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 the dinosaur 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
by Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

Chrome: Faster and more battery-friendly

Last week, we released a new version of Chrome that includes new payment features and performance improvements. In fact, over the last year Chrome has seen double-digit improvements in speed and battery life. These improvements help you get more done, faster, and we thought you’d like an update.

Speed has always been a priority for Chrome. People spend so much time in the browser that even tiny page delays can add up to minutes of lost time every day. When measured with tools like Speedometer, improvements over the last year have made Chrome more than 15 percent faster on both desktop and Android. That’s good news if you’re working against a deadline or trying to place a last-minute order.

We also know that you want to get as much browsing time out of your laptop’s battery as possible. So Chrome now uses less battery for sites that people visit the most. For example, Chrome for Windows lets you watch more video on sites like Vimeo, Facebook and YouTube than it did a year ago.

Chrome 53 gives 2hr 12m more Vimeo HD on a single charge

Of course, people use their browsers for more than just video. That’s why we’ve been improving battery life across the board, tracking progress using power measurement tools. As one example, Chrome for Mac now uses 33 percent less power for everything from videos and images to simple page scrolling. Whether you’re planning a vacation or getting work done, you now get more browsing time from a single battery charge.

We don’t just want Chrome to run faster, we want to help you get things done faster. That’s why we’ve also brought fast, seamless payments to Chrome on Android, including support for Android Pay, by adding support for the PaymentRequest web standard. So now when shopping online, you can check out with as little as a single tap.

New Payments at Groupon

Faster browsing, faster checkouts, and longer battery life — we think you’ll enjoy the latest release of Chrome.

Posted by Chris Cameron, Whittler of Watts.
by Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

Google Cast is now built-in to Chrome

Two years ago we launched Google Cast, an extension for Chrome that allowed you to show content from your favorite websites on the best screen in your home — your TV — using Chromecast.  Whether watching your favorite show on Netflix, or sharing a photo slideshow at a family gathering, Google Cast makes it easy to extend the web to the big screen.  

Since we launched Chromecast, we’ve been working to make casting even better. We've launched new Cast devices like Chromecast Audio and partnered with other manufacturers to make Cast-enabled TVs and speakers.  We’ve also made significant improvements in quality, with the vast majority of casting sessions now in HD.

Casting from Chrome has become incredibly popular: In the past month alone, people have casted more than 38 million times from Chrome, watching and listening to more than 50 million hours of content.

Today we’re happy to announce that Google Cast is now built fully into Chrome, and anyone can now Cast without having to install or configure anything.  When you’re on websites that are integrated with Cast, you’ll see the Cast icon appear when you’re on the same network as a Cast device — and with a couple of clicks you can view your content on your TV or listen to music on your speakers:

You can also view websites that are not integrated with Cast on your TV by selecting the “Cast…” menu item from the Chrome menu:

And you can now cast to even more places — including sharing with participants on a video call in Google Hangouts and the Cast for Education app, which we announced recently.  Now you can share your presentation with your coworkers during a Hangout or to your peers in the classroom.

With Google Cast and Chrome, you can share what you love to watch with those around you. We’re excited to make this available to everyone.  To get the new built-in Cast functionality all you need to do is make sure you have the latest version of Chrome.

Stephen Konig, Product Manager and House of Cards Binge-Watcher

by Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

Flash and Chrome

Adobe Flash Player played a pivotal role in the adoption of video, gaming and animation on the Web. Today, sites typically use technologies like HTML5, giving you improved security, reduced power consumption and faster page load times. Going forward, Chrome will de-emphasize Flash in favor of HTML5. Here’s what that means for you.

Today, more than 90% of the Flash on the web loads behind the scenes to support things like page analytics. This kind of Flash slows you down, and starting this September, Chrome 53 will begin to block it. HTML5 is much lighter and faster, and publishers are switching over to speed up page loading and save you more battery life. You’ll see an improvement in responsiveness and efficiency for many sites.

This is similar to a change we made last September, when some Flash content became click-to-play with Chrome 42. This had an immediate, positive impact for our users by improving page load times and saving battery power.

In December, Chrome 55 will make HTML5 the default experience, except for sites which only support Flash. For those, you’ll be prompted to enable Flash when you first visit the site. Aside from that, the only change you’ll notice is a safer and more power-efficient browsing experience.

