In June last year, Google launched a Chrome extension that allowed users to link to a specific portion of text on a webpage, instead of the page itself. The portion you selected for creating a link will appear highlighted in color when someone opens the link. I’ve been using the extension ever since it was released, but now is the time to bid it goodbye. No, it is not going anywhere, at least for now. Google has just baked the functionality directly into Chrome browser, saving the hassle of using an extension.
As per an official blog post from last week, the ability to create a link for a specific portion of text on a webpage arrived with the Chrome v90 update. The feature is currently rolling out on Chrome for desktop and its Android version. Additionally, it will soon be making its way to the iOS build of Chrome as well. Here’s how it looks:
How to use the new Chrome trick?
The process of generating a link to a specific word or portion of text on a webpage is quite easy. Just select the text, perform a right-click on it, and tap on the ‘Copy Link to Highlight’ option that appears in the dropdown menu. The generated URL contains the hash (‘#’) symbol after the main URL, followed by some identifying code. You can now share that link with anyone via the communication platform of your preference. When someone taps and opens the link, they will directly be taken to the portion of text you want them to see, and for easy identification, it will appear highlighted.
How to enable ‘Copy Link to Highlight’ in Chrome?
To use the nifty new Chrome feature, go ahead and update your browser to v90. However, if you don’t see the option after updating, you can enable it manually via a Chrome flag. Just type chrome://flags/#copy-link-to-text in the URL bar of Chrome browser. Scroll down to find the ‘Copy Link to Highlight’ option and select Enable from the drop-down menu adjacent to it. Once you’ve done that, relaunch the browser to see the change in effect. Now, when you select a portion of text on a webpage and then perform a right-click, you’ll see the ‘Copy Link to Highlight’ option in the menu.
Microsoft and Google are coming together to help web developers by establishing compatibility of a website across all browsers. The main pain point of Web developers is the compatibility of their website across browsers. And, with this partnership – named #Compat2021 – Microsoft and Google are aiming to resolve five main issues for browser compatibility issues: CSS Flexbox, CSS Grid, position: sticky, aspect-ratio, and CSS transforms. They are also inviting Web developers to contribute to the cause.
The latest development comes from a tweet from Chrome Developers, which revealed that Microsoft and Google are joining forces in Project #Compat2021. They’ll be working on resolving major issues faced by Web developers regarding compatibility across browsers. Google says it gathered information through a Google project called Web Developer Satisfaction, or DevSAT, which revealed five main issues. Additional research has been done in various channels, such as the State of CSS and State of JS surveys. The company says that the goal in 2021 is to eliminate browser compatibility problems in five key focus areas to help developers build their websites on reliable foundations.
CSS Flexbox is a tool that helps developers align images on their webpage. The issue is auto-align function that malfunctions. As a result, images are incorrectly proportioned across different browsers. As for CSS Grid, an improvement would help create animated grid layouts on Chromium and WebKit as Gecko already supports this feature. Further, CSS position: sticky helps place and fix content on the webpage. Improving this would bring consistency across browsers.
Google also says that the partnership aims to fix the aspect-ratio to maintain a consistent height-to-width ratio for various elements. Moreover, an improvement in CSS transforms will help with consistency in 3D effects and animation on different browsers. There will be regular updates about the progress here on web.dev and you can also follow the progress for each focus area in the Compat 2021 Dashboard.
Google is one of the largest sellers of advertising in the world. Plus, it also owns the most popular web browser, Chrome. Both of these characteristics add up to provide personalized ad tracking to users. However, the company will soon be following the footsteps of other browsers like Firefox and Safari to eliminate third-party tracking cookies.
“People shouldn’t have to accept being tracked across the web in order to get the benefits of relevant advertising. And advertisers don’t need to track individual consumers across the web to get the performance benefits of digital advertising,” wrote Google in a blog post.
What is a cookie, anyway?
Website Cookies store small amounts of information about the users. For instance, if you are adding something in your cart, the website will be able to remember your activity. However, a third-party tracking cookie allows the website to follow the user from one site to another. Therefore, advertising the item you searched for on a shopping website. This is the form that Google aims to drop.
That said, some marketers oppose this idea saying that Google will anyway be able to gain an advantage by eliminating such cookies as it has other ways of obtaining personal information from users.
To counter the argument, Google promises that once third-party cookies are phased out, it will not build alternative identifiers to track individuals as they browse across the web, nor will they use them in their products.
