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Tag: Chromium

  • Google Will Support Rust in Chromium

    Google Will Support Rust in Chromium

    Google expanding its use of the Rust programming language, adding support for it in its Chromium web browser.

    Rust has been gaining steam as a programming language, thank in large part to the memory features and security it provides. Rust has already begun making its way into the Linux kernel, and Google has seen benefits from its inclusion in Android. Similarly, even the NSA has been recommending the use of Rust, and other memory-safe languages.

    Google is now adding Rust support to Chromium, hoping to benefit in the same way it has with Android, as the company outlines in a blog post.

    Our goal in bringing Rust into Chromium is to provide a simpler (no IPC) and safer (less complex C++ overall, no memory safety bugs in a sandbox either) way to satisfy the rule of two, in order to speed up development (less code to write, less design docs, less security review) and improve the security (increasing the number of lines of code without memory safety bugs, decreasing the bug density of code) of Chrome. And we believe that we can use third-party Rust libraries to work toward this goal.

    Google makes the point that Rust was originally developed specifically for web browser development, making it fitting to use it in Chromium.

    Rust was developed by Mozilla specifically for use in writing a browser, so it’s very fitting that Chromium would finally begin to rely on this technology too. Thank you Mozilla for your huge contribution to the systems software industry. Rust has been an incredible proof that we should be able to expect a language to provide safety while also being performant.

    Users interested in the technical details of how Google plans to integrate Rust can read more here.

  • Hostilities Between Microsoft and Google Resume

    Hostilities Between Microsoft and Google Resume

    Microsoft and Google are resuming open hostilities, following a five-year cease-fire.

    Microsoft and Google had an agreement, beginning five years ago, to stop suing each other and work out their differences behind closed doors. During that period, the two companies worked closely together on some projects, not the least of which is Microsoft adopting Chromium as the rendering engine for its Edge web browser. The company has become one of the biggest contributors to the open source rendering engine, with many of Microsoft’s improvements making their way into Google’s Chrome, also based on Chromium.

    Despite the benefits of the two companies’ non-aggression pact, that pact has ended, driven largely by Microsoft’s growing frustration with Google’s approach to its ad business and the debate around paying content creators.

    According to Bloomberg, tensions started building over Google’s reluctance to pay news publishers for content. In contrast, Microsoft has been a proponent of reimbursing news publishers and content creators. The breaking point, however, was Microsoft’s frustration about marketers not having equal access to search engines when using Google’s ad campaign tools. 

    “If you want to advertise, if you want to sell advertising or buy advertising on the internet, you have to use Google’s tools, and when they make their tools in a manner that fails to interoperate easily with others, it impacts everybody,” said Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith, in April, in a Bloomberg television interview. “We raised the concerns with them and they just turned a deaf ear.”

    The two companies already compete on vast array of fronts, not the least of which is the cloud. Now that the gloves have come off, it will be interesting to see just how far the hostilities go.

  • Google Releases Chrome Update Addressing Zero-Day Exploit

    Google Releases Chrome Update Addressing Zero-Day Exploit

    Google has released a major updated for its Chrome web browser, addressing a number of security issues, including a zero-day exploit.

    Google Chrome is currently the most popular web browser on the market by a wide margin. In addition to the success it enjoys as a standalone product, a number of companies use Chrome’s rendering engine, Chromium, as the basis of their browsers. Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera and Vivaldi are just a few of the browsers built on Chromium.

    The latest update addresses a number of security issues, the most important of which is a zero-day exploit. Google has published details on its blog, and will roll the update out to individuals who don’t apply the patch on their own.

    Users of Chromium-based browsers should likewise check to make sure they’re running the latest version of their browsers.

  • Microsoft Edge for Linux Getting Sign-In and Sync Support

    Microsoft Edge for Linux Getting Sign-In and Sync Support

    Microsoft is adding sign-in and sync support to the Linux version of its Edge web browser.

    Microsoft Edge is the company’s web browser that replaced its long-lived Internet Explorer. While Edge was originally powered by Microsoft’s own rendering engine, the company transitioned it to Chromium, the open source rendering engine that powers Google’s Chrome. Unlike Internet Explorer, Edge is available for several of the most popular Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian and openSUSE.

    In a post on the company’s Dev channel, Microsoft’s Josh Bodner announced that sign-in and sync are available in dev build 91.0.831.1.