Flash helped make the Web a rich, dynamic experience, and shaped the modern set of web standards. We continue to work closely with Adobe to ensure that your web experience is as fast and secure as possible and to help the Web transition to HTML5.

Posted by Anthony LaForge, curator of Flash in Chrome.
by Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

Fast and smooth video on Android

With Chrome 52, video playback on Android now feels smoother, loads faster, and consumes less battery.

Web video is huge, with over a billion hours played in Chrome every week on sites like Amazon, Facebook, The New York Times, Netflix and YouTube. Much of that is on mobile devices, and we want to make your viewing experience great.

With the release of Chrome 52 on Android, video playback has been improved for speed and power efficiency. This means you will see smoother playback and faster load times. Videos will now start playing sooner, instead of pausing briefly before loading, and your battery will last longer.




Video also now works with Data Saver Mode, saving you as much as 50% on data by showing a lightweight version of the video.

These improvements will be most noticeable on short videos, which make up the majority of videos on the web. With more publishers and sites moving to HTML5, your video experience on Chrome will just keep getting better. Update Chrome on Android today and give it a spin.

Posted by Renganathan Ramamoorthy, Proud Papa of Playbacks
by Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

The Google Play store, coming to a Chromebook near you

We launched Chromebooks for people who wanted a fast, simple and secure computing experience. Chromebooks just work -- open the lid, and within seconds, you’re on your favorite sites and apps, getting stuff done. Virus protection and automatic updates are built-in, so you don't have to manage your computer. And that’s worked great for our users. Schools in the US are now buying more Chromebooks than all other devices combined -- and in Q1 of this year, Chromebooks topped Macs in overall shipments to become the #2 most popular PC operating system in the US*.

We’ve been encouraged by this growth, but our users have often told us that they would like to do even more with their Chromebooks -- run more apps, use Office files more easily, connect with a variety of apps, and do more when they’re offline.

So, we're bringing Google Play (the most popular app store in the world) to Chromebooks. This means you’ll be able to download and use Android apps, so you can make a Skype call, work with Office files and be productive offline -- or take a break with games like Minecraft, Hearthstone or Clash of Clans. The same apps that run on phones and tablets can now run on Chromebooks without compromising their speed, simplicity or security. This is good for users and great for developers - in addition to phones and tablets, they will be able to easily bring their apps to laptops. And all this is built on top of Chrome OS, so users will continue to have everything they love in their Chromebooks.



Google Play will start rolling out in the developer channel with M53 on the ASUS Chromebook Flip, the Acer Chromebook R 11 and the latest Chromebook Pixel. Over time, this will roll out to other Chromebooks in the market too. And, we've also been working with our partners to launch some great new devices specially designed for Play. Stay tuned for more details to come over the next few months.

We’ll keep a list of supported Chromebooks here, and will share news about new models on the Chrome channel on Google Plus and Twitter.

Chromebooks have always been about making computing more accessible for everyone, and by bringing together the best of Android and Chrome OS, we are taking a big leap forward. Not only are we addressing many of the existing needs and use cases that people have for their Chromebooks, we are also betting on the millions of developers who are innovating every day to build the next great experience that wasn’t even possible on PC platforms before. This is just the beginning, and we’re excited to see what the future holds for everyone!

Posted by Dylan Reid and Elijah Taylor, Chrome OS Software Engineers and Raiders of the Lost Arc.

* Source: IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, May 2016
by Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

Chrome: 50 releases and counting!

Chrome reached a pretty big milestone this week – its 50th release! We originally launched Chrome to give users a fast, simple and secure browser. That still remains our mission today.  And while there’s still much more to do – especially with the shift to mobile and providing a great experience for people using the mobile web for the first time – we thought we’d take a step back and reflect on our journey so far.  Here at Google, we’re obsessed with stats, so we thought you might enjoy a whirlwind tour of Chrome, by the numbers.

Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, Director and Stats Stockpiler

by Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

Experience virtual reality art in your browser

Two weeks ago, we introduced Tilt Brush, a new app that enables artists to use virtual reality to paint the 3D space around them. Part virtual reality, part physical reality, it can be difficult to describe how it feels without trying it firsthand. Today, we bring you a little closer to the experience of painting with Tilt Brush using the powers of the web in a new Chrome Experiment titled Virtual Art Sessions.

