Internet Browsers News & Updates

[Sarkar]

Google Chrome Stable Channel Update for Desktop :

The stable channel has been updated to 53.0.2785.116 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. This will roll out over the coming days/weeks. Detail changes are in the link

Log - 53.0.2785.113..53.0.2785.116 - chromium/src - Git at Google

 

[rahul1117kumar]

Google Chrome 54 Beta for Android gets background video playback, new tab page and more

Google Chrome Beta 54 for Android is now available for beta testers with new features and improvements. It gets new tab page, ability to play videos in background and more.

With Chrome 54, you can play video in the background which is a welcome addition as in case of Chrome 53 video playing automatically pauses when you switch to another app or your homescreen. Although a playing video still pauses when your exit the app, users can now control it by pressing the play on the media notification to resume a video’s audio. The video playback feature also works with with YouTube’s mobile site.

Next up, Chrome gets a New Tab page that does not come with bookmarks and recent tabs buttons. It features Google logo and the search bar and is accessible via menu at the top-right. Finally, Chrome 54 Beta does not sport a download manager and all downloads happen in the browser itself. These features apply to the latest Chrome Beta on all platforms.

Google Chrome 54 Beta for Android gets background video playback, new tab page and more

 

[prasad1979]

Opera launches free unlimited VPN on its desktop browser: Here’s how to activate and use it

[img=645x404]http://st1.bgr.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/opera-unlimited-vpn.jpg[/img]

Opera hopes to increase its desktop browser user base by offering a built-in VPN that's free to use.

Opera has been adding a lot of new features to its desktop and mobile browsers to differentiate itself from others. Earlier this year Opera launched a free VPN app and in April it added built-in, free unlimited VPN feature to developer version of its desktop browser. Today, Opera has launched the free built-in VPN to the consumer version of its desktop browser. The addition of free, built-in VPN tool makes Opera the first internet browser to remove geo-barriers of the internet, without having to install any third-party extensions.

Virtual private networks (VPN) are popular among users who are conscious about their privacy online, and by users who want to dodge content restrictions. A VPN basically routes internet traffic through servers located in different countries, and the encryption used for this connection makes it difficult for hackers and government authorities to monitor web traffic. In other words, you can access content that may be restricted in your country. To access blocked websites, users install browser plug-ins and third-party software, and most of them don’t work as efficiently as they claim. In fact, some services are paid ones. In a survey conducted by Opera, more than 70 percent users said that they were concerned about their online privacy. Opera wants to address this problem by integrating built-in free and unlimited VPN in its desktop browser.

How to activate free VPN on Opera browser

To begin with, head over to opera.com, download the Opera browser and install it. Once the installation is complete, click on Menu (top left) > Settings > Privacy & Security > Tick the ‘Enable VPN’ box and you’re done. 

After the VPN is activated, the address bar will show VPN icon. If the icon shows gray color, it means VPN is turned off, orange color means you’ll have change the virtual location, whereas blue color means it is active and working fine. 

You can also change the location by clicking on the VPN icon > Virtual location, and choose from Canada, Germany, Singapore, United States or Netherlands. Here, you can also see the data transferred during the month.

Other features of Opera browser
It’s not just about VPN, Opera has also added native ad-blocker feature to its browser, using which one can surf the internet up to three times faster. The feature is available on both, desktop and mobile browsers. To activate the feature on desktop browser, one needs to head over to Settings > and click on Block Ads. The number of blocked ads will appear on the top right corner of the address bar with a shield icon. To deactivate ad blocker, tap on the shield icon and tap the button to turn off. It will also show you the daily, weekly and overall statistics of blocked ads. 

Opera has added battery saver feature to its browser, which it claims to offer up to 50 percent longer battery life than usual. The feature can be activated or deactivated by clicking Menu > Settings > Battery Saver > Enable battery saver. To deactivate it, you can click on the battery icon on the top right corner, besides the address bar, and toggle the button. 

source -
Opera launches free unlimited VPN on its desktop browser: Here’s how to activate and use it

 

[Sarkar]

Mozilla Released Firefox 49 :

Updated Firefox Login Manager to allow HTTPS pages to use saved HTTP logins. It’s one more way Firefox is supporting Let’s Encrypt and helping users transition to a more secure web.

