MakeUseOf: A Complete Guide to Tab Management in Google Chrome. “Are you having a difficult time organizing your tabs in Google Chrome? In this guide, we’ll explore some solutions to stay on top of your Google Chrome tabs and upgrade your productivity online. Learn how to manage Chrome tabs better in this helpful guide.”
Bleeping Computer: Google shares plans for blocking third-party cookies in Chrome. “Google has officially announced plans to gradually eliminate third-party cookies, a key aspect of its Privacy Sandbox initiative. This phased approach begins with a 1% user testing period early in 2024, leading to a more extensive phase-out in the third quarter of 2024.”
Google Blog: Visit the new Chrome Web Store. “Inspired by our Material You design language, the new store has fresh color palettes, updated card styles and improved icon legibility that all better complement Chrome’s overall look. You’ll also see new extension categories, like AI-powered and shopping extensions, and ones that are more tailored to your interests based on what you’ve previously downloaded.”
The Register: What’s really going on with Chrome’s June crackdown on extensions – and why your ad blocker may or may not work . “Web advert blockers and other Chrome extensions will stop working by June 2024 unless they’ve been revamped to keep up with Google’s changes to its ubiquitous browser. And even then, if those content-filtering extensions have been updated to meet Google’s latest specifications and requirements, the add-ons may not work as well or as comprehensively as they did previously.”
Bleeping Computer: Google Chrome now auto-upgrades to secure connections for all users. “Google has taken a significant step towards enhancing Chrome internet security by automatically upgrading insecure HTTP requests to HTTPS requests for 100% of users. This feature is called HTTPS-Upgrades and will secure old links that utilize the http:// by automatically attempting to first connect to the URL over the encrypted https:// protocol.”
Bleeping Computer: Google Chrome’s new “IP Protection” will hide users’ IP addresses. “Google is getting ready to test a new ‘IP Protection’ feature for the Chrome browser that enhances users’ privacy by masking their IP addresses using proxy servers. Recognizing the potential misuse of IP addresses for covert tracking, Google seeks to strike a balance between ensuring users’ privacy and the essential functionalities of the web.”
Make Tech Easier: 11 of the Best Music Extensions for Google Chrome. “Listening to your favorite music throughout the day can help you relieve stress, improve your mood, and give you an energy boost. That’s the power of music, and if you are a Chrome user, it’s now easier than ever to access and even create new tunes right from your browser. Chrome extensions can be excellent companions for any music lovers out there. Check out the best options for you if music is a big part of your life.”
The Verge: Google is tweaking Chrome’s search bar to make it easier to navigate the web. “Google is making a few changes to the way its search and address bar — known as the omnibox — works in the Chrome browser. The changes are individually pretty small, but there’s an important and somewhat unexpected trend in them all: Google is making it easier for you to move around the web without having to do so many Google searches.”
Mashable: Google Chrome now lets you wipe the last 15 minutes of your cringey activities — here’s how. “Google has added some new, super-useful functionality for folks who want to quickly wipe 15 minutes worth of their Chrome history. The new tool, however, is only for Android users. All you need to do is click the three dots in the upper-right corner of Chrome before selecting ‘Clear Browsing Data.’ By default, this will delete the last 15 minutes of your browsing activity.”
Bleeping Computer: Google Chrome’s organize tabs will automatically reorder tabs. “In a bid to upgrade user experience, the Chrome team is developing an ‘Organise Tabs’ feature, soon to be seen at the top left corner of the browser, adjacent to the tab search function. This new addition would be a natural extension of Tab Groups functionality.”
MakeUseOf: 10 Vivaldi Features That Google Chrome Doesn’t Have . “Vivaldi is a web browser that has existed since about 2015. Released by Vivaldi Technologies, this browser intended to revive features Opera lost after it transitioned to a Chromium engine. It remains a relatively small browser in terms of user base and isn’t an especially big threat to Chrome’s browser dominance at the moment. However, Vivaldi boasts a multitude of features you won’t find in Google Chrome. It is one of the most feature-rich web browsers for surfing websites. These are some of the more notable Vivaldi features that Chrome doesn’t have.”
Electronic Frontier Foundation: How To Turn Off Google’s “Privacy Sandbox” Ad Tracking—and Why You Should. “Google referring to any of this as ‘privacy’ is deceiving. Even if it’s better than third-party cookies, the Privacy Sandbox is still tracking, it’s just done by one company instead of dozens. Instead of waffling between different tracking methods, even with mild improvements, we should work towards a world without behavioral ads. But if you’re sticking to Chrome, you can at least turn these features off.”
How-To Geek: Firefox Now Works Better With Google Apps, Including Meet. “Most browsers nowadays are just using the same Chromium engine found in Google Chrome. That means most sites work the same in all Chromium-based browsers, since those sites are tested in the most in Chrome, but they might run into issues on Firefox or Safari. Google’s web apps have been far from perfect on Firefox over the past few years, but now many of them are working better than ever in Mozilla’s web browser, even Google Meet.”
Lifehacker: Unsubscribe From Unwanted Mailing Lists With This Chrome Extension. “Across all my email addresses, which include school, personal, spam, and work inboxes in both Gmail and Outlook, I currently have 23,754 unread messages. This does not mean I am ignoring important emails related to my job, education, or personal pursuits. It simply means those messages are harder to find because I am absolutely inundated with garbage. In an attempt to clean things up, I added the Trimbox extension to my Chrome browsers to clear out the Gmail boxes. I was admittedly nervous about using a third-party app to hack through all my stupid emails, but it worked out great.”
Ars Technica: Google gets its way, bakes a user-tracking ad platform directly into Chrome. “Don’t let Chrome’s big redesign distract you from the fact that Chrome’s invasive new ad platform, ridiculously branded the ‘Privacy Sandbox,’ is also getting a widespread rollout in Chrome today. If you haven’t been following this, this feature will track the web pages you visit and generate a list of advertising topics that it will share with web pages whenever they ask, and it’s built directly into the Chrome browser.”