    We’re also starting to roll out sign-in and sync for Linux users! Please note that this is only supported for personal Microsoft Accounts at the moment, and you may need to enable a flag in order to see this setting.

    The company does warn that there may be issues, given this is still a development feature.

    Users interested in more information can read the full release notes here.

  • Microsoft’s New Patch Will Completely Replace Legacy Edge With New Version

    Microsoft’s New Patch Will Completely Replace Legacy Edge With New Version

    Microsoft has announced that an upcoming Windows 10 update will replace Edge Legacy with the new version.

    Microsoft Edge is the company’s replacement for Internet Explorer. Originally, Edge used Microsoft’s own in-house rendering engine. As part of the Windows 10 October 2020 Update, Microsoft unveiled the new version of Edge. The new version is based on Chromium, the same open source foundation for Google’s Chrome. This allows Edge to take advantage of Chrome’s popularity and compatibility.

    Microsoft has announced it is ending support for Edge Legacy on March 9. As a result, to prevent users from using an outdated, insecure browser, Microsoft is removing Edge Legacy and replacing it with the Chromium-based version.

    To replace this out of support application, we are announcing that the new Microsoft Edge will be available as part of the Windows 10 cumulative monthly security update—otherwise referred to as the Update Tuesday (or “B”) release—on April 13, 2021. When you apply this update to your devices, the out of support Microsoft Edge Legacy desktop application will be removed and the new Microsoft Edge will be installed. The new Microsoft Edge offers built-in security and our best interoperability with the Microsoft security ecosystem, all while being more secure than Chrome for businesses on Windows 10.

    While some users may be put off by the thought of Microsoft removing a copy of their program, in this case the company is doing the responsible thing. Web browsers are one of the most commonly exploited attack vectors, so Microsoft removing an outdated and unsupported browser will likely go a long way toward protecting user security.

  • Brave Becomes First Web Browser to Support IPFS

    Brave Becomes First Web Browser to Support IPFS

    Brave has crossed a major milestone, becoming the first browser to support the new IPFS protocol.

    Brave is an independent, open source browser co-founded by CEO Brendan Eich, former CEO of Mozilla, and Brian Bondy. The browser uses the open source Chromium rendering engine, giving it the same speed and compatibility advantages as Google Chrome. From the beginning, however, Brave has placed a major emphasis on privacy and security, consistently being recognized as one of the most private out-of-the-box browsers.

    The indie browser has now become the first to support IPFS, beating its larger rivals. IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) emphasizes a decentralized web, providing additional speed and security. In essence, IPFS works similar to BitTorrent, allowing users to download data from multiple sources, rather than from a single location. It also provides a level of resiliency not present with traditional HTTP.

    “We’re thrilled to be the first browser to offer a native IPFS integration with today’s Brave desktop browser release,” said Brian Bondy, CTO and co-founder of Brave. “Providing Brave’s 1 million+ verified content creators with the power to seamlessly serve content to millions of new users across the globe via a new and secure protocol, IPFS gives users a solution to the problem of centralized servers creating a central point of failure for content access. IPFS’ innovative content addressing uses Content Identifiers (CIDs) to form an address based on the content itself as opposed to locating data based on the address of a server. Integrating the IPFS open-source network is a key milestone in making the Web more transparent, decentralized, and resilient.”

    Brave’s adoption of IPFS is a step in the right direction, hopefully a step other browser makers quickly follow.

  • Brave Web Browser Passes 20 Million Monthly Users, 7 Million Daily

    Brave Web Browser Passes 20 Million Monthly Users, 7 Million Daily

    Brave web browser is making inroads in the market, announcing it now has 20 million monthly active users and 7 million daily active users.

    Brave is distinguishing itself as a browser that focuses on privacy and security. By default, the browser is considered to be more secure than Firefox. At the same time, thanks to its Chromium engine—the same engine that powers Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge— Brave generally offers top-tier performance, often beating rivals.

    When it comes to monetization, Brave uses a somewhat unique method. The browser aggressively blocks ads, but gives users the option of seeing ads from Brave’s own network that, again, emphasizes privacy. This model seems to be a hit for all parties, as Brave boasts a click-through rate of 9%, well above the industry average of 2%.

