get glimpses of upcoming features and devices through the open-source Chromium code. ChromeOS started out with traditional clamshells, and over the years we've gotten foldables, detachables, and even straight-up tablets. Now it looks like Google is experimenting with a new form factor: a touchscreen Chromebook with dual screens.
Brave may not have the best reputation following referral code injections and its founder's history as the disgraced Mozilla CEO, but it does have a unique approach to ad-blocking without completely cutting off websites from monetization, which you might enjoy. Since the software is based on Chromium, it follows comparable development cycles and comes in similar flavors as Chrome does: Stable, Beta, Dev, and Nightly. Brave Stable and Beta have been available on the Play Store for a long time already, and now the Nightly variant joins them.
Vivaldi v3.1 can force dark mode on all websites (APK download)
Some sites don’t play nicely, though
A few months after Vivaldi for Android hit its first stable build with desktop-like tabs, tracker blocking, and bottom bar navigation, version 3.1 of the browser has been released. It mostly packs minor bug fixes, but hard-core dark mode fans might love the one new addition coming with it: A forced dark theme for website content.