“We don’t believe these solutions will meet rising consumer expectations for privacy, nor will they stand up to rapidly evolving regulatory restrictions, and therefore aren’t a sustainable long-term investment,” Google said.
If you are thinking that shift away from cookies will prevent personalized ad tracking, you are not entirely correct. As BBC points out, the industry has come up with new ways to generate personalized data.
Advertisers can still generate personalized ads
The advertisers could use “fingerprints” to target personalized ads. This technique uses a range of information about your device including the type of phone or computer, browser version, language, IP address and more to identify the machine. Hence, allowing the advertiser to follow you even if it doesn’t know your name.
Google Chrome will offer the first iteration of new user controls in April. It aims to expand on these controls in future releases.
Google has today announced that it will now roll out software updates for its Chrome browser more frequently in order to seed new features at a quicker pace. The goal is to keep the experience of using Chrome dynamic and evolving for users, while also boosting the security aspect. The company will now release new Chrome updates every four weeks, starting with Chrome v94 that will be out in the third quarter of 2021.
Milestone updates will arrive every 4 weeks, while security updates will follow a 2-week cycle
For over a decade, Google claims to have followed a 6-week cycle for rolling out milestone updates. As far as security updates go, Google releases a new build every two weeks, which is also what inspired Google to shorten the patch gap and move to a 4-week milestone update cycle to deliver new features at a faster pace.
However, a quicker update cycle means a specific set of users may be forced to adapt to new changes more frequently, which might be cumbersome in certain scenarios. And to address that, Google also has a new Extended Stable channel that will deliver milestone updates after a span of 8 weeks, instead of the new 4-week cycle. The Extended Stable update cycle can be used by enterprise admins and Chromium embedders who will require more time to manage their updates.
A new Extended Stable channel is coming that gets updated after a span of 8 weeks
“Security updates on Extended Stable will be released every two weeks to fix important issues, but those updates won’t contain new features or all security fixes that the 4 week option will receive,” the company added in its blog post. And for Chrome OS users as well, Google plans to offer multiple update release options to better suit their needs, especially for enterprise customers.
Google has already updated its release schedule database for Chrome updates, and it now shows a gap of four weeks between each milestone build starting with Chrome v94 that is set to release on September 14 via the stable channel.
Chrome browser is making the process of switching between profiles easier. Whether you share your PC with someone else, or if you simply want to keep your work and personal profiles separate will all the unique data associated with each one, the tweak will come in handy for both scenarios. And oh, a handy reading list feature has also made its way to Chrome.
On startup, Chrome will let you or others select their profile, which can be personalized with a different theme, color accents, profile icon, and background for easy identification. Additionally, data such as bookmarks and saved passwords associated with each profile will remain separate.
It is quite easy to create a new profile in a jiffy. Just click on the profile icon in the top-right corner and select the ‘+Add’ option. Once there, you’ll be guided through a couple of steps where you can pick the color scheme, profile name, and profile avatar as well.
Once the profile has been made, Chrome will ask users to select the right profile every time it restarts. And just like you sync your browsing data across devices, your Chrome profiles can do so as well. All you have to do is enable the sync option from the settings menu and you’re good to go.
Reading List has arrived on Chrome
Additionally, Chrome for Android and desktop is also adding a Read Later feature that allows you to save content for reading it another time in a dedicated Reading List. This feature was spotted being tested back in January. In order to enable it on the stable build of Chrome on Android and PC, visit chrome://flags/#read-later and enable the Read Later flag. And here’s how you can use the new Chrome trick:
While reading content, tap on the menu button in the top right corner and hit the bookmark (star) icon.
A window will pop-up, at the top of which you’ll see an option called Reading List. Tap on it to add the page to your Reading List.
Here is another way to use this feature. Long press a link and tap on the Read Later option in the window that appears.
Go to the bookmarks section in Chrome on your Android device to access your reading list.
Chrome browser for iOS is experimenting with a neat feature that will protect your incognito tabs behind a layer of biometric security by blurring the incognito tab cards. The browser will first confirm your identity via Touch ID or Face ID before giving you back access to those incognito tabs. The new feature arrives with Chrome Beta 89 (89.0.4389.48) for iOS that was released on February 10.
Your 100% innocent incognito tabs now guarded by fingerprint or facial scan
“You can add more security to your incognito tabs with Touch ID or Face ID. When you return to Chrome app, your incognito tabs will be blurred until you confirm it’s you,” says the changelog (screenshot below via 9toGoogle). In order to take advantage of the new privacy feature in Chrome for iOS, users have to manually enable the ‘Lock Incognito tabs when you close Chrome’ option from the Privacy section in the app’s Settings menu.
