Chrome

If your Mac's storage has been mysteriously shrinking recently and you use Google Chrome, you may have already identified the culprit. The browser has been downloading a 4GB AI model file onto computers without explicit user consent. Here's how to reclaim the space. The file in question is called "weights.bin," which powers Google's on-device Gemini Nano AI model – the engine behind Chrome ...

Google's Chrome browser has often been criticized for being a system resource hog, which has led Chromium developers to provide ways to free up memory and keep things running smoothly when users have multiple windows and tabs open. One of the latest developments in this regard is more transparency into Chrome's tab throttling behavior, by, for example, giving users the ability to view the...

If you're a fan of Google's Chrome browser, you're probably familiar with how easy it is to end up with multiple open browser tabs in a single session. On any other browser, searching for a specific tab can be a hassle as you typically have to click through them one by one, but thanks to a relatively new search feature in Chrome, Google's browser makes it a cinch. You can search for an...

Looking to keep your mobile browsing in Google Chrome private and secure? Keep reading to learn how to lock your Incognito tabs behind Face ID (or Touch ID) on iPhone and iPad. Whatever you think of it, Chrome remains one of the most popular browsers on iPhone and iPad, which is why Google continues to work on new features to differentiate it from Apple's Safari. With this in mind, one of...

Google's Chrome browser has long been criticized for being a system resource hog, which is why Chromium developers have been busy working on ways to free up memory and keep things running smoothly when users have multiple windows and tabs open. The latest effort in that regard comes in the form of Memory Saver, a new feature that deactivates open tabs you haven't used in a while so that the...

With the release of Chrome 90, Google is rolling out a new browser feature that lets you create a shareable link to a section of text you've highlighted on a webpage. Here's how to use it. Sometimes when you share a webpage link with someone, you just want to bring their attention to a specific passage or sentence to make your point, rather than have them read through the entire article. ...

Whenever you browse the web in Google Chrome, the browser stores website data including cookies so that it doesn't have to do so again each time you revisit a site. In theory this should speed up your browsing experience, but there are some scenarios where you might want to clear the cache and start anew. Keep reading to learn how it's done on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. There are a couple of...

Apple's native desktop browser is Safari, but just because it comes pre-installed on every Mac doesn't mean you have to use it. Chrome is actually more popular than Safari by far, and if you're new to Mac, it might already be your preferred browser. If you've tried out Safari and decided you want to switch to Google's equivalent, you can easily import any bookmarks you've used in Apple's...

Google includes a Live Captions transcription feature in version 89 of its Chrome browser for desktop. Live Captions uses machine learning to create a real-time transcription for videos or audio played through the browser, which can make online media more accessible for members of the Deaf community and other people with hearing loss. Once enabled, Live Captions appear in a box in the bottom ...

Apple made a change in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 that enables third-party browsers and email clients to be used as default apps, meaning users who don't get on with Safari or Apple's native Mail app can choose an alternative and it will be opened automatically whenever the system requires it. The latest version of Google Chrome now supports this ability, so anyone on iOS 14 can set Google's app...

In Chrome 66, rolling out now for Mac and iOS, Google has added a password export option to the web browser so that you can easily migrate your login details to another browser via a third-party password manager app. In this article, we'll show you how to export your passwords from Chrome on Mac and iOS. At the end of the process, you'll be left with a CSV file containing all your login...

Google allegedly pays Apple a portion of all search revenue from Chrome for iOS in what appears to be a non-compete deal, The Register reports. According to a source said to be familiar with the matter who spoke to The Register, Google has been paying Apple a portion of search revenue generated by Chrome users on iOS in return for being the default search provider in Safari and other...

The growing popularity of OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot has inspired Microsoft and Google to add conversational AI functionality into their search products, with both companies making AI-related announcements this week. Google yesterday introduced Bard, a chatbot AI project that has been in the works for some time. Powered by Google's Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA), Bard is an...

Google Chrome has announced it has gained support for passkeys, a new industry-wide standard with the hope of replacing passwords by making it easier and safer to log into websites and apps. With passkeys, users can authenticate and log into websites using their iPhone or Android devices, replacing the need for a password. On newer versions of iOS and Android, users visiting websites that...

The Google Chrome app for Mac was today updated with new Memory Saver and Energy Saver modes, which are designed to give users more control over memory usage and battery life. Memory Saver mode frees up memory from tabs that are not being actively used, allowing for a smoother experience for tabs that are in use. Google says that this mode is particularly useful when doing other system...

Google today announced several updates that are coming to the Chrome browser on iPhone and iPad, including Enhanced Safe Browsing, a feature that is designed to provide users with better protection against phishing, malware, and other web-based threats. If turned on, the Enhanced Safe Browsing feature will warn users proactively if web pages are dangerous, with the setting using Google's...

