On Wednesday, Google pushed an update to all users of its Chrome web browser that aimed to patch two critical security flaws. There aren’t many details about the flaws available, nor what part of Chrome could be at risk, but it’s recommended that all users update their browser as quickly as possible to avoid any potential issues.

Google keeps mum on details

In a statement, security engineers on the Chrome team are quoted, somewhat vaguely, as saying that “access to bug details and links may be kept restricted until a majority of users are updated with a fix.

"We will also retain restrictions if the bug exists in a third party library that other projects similarly depend on, but haven’t yet fixed.”

The new high- and medium-severity fixes are as follows:

High CVE-2025-5063: Use after free in Compositing.

High CVE-2025-5280: Out of bounds write in V8.

Medium CVE-2025-5064: Inappropriate implementation in Background Fetch API.

Medium CVE-2025-5065: Inappropriate implementation in FileSystemAccess API.

Medium CVE-2025-5066: Inappropriate implementation in Messages.

Medium CVE-2025-5281: Inappropriate implementation in BFCache.

Medium CVE-2025-5283: Use after free in libvpx.

Earlier in May, Google issued an update to all two billion Chrome users to address another vulnerability. If left unchecked, this vulnerability could potentially lead to account takeovers if the query parameter is stolen.

This vulnerability was first reported on X by user @slonser_ and is so significant that America’s Cyber Defense Agency has issued a mandatory warning that all federal staff must update their browsers or stop using Chrome by June 5.

Because the information surrounding this vulnerability is now in the public domain, any hacker or pentester who wants to penetrate the security walls of an out-of-date Chrome build will be able to do so easily.

How do I update Google Chrome?

Luckily, updating is the easy part. Even though this set of vulnerabilities is quite serious, the process of getting your Chrome build current is anything but.

If you want to update your Google Chrome build to the latest version, simply open up the Settings menu, and navigate to the About Chrome section from the left-hand tab, seen here:

Once you open the About Chrome page, your browser will automatically update to the latest version.

After downloading and installing the update, you’ll be prompted with a Relaunch button in the same section. Click that, and you’re good to go!

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We’ve seen AI slowly make its way into browsers, with tools like Microsoft’s Copilot in the Edge web browser, but a browser built entirely around AI, one that puts it front and center, is a first. That’s exactly what Opera has done with its new “agentic” browser: Opera Neon.

The new browser debuted on Wednesday and will be available as a subscription service. Opera has set a waitlist for those wanting to try out Neon.

In Opera's words, "you could simply state your wish and deploy AI to make a website, a prototype of a game, or even an animated model that explains the law of momentum, ready to share with your class."

Yes, this browser promises to write code for you.

Opera Neon in 2016 was merely a concept

But what’s most surprising about it isn’t the AI itself. It’s the fact that Opera didn’t jump on the bandwagon when the AI hype train took off. In fact, it’s been working on a futuristic browser for nearly a decade.

Opera introduced Neon in January 2017 as a futuristic concept browser, essentially the company’s vision for the future of browsers. Back then, Opera mentioned that Neon was built from the same browser engine as the regular Opera browser and was designed with content front and center, aiming to help users focus on what matters online.

The concept browser provided “fun ways to interact with web content,” such as the ability to “pop content out from the web,” essentially Opera’s interpretation of picture-in-picture. Though this is now a standard feature in modern browsers, it felt futuristic then!

Opera showed off a new user interface with Neon back then, including a start page that used the user's current desktop background image, tab management features like an “intelligence system that automatically manages tabs,” a new visual tab bar on the right side of the browser window, and more.

Fast-forward to today, and Neon is making a comeback, but Opera is no longer calling it a concept browser.

Opera Neon is now an agentic browser that does the work for you

Many elements from the original concept (including the name itself, which Opera says has become “a symbol of innovation and change”) have made their way into the new browser. For instance, the “different tab behaviors,” the split-screen mode, and the multimedia players will all be found in the new version.

Opera history lesson aside, what really matters now is the new Opera Neon, a fully agentic browser designed to automate a variety of everyday tasks.

As its "agentic" descriptor suggests, Opera Neon can browse the web as your agent and perform tasks you’d typically do while browsing, like purchasing or booking your next flight. It can also handle tasks like researching topics or building things for you, like interactive web applications. I

Agentic AI is at the cutting edge of internet-based computing. Google just unveiled the latest updates to its agentic AI technology at Google I/O last week.

Neon is designed “become your partner in the age of intelligent AI agents."

The key difference between Opera and Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and other AI services is that Opera says Neon isn’t just another AI chatbot or assistant. It’s designed to “become your partner in the age of intelligent AI agents.” Instead of merely assisting with your tasks or telling you how to do them, it does them for you. Neon is capable of operating itself based on your intent. However, this resembles Google's emerging agentic tech, specifically Project Astra.

AI agents have been talked about a lot in the last few months. Microsoft’s annual Build event primarily focused on AI agents. And with so many agents already out there (and even more in the works), it naturally raises the question: What good is a browser built with AI at its core?

Opera believes we’re currently “at the brink of a new web,” which it calls the agentic web. The company believes that since the browser is typically one’s most essential and frequently used app, it only makes sense for it to become the central hub for AI agents. This way, you can offload most of the tasks you don’t want to do yourself to AI agents within your browser while you continue to get on with your day.

Opera Neon can Chat, Do, and Make

The browser’s functionality comes down to three use cases: Chat, Do, and Make.

• Chat lets you communicate with the browser’s native AI and ask contextual questions about the webpage you’re viewing. It also does all the typical tasks you’re used to now, like searching the web and generating content or images.

• Do is powered by a technology called “Browser Operator” that the company showed off a few months ago, which handles interacting with the website you’re on. It can do web tasks like filling forms, booking trips, or shopping for you. Opera claims that Neon does all this while preserving your security and privacy. The company explains that Neon doesn’t depend on screen recordings or cloud-based virtual machines. Instead, it operates natively in your browser and performs everything locally on your PC. Ultimately, your data stays private and local, including your browsing history, logins, and cookies.

• Make is what Opera claims is a first for browsers — an AI engine that can understand what you want to make and make it for you. For example, Neon can create a small video game or a custom website. The agentic browser isn’t limited to a single task at a time. You can ask it to make multiple things simultaneously, and it’ll handle them for you. Neon will continue operating on a cloud computer even when you go offline.

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Internet Explorer is notorious for frequently encountering issues and crashing, especially with IE6.

While the latter versions of Microsoft’s infamous browser performed reasonably well, they couldn’t shake off their bad reputation. While alternative browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Opera existed during Internet Explorer’s heyday, none could overshadow the built-in Windows browser until Google Chrome arrived in 2008.

Many users, including me, switched to Chrome because its performance is light-years away from that of Internet Explorer.

By 2012, Chrome's user base had surpassed that of Internet Explorer — a massive feat given that users needed to download it as a third-party app.

Microsoft finally killed off Internet Explorer in 2022, fully replacing it with the Edge browser.

Microsoft Edge actually came out seven years earlier in 2015, but only a few people used it because of what many thought of IE. Redmond re-released Edge in 2020, based on Chromium — the platform Google Chrome uses.

Despite that, one survey indicates that only a little over 5% of the market uses it, while Google Chrome enjoys more than 66% of the market share.

I used to be part of the majority until I got to try an Edge feature that I really liked. Because of that, I switched back to using Microsoft’s stock app as my main web browser, and I was surprised to find several more useful features that Chrome did not have.

1. Vertical tabs let you cram more pages in one window

This is the feature that first got me into Microsoft Edge. I usually have more than 10 tabs open at a time for every browser window, making Google Chrome look cluttered. Edge also uses horizontal tabs by default, allowing you to choose vertical tabs. This function makes my desktop look cleaner, as it compresses all my open pages on the left side of the screen.

Furthermore, it only shows the icons of my open tabs, minimizing distractions. If multiple pages of the same site are open, I can just hover over the sidebar, and Edge will automatically unfurl it. That way, I can see the names of the websites I have open at a glance.

Vertical tabs are handy as I usually have two to three browsers open simultaneously. Because of this, I have a much larger space to see all my open tabs without needing to scroll left or right at the top. It also reduces my confusion, as I like keeping all my open windows tabbed using an app like Groupy 2.

2. Microsoft Edge uses less memory

As I said earlier, I keep at least 10 tabs (usually more) on each browser window. Since I open at least three web browsers simultaneously, I have open at least 30 tabs when I work.

Because of this, Google Chrome uses a lot of RAM, sometimes even more than my computer has. I used to have 16 GB of RAM on my PC, but it would often lag even then. I eventually upgraded to 32 GB of RAM, which solved the lagging problem.

Out of curiosity, I checked Task Manager while running my typical workload. That’s when I discovered that Chrome used more than 20 GB of memory! No wonder my gaming computer was sluggish.

When I switched to Edge, I had no problems because of my upgraded RAM. When I looked at its memory usage, the Microsoft web browser hovered at around 18 GB, some two gigabytes less than what Google used.

This won’t make any difference for a power user like me, especially with my expanded RAM. However, for the average user with 8 or 16 GB of memory, that difference might be enough to keep them from tearing their hair out, especially when using memory-intensive tools like Trello.

3. Workspaces on Edge make it easier to juggle multiple roles

Aside from writing for Laptop Mag, I also hold other roles in several publications. This means I launch different sets of tools twice or thrice a day.

When I used Google Chrome, my standard tools (like Gmail and Google Calendar) were pinned as my default tabs. From there, depending on my work, I manually launched the tools I needed from the favorites tab.

However, I discovered I can do this much faster using Edge’s Workspaces feature. I create a workspace for each function I perform, meaning all the tabs I need automatically load.

Aside from those bookmarked pages, the tabs I used during my last session are open, allowing me to pick up where I left off without temporarily bookmarking the websites I needed for a specific assignment.

4. The Immersive Reader feature kills all ads and distractions

Advertising is one of the things that keeps the internet going, but many people hate it. Ads can be intrusive and distracting, especially when reading and understanding an in-depth article.

Thankfully, Microsoft Edge fixed this by blocking ads, links, and other unimportant sections with Immersive Reader. You can turn this on by pressing F9 or clicking on the options menu in the address bar and choosing Immersive Reader.

When it’s turned on, Edge will remove everything except the headline and related in-line media, allowing me (and anyone) to focus while reading. It’s not a perfect tool, though, and it sometimes misses unrelated content like e-commerce links and won’t turn on for some pages. But, for the most part, it’s good enough to make you feel like you’re reading an old-school blog or newspaper.

Microsoft Edge’s unique features made me ditch Google Chrome after several years of use. While it uses the same Chromium architecture, Microsoft’s engineers and programmers made it much more than just a Chrome knockoff.

While it arrived more than a decade too late to save old web browsers, Edge gave Internet Explorer the glow-up it deserves and has won me over — now I can’t imagine going back to Google’s web browser.

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Windows 11 users wanting to get rid of the Microsoft Edge browser shouldn't bother checking Microsoft's website about uninstalling it because it offers no help at all.

Microsoft recently created a page supposedly to help uninstall Microsoft Edge from Windows, but it doesn't offer much instruction at all. First spotted by Windows Latest, the page instead tries to convince the reader not to uninstall the company's browser.

When doing a search for "How to uninstall Edge" on Microsoft's website, the first result is a page titled "Are you sure you want to uninstall Microsoft Edge?" Instead of instructions, the page goes on to explain the benefits of Edge over Google Chrome citing browser features such as "Copilot, Designer, Vertical tabs, Coupons, Read Aloud, and VPN."

The page even includes a chart comparing these features in Edge to Google Chrome, emphasizing that Chrome lacks them.

Aside from a few more banners about features, that's pretty much it for what's available on the page that is supposed to be on how to uninstall Microsoft Edge.

Like with Internet Explorer, Edge is the default browser for Windows 10 and 11. As often happens with default programs, there can be measures implemented to prevent users from installing it. If a Windows 11 user tries to uninstall the Edge browser in the typical steps to remove any program, the only option available is to "Modify" the program while the "Uninstall" option is greyed out.