The status of a commit titled ‘Add a setting for incognito authentication’ on Chromium Gerrit is currently listed as Merged, which means it has been approved and will likely make its way to the stable build as well, marking a wider rollout for all Chrome users in the iOS ecosystem. “Adds a new toggle in Privacy settings to enable incognito authentication which prompts the user for face/touch/code-ID,” says the description on Chromium Gerrit.
The new Chrome trick will especially come in handy when another person briefly borrows your phone for a browser-based task, and you comply without closing your current incognito tabs. It is unclear if a similar implementation for Chrome’s Android client is also in development, but it would definitely be a welcome addition.
However, it appears that the feature is not available widely for all Chrome beta testers on iOS. 9to5Google reports that the feature may have been enabled only for a small bunch of users via a server-side switch. It is unclear when the biometric-driven privacy feature in Chrome will be released via the stable channel, as the update situation for Google apps on iOS is currently in a quagmire due to Apple’s new App Store data disclosure requirements for all apps listed on its repository.
Apple has released an extension for Chrome called iCloud Passwords that works on the Windows and macOS versions of the browser. The extension allows for automatically filling the website passwords saved in your iCloud Keychain that were originally generated using Safari browser. Thanks to the new extension, it will be now much easier for users to access passwords in their iCloud Keychain for a host of services while using Chrome on a Windows or macOS machine. So far, users had to resort to using third-party password managers, especially when switching platforms. Here’s how Apple describes the new Chrome extension:
iCloud Passwords is a Chrome extension for Windows users that allows you to use the same strong Safari passwords you create on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac when visiting websites in Chrome on your Windows PC. iCloud Passwords also saves any new passwords you create in Chrome to your iCloud Keychain so that it is also available on your Apple devices.
Just in case you were wondering, passwords created in Chrome browser on Windows will be synced on iCloud and will be accessible when you switch back to using an Apple device, and vice versa. Needless to say, the new Chrome extension will make it much easier for users to switch between a Windows and macOS machine, without having to worry about the security aspect when compared to third-party solutions such as LastPass.
In order to use the new extension, you will have to download the latest version of iCloud on your computing machine. It adds a new ‘passwords’ option that prompts users to install the new extension for Chrome once they hit the ‘Apply’ button at the bottom. After the installation part has been accomplished, the extension will do the job of automatically filling website passwords from the iCloud Keychain.
Chrome browser for Android received an update earlier this month that bumped up the version number to 88, and also brought a host of performance and stability improvements. But over in the experimental Canary channel, Google has already been testing version 90 of Chrome for Android since the middle of January. And one of the more interesting features that are currently being tested in the Canary channel of Chrome on Android is a Read Later tool that will save the selected content to a dedicated reading list.
You can already enable it on the stable version of Chrome via a flag
Even though the feature is currently under testing in the Canary channel, you can still enable it manually on the latest stable build of Chrome (v88) on mobile. Just type chrome://flags/#read-later in the URL bar of Chrome, and enable the Read Later flag. You will have to restart the browser for the change to take effect. Once done, you can now add a webpage to a Reading List in two ways.
On a webpage, tap on the menu button in the top right corner and hit the bookmark (star) icon. Once you do that, a window will pop-up, at the top of which you’ll see an option called Reading List. If you tap on that, the webpage will be added to your reading list. Alternatively, long press on a link and select the Read Later option in the window that appears. You can access this Reading List by going to the bookmarks section of the Chrome browser on your Android device.
Chrome on iOS has had this feature for a while now
So far, the only way to save an article for reading later on Android was to download it, which could later be accessed from the Download section. Notably, the Read Later feature with a dedicated Reading List for it has been available on iOS for a while now. But now that the feature is under testing in the Canary channel, it won’t be long before it arrives widely for all users with an Android device via a Chrome browser update in the stable channel.
Back in September, Google made some linguistic changes to the Play Store policies concerning the in-app payment system to clearly define how it is implemented. The company has now made some updates to its policy governing Chrome browser extensions, specifically around how user data is processed, to make it easier for users to understand before they hit the blue ‘Add to Chrome’ button. Google says that the update to its policy will limit the scope of what developers can do with all that user data and prevent misuse.