    In addition, Brave allows individuals to become verified content creators. Other users can then use Brave’s own cryptocurrency, Basic Attention Tokens, to tip their favorite content creators.

    Brave’s features and performance seem to be gaining traction. The browser’s current 20 million monthly active users is up from 8.7 million a year ago. Similarly, the 7 million daily active users is up from 3 million a year ago. Since Apple began allowing users to set their default iOS browser in iOS 14, Brave’s daily active iOS users has grown 34%.

    At a time when Mozilla is still struggling to break free from its dependance on Google subsidies, and other major browsers are bundled with operating systems, it’s good to see an independent browser succeeding with an innovative approach to monetization and sustainability.

  • Chrome Will Start Blocking Resource Heavy Ads

    Chrome Will Start Blocking Resource Heavy Ads

    Google has announced that Chrome will soon start blocking resource intensive ads.

    Internet ads may be a fact of life, but not all ads are created equal. Some, such as poorly programmed ones, can consume a disproportionate amount of resources, draining a laptop’s battery and slowing down a network. Google is working to address the problem, experimenting with ways of identifying those ads and blocking them.

    “We have recently discovered that a fraction of a percent of ads consume a disproportionate share of device resources, such as battery and network data, without the user knowing about it,” writes Marshall Vale, Chrome Product Manager. “These ads (such as those that mine cryptocurrency, are poorly programmed, or are unoptimized for network usage) can drain battery life, saturate already strained networks, and cost money.

    “In order to save our users’ batteries and data plans, and provide them with a good experience on the web, Chrome will limit the resources a display ad can use before the user interacts with the ad. When an ad reaches its limit, the ad’s frame will navigate to an error page, informing the user that the ad has used too many resources.”

    This is good news for Chrome users, especially those who primarily use a notebook. Google will continue working on the solution for the next few months, with rollout planned for August.

  • Google and Microsoft Reigniting Browser Wars

    Google and Microsoft Reigniting Browser Wars

    Some things are too good to last, and it appears Google and Microsoft’s BFF cooperation on the browser front is one of them, as both companies are taking swipes at the other.

    Microsoft’s current browser, Edge, uses Google’s Chromium rendering engine. Chromium is an open-source rendering engine that a number of browsers, including Chrome, are powered by. Microsoft retired its own HTML rendering engine in favor of the move to Chromium in an effort to improve compatibility and reliability. Basing Edge on Chromium also lets Microsoft focus more resources on the browser’s front-end and user experience. Microsoft has even added a number of significant features to Edge that have made, or are making, their way into Chrome.

    The cracks started to show up when Google began using user agents to warn Microsoft Edge users they should “upgrade” to Google’s Chrome. User agent strings are the method by which web browsers identify themselves. In the early days of the web, when Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator were vying for dominance, webmasters would routinely code their websites to primarily work with one or the other browser. Webmasters would check a visiting browser’s user agent, or identity, and warn users they needed to “upgrade” if they weren’t running the browser their website was designed to support. Eventually, as the web started becoming more standards-compliant, the practice largely fell out of favor, with webmasters focusing on creating websites that adhered to standards and worked for everyone.

    Now Google seems intent on going back to those dark days of the early web. According to Windows Latest, “Google services are still targeting Edge with scary warnings. In the past, Google has displayed a warning when users opened services such as Google Teams, Gmail, Google Docs and YouTube Music in Edge.”

    Interestingly, if Edge users change their user agent to Chrome, the warning goes away. Google is also not targeting other Chromium-based browsers, such as Opera.

    Microsoft, in turn, has been warning individuals who try to download extensions from the Chrome Web Store that downloaded extensions from “unverified” sources may not be safe.

    Chris Matyszczyk, with ZDNet, reached out to both companies, as well as did a bit of his own investigating.

    “My sniffings around Google suggest the company may have been taken aback by the positive public reaction to Edge,” writes Matyszczyk. “Oddly, Google doesn’t seem to be offering these scary messages to users of, say, the Opera browser.

    “My nasal probings around Redmond offer the reasoning that, well, Microsoft hasn’t tested or verified extensions that arrive from places other than they Microsoft Edge add-ons website. Why, they’re far too busy to do that. And, well, it’s the Chrome web store. Who knows what you’ll find over there? Oh, and Edge gives you more control over your data, so there.”