Virtual Art Sessions lets you observe six world-renowned artists as they develop blank canvases into beautiful works of art using Tilt Brush. Each session can be explored from start to finish from any angle, including the artist’s perspective – all viewable right from the browser.

Participating artists include illustrator Christoph Niemann, fashion illustrator Katie Rodgers, sculptor Andrea Blasich, installation artist Seung Yul Oh, automotive concept designer Harald Belker, and street artist duo Sheryo & Yok. The artists’ unique approaches to this new medium become apparent when seeing them work inside their Tilt Brush creations. Watch this behind-the-scenes video to hear what the artists had to say about their experience:

Virtual Art Sessions makes use of Google Chrome’s V8 Javascript engine for high-performance processing power to render large volumes of data in real time. This includes point cloud data of the artist’s physical form, 3D geometry data of the artwork, and position data of the VR controllers. It also relies on Chrome’s support of WebM video and WebGL to produce the 360° representations of the artists and artwork – the artist portrayals alone require the browser to draw over 200,000 points at 30 times a second. For a deeper look, read the technical case study or browse the project code that is available open source from the site’s tech page.

We hope this experiment provides a window into the world of painting in virtual reality using Tilt Brush. We are excited by this new medium and hope the experience leaves you feeling the same. Visit http://bit.ly/1VhoG5r to start exploring.

Posted by Jeff Nusz, Data Arts Team Technical Lead and Pixel Painter
by Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

Shine On

Whether you’re hard at work or play, your laptop should reflect your style and let your true self shine through. We’ve thought a lot about how to mirror our user’s needs in a new kind of laptop -- one that not only helps you work smart, but also look bright. Anyone will see themselves embracing the revolutionary glint of the Chrome Chromebook¹.

Chrome Chromebook adds dazzle to the power of our best-in-class hardware and software, with shiny design facets to inspire a new generation.

Enjoy tungsten space-grade chrome engineering with revolutionary new microchrome technology, so it’s light -- in every sense of the word. The highly reflective chrome alloy case with two layers of automotive clear-coat creates infinite reflections, enveloping the Chrome Chromebook like a shimmering sheath. The platinum white backlit keyboard LED bounces light off a minimum of seven surfaces before striking the eye, and the included microfiber sleeve helps retain that just-unboxed glow.

Yet, even with these brilliant new features, Chrome Chromebooks are still about performance and function. With Chrome Chromebook’s radiant 4k lumen reflective properties and unheard-of pixel density, watching a movie rivals the beauty of staring into a solar eclipse. The magnificent CLED (Chrome Light-Emitting Diode) screen provides brightness settings that rival the Sun itself. You’ll be blinded by its sheer brilliance².

Move toward the light. The Chrome Chromebook will be available for purchase online starting today in the U.S and will arrive in stores soon. Or if you can’t wait, try wrapping a Chromebook in tin foil to bask in the reflected glory. We hope you enjoy what’s next.

Be brilliant. Get a Chrome Chromebook.

Posted by Addison Nuding, Program Manager and Bringer of Bling

1/ This product is 100% chrome-free. Any similarity to actual chrome is purely fictional.

2/ Protective eyewear not included.

by Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

Introducing the VIZIO P-Series display with Google Cast

Last year, we brought the magic of Google Cast, the technology behind Chromecast, to speakers, Android TVs, game consoles and set-up boxes. Today, we’re excited to start casting to VIZIO’s new SmartCast P-Series displays as well as to VIZIO soundbars and speakers.

The P-series now comes with Google Cast built in, which means you can use your smartphone or tablet as your remote to cast your favorite entertainment directly to the big screen. Simply tap the Cast button from apps like Netflix to watch Daredevil, YouTube to stream daredevil stunts, or Google Play Music to get pumped for your own stunts. You can also mirror any website from the Chrome browser on your laptop. So whether you’re planning your next vacation and looking through flights and hotels with the family, or want to share a video from your last epic trip, just look for the Google Cast extension in the corner of your desktop browser.

The P-Series also supports casting Ultra HD (up to 4K) and Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range content (bright, clear colors!). Included with every P-series is VIZIO’s 6” Android tablet remote, a tablet that lives in the living room and can cast all your favorite content.

We’re also changing the name of the Chromecast app to Google Cast app, to better reflect that Google Cast technology is now supported across a wide range of devices such as Chromecast, TVs, displays and speakers. The Google Cast app makes it easy for you to discover great stuff to watch, find more apps, customize backdrop, and more. The updated Google Cast app will be rolling out this week on Android & iOS.