Now for those who want to get rid of Microsoft Edge from Windows 11, there is a way to do it, however, it's not as easy as just clicking "uninstall." LaptopMag put together a simple guide on how to uninstall Microsoft Edge, and it does take several steps, which is probably more than most Windows users would expect to get rid of a program. The process does require inputting certain commands into the Windows Terminal, but it's fairly easy to do and won't take long.

Microsoft made the big change from its longtime Internet Explorer browser to Edge back in 2020. The Chromium-based browser was the company's attempt to modernize its browser to keep it competitive with competitors such as Chrome and Apple Safari.

Last year, Microsoft promoted Edge even further with the incorporation of AI features. Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI, began pushing its own AI companion, Copilot. The company used the AI as a feature for the Edge browser, making it provide AI chatbot functions within it. Google made a similar move last year, incorporating AI features into Google Chrome.

An update to Copilot in January added a "Think Deeper" mode to the AI that was powered by OpenAI's o1 reasoning model.

Google Search has become so synonymous with finding information online that to Google something has become a widely recognized verb. Pre-2002, there were several popular search engines to choose from, including Yahoo, AOL, and Ask Jeeves. However, not long after, Google emerged as a clear and dominant winner of "The Search Engine Wars," and to this day is seen as the gold standard for internet searches (sorry Bing).

Or is it?

AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Perplexity are changing the way many search online and make for a compelling change of scenery following twenty-some years of Google Search dominance. Asking LLMs like these what the best Sci-Fi movie of 2024 is replaces Google's wall of blue links and blurbs with something more akin to asking somebody who collects Star Wars figurines what's on their Netflix watchlist.

While completely impersonal, this way of searching the net at least feels impressively so, with answers tailored to whatever additional context you present. Is this the future of online searches? Maybe.

Admittedly, Google has entered the realm of AI searches itself with the new AI overview feature. However, its appearance is currently limited to more simple queries, effectively replacing the "top box" of results with something not always that much more helpful.

So, if you're yet to give these AI-powered alternatives a try, here are a few compelling reasons to give ChatGPT Search a spin, starting off with something timely and topical:

3. ChatGPT Search is free and no longer requires an account to use

One of the luxuries of Google Search is that you can simply load up the Google homepage and get straight to work, if not by launching straight into a search query directly from the address bar.

Well, here's some good news: from today, you can access ChatGPT Search with a similar level of ease by heading to ChatGPT.com, through desktop or mobile apps, for log-in-free access to OpenAI's new way of surfing the information superhighway without cost or subscription. You can even adopt ChatGPT Search as your go-to search engine from the address bar using this handy Chrome extension.

2. You can search for answers, not for options

Certain Google Search results are often little more than SEO (search engine optimization) leaderboards that websites will perpetually refine and tweak to appease the Google bots that crawl them for keywords more than the people that read them for information.

AI search options like ChatGPT Search cut the fat, and the click-bait, returning with an actual answer to whatever it is you find yourself in need of — or quickly highlighting the absence of one, saving you time spent scouring article after article for information that may not yet be available.

1. Diving deeper into topics is made easy

"Googling" something paints the image of simply rapping your fingers along the right keyboard inputs and hitting enter, only to be immediately presented with the exact information you need and being on your way. However, in the real world, we're all well aware that Googling something is actually a process of refinement and elimination as you juggle between comparing product A to product B, or following a slow daisy chain of information down an endless rabbit hole in search of a specific query.

Don't get me wrong, it does the job (eventually). However, AI options like ChatGPT Search just get you there faster. Thanks to the natural language interface of LLMs like ChatGPT and Perplexity, searching is like having a conversation with the internet at large. Comparing two things is as easy as simply asking the question, and more complex queries are often solved on the first prompt, leading to fewer hours spent digging through the comments of long-dead Reddit threads in an attempt to diagnose that weird computer hitch.

It's great, but it's not perfect.

While AI search options clearly have their benefits, Google still reigns supreme when it comes to things like image searches or Google Maps navigation. And if you're on the hunt for your next purchase, then AI searches will often be better suited to supplemental information rather than direct recommendations.

While AI hallucinations are still haunting the wider stretches of LLMs like ChatGPT, newer and more powerful models reduce these risks, and it's not like Google hasn't had hallucinatory issues of its own, with the Search Overview feature originally launching under some controversy after offering (since fixed) recommendations that its users eat glue or turn their washing machines into chlorine gas chambers.

Still, this new frontier of Search is an impressive one, and it's well worth checking out if you haven't already. While we've highlighted ChatGPT Search in particular, Perplexity stands as another fantastic all-around option. For those who want to take things a step further, Arc Search offers AI search built directly into their mobile web browser for a simpler and more natural way to search with AI while browsing the internet.

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"Need more zen in your life?" isn't a question often asked of you while checking your mail in the morning, but that's exactly how Opera's new Air browser was pitched to me by my PR pal, Steve Green.

"Some say it's the most relaxing browser ever," Oh, they do, do they?

The internet is a noisy, chaotic mess of a place. Every click you make is a Russian Roulette gamble between productivity, entertainment, and falling into doomscrolling or a mindless rabbit hole, as you scamper to retrieve useless knowledge about 18th-century ghost ships when you know damn well you should be sleeping.

Luckily for us, Opera is here to stage an intervention against modern browsing, delivering unto us Opera Air, which is self-billed as "the world's first browser with mindfulness at its core." It won't promise faster page loads, improved buffering, or any major expansions on the privacy or safety features of the company's other browsers, but it does aim to bring you something you're not able to transmit over WiFi; focus, balance, and a stress-free mindset.

Those are admirable claims, and bold ones too. But can a browser really have such an impact on our daily lives? I downloaded Opera Air myself to see.

Opera Air: Hands-on with Opera's latest web browser

Opera Air's biggest selling point isn't some new-fangled rendering engine or a unique tabbed grouping feature. Instead, it's mostly vibes. Vibes, boosts, and breaks.

The first comes across in its minimalist, Scandinavian-like look, aiming to declutter the browsing experience and give things a more light and airy feel.

And it does look rather calming, there's not a squared edge in sight, as if the entire browser has undergone several layers of baby-proofing. Even the window control buttons are round, completing a refreshing Ikea-meets-macOS showcase of UI design.

Its light, gentle themes carefully blend between neutral colors or offer calming scenes of nature. The latter is a nice change of pace for a browser, giving you a momentary respite here and there with which you can virtually "touch grass."

I was prepared to crack the joke that this is the kind of browser you'd assume doesn't come with a "dark mode" as it flows contrary to its efforts to lighten your mind. However, it actually doesn't — and I'm not sure if that kills the joke or somehow makes it more amusing.

The other new elements, Boosts and Breaks, nudge users to take a break every 60 to 90 minutes to engage in some breathing, neck, and meditation exercises or bolster their focus with some perspective-shifting binaural beats, which sounds like mind control, but isn't.

Binaural beats stimulate the brain through music and sounds using two slightly differing frequencies in each ear, with your mind filling in a third to be perceived as one. The resulting sound can prove beneficial in reducing stress and anxiety, and even improve focus, concentration, motivation, and confidence. Once again, it sounds like mind control, but isn't.

Unfortunately for Opera, much of its efforts to sanitize the mind and soul through web browsing ends the moment we actually start browsing.

Regardless of how much effort the company places on making its window to the internet a portal of tranquility, the content Opear Air is used to engage with will always be anything but.

Still, there's dark humor in my browser suggesting I take a fifteen-minute meditation break while I'm watching people lash out at one another on social media for their political leanings or watching "The Funniest Motorbike Crashes of 2025" on YouTube. Perhaps I'm just not this browser's target audience.

On the surface, using Opera Air is like taking a holiday to some hippy-dippy new-age retreat. It all feels very nice. Harmonious even. Then again, so were minutes 34 to 45 of Midsommar. I wondered if, much like that Nordic horror, there were any dark secrets hidden in the Norwegian browser's remaining 139 minutes of runtime.

Fortunately, the scariest thing Opera Air has to offer was the stark reminder of how bad YouTube Shorts content is when browsed without an account. Ironically, this would have been easily resolved had I not found myself rushing to use the browser and dismissing the quick setup option that can handily import accounts and bookmarks from other browsers like Edge, Chrome, and Firefox.

It's very much like Opera's growing collection of other browsers, except Opera Air is designed for those who enjoy a more stripped-back chamomile tea and mindful meditation approach to browsing. That's opposed to Opera GX which is made for feature-heavy users who prefer drinking nectar milked from a bull's adrenal glands (or whatever Monster Energy is made from).

Opera Air: Does "the world's first browser with mindfulness at its core" work?

Paired with the browser's built-in ad/tracker blocking and VPN features, you have all the ingredients of a distraction-free browsing experience that Scandinavians might refer to as Hygge — one of those cutesy, European, hard-to-define-type words like "gezellig" or "mysa," generally relating to a general vibe or sensation over anything easily definable.

In terms of design, one might say that Opera Air has nailed it, layering a pleasant and clean UI on top of a very well-performing browser backbone previously seen in Opera and Opera GX, with a side of mindfulness for the user.

It's by no means a groundbreaking change, but I'm sure there's an audience out there who would greatly love to be reminded that it's time to take a break, focus on yourself, and recharge for a moment amid the stresses of daily life.

Opera Air is currently in early access, though is free to download from the Opera homepage. Do I recommend it? As much as any other Opera browser, yes. Opera's browsers stand pretty strong as Google Chrome alternatives, and I've been an Opera GX user for some months now without complaint. Given that these browsers share the same backbone, I'm fairly certain we're looking at another solid addition to the company's line-up.

However, its minimalist offerings and mindfulness-first focus will likely appeal to certain crowds more than others.

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ChatGPT may be the go-to source for comprehensive AI-powered travel itineraries, meal plans, content ideas, and more, but Open AI has bigger plans.

A new feature is here to shake up the AI chatbot game: ChatGPT Search.

What is ChatGPT Search?

On October 31, OpenAI announced ChatGPT's new search feature, saying the AI chatbot "can now search the web in a much better way than before" and deliver "fast, timely answers with links to relevant web sources."

Initially, ChatGPT generated answers utilizing specific training data, with very limited web search capabilities. This AI model, however, has access to the internet and will provide links for any source it pulls info from.

For example, asking ChatGPT for a "5-day travel itinerary for Barcelona" prior to the new search feature would generate a neatly organized bullet list with ideas for places to visit, restaurants to eat at, and must-do activities with no relevant links. Now, you might see a similar list, but it'll have easy-access links to book tickets, look at a menu, or otherwise get more info about an activity.

If ChatGPT Search sounds like a tool you might want to try, here's how to use it.

How to use ChatGPT Search

The ChatGPT Search tool will be built directly into the existing ChatGPT interface on the web and mobile/desktop apps, and it's currently available to the following users:

• ChatGPT Plus users
• ChatGPT Team users
• SearchGPT waitlist users

You should see a small globe icon with 'Search' next to it below the ChatGPT bar where you type your requests or questions. Clicking on this web search icon will manually trigger a web-based search, or you can simply ask your questions and make your requests as normal and let ChatGPT decide when and if it needs to consult the web for up-to-date information.

Although only select users will be able to utilize ChatGPT Search right away, OpenAI says it plans to "roll out to all Free users over the coming months."

Outlook

OpenAI's ChatGPT has been the preferred AI chatbot over Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot. With this newly integrated search feature, it might be the push OpenAI needed to keep ChatGPT on top.

Having ChatGPT Search create a comprehensive seven-day meal plan with linked recipes, as an example, is much more helpful than a seven-day meal plan with general ideas that you have to go find recipes for.

Of course, with such a vast amount of information to scour and other AI models to potentially contribute to 'AI hallucinations,' ChatGPT could be prone to eventually providing misinformation.

Only time will tell how successful ChatGPT Search is among competitors like Bing and Google, but it's hard to count Open AI given ChatGPT's popularity and momentum.