    Whatever the motivations of both companies, the back-and-forth, tit-for-tat needs to stop. Dragging users back to the ‘90s-style browser wars that emphasized protecting turf over supporting standards is a losing recipe for everyone involved—especially the end user.

  • WhatsApp Bug Let Hackers Access Computers Via a Text Message

    WhatsApp Bug Let Hackers Access Computers Via a Text Message

    Facebook has just patched a vulnerability in WhatsApp that could allow a hacker to take control of a target’s computer via a single text message.

    Security research Gal Weizman, with PerimiterX, discovered the flaw and worked with Facebook to fix it. The flaw does not impact all users, only those using the iOS version paired with a desktop version, either macOS or Windows.

    According to Facebook’s security advisory, “a vulnerability in WhatsApp Desktop when paired with WhatsApp for iPhone allows cross-site scripting and local file reading. Exploiting the vulnerability requires the victim to click a link preview from a specially crafted text message.”

    As Weizman points out, much of this is because Facebook has not properly updated the underlying framework on which the desktop version of WhatsApp is built on. That framework is Electron, a platform that allows developers to use web technologies to create “native” apps. Electron, in turn, is based on Chromium, the open-source foundation of Google Chrome. In an era where cloud computing and web applications have become dominant, Electron gives companies the ability to maximize their developer talent by focusing on web languages, frameworks and technologies.

    Unfortunately, in this instance, WhatsApp was based on Electron 4.1.4, instead of the current 7.x.x. In version 4.1.4, the included version of Chromium was Chrome/69, instead of the current Chrome/78. If Facebook had updated to the latest version of Electron, and therefore the underlying Chromium, this bug would not have been possible, as it had been patched in Chromium and Electron some time ago.

    “It is 2020, no product should be allowing a full read from the file system and potentially a RCE from a single message,” Weizman writes.

    He’s absolutely right. At a time when hackers are developing more powerful tools and methods to compromise systems, there is no excuse for development this lazy and irresponsible.

  • Microsoft Responsible For Latest Google Chrome Feature

    Microsoft Responsible For Latest Google Chrome Feature

    Once bitter rivals in the browser wars, Microsoft and Google are now cooperating like never before, with a major Chrome feature originating with Microsoft, according to The Verge.

    Microsoft recently moved its Edge browser over to Chromium, the open-source rendering engine that serves as the basis for Chrome. Since the move, Microsoft has been responsible for some 1,900 changes and improvements to Chromium, according to CNET.

    While many of these changes are under-the-hood, the latest is a very visible one. CNET says “the tab management feature in Edge lets you right-click on a single tab or a group of tabs you’ve selected then send them to a new or different Edge browser window. It’s useful if you like to group related tabs into a single window.”

    The feature caught the eye of Google software engineer Leonard Grey and, as The Verge points out, “now Microsoft is helping bring it directly to Chromium and Chrome.” This is an excellent example of the overall benefit that comes from tech companies working together around open standards and open-source software.

  • Google Chrome Will Get Error Codes To Help With Troubleshooting

    Google Chrome Will Get Error Codes To Help With Troubleshooting

    According to ZDNet, Google’s Chrome web browser will soon receive error codes similar to those shown on the Windows blue screen of death (BSOD) display.

    The feature was proposed by Eric Lawrence, a software engineer working on the Chromium-based version of Microsoft Edge. The goal is to provide users with a convenient way to diagnose issues by giving them an error code they can research and learn about.

    The feature is currently being tested in Chrome v81, but there has been no confirmation that it will make the final build of v81, or be included in the next release. Either way, all indications are this is a permanent addition to the browser.

    As ZDNet highlights, since it was an engineer working on Microsoft’s browser that suggested the feature, it will likely make its way to other Chromium-based browsers, such as Opera, Vivaldi and Brave.

  • Microsoft Looking For Help From Linux Developers to Port Edge to Linux

    Microsoft Looking For Help From Linux Developers to Port Edge to Linux

    Microsoft’s Edge web browser has received generally positive reviews, and has proven to be a worthy successor to Internet Explorer and a solid contender among modern browsers.

    In December 2018, Microsoft announced its intention to abandon EdgeHTML as the browser’s rendering engine in favor of Chromium, the same rendering engine Google Chrome uses. In the months since the announcement, Microsoft has worked on versions of Edge for Windows 7, 8 and 10, as well as Xbox One, macOS, iOS and Android.

