Category: Google
Chrome Dev 48 Now Live
Meet the Web Bluetooth.
Recently, Google has pushed a new Chrome Dev build, which bumps the version number to 48.0.2564.8 and brings at least one interesting new feature.
What are we talking about? The search giant has started working on implementing Web Bluetooth (currently available on Chrome OS and Chrome Dev for Android, with PC support to follow soon), which allows you to pass the “messages” to devices back and forth without them being connected to the Internet and all based on their capabilities.
For example:
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A Patent Suit Against Google Chrome Has Been Revived
Now here’s something bit out of the blue.
As it turns out, back in 2013, Google was sued by Alfonso Cioffi and three other co-inventors, who claimed that all versions of Google Chrome as well as Google Nexus series and Chromebook laptop PCs infringed their anti-malware patents (which were issued in 2012, “system and method for protecting a computer system from malicious software” (U.S. Patent Nos. RE43,529, RE,43103, RE43,500, and RE43,528)).
While the case got thrown out in December (mostly because Alfonso Cioffi and Allen Frank Rozman agreed that it will be impossible to win on the court’s interpretation of the patents), the things has since changed, as it seems as the case was recently revived by the Federal Circuit, which means that Google will have to go back to court and continue fighting these claims.
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Google Might Merge Chrome OS into Android
If you haven’t heard already, the Wall Street Journal has recently posted a rumor that for the last 2 years, Google has been actively working to merge Chrome OS into Android. However, the company has always denied such rumors, all the way back since 2013.
According to the article, Google will reveal its single operating system sometime in 2017, with early show off expected next year. Oh, and yes, the search giant has again denied the rumor, although this time they simply stated that Google does not plan to kill the Chrome OS, instead of simply saying: no, we are not merging Chrome OS into Android.
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Top 10 Funniest Comments From The .bro File Type Thread
In case you missed, Google and Mozilla have decided to rename the .bro extension to .br because a feminist told me so. Below, you will find some of the best comments from the reddit thread.
Well i’m glad they finally addressed one of the biggest issues with Firefox. Now it’s perfect !
Google and Mozilla Ditch the .bro Extension, Because a Feminist Told Them So
This is the world we live in.
When it comes to the first world browser problems, there are certainly more important things to talk about than ditching plugins, abandoning flash, and so on…
Just recently, Google revealed a new and open source web compression algorithm called Brotli, which is around 25% than Zopfli, a now previous generation algo from the very same company. Now what happened next is pretty ridiculous. Due to the nature of this name, files compressed with Brotli would have had a file extension .bro, but that is no longer the case as it will be changed to .br. Why?
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Microsoft Finally Acknowledges Google’s WebM Format
Will join other web browsers.
Now here is something that will make at least few people happy. If you have been following the user voice page for Microsoft Edge, then a request (wuth over 3,000 votes) for native WebM support has likely crossed your field of vision at least once.
Submitted almost a year ago, it has been left unnoticed by Microsoft up until now as just yesterday the software giant has announced that they have finally started working on the native WebM implementation.
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Google Silently Downloaded Audio Listeners To User’s Computers
Without any consent.
If there is one thing that Google does not need is more negative press related to its user’s privacy invasion. However, this is exactly what they just got, thanks to a recently discovered “bug”.
According to a new report, after upgrading to Chromium 43, some users have noticed that it has silently started downloading the extension called “Chrome Hotword Shared Module”, which has a binary but no source code. While it is unknown what exactly does the black box do, the investigation has revealed that it grants itself permission to activate the microphone and start audio capture.
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23 X Times More Performance: Google, Microsoft, Mozilla & Others Join Forces
Will co-develop a new binary format.
It’s nice to see tech giants that are usually competing with one another coming together to work on something that will benefit users all over the globe. The most recent example comes from a new announcement, which details the forthcoming partnership between Mozilla, Microsoft, WebKit engineers and others.
What is it all about? As you might know, when it comes to executing JavaScript files, browsers simply download them from a server, compile them using their own JavaScript engine and then execute. How exactly is this a problem? It is not but there is a ton of improvements that developers can make to speed everything up (such as Mozilla’s ASM.JS, Google’s NativeClient or Microsoft’s TypeScript). However, a newly joined “alliance” aims to make a new binary format called WebAssembly, which should merge all vendor’s efforts into a single compilation target.
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Get Rich Quick: Mozilla Joins Google And Microsoft
Will pay you $10,000+ for mind boggling exploits.
If you want to get rich quick and have some deep understanding on how web browsers work and more importantly, how to exploit them, then good news as Mozilla has just announced that they too will be paying money for discovering various security vulnerabilities.
As a result, updated Client Bug Bounty Program will reward anyone if they create or report a:
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Google And Opera Renews The Search Agreement
It looks like Google is not prepared to repeat the mistake they made by not extending the deal with Mozilla to (again) become their default search provider. In a recently announced move, Opera Software and search giant have come to an agreement and will be extending their partnership where Google continue to be Opera’s default search engine on both desktop and mobile platforms.
Last time companies have signed a deal back in 2012 with the current agreement set to expire within 2.5 years (at the end of 2017).
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