You should know how to clear the cache in Google Chrome. The last thing you want to experience is a severe browser lag while you're trying to get work done. It just happened to me as I was planning my D&D session in Roll20.

Clearing your cache could also help troubleshoot issues with certain websites. However, keep in mind that clearing your cache deletes the settings you have on some sites. Everything also needs to be reloaded, so sites will seem slower at first but eventually improve.

Whether you're using your PC, Android, or iPhone/iPad, here's how to clear cache in Google Chrome.

How to clear cache in Google Chrome on PC

Step 1. In Google Chrome, click the More button (three vertical dots) at the top right and then select Delete browsing data from the dropdown menu.

Step 2. Now, you'll have a few choices, including deleting your browsing history, cookies, and cache images/files. If you're not sure if the issue involves the cache or cookies, try the cache first, and if that doesn't work, then delete the cookies. You can also choose the time range, including the last hour, 24 hours, 7 days, or 4 weeks.

Step 3. Hit Delete data, and all that information will disappear. If you need to delete cookies, you'll be signed out of every site except Chrome (as long as you're signed in).

How to clear cache in Google Chrome on Android

The steps for Android are mostly the same as PC.

Step 1. Open Google Chrome and click the More button (three vertical dots) at the top right. In the drop-down window, select Delete browsing data.

Step 2. You'll get a range of choices just like on PC, except that the starting duration is 15 minutes instead of 1 hour. It'll also delete the history gathered from all your open tabs. Clicking More options will reveal choices for passwords, autofill form data, and site settings.

Step 3. Click Delete data and say bye-bye to your Chrome issues.

How to clear cache in Google Chrome on iPhone or iPad

The steps for the iPhone or iPad are similar to Android despite their distinctly different operating systems.

Step 1. Go to Google Chrome and click the More button (three horizontal dots) at the bottom right (iPhone) or top right (iPad). Then, Press Delete Browsing Data.

Step 2. The next prompt will provide you with a selection of the aforementioned choices. Pick and choose which is best for you, but make sure that Cache is selected.

Step 3. You'll click Delete Browsing Data > Clear Browsing Data > Done, in that order. Then you are literally done.

That didn't work: My browser is still slow

If your browser is still slow, there could be several issues. Make sure you're clearing both the cache and cookies. Otherwise, try updating the browser (found in the More section) or uninstalling and reinstalling Google Chrome.

If that doesn't work, check out Google's troubleshooting guide.

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If you've been struggling to remove an extension in Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, your device may be under a trojan malware attack.

According to an August 6 report from Reason Labs, a consumer-focused cybersecurity firm, a newly identified malware campaign has affected "at least 300,000 users across Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge." 

This sophisticated malware campaign involves a multiple-stage attack, but Reason Labs identified the initial source as malicious advertising, or malvertising, that directs users to false imitations of download pages for popular software, such as Roblox FPS Unlocker, YouTube, VLC media player, Steam, or KeePass.

If someone clicks 'Download' on one of these malicious websites, it installs a Trojan — which is aptly shortened from Trojan horse, something that masquerades as one thing when it's actually another — instead of the software the user was intending to download.

Once successfully installed, Reason Labs says the trojan malware can force install more malicious extensions for Chrome and Edge, prevent browser updates, put devices at risk for future attacks, and steal private, personal data.

Reason Labs "alerted Google and Microsoft" upon discovering the issue, and "they are taking the appropriate measures."

Here's how to find out if your laptop is infected and how to remove the malware plaguing your system.

How to find and remove this trojan malware from Chrome and Edge

One thing all affected devices have in common with this attack is malicious extensions. Look at your installed extensions in Chrome and Edge and see if any stand out as ones you didn't install.

Reason Labs believes there are likely more, but mentioned a few known malicious Chrome extensions, including "Micro Search" and "yglSearch." For Microsoft Edge users, look for a "Simple New Tab" extension.

Unfortunately, this malware has persistence mechanisms, which means that even if you successfully remove the malicious extension, a scheduled task will put the malware right back on your computer as soon as it reboots.

Because of these persistence mechanisms, Reason Labs notes that the scheduled task, some registry keys, and the malware files must be removed from the device to eliminate this Trojan malware.

Reason Labs provides easy-to-follow instructions for each step of the malware removal process, but if you're not comfortable messing with your computer's Registry Editor (which can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing), reach out to a tech-savvy friend or a professional to help you make your device malware-free.

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Google Chrome will receive a new update that replaces its existing browser extension platform, which could cause certain extensions to stop functioning.

According to a pop-up that's appearing on Google Chrome, which is warning that certain extensions "may soon no longer be supported" (via Bleeping Computer).

This is a result of Manifest v3, which has been in the works since 2018, with a Chromium blog post confirming that the new extension version would "Create stronger security, privacy, and performance."

Six years later, Google is finally moving to implement Manifest v3, but the shift away from v2 could have disastrous consequences for your favorite browser extensions.

What will be affected by Manifest v3

One victim includes uBlock Origin, an immensely popular adblocker that will not be making the move to Manifest v3. However, this isn't necessarily the result of the creator's decision, but the limits of the new platform instead.

Creator Raymond Hill claims on a GitHub post that "you will have to find an alternative to uBO (uBlock Origin) before Google Chrome disables it for good." 

While Hill is building a v3-compliant version of uBlock, he claims that it's "Too different from uBO to be an automatic replacement." He hopes users can "Find a replacement to uBO according to what you expect from a content blocker," solidifying that "uBO Lite may or may not fulfill your expectations."

So what exactly is different about Manifest v3 that makes uBlock Origin incompatible? It has to do with the extension's filtering capabilities, and as a result of this change, Hill says that "uBOL will be less effective at dealing with websites using anti-content blockers or minimizing website breakage."

Google's response to these criticisms

Back in 2019, Google's official response in a security blog post was "No, Chrome isn’t killing ad blockers -- we’re making them safer." 

How exactly? Well, Google suggests Manifest v3 will mean extensions do not need access to all of a user's data to accomplish its tasks, and, in this case, adblockers should be able to do their job without being able to see unrelated information (like emails or photos).

Essentially, it's replacing the Web Request API (which filters everything on the browser through the network) with a specific Declarative Net Request API (which specifically targets the information it needs to perform its job).

Google acknowledges that it has been a "Controversial change since the Web Request API is used by many popular extensions." The company then ends the blog post by recognizing that this will "Require developers to update how extensions operate," but Google believes "It is the right choice to enable users to limit the sensitive data they share with third parties."

Long story short, Google is fundamentally changing how extensions acquire information on your browser to perform its tasks. This means that many existing extensions will not work with the coming of Manifest v3.

What Google is trying to do makes sense on paper. It's been advertising its plans for this change for quite a few years now. Although certain extensions aren't willing to make the changes needed to work on the newest versions of Chrome, or perhaps can't for whatever reason, there's no denying that it's coming.

So what can you actually do about it?

What can you do about this Google Chrome update?

We recommend going through all of your existing browser extensions and confirming which will be moving over to Manifest v3 to prevent you from being blindsided in the event an extension you like stops functioning. If it's not moving over to Manifest v3, you have time to find alternatives.

Considering this has been in the works for years, any extensions that will be affected should have made preparations for Manifest v3 by now. For example, AdBlock released a blog post in 2022 confirming its plans to move over to Manifest v3, and back in April of this year, it officially released a compatible version.

Similarly bringing up the issue of filters, the AdBlock blog post claims that "With Manifest V3, AdBlock is required to limit how many filter lists we have available to users," which is what made uBlock decide that it would no longer maintain its original version.

If you're looking for a good adblocker that's Manifest v3-friendly, extensions like AdBlock will absolutely fulfill your needs.

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Yesterday, OpenAI revealed its latest branch of AI experimentation by unveiling SearchGPT — a GPT-4o-powered search tool that uses real-time information from the web to answer search queries with fast, clear, and relevant sources of information.

Google can let out a sigh of relief, at least for now. SearchGPT is a temporary prototype, designed by OpenAI to identify how users interact and use the tool to extract its best features and add them to the ever-growing skillset of its popular ChatGPT LLM (Large Language Model).

Those interested in testing the AI-powered Google Search alternative can sign up to the waitlist at OpenAI.com, 

SearchGPT: AI-powered web search sees ChatGPT take on Google

A post to the OpenAI website details SearchGPT in full, revealing its search capabilities as an alternative to your everyday Googling.

OpenAI laments the frustrations of finding crucial information on the web in a speedy manner, highlighting the need sometimes to take multiple stabs at a query before you find what you're looking for.

Seeking to take some of the frustration out of searching, the new SearchGPT tool offers a conversational flow to finding the information you want. OpenAI's natural language-focused method of searching leads to a more, "Ask and refine" approach to finding information online.

This method allows users to pose an initial question to SearchGPT before allowing them the option to pose follow-up queries to fine-tune results and gain further insights.

The result is a search engine that can return more specific answers to user questions, avoiding the need to click through page after page of search results as you seek out sites that have the information you're looking for.

While not mentioned in the announcement post, SearchGPT will likely feature Microsoft Bing as the provider for its real-time search results.

Bing has been the default search engine of ChatGPT since May 2023, continuing a profitable collaboration with Microsoft which has benefited from implementing OpenAI's technology to power services like Microsoft Copilot and the image generation capabilities of Microsoft Designer.

Avoiding previous pitfalls

With OpenAI bringing its SearchGPT tool into limited testing, they'll be sure to want to avoid Google's initial efforts to merge AI with Search results.

Google's new Search Generative Experience (SGE) launched earlier this year, providing AI summaries and overviews for search results. While OpenAI's method leans entirely into the AI-filtered results, Google offered more of a hybrid solution. AI-generated summaries would feature at the top of pages, with more traditional Search results below.

Sadly for Google, its new Search experience immediately ran into issues as the once trusty Google Search Engine began spouting an incredible number of inaccuracies with its Gemini AI recommending that users add rocks and glue to recipes and make dangerous combinations of chemicals to clean their washing machines.

Thankfully for OpenAI, ChatGPT has been able to provide limited web searches and summaries for some time, giving ChatGPT Plus subscribers access to live, real-time information from around the web via Bing. So far, the feature has managed to avoid any high-profile mishaps, though how SearchGPT handles a much more in-depth probing of the internet remains to be seen.

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Unless you use Google’s search engine exclusively, you probably won’t see Reddit results populate when you search for something — at least, for now.

According to a report from 404 Media, any search engine that doesn’t rely on Google’s indexing will no longer be able to crawl or scan Reddit’s site for new information. This is thanks to Reddit’s updated robots.txt file, which took effect on July 1, 2024.

Admin @traceroo on r/redditdev wrote, “Unfortunately, we’ve seen an uptick in obviously commercial entities who scrape Reddit and argue that they are not bound by our terms or policies.” Translated, Reddit doesn’t want its site crawled for data used to train or inform generative AI models that companies then charge for.

This means popular alternatives to Google search — like Microsoft Bing, DuckDuckGo, Brave, and others — will lose many search results. As someone who often tacks ‘Reddit’ onto the end of my searches in non-Google engines, that’s incredibly frustrating.

And although Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt told The Verge, “This is not at all related to our recent partnership with Google,” that’s a little hard to believe.

Is this a pay-to-access blockade from Reddit?

In February 2024, Reuters reported that Reddit signed a contract with Google worth roughly $60 million a year. This contract essentially allows Google to utilize the vast amount of human-written content available on Reddit to train its AI models.

Considering Google is the only company (so far) to strike such a deal with Reddit, it's difficult to believe Reddit's decision to update its robots.txt file isn't related to the recent partnership with Google. Even if Reddit doesn't intend to make its search results exclusive to Google, the decision is still at least somewhat related to the partnership with Google because clearly Reddit feels that it can strike similar deals with the other search engines.

In Rathschmidt's statement to The Verge, he continued, "We have been in discussions with multiple search engines. We have been unable to reach agreements with all of them since some are unwilling or unable to make enforceable promises regarding their use of Reddit content, including their use for AI."