    Now, Microsoft has teased the possibility of Edge making its way to Linux as well. Sean Larkin, a member of the Edge development team, took to Twitter to solicit feedback from Linux developers:

    “We on the @MSEdgeDev team are fleshing out requirements to bring Edge to Linux, and we need your help w/ some assumptions!”

    Larkin went to say that “if you’re a dev who depends on Linux for dev, testing, personal browsing, please take a second to fill out this survey!”

    If Microsoft successfully brings Edge to Linux, it could make life for Linux web developers easier, allowing them to natively test how their sites and web applications work in Microsoft’s latest browser.

    Here’s a link to the survey…

  • Google Adding Cast Functionality Into Chrome

    Google appears to be in the early stages of making its cast technology part of its Chrome browser. Currently, Chromecast users have to use the Google Cast extension to be able to cast browser tabs, but may change in future versions of Chrome.

    Google Chromium evangelist François Beaufort writes on Google+ (via The Verge):

    The chromium team is currently experimenting in Beta Channel with casting tabs without the Google Cast extension installed thanks to the new Media Router¹.

    By simply enabling the experimental flag “Media Router” at chrome://flags/#media-router, the Google Cast extension will be disabled and you’ll be able to right click on a page and see a new “Cast…” menu (also available in the Chrome menu and in the redesigned Extension Toolbar²).
    Toggling off the flag will re-enable the Google Cast extension.

    ¹ https://plus.google.com/+FrancoisBeaufort/posts/gBitb1G9Q4j
    ² https://plus.google.com/+FrancoisBeaufort/posts/99gLixnF6Kf

    Chromecast were 35% of all streaming device sales worldwide in Q3, according to Strategy Analytics. The device outsold rivals like Apple TV and Roku.

    The newest version of the device was unveiled in the fall.

    Image via Google+

  • Google Answers Your Questions About Its New Blink Rendering Engine

    After years of Chrome running on the WebKit rendering engine, Google announced earlier this week that it was moving to its own rendering engine. The new engine, named Blink, is a fork of WebKit, and will apparently not affect Web developers that much as Google transitions to the new engine.

    That being said, developers are going to have questions, and Google welcomed those questions with open arms during a hangout yesterday with engineering leads Darin Fisher and Eric Seidel. Some of the issues addressed during the hangout include the relationship between WebKit’s and Blink’s codebase, Blink’s support of multiple programming languages, and when we can expect to see Blink hit Chrome.

    For more on Blink, check out Google’s exhaustive FAQ.

  • Google Begins Work On Chrome’s New Rendering Engine

    WebKit has been powering Google’s Chrome Web browser since its launch in 2008. Google says that “its flexibility, performance, and thoughtful design” made it an obvious choice for Chrome when it launched, but the modern Web and modern Chrome require something different. That something different is Blink.

    Google announced that it’s developing Blink, a fork of WebKit that will become the rendering engine for Chrome and Chrome OS. Google is moving to its own rendering engine in the hopes that it can reduce the complexity found in both WebKit and Chromium projects.

    There is bound to be some concern from Web developers over Google abandoning WebKit. Google anticipated that concern, and said that Blink won’t bring a lot of change to how developers currently code for the Web. In fact, the initial work on Blink will be strictly focused on “internal architectural improvements and a simplification of the codebase.”

    Of course, the greater implication here is that Google is introducing more competition to the Web. Web developers are already having to optimize Web sites for WebKit, Trident and Gecko. Google says that Blink is only a good thing, however, as it feels “multiple rendering engines… will spur innovation and over time improve the health of the entire open Web ecosystem.”

    The philosophy held by Google seems to be shared by Mozilla as the non-profit announced a new Web rendering engine called Servo yesterday. The engine, being co-developed with Samsung, is being built with the mobile Web in mind.

    It will be interesting to see if Google’s prediction of increased competition comes true. The company says that it will work with other Web vendors to make sure Web standards are observed, and that interoperability is retained. Still, I’ve always been of the opinion that we already have too many rendering engines, but Google and Mozilla may just prove my fears unfounded as we move into this next wave of Web development.

    If you want to follow Blink development, check out Google’s project page.

  • More Indication We’ll Soon Be Seeing Google Now In Chrome

    It looks like we’re getting closer to having Google Now functionality in Chrome. Google released Google Now as part of Android last year when it launched the Jelly Bean version of the OS.

