chrome

Google's new VP9 video technology reaches public view

VP9, the successor to Google's VP8 video compression technology at the center of a techno-political controversy, has made its first appearance outside Google's walls.

Google has built VP9 support into Chrome, though only in an early-stage version of the browser for developers. In another change, it also added support for the new Opus audio compression technology that's got the potential to improve voice communications and music streaming on the Internet.

VP9 and Opus are codecs, technology used to encode streams of data into compressed form then decode them later, enabling efficient use of limited network or storage … Read more

Block pop-up ads with AdBlock Plus for Chrome

Online ads slow down Web browsing and are quite annoying in general. As an extension for Google Chrome, AdBlock Plus will eliminate all of the ads from your browsing experience, even ones attached to videos on YouTube. It installs in seconds and has absolutely no hiccups or surprises.

This software offers one the best features related to ad blocking -- it strips Web videos of ads. This is a fantastic feature if you frequently watch TV shows or other videos online. Other than that, this program isn't about what you see, but what you don't. While there's … Read more

Chrome prepares to ax silent extensions

In a move sure to annoy businesses and other groups that bundle browser extensions as part of their main toolset, Google is tightening extension security in Chrome for Windows.

The company announced on Friday two new features in Chrome 25 that will make it harder for third-parties to force-install extensions.

Chrome Product Manager Peter Ludwig wrote that Google decided to clamp down on third-party extensions because the policy had been "widely abused" to silently install extensions, "without proper acknowledgment from users."

All new third-party extensions will be disabled by default, Ludwig said. Once installed, a box … Read more

First day tips and tweaks for new MacBook owners

As much as new MacBook owners love to rave about their systems, no laptop -- even one with an Apple logo -- comes right out of the box ready to perform optimally.

And while it's certainly exciting to unwrap a new holiday MacBook, there are a handful of tweaks, tips, and fixes you should check out on day one that will make your MacBook easier to use. I've put together some of my personal favorites here.

There are many more I could list, and I'm sure I've left out some of your favorites, so feel free … Read more

Browsers: Top 5 events from 2012

For a while there, the browser was winning the war.

New startups launched online services rather than packaged software. Browser makers raced to transform the Web from a place to publish documents into a general-purpose programming platform. People spent more and more time using the Web instead of software that ran natively on devices.

Then the era of modern smartphones and tablets began. And in 2012, it became clear that Web app advocates will have to work a lot harder to build a universal software foundation. Here's a look at what happened this year in the world of the … Read more

Send one-click automated Gmail replies with Chrome extension

Do you find that you are forced to repeat yourself throughout the workday? If this repetition occurs via e-mail, then you might give GmailWiz a try. This Chrome extension adds up to four buttons to Gmail that send automated responses.

After installing GmailWiz, a thumbs-up Like button gets added to the right of Gmail's reply button. You won't see this button when viewing your inbox; it shows up only when you are reading an e-mail message. You'll also see that wand icon gets added just above, in the row with the print and open in new window … Read more

Tech ads 2012: Samsung best, Facebook worst

The lovely thing about advertising is that most of it is forgettable.

Which makes the task of remembering the very good and the very bad at the end of the year much, much easier.

The best, most certainly, is barely even a contest. As the spittle flew in court between Apple and Samsung, the latter had some very clever ad people produce ads that, at last, began not only to improve Samsung's own image, but also to dent Apple's.

Indeed, from the Super Bowl onward, Samsung relentlessly pressed Apple on its cultism, its allegedly sheep-like following and its, … Read more

Chrome search refinements on their way

Some slight search changes are coming to Chrome, as Google updates the developer's version of the browser today to make getting to your search results more quickly.

Initially released to a small subset of people using Chrome dev for Windows (download) and the developer's version of Chrome OS (read CNET review) that also have Google set as their default search provider, the changes affect both the new tab page and any searches you type into your location bar.

Google software engineer David Holloway wrote in his blog post announcing the search improvements that they're a response to … Read more

How and why Gmail and Chrome crashed yesterday

Google's email service crumbled yesterday for about 40 minutes, leaving millions of enterprise and consumer users without access to their cloud-stored email. 

Gmail didn't fall down due to a denial-of-service attack as was reported initially yesterday (which was quickly amended), despite no initial evidence to suggest that it was. The search giant said on its dashboard status pages:

Although our engineering team is still fully engaged on investigation, we are confident we have established the root cause of the event and corrected it.

Then millions of Google Chrome browsers crashed at around the same time. … Read more