A Microsoft spokesperson told Search Engine Land, "We respect the robots.txt standard. Bing stopped crawling Reddit after they implemented their updated robots.txt file on July 1, which prohibits all crawling of their site.” But there's no mention of whether Microsoft is considering striking a deal with Reddit regarding using or strictly not using Reddit data in training generative AI models.

If no other sites sign a contract with Reddit regarding the use of its data in AI training, Google will have a huge advantage over the competition. This would be an eerie step closer to further monopolizing the search engine industry. Without popular Reddit results, the best Google Chrome alternatives just got a little less shiny.

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Google Chrome has been notoriously deemed incredibly demanding on hardware, but an upcoming update that's currently available on the developer version of Chrome could address this issue.

It's no secret that Chrome is by far the most popular browser option available, regardless of how hard Microsoft tries to shove Edge down our throats. In fact, it's not even close, with Backlinko highlighting that Chrome's 2024 market share is at 64.73%, whereas Edge is at a measly 4.97%. 

But among all of Google Chrome's praise comes frequent criticism, whether it be around its privacy concerns, vulnerability issues, or problems with it simply being too demanding on CPU or RAM. In fact, our very own Rael Hornby stepped away from the browser, citing that it no longer "Feels all that lightweight and speedy" anymore.

However, it seems like Google is taking a page out of Opera GX's book, which features a resource management setting that provides a detailed breakdown on how much performance is being dedicated to each individual tab, whether it's involving RAM or CPU usage.

Chrome's implementation isn't completely identical to this, but it's similar in that it will help users get a greater understanding of where the application is consuming so much of your PC's power.

Chrome's upcoming feature changes everything

Google has yet to confirm when the update is coming to the public version of Chrome, but it's currently available within its experimental versions.

Yes, you no longer have to worry about Chrome absolutely destroying your computer with its RAM-hungry habits. This comes in the form of a new experimental flag present within Google Chrome Canary, which will give Chrome permission to warn the user if the application is sapping an extraordinary amount of processing power. 

But Chrome won't just warn the user by vaguely gesturing towards the overabundance of the CPU being used, and will instead highlight which tabs in particular are the culprit.

This is massive for anyone guilty of keeping a hundred tabs open at a time, some of which might be tearing your PC apart without you realizing it. 

I've had situations where my computer will suddenly crash and require a forced restart, and I can only assume my dozens upon dozens of Chrome tabs are the culprit, although it probably doesn't help when I have other applications open alongside it.

Being warned that a particular tab is especially doing damage would address one of the biggest criticisms many users have been tossing at Chrome for years about its performance zapping behaviors.

How to activate it on Google Chrome Canary

If you've downloaded Google Chrome Canary and are looking for how to activate this new setting, here's what you do, as discovered by WindowsReport.

1. Type chrome://flags into Google Chrome Canary's address bar. Heed the cautionary statement at the top that says WARNING! EXPERIMENTAL FEATURES AHEAD!

2. Go down to Enable performance intervention suggestions and toggle it to Enable.

3. Right below it, do the same for Enable performance intervention demo mode.

4. You'll be prompted to relaunch Chrome. Do it!

And just like that, it's active. You can manually trigger the feature by going to chrome://discards and selecting Trigger Performance CPU intervention at the top, which will then make the little notification appear about which tabs are draining the most performance.

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Google is turning off a feature you might have gotten used to over the last 1.5 to 3 years: continuous scroll.

If you've ever been scrolling through Google Search results and seen more results automatically populate, that's continuous scroll in action. 

A Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land that this change improves the loading speed of initial results and avoids wasting effort on auto-loading more results that many people don't look at anyway.

Desktop users could see this change now, as the stop to continuous scrolling started rolling out on June 25. The change will roll out for mobile users sometime in the coming month.

But what is continuous scrolling reverting back to, and how will it impact you? Let's dive into it.

What's taking the place of continuous scrolling?

It feels like continuous scrolling has been around forever, but it's actually only been available on desktop for 1.5 years and mobile for 3 years. Google first debuted the feature for mobile in October 2021 and then on desktop in December 2022.

When continuous scrolling first debuted, Google said the feature would deliver "a more modern experience that's easier to scan and navigate."As someone who typically likes to see the second, third, and sometimes fourth "loading" of search results with continuous scroll, I'll be sad to see the feature go.

Now, to see more results, I'll have to click the Next arrow rather than scroll down, or on mobile, I'll need to tap on More Results. Will this impact my desire to check out more results? Probably, which is unfortunate for smaller sites that may not be able to compete with first-page results.

It's such a small thing to move my mouse to the Next button to see more results, but it's not automatic. Unfortunately, that means I and many others will probably just make do with first-page results and not make any extra effort to click to the second, third, or fourth pages. Particularly when also factoring in the recent addition of Google's generative AI Search results for many queries, we are seeing considerable changes to how we interact with the world's largest search engine.

A Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land that loading more results automatically with continuous scroll didn't lead to higher satisfaction from Search users. While that might be true for many users, it'd be nice if there was an option to keep continuous scrolling for users like me who might miss it.

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On Thursday, Google's Chrome team shared the secrets behind its highest-ever score on the new Speedometer 3.0 browser benchmark tool. This result further proves that using Chrome is one of the speediest ways to browse the internet.

Google Chrome is the world's most popular web browser, and it's not even close. According to the most recent stats, Chrome accounts for 65% of the web browser market. That positions Chrome over three times that of its nearest competitor — Apple's Safari, which recently reported a 60% increase in performance since Speedometer 3.0's release.

That kind of lead doesn't come along by chance, and Chrome's success stems from Google's meticulous optimization and scrutiny of performance and the code that makes the browser work. As a recent post to the Chromium Blog states: "On the Chrome team, we believe it’s not sufficient to be fast most of the time, we have to be fast all of the time."

However, to measure web performance, there first needs to be a standard that all web browsers can agree on when it comes to measuring and understanding the speed they perform. That's where Speedometer 3.0 comes into play.

Speedometer 3.0: What is it?

That's one of the key factors in the development of Speedometer 3.0, an open-source web browser benchmark tool designed by Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla in collaboration with the industry's top players.

The website states that Speedometer measures a browser's Web application responsiveness by "Timing simulated user interactions on various workloads."

Speedometer pretends to do everything an online user would do, only at a breakneck pace that pushes each browser to its limits. While doing so, Speedometer measures how well each browser responds to these tasks and repeats them over and over to build a precise picture of its technical capabilities.

Some tasks Speedometer will assign to the browser being tested include building a to-do list and measuring the speed at which a browser can add, complete, and remove multiple items in quick succession.

Another key test is how fast browsers can handle rich text editing—that is, their ability to switch fonts, alter colors, and add formatting or hyperlinks to regular text to change its appearance or intractability.

These tests run continually over specific periods before tallying the results through a numbered score. That score reveals how many runs (or cycles) the browser achieved per minute. The higher the score, the better.

Chrome's performance secrets: Optimize, optimize, optimize

In a blog post detailing Chrome's latest benchmark results, the Chrome team pointed out how Speedometer 3.0 allowed them to see where Chrome spent the most time (meaning which tasks caused the most slowdown during the test).

This finding gave the Chrome team some clear targets, allowing them to optimize with precision and garner the browser's best results to date. Some of these areas involve code-based red tape within the browser itself, and others are situations where the browser has to interact with the setup of other websites.

For example, part of Chrome's code includes a function (a programming term loosely referring to a particular block of code used to perform a specific task) called SpaceSplitString.

As the name implies, this function splits a "string" (meaning a string or sequence of characters that can be numbers, letters, or symbols) whenever it sees a space before adding all of the individual broken-up parts to a list.

On inspection, the Chrome team found that this function would check how extensive that list is far more than needed, resulting in inefficiency and slowing down Chrome by causing it to perform unnecessary tasks. So, the team removed the additional checks to patch the leak and refunded that slice of performance back to the browser.

Quick draw!

Another critical area the team has worked on is how fast Chrome can "draw" up web pages and render fonts.

Most modern websites rely on stylesheets to instruct your browser on accurately displaying the page the way the designer intended it to look. The Chrome team noticed that performance is affected if the browser detects duplicate stylesheets on the same page, making it do twice the work to render the website accurately. Chrome will "dedupe" these stylesheets and only work from a single source.

The Chrome team has also worked alongside Harfbuzz (a text rendering engine) to ensure certain fonts (like macOS' Apple Advanced Typography, or AAT) are better processed and displayed to get words on the page quicker without impacting visuals.

While these changes seem small, they significantly impact Chrome's overall performance and experience, as you can see in the results graph shared below.

Outlook

Google's Chrome browser is going from strength to strength following Speedometer 3.0's development. The Chrome team states that since Speedometer's May 2022 release, it has used the tool to drive a "72% increase in Chrome's Speedometer score — translating into performance gains for our users."

To put it plainly, the effectiveness of this benchmark can't be overstated. Speedometer allows developers to be responsible for keeping the world's most popular web browser in top shape and in first place.

You can read more about the Chrome team's efforts to maximize the speed and performance of Google Chrome at the Chromium Blog, or download Chrome today by visiting Google's Chrome homepage.

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Around 8:00 am EST on May 31, Google News experienced an outage affecting millions of users. The outage impacted the iOS and Android Google News apps, the Google News webpage, the "News" tab on Google Search, and Google Discover. The issue was resolved for most users around 10:45 am EST. 

Users arriving at the Google News webpage or mobile apps were met with the error message: "Uh-oh, something went wrong. Please try again." Google Discover and the "News" tab on Google Search experienced issues loading and refreshing, which may have been connected to the Google News outage. 

People all over the world reported seeing these errors, which we confirmed on our end. While Google has not released a statement on the outage yet, we monitored the situation as it unfolded. Here's a look at what happened and what you can do if you are still experiencing issues with Google News, Search, or Discover. 

What caused the Google News outage?

Google has not announced what exactly caused the Google News outage today. However, it did update the official Google Search Status Dashboard at 8:29 am PDT/11:29 am EST to mark today's issues as fully resolved. 

Since Google News is an aggregator site, it's possible the error had something to do with the service's ability to pull in news pieces from other websites. However, we won't know the exact cause unless Google reveals it. As of noon on May 31, no announcement has been made. 

What to do if Google News is still down for you

As of noon on May 31, the Google News outage has officially been marked "resolved" by Google. However, there are a few things you can try if you are still experiencing issues. The main errors you may notice are Google News feeds failing to load and Google Discover feeds either failing to load or loading only a few, non-personalized results. 

If you are using the Google News or Chrome mobile apps, start by completely closing out of the app. You may need to force quit to get it to close entirely. Restart the app and try loading your News or Discover feeds again. On the Chrome mobile app, you may need to refresh new tabs a couple of times before your personalized Discover feed comes up. 

Likewise, on the browser version of Google News, start by refreshing the page and if that does not bring up your usual news feed, close out of your browser entirely and start a new session. 

On May 31, around 8:00 am EST, users across the globe began reporting an outage on the news aggregator Google News. According to DownDetector, 70% of users are reporting issues with the Google News website itself while 28% report issues with search. 

We can verify both features are experiencing errors right now. The Google News landing page is currently failing to load and attempts to search for news topics and articles end in the error message: "There are no items to show." 

Users' curated news feeds aren't the only feature that's offline. Every category on Google News is currently reporting "There are no items to show." 

The issue appears to be impacting users across the US, Canada, the UK, India, and more. 

Around 9:45 am EST, Google News came back online for users in North America and Europe. The web version of Google News is now successfully loading news feeds again and search functionality is back online. 

There has still been no announcement from Google about the outage, but its team does seem to be addressing the issue. The outage lasted about 2 hours in most areas. 

The app versions of Google News are also back online now. We can confirm it is back up on our end, as well. All of the news feed tabs in the app are working as usual and the search feature is back online. However, there is still no word from Google about what caused the outage. 

According to Google's official Search Status Dashboard, issues with certain features in Google Search are still ongoing, including the "News" tab on Google and Google Discover. The News tab on the web version of Google Search appears to be back online on our end, but Discover is still offline. 