    Developer François Beaufort points out rich templated notifications in a recent chromium build, sharing a screenshot. You can see the look of the notifications in the bottom right-hand corner of his image.

    François Beaufort

    François Beaufort4 hours ago

    Rich templated notifications are now available through the new Notification Center in the last Windows chromium build available at download-chromium.appspot.com/dl/Win.

    To see them in action, you need to toggle "Enable Rich Notifications" flag in chrome://flags. 
    Screenshot below shows you how to create a notification within a chrome extension but this also works with regular HTML5 notifications.

    As you probably guessed, this Notification Center will be the perfect hub for Google Now cards.

    Source: https://chromiumcodereview.appspot.com/11819048

    46    11 Powered by socialditto

    As TheNextWeb (which first pointed to Beaufort’s post) notes, it’s possible that the notifications could look different by the time they actually get to be a Chrome feature. That’s also assuming that this does become a Chrome feature, but it’s very likely that it will.

    Google Now in Chrome would be a major step toward the convergence of Chrome and Android into one operating system – a path that Google co-founder Sergey Brin has implied in the past would likely happen eventually. For now, it seems both brands will live on for the foreseeable future, but the more Google is able to bring features from one to the other, the less reason Google may have, in time, to continue operating them separately.

    We’ve already seen Chrome rapidly evolve into a much more advanced browser than it started as, and even into its own operating system. Chrome recently got speech recognition capabilities, and has gotten better at preserving battery life.

    In what could be another hint of things to come, Google’s HQ has a new statue of a Chrome Android:

    Chrome Android

    This may not be a hint at all, but rather a representation of two important Google products in one homage. However, considering those comments made by Brin in the past, and pending Google Now features in Chrome, it doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch.

    It’s important to remember that Google is essentially on a quest to unify its products into one larger Google product. This is has been happening little by little, especially since the launch of Google+ – the social and identity layer that ties them all together. “Google+ is Google,” as the company likes to say. Well, perhaps Chrome is Google, and Android is Google too.

    As far as Google Now itself goes, Google has been steadily adding more functionalities to that, and they’re only getting started. Adding Google Now to the desktop via Chrome should only serve to incubate new use cases and user demand for more (or perhaps for less for some of the more privacy-concerned users).

    Chrome Android mage via DroidLife (who credits Paul Wilcox)

  • Calling All Hackers: Google Wants You To Break Chrome OS At Pwnium 3

    Pwnium is the annual hacker competition where Google invites coders from around the world to find security holes in Google Chrome. That changes this year as Google wants hackers to break both of its Chromium projects.

    Google announced today that Chrome will be one of the browsers hackers can take on at the annual Pwn2Own Competition. This year’s competition is hosted by HP’s Zero Day Initiative alongside Google, the latter of which will be underwriting a portion of the winnings for all targets – including non-Chromium browsers. The event will last between March 6-8 in Vancouver, BC. You can register here.

    At the CanSecWest conference on March 7, Google will be hosting its own competition – the third annual Pwnium. Instead of hacking Chrome, however, Google will task hackers with breaking Chrome OS. The company will be offering rewards in the following categories with up to $3.14 million in prize money up for grabs:

  • $110,000: browser or system level compromise in guest mode or as a logged-in user, delivered via a web page.
  • $150,000: compromise with device persistence — guest to guest with interim reboot, delivered via a web page.

    • Hackers attempting these challenges will have to use a base Wi-Fi model of the Samsung Series 5 550 Chromebook. You are allowed to use any installed software, including the kernel and drivers. You can also use a virtual machine if you do not have the required hardware.

    Last year’s big winner was a teenage hacker who went by the alias of Pinkie Pie. It’s unknown if he will be bringing his skills back to Pwnium 3 to take on the much more difficult task of cracking Chrome OS. Either way, it’s going to be interesting to see if anybody can crack Chrome OS.

  • Chrome To Get Even More Search-Friendly

    One of the best parts about Chrome has always been the omnibox, and the ease with which searching the web is compared to browsers that came before it (though some have caught up in this regard now). Google has made additional search-related improvements to Chrome over the years – most notably the addition of Google Instant. But more search-friendliness is on the way.