To learn more about Google Cast and the Google Cast app, visit our new website.

Adam Champy, Product Manager, Daily Daily Show Caster
by Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

New year, new Chrome

Chrome gives you a fast and secure way to explore the web, no matter what device you’re using. To keep all of our users safe and to help them save on data usage, we now show 5 million Safe Browsing warning messages every day and have over 100 million people using Data Saver mode in Chrome on Android. This saves up to 100 Terabytes of data a day — enough data to store the complete works of Shakespeare, 10 million times!
The latest version of Chrome brings some fresh updates for the new year to get you moving faster and stay secure.

Speed and stability on iOS

The latest Chrome for iOS is significantly faster and more stable, so you can pick up where you left off browsing (on any device) without worrying about Chrome crashing on misbehaving webpages. In fact, tests show that the latest version reduces Chrome’s crash rate by 70 percent and speeds up JavaScript execution significantly.

These improvements will gradually be rolled out starting today—just update Chrome to get rolling. (If you want a peek under the hood, check out this update in the Chromium blog.)

Keep an eye on your data usage 

If you’re using your computer at a library or coffee shop with spotty public WiFi, it’s helpful to be able to manage your data usage—which is why we created Chrome’s new Data Saver extension. It reduces the data your computer needs to access websites using the same compression technology as Chrome for Android’s Data Saver mode. Clicking on “Details” will tell how much data you’ve saved, and which websites are scooping up most data.

Keeping Chromies secure online 

Of course, even with all the features Chrome offers to help you stay secure online, there's a lot you can do too to protect yourself. A few pro-tips:

1. If you just got a new Windows computer over the holidays, your first step is to download Chrome and make it your default browser ;)
2. Keep your computer free of unwanted software with the Chrome Cleanup Tool. This program sweeps through your computer for software that’s been identified by Google and our industry partners as unhelpful or malicious. To date, 40 million people have successfully cleaned up their computers with this tool. 
3. Starting in this latest release, you’ll begin to see all extensions to the right of the URL bar, so you can easily remove anything you don’t recognize. Just right click the extension icon and select “Remove from Chrome.”

Posted by AbdelKarim Mardini, Product Manager and New Year's Resolver

by Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

More fun in the living room with Android TV and with Google Cast speakers

Android TV and Google Cast for audio devices were introduced to give you more freedom and control over your entertainment. Today we’re bringing even more TV and speaker makers onboard for both Android TV and Google Cast. 

 When it comes to home entertainment, the living room is more connected than ever. Approximately 88% of consumer electronic devices shipped in 2015 were Internet-enabled.¹ When devices in the home are connected, it’s important to have platforms that make it easy for you to stream your favorite digital music and movies.

Android TV

Android TV brings apps, games, movies, shows, music and more to the biggest screen in your home. From smart TVs to cable box operators, many devices support the Android TV experience. Now you’ve got even more options to find the device that’s right for you. If you’re looking for a new TV, you can select an Android TV from Sony, Sharp and Philips. Later this year, Android TV will be available from Arcelik, Vestel, RCA, Hisense, TCL and Bang & Olufsen. And, for our users in Indonesia, Linknet now has an Android TV offering.

Google Cast for speakers

Google Cast, the same technology built into Chromecast, is now embedded directly into speakers, sound bars, and A/V receivers so you can cast music from your favorite app on your phone or any music streaming website on Chrome. Throughout 2016, you’ll be able to enjoy Google Cast speakers from B&O Play, Harman Kardon, Onkyo, Philips, Pioneer, and Raumfeld. Sony and LG, who were among the first to include Google Cast in their speakers, are also refreshing their speaker lineups. Cast-enabled software and hardware from Frontier Silicon and StreamUnlimited will make it easier for more audio companies to join the Google Cast family.

Recently, we announced that multi-room synchronization is available on Chromecast Audio. Multi-room sync lets you group speakers connected to Chromecast Audio devices together so you can listen to the same song throughout the house. In 2016, multi-room sync functionality will come to Google Cast speakers, allowing you to mix and match Cast-enabled speakers from your favorite brands with speakers connected to Chromecast Audio.

Check back for more hardware and content news throughout the year.