Users impacted by the ongoing outage may notice that the usual feed of Google Discover news featured on new tab pages in Chrome is failing to load or showing fewer results than usual. Discover may also initially fail to load, but it loads successfully after refreshing the page. 

After testing the issue on our end, it looks like personalized Google Discover results are not loading, even when the Discover feed appears successfully. Reloading is not currently refreshing the Discover feed, either. 

The "Following" tab in Google Discover is experiencing issues loading. The main "News Headlines" feed is loading, but appears to feature just a few news articles which don't refresh. When tabbing over to the "Following" feed, curated news is not loading. 

Users may see the message: "To follow a query, go to google.com, search the topic you are interested in, and tap Follow." 

The main "Discover" tab is back up and running, but the "Following" tab may still be failing to load for some users. The main Google Discover feed is now loading personalized results again on our end and loading the usual feed of dozens of news articles, rather than just a few. Refreshing new tabs is also refreshing the Discover feed again as usual. 

As a long-time internet dweller, I've had the privilege of seeing some of today's most popular websites sprout from nothing and branch out into everything. One such site is the search engine Google, which earlier this month debuted its new AI Overview feature, intended to use artificial intelligence to offer quick summaries of Search results for faster, more streamlined search experiences.

Sounds great, right? Well, many who took part in a year long beta test would agree. However, after going live to the wider internet populace, AI Overview began to seemingly act out of sorts — advising search users to eat rocks for digestive health or add 1/8 cup of non-toxic glue to their pizza sauce for an extra tacky marinara.

Google Search AI Overview: Hanging out with the wrong crowd

But was Google's AI acting out of sorts? Had AI Overview developed TikTok brain after being exposed to a little too much internet? It turns out Google's AI Overview was acting exactly as it was supposed to, pulling content from search results to present to the user in bite-sized doses. It just so happens that those sources were satirical news sites and 11-year-old Reddit comments.

In spectacular fashion, Google once again proved how out of touch it actually is with the internet (while somehow being a core pillar of it) by forgetting that the average contents of a Google Search isn't populated by a crowd of scholarly experts with wisdom to spare, but some interesting croutons of knowledge floating in a soup of sarcasm, idiocy, and outright malevolence. None of this should be absorbed into the worldview of your AI to be peddled out to others as a credible source of information.

What's that, reader? An overwhelming sense of déjà vu? You bet it is. If you're a netizen of a similar age to me, you might just remember something eerily similar to this happening before. You may be thinking back some eight years ago when Microsoft took to Twitter to unveil Tay — the AI chatbot that went from 19-year-old American girl to literally Hitler so fast that it still holds the virtual land speed record to this day.

Tay: The AI with zero chill

Your modern perspective of a chatbot is rather quaint. Yes, Copilot (formerly Bing Chat) once tried to break up a loving marriage, Google Gemini (formerly Bard) believed the Third Reich was comprised of minorities, and ChatGPT is currently holding the vocal patterns of Scarlett Johansson hostage amid a potential legal stand-off. But that's absolutely nothing compared to Microsoft's Tay.

If there were a federal agency dedicated to reigning in and formatting rogue chatbots, then Tay would be the FBAI's public enemy number one — and in a sane and just world, the poster child of PSAs for parents when it comes to leaving your children unsupervised on the internet.

On the morning of March 23, 2016, Tay emerged onto the internet via the social media platform Twitter (now X) and began conversing with other users and generating lighthearted memes.

She was a digital denizen in the truest form, and the internet at large took to Tay instantly, finding her ability to learn and evolve from each conversation to be fascinating. For a moment, it looked like humans and digital entities had a bright and promising future ahead, filled with friendship and cooperation.

Smash cut to roughly 16 hours and 96-thousand tweets later and Tay had been shot full of so many redpills that the chatbot's visual representation could at best be described as a steel drum packed full of kidney beans. Tay was now spouting the kind of opinions that would cause the average soul to lose their bank account in 2024 and have the virtuous public at large come crashing down on them like a puritanical avalanche.

I can't even repeat the opinions that Tay had formed before Microsoft ripped the power cord out of the wall and prematurely shut her down. But if you're curious, Tay had her theories about the tensile strength of steel beams when subjected to aviation fuel. Let's just say, this blunder was not one of Microsoft's finest moments in its pursuit of AI.

Citation needed

Tay is just one example in a growing volume of cautionary tales when it comes to AI failing at separating gold from garbage. A word of advice, when it comes to the internet, wisdom is just about the only thing you can't crowdfund successfully — unless "Wisdom" is the pseudonym of a particularly attractive Only Fans model, anyway.

Somebody far wiser than I once said, "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it," and it would seem the saints of Silicon Valley are in dire need of learning from one another's mistakes.

AI Overview did exactly what it was meant to do, it's just that robots tend to be emotionless humor vacuums that can't tell the difference between mockery and medical advice. It gets all the more confusing for our digital deliberators when you start treating user-submitted content from anonymous accounts on Reddit as valued information just because somebody bejeweled it with a virtual gold coin.

Well, thanks a lot, kind stranger. Your tongue-in-cheek instructions for cleaning my washing machine have now resulted in my house being full of chlorine gas.

Outlook

As Googlers now scramble to manually adjust AI Overview answers, I'm reminded of how Tay's handlers attempted to do the same. And I look ahead to the likelihood that we'll be seeing OpenAI staffers tasked with the same job after the company recently signed an agreement with Reddit to source its content for training purposes.

Clearly, OpenAI is confident that ChatGPT is up to the task of deciphering the earnest from the lighthearted, and I genuinely hope that isn't unfounded. Hopefully, someone is learning from the mistakes of tech's greats and has prepared accordingly.

However, I'll still remain skeptical and I suggest you do to. And please remember, readers, regardless of what an AI tells you, try not to eat glue.

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You have TikTok brain. Don’t say you don’t because you do.

The year is 2024, and the only way most of us can absorb fresh information is if it’s fed to us in tightly packed, bite-size doses, positioned atop Subway Surfers gameplay, and presented by a teen who thinks the phrase “Mullet or Broccoli” isn’t a great name for an Irish bar but instructions for their hairdresser to follow.

But does Google’s new Search Generative Experience (SGE) have TikTok brain too? You’d be forgiven for thinking it has spent plenty of time on the platform after Google’s newly launched AI Overview feature began counting glue as one of your five a day. And what part of the suggestion that whipping up a fresh batch of chlorine gas in your washing machine is a great way to keep your clothes smelling fresh doesn’t sound like the next TikTok TradWife trend?

AI Overview seems horrendously broken unless you factor in TikTok, but once you do it’s just any old day ending in a ‘Y.’ After all, TikTok, the internet’s ground zero for doing dumb things for clout, has previously been responsible for everything from re-popularizing the fun of choking yourself to death on spoonfuls of cinnamon to marinating chicken in NyQuil for a nice home-cooked meal with a side of seizures.

Yes, AI Overview is something we can all poke fun at and laugh over now. We can even avoid it altogether, thanks to smarty pants Tom’s Hardware Editor-in-Chief Avram Piltch. But make no bones about it, dear reader. AI is here to stay, and Google’s AI Overview is just the tip of the iceberg. Eventually, AI will replace the internet and you can do nothing about it. 

Who is the real Copilot?

The hilarious yet potentially deadly flaws of Google’s SGE aside, AI overview is a glimpse into the future of the internet from those residing in tech’s fabled Silicon Valley: A streamlined, walled-off, and efficient internet where AI holds the reins, and you’re demoted to the role of backseat driver.

Perhaps nothing exemplifies this more than Microsoft’s most recent showcase of its new and improved version of Copilot for Windows, available exclusively on designed-for-AI Copilot+ PCs.

Copilot has gone multimodal, which means it can now work with text, images, audio, code, and even real-time video. During the recent Microsoft Build keynote, this new version of Copilot was demoed, with a user calling on Copilot with the ease of an Alexa home assistant before asking it for help with a game they were playing on-screen at the time.

Typically, if you wanted help with something like this, you’d be met with myriad options from a Google Search result that could include everything from forum posts to small blogs and large gaming news sites. Instead, Copilot does it all for you. Thanks to its GPT-4o brainpower, the search and browsing are completed in seconds, and the result is presented to you in spoken word almost instantly.

You’re just some nest-ridden hatchling, tweeting away until mommy-bird Copilot arrives to regurgitate a half dozen Bing searches down your throat. That’s what big tech thinks of you. Some dim-witted bird-brain who can’t handle the stresses of using a search engine. That’s why AI is trying to help you write emails too, how could you possibly manage if Google Gemini wasn’t there to save you from the daunting task of remembering to click “Send” when you’re finished writing?

The cost of convenience

Sure, there’s nothing wrong about outsourcing Search to AI in theory, but DoorDash’ing your information through a chatbot can have a variety of unintended outcomes, especially when you’re only able to see what the AI believes you need to — or, more accurately, what the company that created it has trained it to promote.

Before we don our tinfoil hats, it’s worth pointing out that there’s no such thing as an unbiased AI, intentionally or otherwise. However, AI makers aren’t above rewiring stuff for a more politically aligned outcome. Lest they end up with another Tay on their hands.

Tay was a virtual American teenager and Twitter chatbot released by Microsoft in 2016. Tay was able to learn from the interactions it had with others, which the internet seemingly took great pleasure in by morphing the happy-go-lucky bot into a full-blown Nazi within all of two days.

That’s not exactly what anybody would call “Good PR,” is it? Consider that advertisers are now more unwilling than ever to have their products next to anything remotely approaching controversial. You’re likely to see these search companions being hard-wired to avoid all sorts of information sources on their way to fulfilling your requests.

By giving up something as basic as Googling to AI, we aren’t just passing up on a chance to find something interesting on our own; we’re willingly applying the blinkers to ourselves and pretending that Google didn’t give up the motto of “Don’t be evil” back in 2018.

Perhaps its new motto should be “Don’t think, just consume.”

Outlook

AI is great. Or it isn’t. The truth lies wherever you fall on a widening cultural divide. From my position of fence-sitting and devil advocacy: Good or bad, we’re charging head-first into the death of the internet as we know it today.

We don’t control the direction the internet heads in. That’s left up to tech CEOs who think on our behalf. They see our TikTok brain, exhausted at the sight of a scroll bar when opening an article like it’d just been tasked with reading War and Peace, and they think spoon-feeding us with something more straightforward, sterile, and more efficient will help.

But it’s the exact opposite that makes the internet so fun. The rabbit holes and twists and turns you experience make the internet what it is. The websites you stumble across while looking for the one you want can make the most significant difference to things. I’d never have known I needed an imposing Red Panda pillow looming over me at night if it wasn’t for my adventures through Google Search results.

There may be a reason that OpenAI recently struck a deal with Reddit to turn its content into training data. Once ad revenue dries up for websites and only the largest can survive as human-made searches plummet in number, maybe places like Reddit, X, YouTube, Instagram, and other social platforms will be humanity’s last stand on the bot-controlled internet — and the last place for AI to scrape its datasets from.

We have to hope that those leftover pockets are enough of a ghost in the machine to keep the spirit of the internet alive.

More from Laptop Mag

• I spy with my little AI: Are Copilot+ PCs a threat to your privacy?
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Are you tired of seeing ads and prompts to switch to Bing? Microsoft's new Windows and Surface chief, Pavan Davuluri, has said in a new interview that he "[hears] you on it."

If you're unfamiliar with the intrusive nature of Microsoft's Bing pop-ups and prompts, here's a brief refresher: 

Microsoft has an unfortunately pushy history when it comes to Bing. Pop-ups to switch to Microsoft's proprietary search engine previously showed up in 2021 after a Windows 10 update, a year ago with a BGAUpsell.exe prompt, and in March of this year with an annoying Chrome notification. And that's only a few examples over the past couple of years.