“Starting January 2021, each extension’s detail page in the Chrome Web Store will show developer-provided information about the data collected by the extension, in clear and easy to understand language. Data disclosure collection is available to developers today,” the company said in a Chromium blog post. Developers will be required to disclose data usage behavior directly in the privacy tab of the developer dashboard. Data disclosures collection has already been released for developers, and they will start showing up on Chrome Web Store listings starting January 18 next year.
The data usage certification that developers will be required to disclose to the users.
In order to ensure that users are fully aware, developers will have to disclose – in simple words – the type of data that their extensions collect. Plus, they will also have to show the certification that they get from Google for complying with the updated data usage policies. In case a developer hasn’t received the compliance nod from Google, a notice telling users the same will be shown on Chrome Web Store listings of their extensions.
Additionally, Google has also introduced additional policies that govern the ways in which user data can be used, some of which are listed below:
Ensuring the use or transfer of user data is for the primary benefit of the user and in accordance with the stated purpose of the extension.
Reiterating that the sale of user data is never allowed. Google does not sell user data and extension developers may not do this either.
Prohibiting the use or transfer of user data for personalized advertising.
Prohibiting the use or transfer of user data for creditworthiness or any form of lending qualification and to data brokers or other information resellers.
Benchmarks, reviews, and several opinions prove that Apple’s latest M1 devices are some of the most powerful laptops in the market. Apple’s new M1 lineup includes a new 13-inch MacBook Pro, a MacBook Air, and a Mac mini. You can get one of these new products starting at $699 for the Mac mini, $999 for the Air, and $1,299 for the Pro. However, a new MacBook Air with 128GB storage for just $799 has appeared, but it may not be for everyone.
The latest M1 MacBook Air has been spotted with 128GB storage at Apple’s US Education Institute Hardware and Software Price List. Now, what’s curious about this is that the M1 MacBook Air is only available with 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB storage options on the Apple Store. Less storage also means a lower price, that’s why its price tag reads $799, but who is this variant meant for?
Reddit user “u/dduci97” was the one who found the new Air listed with an M1 chip, with an 8-core CPU, a 7-core GPU, 8GB RAM, and 128GB. However, Apple hasn’t made this variant available on its US Education Store, which makes us believe that it will not be available for the general public. Now, Apple is giving options to purchase the MacBook Air in bulk quantities, which could mean that it will target schools or universities as possible buyers, and if it does become available for everyone, this MacBook Air could arrive with an $899 price tag, meaning it would be the cheapest option in years.
On another note, Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak were recently interviewed by Ars Technica. They were asked about the possibility of using Microsoft and Windows on the M1 Macs since there is currently no Boot Camp feature for them. They were very clear to say that it’s “up to Microsoft.”
“As for Windows running natively on the machine, “that’s really up to Microsoft,” he said. “We have the core technologies for them to do that, to run their ARM version of Windows, which in turn of course supports x86 user mode applications. But that’s a decision Microsoft has to make, to bring to license that technology for users to run on these Macs. But the Macs are certainly very capable of it.”
He also suggested that one of the best possibilities in the future would be to have Windows in the cloud, making reference to CrossOver, which allows x86 Windows apps to run on Apple M1 Macs, using Rosetta 2. Further, Ars Technica did a series of tests of the latest M1 Chrome, showing that it’s up to 80 percent faster than the Rosetta 2 version. Just in case you were planning on downloading Chrome on your new M1 MacBook Air.
“Across all tests, the native M1 version of Chrome performed between 66 and 81 percent better than the version of Chrome running through Rosetta 2. Safari was the fastest browser of all, of course, having been designed by Apple, and it came out on top across all of the tests.”
You can easily download the new M1 version of Google Chrome for your Apple Silicon Mac by going to the Chrome website. You just have to select the “Mac with Apple Chip” option after clicking the download button.
Samsung Galaxy S20+, latest M1 13-inch MacBook Pro and more devices on sale
You already know how this goes so as per usual, let’s begin today’s show with deals. Starting off with the Samsung Galaxy S20+ which is $250 off, leaving the entry level variant for $950 shipped which is actually cheaper than what you would pay for the regular S20. The Galaxy Note 10+ is also $250 off, leaving the 256GB of storage variant for $850. The latest M1, 13in MacBook Pro is $49 off, that leaves the entry-level variant for $1250 and trust me, that thing is worth it. We also have discounts on Logitech Peripherals, like in the case of the G903 gaming mouse, which is $22 off, leaving it at $128 shipped. Finally, the Galaxy S10 Lite is $145 off, leaving that at $500 shipped. We have more deals on other Logitech products, Samsung Gaming monitors and more, in the links in the description.