1. Added features to Reader Mode that make it easier on the eyes and the ears

Controls that allow users to adjust the width and line spacing of text
Narrate, which reads the content of a page out loud

2. Improved video performance for users on systems that support SSSE3 without hardware acceleration
Added context menu controls to HTML5 audio and video that let users loops files or play files at 1.25x speed

3. Enhancements for Mac users

Improved performance on OS X systems without hardware acceleration
Improved appearance of anti-aliased OS X fonts
Improvements in about:memory reports for tracking font memory usage
Improve performance on Windows systems without hardware acceleration

4. fixed

Fixed an issue that prevented users from updating Firefox for Mac unless they originally installed Firefox. Now, those users as well as any user with administrative credentials can update Firefox.
Various security fixes

5. changed

Ended Firefox for Mac support for OS X 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8.
Ended Firefox for Windows support for SSE processors
Removed Firefox Hello
Re-enabled the default for Graphite2 font shaping

6. developer

Added a Cause column to the Network Monitor to show what caused each network request
Introduced web speech synthesis API

Firefox — Notes (49.0) — Mozilla

 

[Siva]

Opera for Android gets a major redesign

The VPN-ready Opera browser for Android is receiving an update that should make the user experience a whole lot more modern and fresh, not to mention in line with Google’s Material Design. As the Norwegian company put it, it’s a “serious lick of paint.”

Changes in the design of Opera’s start page abound: the familiar Speed Dial has a new home on the leftmost screen of the carousel. Swiping to the right will take you through a news feed that you can customize to include information you care about. Adding and removing topics can be done by tapping the “+” icon on the right. You can also access “reader mode” from here.

The bottom navigation bar has been redesigned. To the right of the bar, you’ll find a “person” icon that gives you access to offline pages, bookmarks, history and downloads. If you decide to sign in, you’ll be able to synchronize your Speed Dial, bookmarks, tabs and history across multiple devices.

The three-dots menu located in the top-right corner of the browser allows you to add the site that you’re currently visiting to your Speed Dial and the Android home screen. You can also access browser settings or toggle data savings from the same place.

The data savings feature bundles an ad blocker and video compression technology to make your browsing experience faster and less demanding on your data plan.

In the pipeline are some cool features like the ability to switch between tablet and normal layouts, change the language of your feed selection, and to select the download folder.

The rollout of the new Opera browser for Android will happen in stages, so be patient as you wait for it to appear on your smartphone or tablet. It does look as though Opera for Android will continue to remain in our list of top 10 Android browsers for the year.

http://www.androidauthority.com/opera-android-gets-major-redesign-718058/

 

[Bapun]

New opera mobile browser looks good. Hoping for same ui soon on opera mini too..

 

[prasad1979]

Chrome on Android: Do more on every phone and network

Chrome on Android: Do more on every phone and network

The web is amazing. You can find the world’s information, stay connected to friends and family, do your shopping, or be entertained all by simply tapping on a link on your phone. But challenges like high data cost and slow, 2G-like connections often prevent our users from getting the most out of the web. 



We want to make Chrome a better place for all our users to enjoy the mobile web. Chrome’s new features on Data Saver, downloads, and content discovery were designed to help you do more on the web, no matter what phone or network you may have.



Save more data, even on videos

We launched Data Saver to help you enjoy more content on the web while using less data. With Data Saver enabled, Chrome compresses the images and text you load, saving up to 60% of your data without changing the content you enjoy. 



Now, we have brought the same technology to videos, which allows you to save up to 67% of your data when viewing MP4 format videos through Chrome. In India alone, this new technology is already saving 138 TB of data on video in a single week — roughly 14 years of HD video! 



Data Saver is also becoming smarter. When you are on a slow connection, Data Saver will automatically optimize HTTP websites to their essentials. These optimized pages save up to 90% of your data, loading 2 time faster!

Less time waiting for pages to load, more data savings, and video support. You will be glad you turned on Data Saver!



A new downloads experience

We are also thinking about how you can keep using Chrome even when you go offline. We built thedinosaur game to keep you smiling even if you have no access to the internet, but we are doing even better.



With Chrome’s new download feature, when you come across a web page, music, picture, or video that you like, you can just tap the download button to save for later. You don’t need to worry about restarting your download if your connection is dropped, even for big video files. When Chrome goes back online, the downloads you’ve started will automatically resume. 

To help you get back to all your content, we added a new home for all your downloads, right inside Chrome. Whether it’s the article you saved for later, or that movie trailer for the train ride home, you can access all the content while you are offline. 