Posted by Adrienne McCallister, Streaming Media Maven

¹/ Strategy Analytics Connected CE Devices Market Forecast, July 2015

by Google Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

Endless fun for this holiday season

Whether you’re cozied up at home or on the road, Chromecast has a bunch of new goodies for you and the family. Just in time for the holidays, we’re adding more Chromecast-enabled games for both Android and iOS to the list.

Now casting is Rovio’s Angry Birds Friends, featuring everyone’s favorite red bird, where you can compete in weekly tournaments.  Also available is Ubisoft’s Driver Speedboat Paradise, where you race your boat through beautiful canals and waterways around the world.

Angry Birds Friends, by Rovio

We’re also introducing several new family-friendly Hasbro games which have been remastered for the big screen experience, including Monopoly Here & Now, Yahtzee Blitz, The Game of Life, and Scrabble Blitz 2.0. These are perfect companions for the downtime before that ball drops this New Year’s Eve.  And lastly, we’re excited to introduce a new way to play Risk -- on Chromecast. Now you can compete for world domination with friends and family anywhere.

With Chromecast, you can get a great split-screen experience for your mobile games. For example, if you are playing Monopoly Here & Now, only you can see your cards on your phone while the moves you decide to make get displayed on the big screen. It unlocks fun multiplayer experiences, and the ability for you to use your phone or tablet as the controller while gameplay takes place on the TV.

Monopoly Here & Now Big Screen, by Hasbro

Many games now work with Chromecast, and many more will continue to be made available.
So whether you’re playing with friends or by yourself, you can now play mobile games on the biggest screen in the house. Check out these great games and more on chromecast.com/apps.

Posted by Wendi Zhang, Chromecast Business Development Games Lead and Ultimate Bird Caster
by Google Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

Wield your lightsaber to escape the First Order

You don’t need to be a Jedi to master a lightsaber — just go to g.co/lightsaber on your phone or desktop to wield your very own lightsaber in our latest Chrome Experiment, “Lightsaber Escape,” built for your phone and computer.

Inspired by Star Wars: The Force Awakens, “Lightsaber Escape” immerses you in a galaxy far, far away, bringing the film to life through modern web technologies. Your adventure begins in a Star Destroyer, where you’ll need to use your phone as a lightsaber to escape the First Order.

The experience was developed in collaboration with Disney, Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic. The rich 3D graphics were built with WebGL, enabling beautiful, high fidelity 3D renders within the browser. We’re also using WebRTC and WebSockets to enable high accuracy, real-time communication between your mobile and desktop devices, reducing latency and improving interactivity. Plus, building with web standards means the experience works across browsers, and without plug-ins. For a more in-depth tech overview, you can check out our technical case study on developers.google.com.

Visit google.com/starwars to experience Star Wars: The Force Awakens across your favorite Google apps and explore Jakku Spy, a Google Cardboard Experience.

May the Force be with you!

Posted by Paul Irish, Product Manager & T-70 X-Wing Cadet

by Google Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

Even more to love about Chromecast Audio

A couple of months ago we launched Chromecast Audio to provide an easy way to stream your favorite tunes from your phone, tablet, or laptop to your existing speakers. At $35, Chromecast Audio is an affordable way to connect your speakers via WiFi so you can stream tons of popular apps including Spotify, Pandora, and Google Play Music from anywhere in your home. Today we’re starting to add two new features to the latest software update to elevate your listening experience.

Introducing Hi-Res audio support

Close your eyes and imagine the musician is playing in the room. Today we’re rolling out high-resolution audio support, which gives you even higher quality music playback using Chromecast Audio. With support of up to 96KHz/24bit lossless audio playback, you can enjoy higher-than-CD-quality audio on your existing high fidelity audio equipment.

Blast the same song in every room

Now you can easily fill every room in your home—bedroom, kitchen, living room, or wherever you have a Chromecast Audio connected—with synchronous music. Multi-room lets you group Chromecast Audio devices together so you can listen to the same song on multiple speakers.

Setup is simple. Connect and setup a Chromecast Audio device for each of your speakers, then use the latest Chromecast app to create a group. You can cast to the group the exact same way you would cast to a single Chromecast device. Since anyone with a phone can easily cast without pairing, you can sync your home speakers together and invite your friends to be the DJ.