OPPO Find X3 series to come with system-wide 10-bit color support
OPPO got on the spotlight yesterday thanks to their new concept smartphone and the other things we got at their INNO Day Conference. Well, Day 2 just happened in China and, they just confirmed that they are working on the Find X3 Series. Now, we don’t have much information on what we’re getting here but, one thing they did say is that we will be getting a native 10-bit display on this phone. OPPO says that they’re R&D team is preparing new algorithms in areas like distortion-correction, multi-frame noise reduction and extreme super-resolution. It will support Digital Overlap HDR mode. Check out the links in the description for other technical details they mentioned but, the Find X2 Pro already had probably my favorite display of the year, so we’re not going to complain about it getting better.
Google Pay app gets a redesign and some new features
Now let’s talk about Google as the company has just unveiled a revamp to their Google Pay app through a livestream today. Basically it delivers a complete redesign. It now shows you friends and family to which you can pay directly and nearby businesses that accept Google Pay as well in the top right corner. You also get other features like payment history at certain establishments as well as a new Explore Tab and a new Insights Tab. Google’s objective is for you to manage your money better with a budget feature in the Insights tab and they are also adding support for Plaid which lets you connect your bank or credit card. Another cool feature is letting you import pictures of receipts from Google Photos, that is if you’re still using it after the dilemma. There’s a ton of other features coming to the app so, check out the links below and FYI, the update is currently rolling out in the US to both Google Play and iOS.
Google offers an optimized version of Chrome for Macs with Apple’s M1 chip
Chrome gets a huge performance boost and a useful tab search tool
And since we started with Google, Let’s talk about Google Chrome as, the company is bringing some very interesting and welcome changes. Yesterday they announced v87, which is currently rolling out, and it gives Chrome its biggest boost in performance in years. You get upgrades like it opening 25% faster and page loading speed is going up by 7%, all while using less RAM and cutting down on the power consumption. They’re also adding other things like tab search, action buttons for better productivity and more. Something else we just got is an optimized version of Chrome for the new M1 Macs which we are testing as, the regular Chrome app quits pretty often if you’re not on the optimized version. Now, if you go to their website, you might not see the optimized one so if you’re rocking one, make sure to check out the link in our description to get it. So yeah, we hope Chrome works out all of their resource issues as they have been working on it for quite some time now.
Samsung might be working on a cheaper foldable phone called Galaxy Z Flip Lite
Samsung has really shifted their strategy towards foldables as of late and with those rumors of the Galaxy Note disappearing it makes a lot of sense. Well, a couple of days ago we covered a list of Samsung flagships that we should expect next year and a couple of them were cheaper foldables, one of them being a Z Fold FE and a a Z Flip Lite. Well, according to a new tweet from Ross Young, they are no longer hearing about a Z Fold Lite or FE anymore but apparently the Z Flip Lite is still on the table. What’s kind of impressive here is that Samsung will still be using their UTG technology on this phone, despite it being a cheaper device. This means that it won’t be as fragile as the original Galaxy Fold and it ensures some longevity. Of course this is still a rumor though, we are somewhat close to the Spring already which is when we got the original Z Flip. The thing about it is, we know that a lot of you guys are interested on foldables but the price tag is simply a deal breaker so, would you guys like a Z Flip Lite?
Story of the day:
Apple is halving its commission rate to 15% for most developers
And finally for the hottest news today, we have something that’s oddly for the ban section which Diego still hasn’t made graphics for. Well not really but, almost part of the ban section let’s move on to Apple. If you remember, the whole Apple vs Epic situation started because of Apple’s infamous 30% tax, which Epic Games wanted them to waive for customers to pay the actual value at which they sell their cosmetics. Well, you already know how that went but, it seems like Apple is doing something for smaller developers through their new “Small Business Program”. Cupertino just announced that they are lowering their commission to 15% but, it is strictly for developers that earned $1M or less in the previous calendar year. Apple mentions that this will benefit the vast majority of developers that sell digital goods and other services on the App Store, with this new Business Program launching on January 1st, 2021. They also said how small businesses are the backbone of the global economy and the beating heart of innovation and opportunity in communities around the world. For developers who surpass the $1M threshold, they will still get the 30% commission but, if somehow they fall below that $1M mark by the end of the year, they will be able to apply and get the 15% through the program. So, it looks like what Epic Games was doing did work, just not for them.