Google today released Chrome 100, the latest version of its browser that's available on Macs, PCs, iPhones and iPads, Android devices, and more. Chrome 100 is notable because it features the first major icon update for Chrome since 2014. The updated design was first previewed in February, and it features a simplified icon with brighter colors and no shadows. Chrome designer Elvin Hu said...

Google today announced that updates made to the Chrome browser have improved performance on Apple's Macs, with Google Chrome earning a score over 300 on the Speedometer benchmark that evaluates the responsiveness of a browser. In a post on the Chromium blog, Google explains the technological improvements that have been introduced over the past months to make Chrome the "fastest possible...

Apple at the end of 2021 appears to have quietly released a new Shazam extension for Chrome users, which can be used to identify songs that are playing using the popular music recognition service. Apple has owned Shazam since 2017, but even before that, Shazam was built into Apple devices at the operating system level. On an iPhone or a Mac, users can ask Siri to identify any song that's...

Google today updated its Chrome app for iOS devices to version 92, introducing a new feature that allows iPhone and iPad users to protect their Incognito tabs with Touch ID, Face ID, or a passcode. Locked Incognito tabs will not be visible until authenticated after leaving the Chrome app and reopening it, which will prevent someone who gets ahold of your device from viewing your Chrome tabs. ...

Google today introduced Chrome 90 for iPhones, iPads, and the iPod touch, adding support for new Search and Dino widgets on devices running a version of iOS 14. There are three separate Chrome widgets available. There's a two tile search interface that lets you conduct a quick search with quick access to voice search and incognito mode, a single tile search widget, and a shortcut to play the ...

Google today rolled out Chrome 90 to its stable channel, introducing automatic preference for HTTPS sites over the HTTP protocol, plus some other notable changes. By default, Chrome will now redirect all websites to use the more secure HTTPS protocol. Encrypted using Transport Layer Security (TLS), HTTPS secures communication over networks by authenticating the website and protecting the...

Google today rolled out its live caption transcription feature to version 89 of Chrome browser for desktop, as first spotted by XDA Developers. Previously only available on some Pixel and Samsung phones, Live Captions uses machine learning to create a real-time transcription for videos or audio played through the browser, making online media more accessible for members of the Deaf community ...

Over the course of the last several weeks, Google has been adding App Privacy labels to its iOS apps in accordance with Apple's App Store rules, but it took Google multiple months to begin sharing the information. There was speculation that Google's delay meant that it had something to hide, which DuckDuckGo is leaning into with a new tweet that highlights Google's data collection and calls...

A judge in California has ruled that Google must face a class action lawsuit alleging that it secretly tracks the online activity of Chrome users even when they're using the browser in its privacy-oriented Incognito mode (via Bloomberg). The lawsuit was filed in June by three plaintiffs alleging that Google hoovers up user data through Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager and other applications ...

Google's Chrome browser has been criticized for years for being a system resource hog, but Chromium developers are making some loud claims about how much smarter the latest version is at using and freeing up memory on macOS. According to a new post on Google's Chromium blog, Chrome developers recently managed to shrink the memory footprint of background tabs on Mac by up to 8%, or just over...

Under normal and lightweight web browsing, Google Chrome uses 10x more RAM than Safari on macOS Big Sur, according to a test conducted by Flotato creator Morten Just (via iMore). In a blog post, Just outlines that he put both browsers to the test in two scenarios on the latest version of macOS. The first test was conducted on a virtual machine, and the second on a 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro...

Google is testing a new feature for its Google Chrome app for iOS, which will let Incognito tabs be locked with either Face ID or Touch ID on an iPhone or iPad. As highlighted by 9to5Google, the latest Chrome beta will blur Incognito tabs in the Chrome app until confirmed with the iPhone's biometric authentication. The feature can be enabled by going to Settings > Privacy > Lock Incognito ...

Google has released Chrome version 88.0.4324.150 with an important fix for a zero-day vulnerability in the web browser that the company says is likely to have been exploited in the wild. Google hasn't provided specific details about the heap buffer overflow memory corruption bug known as CVE-2021-21148, and says it won't do so "until a majority of users are updated with a fix." However, ZDNe...

Apple has released an iCloud password extension for Google's Chrome browser on Windows that allows ‌iCloud‌ Keychain passwords to be used on PCs. Called simply "‌iCloud‌ Passwords," the extension allows users to access passwords in Google Chrome that have been generated in Apple's Safari browser. It also enables ‌iCloud‌ syncing of passwords generated in Chrome, making them available on...

Apple yesterday released a new version of iCloud for Windows 10, and based on multiple reports and the update's release notes, it appears Apple is introducing an iCloud Passwords extension designed for Chrome, which will allow ‌iCloud‌ Keychain passwords to be used on Windows machines. Image via The 8-Bit As noted by The 8-Bit and a few other sources, the update adds support for an "‌iCloud‌...