    Google announced today that it is going to begin testing variations of Chrome’s New Tab Page in which the user’s default search provider will be able to add a search box or “otherwise customize” the page.

    “While you can search straight from the omnibox in Chrome, we’ve found that many people still navigate to their search engine’s home page to initiate a search instead,” says software engineer David Holloway on the Chromium blog. “The goal is to save people time by helping them search and navigate the web faster.”

    “We’ll also allow search engines to display the user’s search terms right in the omnibox, which avoids the need for a second search box on the results page,” adds Holloway. “This new capability, along with other ways to improve search suggestions, are exposed in a new Embedded Search API, an extension of the existing SearchBox API. Search engines can implement any part of the specification if they’d like their users to experience a customized variation of the NTP experience.”

    A small set of users on the Dev channel on Windows and Chrome OS how have Google selected as their default search provider will start seeing test variations starting today. Halloway says Mac will be coming soon.

  • Google Now Just Might Be Coming To Chrome

    Google Now Just Might Be Coming To Chrome

    Google Now may soon be part of the Chrome web browser. A note was discovered on the Chromium (the open source project on which Chrome is based) site, indicating that such an integration is being buit.

    CNET, which points to the note (first spotted by Francois Beaufort), confirmed with Google that it is indeed working on this in an experimental capacity. Successful experiments, of course, go on to become features, and Google Now is surely a product Google wants to be successful.

    The log message in the note says:

    Creating a skeleton for Google Now for Chrome implementation. The CL creates the top-level structure for showing Google Now cards in Chrome via Chrome Notifications. The implementation lives behind -enable-google-now-integration flag.

    This appears to be the latest sign that Google is indeed working hard to bring its robust roster of products closer together into a more unified experience. The most obvious example of this is Google’s integration into its Google+ social network into its other products.

    Last week, Google SVP, engineering, Vic Gundotra said, “Google+ is the next version of Google, so, if you love YouTube, or Chrome, or Search, or Android, or Gmail, or Maps, we’re bringing it all together.”

    “Bringing it all together,” just might start to be more apparent from Chrome to Android too. Google has even hinted in the past that Android and Chrome OS could one day converge.

    Google appears to be blurring the lines among its products more and more as time goes on.

    Google pushed out some new cards for Google Now last week, in an update to its Search App. New cards include Events Nearby, Suggestions to help with research, Boarding Passes from Gmail (United only, but more to come), Search by camera when at museums or shops, Weather at upcoming travel destinations, and the approximate monthly summary of walking and biking activity.

  • Google Has A New Cheap Chromebook For Your Consideration

    The Chromebook was Google’s valiant attempt at pushing the Web as the next great operating system. It didn’t work out that well for them, but that could be attributed to the fact that tablets and smartphones are far more popular than laptops. Well, Google is going to try it again with a new Chromebook that has one distinct advantage over its mobile competitors – it’s cheap.

    Google announced what they’re calling the “new Chromebook” today. It’s manufactured by Samsung and only costs $250. That’s ridiculously cheap no matter how you slice it. Google’s vision is to get a Chromebook into every home, but not as a main computer. They envision the Chromebook as the sidekick that’s always there when you need it.

    To push that message, Google has a new ad campaign that simply says, “Chromebook: For Everyone.”

    Now you may be curious about the specs. In all honesty, it’s not that important when it comes to the Chromebook. The real star is the Web with Google Drive integration being the most important factor. The new Chromebook comes with 100GB of free storage on Drive so owners can access all of their music, videos and photos from the cloud without having to use any local storage.

    Aside from personal applications, Google also made their educational aspirations known. They cited a IDC sponsored white paper that said Chromebooks are optimal tools for the classroom as they require 69 percent less labor to install and 92 percent less labor to support. In short, schools will have to hire less IT staff to handle problems if they all just switched to Chromebooks.

    Will the Chromebook succeed now where past iterations have not done so well? The new price is definitely attractive. Those who aren’t into hardcore gaming may find that a Chromebook fits their everyday computing needs quite well. It’s continuously supported by Google’s automatic security updates, and it’s quick and quiet to boot. Now it’s up to the consumer to decide if laptops are still relevant in today’s world of tablets and smartphones. Good thing Google is heavily invested in that area as well.

    The new Chromebook will be available for pre-order today from Amazon, Best Buy, PC World and others. It will be available via online retailers and the Google Play store next week.