Category Archives: Chrome

Chrome Begins Disabling uBlock Origin

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If you’re a fan of uBlock Origin, don’t be surprised if it stops functioning in Chrome. The Google-owned browser has started disabling the free add blocker as part of the company’s plan to phase out older “Manifest V2” extensions, PCMag reported.

On Tuesday, the developer of uBlock Origin, Raymond Hill, retweeted a screenshot from one user showing the Chrome browser disabling the ad blocker. “These extensions are no longer supported. Chrome recommends that you remove them,” the pop-up from the Chrome browser told the user.

In response, Hill wrote: “The depreciation of uBO in the Chrome Web Store has started.”

This occurs when the Chrome Web Store has already been discouraging users from downloading uBlock Origin, or even delisting the extension, with a warning that says “it doesn’t follow best practices for Chrome extensions.” That said, PCMag was still able download and use the extension over Chrome.  So the disabling and delisting may not be as wide-scale at the moment. Google didn’t immediately respond for a request for comment.

PCWorld reported: The writing is almost literally on the wall for Chrome’s most popular ad blockers. After months of warnings that extensions like uBlock Origin would be removed after Chrome’s Manifest V3 extension update, Google is now telling Chrome users who try to download it from the Chrome Web Store that it “may no longer be supported.”

On a more recent Chromebook review unit, the download button is fully disabled. uBlock Origin cannot be installed at all. 

The new warning that uBlock Origin “doesn’t follow best practices for Chrome extensions” was spotted on Twitter and reported by Bleeping Computer. While the most popular commercial ad blocking solutions have been updated for Manifest V3 compatibility, the solo, unpaid developer of uBlock Origin has kept the extension on Manifest V2 as a way to highlight the issues with the updated standard.

An alternative version called uBlock Original — less capable but compatible with the newer standard —has also been released. The original uBlock Origin has 39 million users according to the Chrome Web Store (and there are many more when you count Firefox and alternative Chromium-based browsers) while the newer uBlock Origin Lite extension currently only shows 700,000 users.

Ghostery CEO Jean-Peal Schmetz recommends that users who care about ad blocking effectiveness should switch to Firefox, the only major third-party browser left that isn’t based on the open-source Chromium project controlled by Google. The original, unhobbled uBlock Origin is still working on Firefox, though developer Raymond Hill has run into some issues with Mozilla as well.

BoingBoing reported Manifest V3 is the new extensions framework for Google Chrome browser, and one notable outcome is that ad blockers can’t block so many ads. After years of delay, Google is reportedly “purging” such extensions and accelerating the framework’s rollout.

According to user reports, uBlock Origin is quickly disappearing from the Chrome Web Store. The official page for the ad-blocking extension now states that it is unavailable because it doesn’t comply with Chrome’s “best practices” for add-ons. However, we can confirm that the page is still accessible from our EU Windows client.

In my opinion, it appears that Google is very interested in removing uBlock Origin. It is not clear why the Google is doing this, or if it will put out an updated version.

 

 

Chrome Adds New Features To Save Battery And Improve Browsing

Chrome,

Chrome posted information on The Keyword, written by Group Product Manager, Chrome, Mark Chang. It is a short post that focuses on Chrome’s new features that are optimized for your device’s battery and system memory.

From the post:

With the latest release of Chrome on desktop, we’re introducing two new performance settings so Chrome uses up to 40% and 10GB less memory to keep your tabs running smoothly, and extend your battery when it’s running low. We’ll be rolling out both Memory Saver and Energy Saver modes over the next several weeks globally for Windows, macOS and ChromeOS.

…Memory Saver mode frees up memory from tabs you aren’t currently using so the active websites you’re browsing have the smoothest possible experience. This is especially useful if you’re running other intensive applications, like editing family videos or playing games. Any inactive tabs will be reloaded when you need them.

Energy Saver maximizes battery life. Running low on battery and don’t have a laptop charger nearby? When you’re browsing the Web with Chrome and your device batter level reaches 20%, Chrome will save battery by limiting background activity and visual effects for websites with animations and videos.

TechCrunch reported that 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.

According to TechCrunch, Microsoft 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.

Engadget reported that these new features will be available as part of the m108 Chrome for desktop build. Google says all users will have access to them in the coming weeks and that it’s starting to roll out the build. You’ll be able to turn off these modes in the settings and make certain sites exempt from Memory Saver.

I think that people who use Chrome will make use of these new features, especially people who tend to have a whole lot of tabs open all the time.

The bigger picture, though, is what these features can do for people who have older computers. The memory saver feature that frees up tabs the person isn’t currently using could be a big improvement for those who have computers that freeze after too many tabs have been opened.

Chrome to Give Users More Control over Audio

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People who use Chrome as their go-to browser are about to get more control over the audio that autoplays on the websites they visit. Software Engineer Mounir Lamouri posted on the Chromium Blog information about “Unified autoplay”.

Users watch and listen to a lot of media, and autoplay can make it faster and easier to consume on the web. However, one of the most frequent user concerns is unexpected media playback, which can use data, consume power, and make unwanted noise while browsing. To address this, Chrome will be making autoplay more consistent with user expectations and will give users more control over audio.