So grab your hairbrush microphone, dust off your tennis racket guitar, and jam out to your favorite tunes at amazing quality and in every room of your house.

Posted by Tomer Shekel, Product Manager and Patron of Loud Music
by Google Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

A new way to save data with Chrome on Android

Accessing mobile websites on a slow connection can be frustrating: it can eat up your data, and it takes work to keep track of your usage. With that in mind, we created Data Saver mode in Chrome, which reduces the amount of data used when you visit a webpage.

Now, we're updating this mode to save even more data – up to 70 percent! – by removing most images when loading a page on a slow connection. After the page has loaded, you can tap to show all images or just the individual ones you want, making the web faster and cheaper to access on slow connections.

Chrome users in India and Indonesia will be the first to get this expanded Data Saver mode, with additional countries in the coming months. Just flip on Data Saver mode in your Chrome app on Android devices to get rolling!

Posted by Tal Oppenheimer, Product Manager and Speedy Saver

by Google Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

Safe Browsing protection from even more deceptive attacks

[Cross-posted on the Google Online Security blog]

Safe Browsing has been protecting over one billion people from traditional phishing attacks on the web for more than eight years. The threat landscape is constantly changing -- bad actors on the web are using other types of deceptive behavior to trick you into performing actions that you didn’t intend or want, so we’ve expanded protection to include social engineering.

Social engineering is a much broader category than traditional phishing and encompasses more types of deceptive web content. A social engineering attack happens when either:

• The content pretends to act, or looks and feels, like a trusted entity — like a bank or government.
• The content tries to trick you into doing something you’d only do for a trusted entity — like sharing a password or calling tech support.

Below are some examples of social engineering attacks that try to trick you into thinking the content is delivered by Google or Chrome. Other trusted brands are also commonly abused for social engineering attacks.

This page tries to trick you into downloading and executing malware or unwanted software. It uses Chrome’s logo and name to confuse you into believing the site is operated by Google. Content like this may include an inconspicuous legal disclaimer that states it is not affiliated with Google. This does not change the deceptive nature of this content -- as always, use caution when downloading files from the web.

This is a fake tech phone support page. This page mimics a warning and may trick you into calling a third-party company that pretends to be Google or some other trusted entity, but charges a fee for support. (Chrome does not offer paid remote support).

This is a fake Google login page. It might trick you into disclosing your account login credentials. Other phishing sites like this could trick you into giving up other personal information such as credit card information. Phishing sites may look exactly like the real site -- so be sure to look at the address bar to check that the URL is correct, and also check to see that the website begins with https://. See more information here.

If we identify that a web page contains social engineering content, Chrome will warn you by displaying the following interstitial.

(If you believe Safe Browsing has classified a web page in error, please report it here.)

We'll continue to improve Google's Safe Browsing protection to help more people stay safer online. Check out the Safe Browsing Transparency Report to find out more.

Posted by Emily Schechter, Program Manager and Noé Lutz, Software Engineer
by Google Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

Updates to Chrome platform support

Earlier this year, we announced that Google Chrome would continue support for Windows XP through the remainder of 2015.  At that time, we strongly encouraged users on older, unsupported platforms such as Windows XP to update to a supported, secure operating system. Such older platforms are missing critical security updates and have a greater potential to be infected by viruses and malware.

Today, we’re announcing the end of Chrome’s support for Windows XP, as well as Windows Vista, and Mac OS X 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8, since these platforms are no longer actively supported by Microsoft and Apple. Starting April 2016, Chrome will continue to function on these platforms but will no longer receive updates and security fixes.

If you are still on one of these unsupported platforms, we encourage you to move to a newer operating system to ensure that you continue to receive the latest Chrome versions and features.

Posted by Marc Pawliger, Director of Engineering and Early Notifier
by Google Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

Chrome OS is here to stay

Over the last few days, there’s been some confusion about the future of Chrome OS and Chromebooks based on speculation that Chrome OS will be folded into Android. While we’ve been working on ways to bring together the best of both operating systems, there's no plan to phase out Chrome OS.