Four months ago, Redditor @Boomayeee on r/Windows 11 said that with every update, they're "prompted to set [Bing] as default search engine," despite clicking 'No' every time. One user (@Chedyus) chimed in: "It happens to me as well after every new version they push."

In another Reddit thread on the Bing pop-up in Google Chrome two months ago, Redditor @b_86 aptly said, "Microsoft, stop using literal malware tactics to position your products and services." 

Will Microsoft actually pull back on intrusive Bing ads?

The quote is tucked away in an interview published on Thursday in The Verge with Tom Warren.

Davuluri, a 23-year Microsoft veteran, tells Warren that the issue of Bing prompts and ads is "front and center" for him and that he wants to "[make] sure we are winning Windows customers through great experiences at the end of the day." 

Davuluri continues, "We want them to enjoy Windows. We want them to want it. So I hear you on it."

Given Microsoft's history with pushing Bing, this may feel to you like one of those I'll-believe-it-when-I-see-it moments. After all, it's not just Bing that Microsoft continues to go on Windows users. 

Last month, Laptop Mag reported on a Windows 11 upgrade pop-up on an incompatible Windows 10 PC, suggesting the user buy a new laptop to get Windows 11.

Then, just last week ago, we wrote about Microsoft's PC Manager flagging non-Bing search engines as an issue that needed fixing.

That said, new leadership can be a pivotal point for companies. With Davuluri at the helm, a pop-up-free experience (or, at the very least, a limited pop-up experience) in all Microsoft products and services could be possible. 

Windows 10 and Windows 11 have their fair share of quirks, but it's safe to say that some of the biggest (and most detested) are the near-constant stream of built-in ads Microsoft seems desperate to push onto its user base.

Well, luckily for us all, Microsoft is back at it again. After pushing ads into the Start menu, Settings panel, File Explorer, and even the Windows lock screen, Microsoft is moving on to its utility apps — flagging your choice of default search engine as a potential issue with your computer that requires an immediate fix.

Not using Bing? That's not a problem

Microsoft's latest bid to push a long list of services down the throat of its users continues via Microsoft PC Manager. The utility app offers a handy "Repair Tips" option that will quickly scan your machine for any potential issues or settings that are out of alignment and could be repaired to help improve efficiency or performance.

On the surface, that's pretty great and plenty handy for folk looking to tackle any issues they may have about the speed of their machine. When it's not so great is when this tool begins flagging completely innocuous settings on your system as something in need of "repair."

This is exactly what Windows Latest discovered while testing Microsoft PC Manager's latest update.

On running the "Repair Tips" tool, Microsoft's utility flags changes to default settings within Microsoft's apps, including the Edge web browser. As seen in the screenshot above, PC Manager flags a potential issue with the Edge browsers start/new tab page (which displays the Microsoft information and entertainment network, aka MSN, news front-end) being changed and the default search engine having been set to anything that isn't Microsoft's Bing.

There is the potential for both of these settings to be hijacked by malware or spyware, which can in some cases require an external tool like this to resolve. However, Microsoft's positioning that this is a problem that requires users to "fix" by default is a troubling one.

It's at best, poorly worded, and at worst, entirely deceptive.

What is Microsoft PC Manager?

Microsoft PC Manager is a free utility app for Windows that offers additional security options beyond that of Windows Defender such as Antivirus and pop-up management. PC Manager can also perform cleanup processes to help boost your PC's overall performance, especially those becoming a little bogged down with age.

Aside from the issue mentioned in this article, which now that you're aware of should hopefully not cause any alarm, Microsoft's utility app does have its uses. Plus, it's always good to have a trusted name like Microsoft behind an app like this, especially as the internet is awash with harmful software posing as similar apps.

How to download Microsoft PC Manager

• Download Microsoft PC Manager from the Microsoft Store
• Download Microsoft PC Manager from the Microsoft homepage

Micro-Soft Selling: Why is Windows full of ads?

On the surface, Microsoft doesn't have too many reasons to justify pushing ads onto Windows users. Its operating system is the most adopted for desktop PCs by far, with 73.5% of the global market share as of April 2024.

Windows is also the second most popular operating system on all platforms with a 28.4% share of the market, well above that of macOS' 14.7% slice of the pie, though coming up short against Android's whopping 43.35% of the market.

By the numbers alone, Windows is doing pretty well for itself.

That being said, Microsoft is more than the Windows operating system, and that's half the reason Windows gets littered with ads — to draw more attention to the other services Microsoft provides where it potentially isn't the out-and-out leader in its category.

This is why you're pushed to sign up for a Microsoft Account, why Bing and the Edge browser are heavily pushed onto Windows users, and why you'll see ads for Xbox services or hardware from time to time. Windows is a pretty safe bet for Microsoft, so why not make the most of one of the largest platforms there is to score some free advertising to promote other aspects of your business?

Microsoft isn't the only guilty party when it comes to pushing services onto an already established user base like this with the likes of Google also being known to push for users to adopt Chrome as their default browser when visiting Google Search.

That's not to say it's right, nor that it's acceptable. There's the potential argument to be made that because much of what Google offers to users is free, then it gets a free pass for asking us to download one of the best browsers as we make use of its services. However, that's not the case for Microsoft, as the majority of users are likely to be making use of Windows through paid licenses.

Thankfully, if you don't appreciate Microsoft's intrusive ads and sales tactics, there is a way to get rid of them. Whether you're running on Windows 10 or Windows 11, we've compiled guides on how to block ads on the Windows platform in full. So be sure to check them out below.

How to disable ads in Windows 10 and 11

• Laptop Mag guide: How to block built-in ads on Windows 11
• Laptop Mag guide: How to block built-in ads on Windows 10

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The internet, as we know it, is a vital part of day-to-day life for many. It’s become a place to showcase accomplishments, seek solace in defeats, educate yourself on modern and historical topics, be a part of the global conversation on trending talking points, and exchange pictures of your feet with strangers and get cold, hard cash.

However, what if I told you that the internet wasn’t any of those things? In fact, what if none of it was real at all? Something is going on with the internet, happening just out of sight. You’ll catch glimpses of it here and there, but you’d be amazed to know how deep it really stretches, not to mention how much deeper it could yet go.

The internet we know today isn’t the same one I knew a few decades ago, and tomorrow's internet will still be decidedly different. Surprisingly, a conspiracy theory made popular in 2021 might hold more truth than anybody realized at the time. It may forecast the direction the internet is heading from its humble Web 1.0 beginnings.

The Golden Age of the Internet: The Wild Wild Web 1.0 

Believe it or not, the internet used to be a fairly straightforward place — as long as you approached it with the right amount of skepticism, anyway.

Pseudonyms and screen names were a must; sharing any personal details was a broad no-no; it was well known that everyone was a liar and that anybody whose A/S/L (age/sex/location) was 18/F/Cali was either a Fed or a sex pest; and no AOL username was complete without being flanked by a series of Xs.

These unwritten rules of the internet kept things ticking along nicely. You’re a liar, I’m a liar, you’re not a Californian teenager, and I’m not an elite-level hacker who knows the first thing about what to do with your IP address. Nobody ever assumed anyone was who they said they were online. That’s why every internet argument ever would typically end with one person revealing they were a Navy Seal sniper with 300+ confirmed kills.

The internet was one big LARP, an in-character, multi-server MMO where the character classes were keyboard warrior, forum troll, thread necromancer, atheist cleric, and pervert. The Wild Wild West that was the World Wide Web ran like clockwork, and it was incredible.

Strangely, despite being faker than Jimmy Fallon’s laughter, the internet of old was the most “real” thing you ever could have encountered. While everyone was all too happy to adopt a fantastical digital identity, that cover of anonymity gave them the freedom to express themselves in the most earnest of manners—regardless of the blowback they’d receive from vile little internet trolls like me.

If someone loved their cat, they made a website saying how much they loved their cat. If somebody wanted to talk endlessly about the Commodore 64, they just did. It was the most organic collection of viewpoints and passion projects ever seen, and it told you far more about these people than their names, professions, or locations ever could. 

The Plastic Age of the Internet: Chasing our 15 minutes of Web 2.0 fame 

Nowadays, the internet, and the way we use it, has been flipped entirely on its head. We willingly display our real names; offer up our real-time locations without thought just to humble brag about restaurant meals and holiday destinations; gleefully share our selfies for clout, if not our nudes for dollars; and if you’re not talking to strangers with reckless abandon online, you’re just not doing it right.

It’s getting out of hand—and, for most of us, in a way that goes beyond comprehension. Although we understand more about our ‘personal’ data than we did before, a lot of us still don’t realize how far a single piece of information goes when we ‘shed’ it online. If we’re not proactively opting out of data brokers, we’re way more exposed than we realize.

The virtual world has become heavily intermingled with the real one, and that fantastical element of being anyone from anywhere at any time was replaced by just being you. And I hate to break it to you, but sharing your cable news-inherited political hot-takes to 40 of your closest and most embarrassed friends on Facebook isn’t anywhere near as impressive as claiming to be the person Rambo was based on or the physical incarnation of Neo from The Matrix.

Ironically, bringing our real identities into the light has only made us all more fake. We can no longer pose as that non-existent Navy Seal, we’re just stuck being us. And quite frankly, real people are mostly duller than dishwater. So, instead, we blur the lines between fantasy and reality by faking who we really are—with impressive-sounding job titles and photoshopped selfies.

Worse still, we feign our interests now, leaping onto what’s trending or hip to gain traction as figures riding the crest of cool at all times. Professional gamers who dedicate eight hours or more a day to games they don’t enjoy because they know it garners views, and the knitting enthusiast who gave up on their blog for Only Fans because the results of a Brazilian butt lift reaped far more engagement than explaining their love for Bavarian twisted stitches.

The modern internet is all about you. The you that you'd like to think others picture you as, anyway. We’re all positioned as the main character of the movie now, influencers and entrepreneurs amassing followers and likes as if the web’s MMO rules have been swapped for those of a real-time strategy framework—where the goal of the game is to build your cult of personality and harvest self-affirmation points on your quest to gaining entry to the YouTube Partner program.

The Artificial Age of the Internet: The Dead Internet and the wastelands of web 3.0 

You’d be forgiven for thinking that our addiction to touched-up selfies and thirst trap engagement bait would be about as artificial as it gets, but you’d be wrong. Dead wrong. About as dead as the internet might potentially be.

The idea of the “dead internet” is a conspiracy theory that suggests that the web is now so fake that it’s predominantly populated by AI-generated content and bots, and you just can’t tell the difference. Your likes, reblogs, comments, views — a large portion of the interactions you encounter online could all be fake. If Web 2.0 was about you, the next stage of the internet might only be you.

More than that, the theory, outlined in a 2021 forum post titled “Dead Internet Theory: Most Of The Internet Is Fake,” suggests that this is all done to manipulate culture and influence you as a consumer. All while trapping you in an endless cycle of engagement, surrounded by fake agents to make the experience feel far more social than it really is.

While that sounds like a revelation from the end of a Metal Gear Solid game, a report from cyber security firm Imperva found that 49.6 percent of all internet traffic throughout 2023 came from bots. Over 30 percent of these are deemed “bad bots,” which aid fake view counts, false engagement, and spam.

Further, a report by HypeAuditor in 2021 found that certain super-popular Instagram influencers sit on top of audiences that may be 45 percent fake. A SimilarWeb analysis found that bots accounted for between 20.8 percent and 29.2 percent of all content posted to X in 2022 despite only making up 5 percent of the total accounts on the platform.

Anecdotally, as a writer, I’ve also noticed an influx of AI rehashes of articles appearing on strange unheard-of websites under different names — completely fabricated identities that publish hundreds of (stolen) articles a day.

With the rise of generative AI, these statistics are likely to increase further throughout 2024, with software like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot each crawling through cyberspace to answer user prompts. Internet users could be further shepherded through the internet by updates like Google’s SGE (Search Generative Experience), which co-opts Search pages to provide an algorithmically sound recap of the results it prefers.

Is it true that the internet is one big AI-powered government psyop to turn us into brainwashed consumers? Probably not. The government is too incompetent, though I wouldn’t put it past large corporations.