Chrome 63 will add a new user option to completely disable audio for individual sites. The site muting will persist between browsing sessions. This allows users to customize when and where audio will play.

Starting in Chrome 64, autoplay will be allowed when either the media does not include any audio, or when the user has indicated an interest in the media. These changes will allow autoplay to occur when users want media to play, and will respect users’ wishes when they don’t want media to play.

The Chromium blog post says: “These changes will also unify desktop and mobile web behavior, making web media development more predictable across platforms and browsers.” It sounds to me like these changes will make visiting websites less annoying for people who have not yet started using ad blockers.

Turn Nearly Any Display into a Computer with the Google Chromebit

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ChromebitGoogle has been busy expanding its Chrome-branded line of products with the latest item being its new Chromebit. The Chromebit is somewhat similar to the Chromecast, Google’s low-cost video streaming stick. Both devices are about the size of a candy bar, both devices connect directly to a TV or digital display thru an HDMI port. But the Chromebit is more than a simple video-consumption device.

Pair a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse with the Chromebit and you’ve got an instant computer. Check e-mail, surf the web, stream YouTube videos and more. The Chromebit is in contention for the world’s lowest-cost computer. The stick is set to retail for $85.00 (this of course doesn’t cover the cost of mouse, keyboard, display, and Internet connection).

The Chromebit is powered by a Rockchip processor and comes with 2GB RAM, and it relies on Google’s Chrome OS. It’s hardly a powerhouse computing system, and it probably won’t replace your trusty desktop, laptop, or tablet computers. But it’s still an impressive achievement in small-form factor computing and could be incredibly useful to institutions that need to quickly fill a computer lab on a budget. Also, Chromebit could be useful when traveling, due to its compact nature and the fact that it’ll work with any HDMI-enabled display.

The Chromebit is not currently available for purchase. It’s unclear as to when the device will officially be on the market.

Lantronix Prints From Android and Chrome at CES

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Lantronix LogoThere are times when only hard copy will do but anyone who has tried to print from a tablet will know that it’s not always easy. The main ecosystems from Apple and Google have their own printer strategies with AirPrint and Cloud Print respectively but support is spotty at best. Several printer manufacturers have gone so far as to create their own printer app which really is a pretty poor state of affairs.

Into this gap steps Lantronix with their xPrintServer Cloud Print Edition, the first Google-certified Cloud Print server which lets Android and ChromeOS devices print wirelessly to network and USB printers. Sweet.

xPrintServer

The unit is about the size of a smartphone and requires no additional software downloads or printer drivers. It’s simply a case of connecting the device to the network and it automatically finds the printers on the network, making them available to users. The xPrintServer Cloud Print Edition supports any device running Google’s Chrome browser, whether it’s a smartphone, tablet, PC or laptop. Apparently there are over 310 million active users of Chrome, so that’s quite a few people who might want to print. Business users of Google Apps are supported too. Details of the printers supported are available from Lantronix’s website.

This new xPrintServer joins the existing Home and Office Editions which provide print services for iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad.

The Cloud Print Edition sells for an MSRP of US$149.95 and will ship at the end of February 2014. Pre-orders are being taken now and potential customers can sign up at lantronix.com for more information and availability. Of course, if you are at CES, you can pop round to their stand for a quick demo.

Philips Hue Chrome App

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Hue Personal Wireless LightingWhile researching the Philips Hue Android apps, I discovered that currently there is a single Hue app for Chrome. It’s called Hueful and while it’s fairly basic, it deserves a mention as (a) it’s the only app on Chrome but (b) it shows that Chrome can support this kind of hardware-oriented app. Previously I would have discounted Chrome from being an option but Hueful works fine on my Chromebook.

Hueful isn’t a very advanced Hue app, being limited to setting colours of selected lamps and colour cycling. Sometimes lamps need to be told twice to take on a setting but they usually get there in the end.

Hueful

 

Hueful is free from the Chrome store.

What Would You Rather See on the Internet?

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Rather logoAll of us have had the experience of seeing a bunch of posts in our social media about things we would rather not see. Wouldn’t it be great if something could just get rid of all the unwanted stuff for you? There’s an app for that! It is called Rather. It lets you replace the stuff you don’t like with things you would rather see.

Rather is from the people who created Unbaby.me (which replaced baby photos with photos of cats). Rather uses the same concept and has improved upon it.

Rather lets you create a list of stuff that you really don’t want to see anymore. It uses those keywords to identify posts and automatically replaces those posts with something you like. You can put together a list of several things that you want Rather to replace stuff with.

That helps prevent you from getting bored of the stuff you selected. To reference the example on the Rather website, you can tell Rather to show you cats and bacon. Pick a few of your favorite things. Just like that, your internet experience got a little bit more pleasant. The coolest thing about Rather is you can use it to automatically get rid of posts that include a particular website that you strongly dislike.

You must use Chrome in order to get Rather to work. Firefox, Safari, and mobile versions are “coming soon”. The app will filter things for you on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more. You can tailor which keywords you want Rather to remove from each one.