Downloads are now available on Chrome Beta and will be available soon for Chrome users everywhere.



Discover new content personalized for you

With features like Data Saver and downloads, Chrome is a great way to enjoy content on the mobile web. But we also want to make it easier to discover content you really care about. 



Now, when you open a new tab in Chrome, you will see suggestions for websites to visit. But starting in the next release, you will be able to easily discover fresh content just for you. Whether it is the latest buzz from the web or getting back to your most recently downloaded pages, you can simply scroll down on the new tab page to discover all your content in one place!

These suggestions are also smart — as you use Chrome more, Chrome will learn what type of content you are interested in and suggest fresh content from your favorite sports team or your most visited sites. You’ll always have something interesting ready!



We believe that our focus on data savings, offline capabilities, and content discovery will make Chrome an even better place for you to experience the mobile web. Download the latest version of Chrome to be one of the first to try these features as we roll them out! 


Posted by Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, Vice President of Product and Data Minimalist

Source:
Google Chrome Blog: Chrome on Android: Do more on every phone and network

 

[rahul1117kumar]

Google Chrome beta for Android gets data saver for videos, offline download support

Google has introduced a number of new features on its Chrome browser to make internet surfing better. Browsing experience is better when on a high-speed connection, but it is quite intimidating when on slower 2G connections. Often on slower networks, users cannot get the most from the web. To tackle the issue, Google had already introduced ‘Data Saver’ mode on its Chrome Browser. It compresses the text and images to load content faster, while saving up to 60 percent of your data. Now, Google has also announced data saver support for videos as well, on beta version of Chrome for Android.

On its blog post, Google mentioned that it is bringing the same data saver technology to videos too, which will allow users to save up to 67 percent data when viewing videos encoded in MP4 format. The new technology has already saved 138TB of data on videos in single week (which is roughly 14 years of HD video), Google mentioned. The Data Saver will automatically optimize HTTP websites and save 90 percent of your data, while loading pages two times faster.

Along with data saver for videos, Google has also introduced a new download feature for offline viewing. The feature lets you save web pages, pictures, music and videos. When listening to music or watching videos, just tap on the download button to save them for later viewing or listening. In case the connection is dropped, you don’t need to restart the download. When Chrome gets back online, it will automatically resume downloading.

Google has also added new option where you can have all your downloaded content right inside Google Chrome. So, whether you have saved a movie trailer, a song or an article for later, you can access all of it offline, whenever required. That’s not all; when you open a new tab, you will also get smart suggestions based on the content that your were recently searching for, similar to discover content feature on Google Now.

Google Chrome beta for Android gets data saver for videos, offline download support

 

[Saj 007]

Chrome Won't Eat Up as Much System Memory From December: Google...

Google Chrome, the popular Web browser notorious for the amount of system memory it consumes, is about to get an update that will lessen the amount of RAM it takes up while functioning. Chrome 55, scheduled to arrive in December, will have an upgraded V8 JavaScript engine that will reduce RAM requirements by as much as 50 percent over the current version of the browser.

However, the decrease in RAM consumption won't be across the board, as the chart below from the V8 JavaScript Engine blog shows. For example, The New York Times website showed a significant drop in memory use, while the same was rather low for Twitter and The Washington Post.


The changes will be seen on the desktop as well as mobile versions of Google Chrome, but will be more apparent on devices with low RAM (say, less than 4GB).
Though Google has said that it will release the Chrome 55 update on December 6, users can sign up for the beta version of the browser to test if the RAM consumption actually goes down.
The Internet search giant has also said that "over the next months" it will work on improving Chrome's performance on devices with 512MB-1GB of RAM.
Chrome 53 came with Material Design enhancements and started blocking Adobe Flash in favour of HTML5. Last month, Google also said that the browser has seen double-digit growth in speed as well as battery efficiency over the past year.
The version of Chrome scheduled to release in January will start labelling HTTP pages as 'non-secure' in an effort to transition completely to the secure HTTPS standard.

Google: Chrome Will Consume Up to 50 Percent Less Memory From December | NDTV Gadgets360.com

 

[Sarkar]

Chrome 54 to the stable channel - 54.0.2840.59 for Windows, Mac, and Linux

.

This update includes 21 security fixes. Below, we highlight fixes that were contributed by external researchers.

Chrome Releases: Stable Channel Update for Desktop