Chrome browser has garnered a bad reputation for being a resource hog, and in my personal experience, it does lead to some serious throttling on machines with low-end hardware. Google has today announced that with v87 – which is now rolling out – the company is giving Chrome browser its biggest performance boost in years. And the numbers being touted by Google are pretty substantial.
25% faster, 5x lower CPU usage, and 1.25 hours of extra battery life
To start, Google claims to have reduced the CPU usage of Chrome by 5x, while simultaneously adding 1.25 hours of battery life as per internal benchmarks. This has been achieved by prioritizing active Chrome tabs in the foreground compared to other programs and functions, something Google calls Tab Throttling and Occlusion Tracking.
These under-the-hood improvements to Chrome also ensure that the browser now opens up to 25% faster and page loading speed has also gone up by 7%, all the while using a lesser amount of RAM and cutting down on power consumption. And on the Android platform, Google claims that Chrome will now load pages almost instantaneously as users go back and forth.
Universal tab search tool in Chrome browser
Google is also adding a few additional tools to the Chrome browser. The first one is a tab search feature. As the name makes it abundantly clear, users will be able to quickly find a tab from a universal list of tabs, irrespective of the windows or groups they are placed in. You can either scroll the whole tab list or just search its name from the search field. The tab search tool will first make its way to Chrome OS and will arrive on other platforms soon.
Chrome’s URL field will now also show action buttons based on your query
Google is also making the universal search bar at the top in Chrome even more useful. Now, when users type a relevant query that resembles a settings option, they’ll see an action button that will take them directly to the requisite settings page. For example, when you type delete history in the search bar, you will also see an action button that will guide you to the appropriate page in Chrome’s settings section where you can delete your browser history.
It is no doubt that many of us have subscribed to multiple streaming services, and when it comes to accessing them quickly on a PC, we rely on solutions like a bookmark or putting a card on the browser homepage. But if you rely on Chrome browser to access streaming services on your PC, a neat new feature is coming your way.
First spotted by Chrome Story, Google is working on a new project called Chrome Kaleidoscope that will aggregate all your favorite streaming services in one place, or rather, a single page. The page, which is not yet widely functional, is accessible on the chrome://kaleidoscope URL in the experimental Canary channel.
The Chrome Kaleidoscope URL currently shows the above message (Image: Chrome Story)
As per screenshots obtained by Chrome Story, the aforementioned page will show icons for services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+, which can be clicked to open the desired streaming service. However, the Chrome Kaleidoscope project currently appears to be stuck in the internal testing phase and there is no concrete information as to when it will be rolled out widely.
Even though support for 64-bit architecture on Android was announced over half a decade ago, its adoption has been really slow. Surprisingly, Google’s own Chrome browser for Android has been stuck on the 32-bit train. But things are finally going to change with Chrome 85 on devices running Android 10 or a later version.
Spotted first by AndroidPolice, Chrome 85 dev build and Chrome 86 on the experimental Canary channel are listed as 64-bit apps. In comparison, the latest stable version of Chrome (v83) and Chrome beta (v84) are both stuck on 32-bit architecture. But it appears that Chrome will initially jump the 64-bit bandwagon only on devices running Android 10 or a later version.
Image: AndroidPolice
Google announced over a year ago that it will be phasing out 32-bit apps by August 2021, and will go all-in on 64-bit for app submissions after that deadline. It is good to see Google taking the initiative here, but Chrome being one of the company’s key offerings, it is almost a shame that the transition didn’t happen earlier as almost all Android phones out there now support 32-bit apps.
Chrome is arguably the fastest web browser, and also the most demanding one. Google is now trying to somewhat improve the latter by cracking down on ads that consume a disproportionately high amount of data, drain the battery life, and strain the system resources.
Google says it has found a small fraction of ads that exhibit such behavior, and to tackle the issue, Chrome will limit the resources used by an ad before users can interact with it. Once an ad reaches the limit, Chrome will remove it and will show an “Ad removed” message at that spot. Here’s how it looks:
Google is creating a limit of “4MB of network data or 15 seconds of CPU usage in any 30 second period, or 60 seconds of total CPU usage” for ads on Chrome. Surprisingly, only 0.3% of ads go past this limit, but that small fraction of ads alone accounts for 27% of network data used by ads and 28% of all ad CPU usage.
Google says it will test the new ad behavior monitoring experiment over the next few months before implementing it in August.