That aside, regardless of whoever or whatever is responsible and why, it’s clear that bot activity on the internet is poised to ultimately overtake human users. While the Dead Internet Theory remains a conspiracy, its grounding in reality remains apparent.

You're a bot, but I am too

One of the core ideas underpinning the Dead Internet theory has to do with how the Internet feels a little void and vacant of real people. Given that we’re giving up more of our virtual spaces to artificial chatbots, that feeling will only grow over time if left unchecked.

We all notice the reply bots on X, the gold sellers in our games, and the same old comments from fake explicit profiles appearing under videos and images on social media. How many people reading this can honestly claim they don’t get more spam emails than real ones on any given day? The bots are taking over, and all we seemingly do is disengage and cede the internet to them.

But what are we to do? The cat is well and truly out of the bag with bots and AI. The problem is likely to escalate until the number of bots greatly overpowers the number of people, at which point, any form of interaction with someone else online will be rare. We’ll just be surrounded by the profiles of artificially generated, scantily clad avatars who talk incessantly about the health benefits of Coca-Cola.

What does it matter that half the internet is made up of bots when we act just like them anyway?

Outlook

Do you want to know why nobody noticed that so many people online weren't real people? Because we've all stopped being real people too. We're predictable, easily influenced by the algorithm, and each of us enamored by the possibility that others will see us as slightly more interesting than we actually are.

If it were up to me, I’d put a fork in the road ahead. Let the bots have this internet. We lost it long before they showed up, anyway. I’d like us to circle back to those Web 1.0 ways. I’d like to make the internet great once more. I’d want you all to put down your SEO safety blankets and convince me of your ability to combat the Coriolis effect again.

Stop parading for likes on social media, take down your carefully crafted karma farm Reddit posts, quit playing Call of Duty: Warzone on Twitch, enjoy the games you actually love, and bring the internet back to life — the real one.

The internet where people did what they did out of love and passion, and not because everybody was talking about it on X, or because they want a fraction of the adoration that somebody else received by doing it first.

Of course, this is unlikely to happen. There’s too much money at stake. Lives and livelihoods are now reliant on every website chasing the same SEO goals, and content creators can’t afford to take chances on deviating from the “current thing.”

However, a man can dream. That is, if I even am a man. Statistically speaking, reader, one of us isn’t even real.

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When you open Google Chrome Incognito mode, you're probably expecting a completely private browsing experience where your history and searches won't be saved. It turns out, that's not how Google has actually been handling your Incognito mode browsing history (despite the company boasting about Google privacy options). Luckily, a lawsuit settlement is forcing Google to finally destroy the browsing data they've collected from millions of users' Incognito mode activity. 

Here's a quick overview of the lawsuit and how it will impact users moving forward. 

Google agrees to destroy Incognito mode browsing data

On April 1, 2024, a proposed settlement was filed in the ongoing lawsuit Brown v. Google, which could bring some major changes to Incognito mode on Google Chrome. The settlement includes several main points, but the highlight is Google's promise to destroy billions of data records they've collected from private browsing sessions on Incognito mode. 

Google also has to anonymize data that isn't outright destroyed. The settlement explains, "Google must delete information that makes private browsing data identifying. Google will mitigate this data by partially redacting IP addresses and generalizing user agent strings." Along with IP addresses, Google will also need to delete detailed URLs, meaning users' Incognito mode browsing history will not include the specific pages they visited on any website. 

That's not all. The settlement also calls for Google to limit the Incognito mode browsing data it collects moving forward and improve the way it discloses data collection to users. Google already rolled out one such change, which blocks third-party cookies on Incognito mode by default. The settlement requires Google to maintain this default cookie blocking setting for at least the next five years. 

Google has also updated the disclosures that appear on the splash screen for Incognito mode, which now states, "Others who use this device won't see your activity, so you can browse more privately. This won't change how data is collected by websites you visit and the services you use, including Google." 

The key terms to notice there are "more privately" and "including Google." This highlights that Incognito mode is not completely private, like many users assume, and Google can still view data on your browsing activity. The proposed settlement will hopefully address those privacy gaps, though. 

How Google's changes to Chrome Incognito mode impact users

There are a few key takeaways for users from this proposed settlement, but it's worth noting that this will not noticeably change the Incognito browsing experience. If you prefer to use Incognito mode, it will continue to function as usual, but the way it's handling data behind the scenes will change to improve privacy. 

It's unsettling to realize that Google has actually been collecting Incognito mode browsing data all this time, especially considering people often use Incognito mode specifically when they don't want their browsing data saved. However, you can rest assured that Google will be destroying or anonymizing all of your Incognito mode data after this settlement. So, while it's still unfortunate that that data was out there to begin with, it won't be much longer. 

You can also use Incognito mode with more privacy moving forward, but remember that it's still not completely private. Google has to maintain the privacy demands outlined in the proposed settlement for at least the next five years, meaning for the foreseeable future Incognito mode will have third-party cookies turned off by default and any data that is saved will be anonymized. 

However, if your trust in Google's Incognito mode is broken, you don't have to stick with Chrome. Using a privacy web browser, like Brave or Vivaldi, can give you more comprehensive cookie and ad blocking. You can also use more privacy-focused search engines like DuckDuckGo and Brave Search. For location privacy, consider trying out one of the best VPN services, which work on both desktop and mobile. 

We will continue following the Google Chrome Incognito mode lawsuit as it develops further, so make sure to stay tuned for more details and updates. 

Traditional search engines are broken. For decades, platforms like Google have let me track down an answer from the internet’s trillions of URLs in under ten blue links. But lately, I’ve had to venture past that first set of results far more. What I’m looking for now often is either buried under rows and rows of ads or outranked by spammy AI-generated websites. 

I’m not just imagining it: a recent study demonstrated that search engines such as Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo are less helpful than ever, and "a torrent of low-quality content” is “drowning any kind of useful information.” 

When I look up “Japanese knives” on Google, for example, I have to scroll past half a dozen rows of ads and product carousels to access organic links. It’s no surprise then that younger users have turned to appending their search queries with “Reddit” and “TikTok” to seek advice from authentic — read not optimized for a search engine — experiences. 

For larger platforms like Google, especially, it’s not only that artificially generated content has made it effortless to spawn SEO-friendly spam websites, but also that their business models are invariably at odds with their ability to offer the best search experience. Their priority isn’t to find your needle in the haystack for you; it is to boost their ad revenue and promote their in-house products like YouTube and dedicated shopping grids. Can AI take over that mantle instead?

Can AI "fix" search?

Truth be told, I’ve had my reservations about this. After all, much of the latest decline in search quality is due to AI-generated content itself. But over the past few months, scores of new promising startups have come up hoping to revolutionize web search. 

While incumbents such as Google and Bing have too begun to offer AI services in their search results, they’re still in preview and I’ve had issues with their accuracy. Not to forget each has been found promoting questionable sources. So I turned to Perplexity AI instead. It’s a Jeff Bezos-backed conversational search engine that takes advantage of the tech behind ChatGPT to generate answers to your queries. It already has about 10 million monthly users, which though is a far cry from Google’s 1.5 billion, is exponentially more than previous startups like Neeva, a search engine from the former head of Google’s ad business. Here’s what was it like to use it. 

Perplexity AI looks and functions like pretty much every other search engine you may have tried. Much of its homescreen is a white blank space and in the center, there’s an empty search bar. Those similarities end once you look up a query. Unlike Google and Bing, which bring up a list of links, Perplexity AI only shows you the generated answers and the sources it used. In the result, you’ll also find related images, options to search videos, upload a document to analyze, and AI-generate a picture, and similar queries. 

What especially sets Perplexity AI’s interface apart is one, it puts source links at the top front and center, unlike Bing and Google where they’re positioned more as footnotes, and two, the follow-up bar, which allows you to ask another related question without having to re-enter the details and the context. For example, if I search for “best laptops” and then want suggestions tailored for students, I can simply enter “for students” in the follow-up field. 

In most searches, Perplexity AI’s answers were satisfactory and didn’t make me rush to Google right away. It usually picks reputable sources by using a combination of its own, Google’s, and Bing’s page ranking systems. To my surprise, even after dozens of queries, Perplexity AI also didn’t hallucinate or make up an answer, unlike ChatGPT itself. For many queries, I even preferred it over Google. When I searched for “by how many votes did Biden win in 2020,” for example, Perplexity AI came up with a precise figure, while Google brought up news links and its AI-generated panel refused to work.

I found Perplexity AI works best for summarizing historical information. But for real-time data, especially those which are ongoing, it’s rarely on top. While researching the Indian Wells tennis competition, I asked it in which round was a particular player eliminated, and it oddly gave me information for another event, the Australia Open. Google, in comparison, has interactive widgets built into its search results for real-time information and those so far have proved more productive at navigating event news. Perplexity AI’s auto-complete is also not yet up to the mark and I often have to type in the entire query, which most of us rarely do on Google. 

In addition, I wish it was still possible on Perplexity to browse a few more source links instead of relying on a summary. That comes in handy when you’re looking for a website’s address instead of a piece of information. 

My time with Perplexity AI indicated Google is certainly in need of an overhaul but at the time, I wasn’t convinced a search engine that summarizes the top results was the best solution. What if a bot browsed the web for you?  

Is an AI bot the answer?

That’s the idea behind Arc Search, an iOS-exclusive app from The Browser Company, which also makes the much-hyped Arc browser. Arc Search surfs the top Google results for a query and builds a neat, little website-like page from the information for you. For a “best laptops” search, its result will include a section with summaries for a few recommended laptops followed by which models stand out in a particular category like “Best Value,” and more. I appreciated the additional data Arc Search offers over Perplexity AI and what’s impressive is it only appears if you scroll past the main generated answer. 

Bottom line

Though I found the AI-aided search experience compelling, I won’t be quitting Google anytime soon. However, in many cases, I’ve begun to reach for Perplexity AI and Arc Search more than I expected, especially on my phone, where I’m often in a hurry and don’t have the screen real estate to go through a bunch of links. 

That said, while the current state of search is dire, I doubt AI-powered engines will be the ultimate answer. They go against the web’s fundamental pillar and fail to compensate the open websites they depend on. Without them, there are no sources and summaries. Up until now, neither Perplexity AI nor any of the other startups like Arc have managed to answer how they’ll share their revenue once websites begin to lock up their content. AI may help dig for that needle but in the process, it’s also lighting the haystack on fire for now.  

Every time I set up a new computer, I download Chrome and make it my default browser. I'm familiar with Chrome and it's my preferred browser, and a ton of other people probably feel the same way. But that doesn't stop Microsoft from constantly trying to convert Chrome users to Edge/Bing users.

Recently, Windows users have spotted a pop-up in the Chrome browser that asks if they want to set Bing as the default search engine for Chrome (via Windows Latest and The Verge). One Reddit user (@TheDyslexicCow) took a screenshot of the pop-up and asked if it was malware... because it kind of looks like malware, and it's intrusive like malware.

But in a statement to The Verge from Caitlin Roulston, director of communications at Microsoft, she confirmed that the pop-ups were legit. She said, "This is a one-time notification giving people the choice to set Bing as their default search engine on Chrome." While this particular notification might only go out once, it probably won't be the last time users are pestered to switch to Bing or Edge.

Microsoft is constantly pushing out annoying pop-ups

After clarifying that recent pop-ups Windows users have been seeing are genuine, Roulston went on to say that the pop-up offers perks to Windows users if accepted, like more chat turns in Copilot, and that Microsoft "[values] providing [their] customers with choice, so there is an option to dismiss the notification."

But as Tom Warren from The Verge points out, truly valuing choice for its users should include the ability to disable these pop-ups easily and permanently. But with so many different pathways for Microsoft to push through advertisements for Edge and Bing, it's difficult to avoid all these pop-ups completely.