With the launch of Chrome OS six years ago, we set out to make computers better—faster, simpler and more secure—for everyone. We’ve since seen that vision come to life in classrooms, offices and homes around the world. In fact, every school day, 30,000 new Chromebooks are activated in U.S. classrooms—that’s more than all other education devices combined. And more than 2 million teachers and students in more than 150 countries have the Share to Classroom Chrome extension, which launched in September and gets students onto the same webpage, instantly. Meanwhile, companies such as Netflix, Sanmina, Starbucks and of course Google, are using Chromebooks given the ease of deployment, the ability to easily integrate with existing technologies, and a security model that protects users at all levels, from hardware to user data. (Chromebooks are so secure you don’t need antivirus software!) IT administrators can manage tens of thousands of Chromebooks through a single web console, making them ideal for both classrooms and the workplace.

For everyday use, we’re proud that Chromebooks are continually listed as a best-selling laptop computer on Amazon.com. In an effort to make computing even more accessible, earlier this year we introduced the first $149 Chromebook—a fast, affordable laptop. And in the next couple weeks the Asus Chromebit will be available—an $85 device that turns any display into a computer so you can replace your old desktop with an affordable computer the size of a candy bar, or let businesses transform a billboard into a smart digital sign.

This year we've also worked to redefine the different forms Chrome OS can take, introduced the first designated Chromebook for Work, and brought more of your favorite Android apps to your Chromebook via Apps Runtime on Chrome (a.k.a. ARC). But there’s more to do. We have plans to release even more features for Chrome OS, such as a new media player, a visual refresh based on Material Design, improved performance, and of course, a continued focus on security. With our regular six-week software cycle and guaranteed auto-updates for five years, Chromebooks keep getting better over time. Finally, stay on the lookout for dozens of new Chromebooks in 2016.

Posted by Hiroshi Lockheimer, SVP Android, Chrome OS and Chromecast
by Google Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog

Faster, smoother and safer videos on Chrome

Chrome is one of the world's most popular ways to watch video, with around 3,000 hours of video watched every second. Whether you're singing along with Taylor Swift, binge-watching Breaking Bad or learning about NASA’s Pluto mission—no matter what you watch, we make sure that your videos look great and load fast when you’re using Chrome.

Faster, leaner, crisper

Videos today have higher resolution, richer color and more frames per second. That's great news for you, but as video quality increases, it's harder to stream and play it without interruption. So we’ve been working on keeping Chrome lean so you can watch eye-poppingly high-definition videos. When you use Chrome to watch video on sites like YouTube, your videos load faster and look better than ever before. That's because Chrome supports the VP9 video format, which uses up to 40% less data and higher quality videos.

View: H.264 on 3GH.264 on WiFiVP9 on 3GVP9 on WiFi

We optimize for your data plan, battery life and processing power without sacrificing quality and with support for the latest high-definition formats. We’ve also worked with partners like YouTube and Amazon to reduce power consumption up to 25% by transitioning away from Flash.

Keep your videos buttery smooth

Videos really are moving pictures—each picture is called a “frame”. Those frames are recorded by a video camera, and then displayed at regular intervals by your screen so you can see it as a smooth video. A typical video is recorded at 30 frames per second, and a typical screen displays at 60 times a second—so ideally, one frame is on the screen for two refreshes, and you see smooth video. Often that doesn’t happen—many videos aren’t recorded at exactly 30 frames per second, and many screens don’t display at exactly 60 times per second—which leads to inconsistent or jerky video. We’ve been working to take account of these variations in Chrome, so we can more consistently hit two frames per refresh. That means your video looks smoother.

In this example, 32% of video frames are displayed for the wrong length of time and 5 frames never display.  

Now almost all frames are shown at regular intervals, and every frame is displayed.

Your connection may not always be perfect, so we helped build a new open standard that your video provider uses to intelligently adjust video settings—and if your Internet connection speed dips, video quality will adjust without your input. That means you get up to 50% fewer video interruptions.

Keeping you secure

Watching videos on the web used to require downloading and installing a plugin. Plugins are separate programs from the browser and can cause problems, including malware and tracking of your browsing habits across websites.

To combat this, we’ve been working with our partners to create new web standards to support premium content through HTML5. Many leading video providers like YouTube, Amazon and Play Movies now use these standards to deliver video in Chrome, so you don’t have to worry about nasty surprises.

With Chrome, you get the fastest, safest experience while you watch. So you can explore all the great video on the web—to learn, play or get inspired!

Posted by Renganathan Ramamoorthy, Product Manager and Patron of Playbacks

Video images: Blender Foundation | www.blender.org

by Google Chrome Blog via Google Chrome Blog