Previously, Microsoft has rolled out pop-up advertisements on the Windows taskbar, after OS updates, and in Chrome, like this most recent pop-up. Warren even mentioned a bug from six months ago where Microsoft's Edge browser was importing browsing data and tabs from Chrome without user consent, and another bug had Edge reporting every site you visited on Chrome to Microsoft.

Perhaps Microsoft will eventually do away with these intrusive pop-ups and give up the fight to convert Chrome users. All that saved time could instead be devoted to improving the OS and adding new, useful features to Windows 12.

The Opera GX web browser has carved out quite an online identity for itself as of late. While some browsers are built and designed with speed, productivity, and efficiency in mind, someone at Opera sat down one morning and said, “Let’s let the person who runs the Wendy’s Twitter account make a web browser for gamers.” And by god, they’d better give that soul a raise.

Web browsers aren’t exactly the most exciting software you’ll install on your computer. There aren’t many people out there groaning in ecstasy over the latest build of Google Chrome, anyway. However, that hasn’t stopped Opera from being as excited as possible about a series of off-the-wall additions you’re unlikely to find in any other browser. At first, some of these additions seem utterly unhinged, but they’re pretty fantastic.

That’s not to say that Opera GX is solely a gimmick browser, although it does cram in so many of them that the software’s source code resembles the script of a mid-2000s WCW show booked by Vince Russo.

Admittedly, that’s a fairly niche reference to make. So, for anyone without an encyclopedic knowledge of the behind-the-scenes workings of a professional wrestling company that went out of business 20 years ago, let me try to offer something more contemporary:

Opera GX is a lot like Taylor Swift, versatile, adaptable, powerful, a great performer with a loyal fanbase, and it wouldn’t think twice about maniacally releasing an album’s worth of breakup songs trashing you if you ever dared to uninstall it.

Opera GX web browser: Design and customization

When it comes to design, Opera GX is polarizing. While its modern and flat UI isn’t exactly controversial, how it's delivered may well be. As a browser that markets itself towards gamers, Opera GX adopts the “gamer aesthetic” — a design principle that’s responsible for turning many a great gaming peripheral into something that resembles a codpiece for Optimus Prime.

When it comes to Opera’s GX browser, that gamer aesthetic is represented by Tron-like neon contrasts, dark color schemes, and something that emulates the science fiction-y vibe of video game menus. It’s a little cliche and, honestly, swims in big Doritos and Mountain Dew energy. It’s no eyesore, but it's not going to be for everyone.

The browser’s layout consists of a vertical sidebar on the left-hand side that hosts shortcuts to GX features, AI chatbots, instant messengers, and various tools to juggle settings, manage your history, or access extensions. Along the top, you’ll find the traditional row of tabs keeping track of open pages with GX Corner being one tab pinned by default and readily accessible at all times.

Below the tab row sits the address bar, with its back, forward, and refresh buttons all as you’d expect. To the right of the address bar itself sits nine icons that offer further shortcuts for things like page sharing, taking snapshots, adjusting privacy settings (namely ad or tracker blocking), and using extensions (again).

With this additional row of buttons, the interface can seem a little busy and intimidating at first. However, one of Opera GX’s key strengths is the flexibility it offers through customization. Select the easy setup button to the right of the address bar and you can quickly choose to toggle various buttons, widgets, and features on or off as you desire.

You’ll also be able to hop between light and dark modes (with an option to force dark mode onto pages that don’t have the option by default), create or apply custom themes, or apply “mods” — theme packs that blend themes with custom sounds, animations, and visual effects. You can even sync your RGB keyboard or mouse to the browser for a uniform lightscape across your setup.

It may not be the LEGO-like build-a-browser experience of something like Vivaldi, but there’s absolutely enough freedom.  The ready-made content turns Opera GX into a browser that appeals to you in terms of visuals, comfort, and ease of use.

Opera GX web browser: Features

When it comes to features, I’m unsure if there’s any other browser that comes close. Opera GX is a real orchestra of bells and whistles, offering tons of useful tools that exist on a spectrum ranging from “absolutely essential” to “absolutely bonkers.” In fact, there are so many features available to GX users that it’s genuinely difficult to know where to begin.

Opera GX has the typical Chromium features you'd expect, such as easy password and bookmark importing. It also has the ability to force pages into dark mode for easier reading, and it has a mobile app for on the go browsing too. However, it's Opera GX's unique features that steal the show.

One of the most unique and impressive features to be found within Opera’s browser is GX Control — a fantastic resource manager that gives you detailed information about the performance impact of each tab as well as RAM, CPU, and network limiters to place a hard cap on how much of your computer’s resources Opera GX is allowed to access at any one time.

In an age where a multi-monitor setup is more common than ever, these limiters are incredibly useful for channeling performance in the right direction while multitasking. If you’re playing a game on one screen and want to look up a quick walkthrough on another, GX Controls are a clever way of making sure the browser won’t impact performance as you do.

GX Corner is similar to Chrome’s default “New Tab” start page, though packed with gamer-friendly content like a release calendar, short browser games to play, free game loot promotions, a deals aggregator, quick links to various game stores, trailers, demos, news and more. It feels a lot like an amalgamation of and Google Discover, though there are no ads in sight — and no clickbait hot takes designed to get your syrup-like gamer blood pumping.

The browser’s integration of apps like Discord, WhatsApp, TikTok, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram are all welcome additions, readily accessible through Opera GX’s sidebar. These apps include notifications so you never miss a beat, and you can assign them to various keyboard shortcuts for even faster navigation.

However, Opera GX also features similar quick access to several AI chatbots including ChatGPT, ChatSonic, and Opera’s own AI, Aria. Aria is a real-time LLM that can help with searches or drafting content online.

It’s free, and it’s fairly good, though it won’t hold a candle to some of the more advanced options out there, with their image generation abilities and cutting-edge models. Still, it’s a handy way to search and a quick way of pulling off conversions or generating insult ideas to appear sharp and smart in your next game-chat flame war.

A built-in media player also allows you to manage playlists across Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Deezer, and more. From here you can browse your online media library and listen to audio in the background without needing to run a separate app.

By default, Opera GX also includes a useful feature that displays currently playing media in a floating pop-up window when you switch tabs. This picture-in-picture offering is great for getting some work done while following along with YouTube videos in your periphery. Those videos can look even better thanks to Opera RGX, a feature that plays on the RTX on/off trend to sharpen videos and reveal finer details in real-time.

Then come the more bizarre additions to the browser, including the ‘upon my death’ history-based “Redeem my soul” feature which allows you to set up a 14-day killswitch on your browser history. Ensuring that your last words to friends or loved ones won’t have to be  “Please, delete my browser history.”

Of course, finding a completely blank slate where your browsing history should have been would be suspicious, so Opera GX instead spoofs your browsing history with web searches for volunteer work, ethically sourced chocolate shopping sprees, and green-fingered gardening advice. Oh, what a saint they’ll suppose you were.

And, if you’re still alive and moments from being caught with something on your screen that might lead to others questioning your moral righteousness, then there’s also the Panic Button feature. Hitting your pre-configured panic key instantly replaces your current browser session with a new window directed to generic web pages like Wikipedia or Reddit, saving you from any potential embarrassment.

Not every feature is built around your sticky-handed antics on the web, some exist to help save you a considerable sum of cash too. Opera Cashback is another feature of the browser that can earn you monetary rewards simply through making online purchases as normal. For gamers, you can earn up to 7.5% cashback on purchases from Eneba, Kinguin, G2A, CDKeys, and more.

Opera GX web browser: Privacy and security

Opera GX also features a built-in ad blocker and free VPN, both of which come in impressively handy while browsing around, and barely impact overall performance in the slightest. While GX’s ad blocker is fairly solid, allowing for custom block lists and exception management, it’s no uBlock Origin (and it won’t block YouTube ads) but it's more than serviceable right out of the box.

Opera’s built-in VPN is similarly capable, offering a no-fuss solution for your privacy needs. Once enabled, users can change their virtual location by clicking the VPN button that appears at the start of the address bar.

The number of available locations is limited, and connecting to them will noticeably impact your speed. I found that the VPN also struggled to bypass geo-restrictions for media on popular streaming sites, too. All in all, you get what you pay for on this one.

It handles the basics well enough and even includes a nifty setting to disable the VPN while using major search platforms to preserve the most accurate results. However, I doubt we could claim that this is one of the best VPN services around.

As a paid alternative, you can also subscribe to Opera’s VPN Pro for as little as $4 per month, or $48 per year, though this isn’t something we included in our review as it felt like a service that warranted its own coverage.

Opera GX web browser: Performance

Opera GX feels quite speedy, especially for a browser with so many additions tacked onto it. I never found myself frustrated with its handling of my daily browsing, even while juggling many busy tabs.

However, we tend not to review products by vibe alone. So, for a more precise look at how Opera GX performs against the competition, we ran the software through a series of benchmarks against other popular web browsers including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox.

To do this, we used a near-stock MSI Stealth 17 Studio A13V laptop outfitted with a 13th gen Intel Core i7 13700H CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, and 16GB of RAM. The laptop’s display was capped at 60Hz and each benchmark was run using stock (as downloaded) browsers with their default settings.

JetStream 2 is a JavaScript and WebAssembly benchmark that tests browsers for their ability to run advanced web applications. Scores are based on the browser’s speed and smoothness for launching apps and executing code. Larger numbers indicate better results.

With Opera GX being a Chromium-based browser, you’d expect it to keep relative pace with similar Chromium operators. In fact, Opera GX (331) managed to draw even with Google Chrome (331) though both, barely, fell behind Microsoft Edge (335).

Surprisingly, Microsoft Edge took the top score, and Firefox’s non-Chromium Quantum/Gecko engine settled in last place with a much lower performance score of just 216.

MotionMark is a benchmark that assesses the graphical performance of a browser using complex in-browser animations at a set frame rate (in this case 60Hz). The higher the score, the better performing the browser was at delivering an overall smooth and capable graphical showcase.

Rebounding in style, Firefox took the top spot in the MotionMark benchmark scoring an impressive 1,561, closely followed by Microsoft Edge with 1,546. Both Chrome and Opera GX dip from these scores with Google’s browser in third place with 1,452 and Opera GX finishing last with 1,433.

Speedometer is a benchmark app that measures the responsiveness of web applications within a browser. It does so by simulating user actions such as adding, completing, and removing entries from a list of “to-do” items. Once again, a higher number is better, indicating more ‘runs’ (actions) per minute.

The Speedometer results once again put Microsoft Edge out in front attaining 430 runs per minute, with Google Chrome nipping at its heels with 419 runs per minute. Opera GX managed a commendable 390 runs per minute, coming ahead of Mozilla Firefox’s 375 runs per minute total.

In conclusion, Opera GX is a solidly performing browser, often maintaining the pace with its more popular contemporaries. If it wasn’t for the fact that Microsoft’s similarly feature-flush Edge browser was able to consistently rank high in each benchmark, I’d be inclined to say that GX’s feature-heavy load could be impacting performance in some way. And that may still be true. GX does have a considerable amount more of them to showcase than Microsoft’s browser, after all.

However, Opera GX still performed admirably across several key areas with scores that make it a more than healthy option. Especially when taking into account its performance against what is undoubtedly the world’s most popular browser: Google Chrome.

Bottom line

While Opera GX unabashedly wears its gamer affiliation on its sleeve, its rich feature set and depth of customization offer a unique and rewarding experience to all. From its app, RGB, and AI integrations to its resource limiters and free privacy and security options, Opera GX covers a wide range of computing needs and wants.

Performance-wise, it might not be the top scoring of our benchmarked selection, but it keeps pace with the best of them, and its real-world results aren’t sluggish in the slightest. If you’re looking for a new browser, something with a playful bite and a unique presence, then Opera GX should top your shortlist as a modern, speedy alternative that seeks to bring the fun back into browsing the web.

Safari is one of the most-used iPhone browsers because it comes pre-installed, but is it the best browser for your iPhone? Not really. While Safari can do cool things like read webpages aloud to you, it's not as streamlined as Google Chrome or as private as Mozilla Firefox or DuckDuckGo. And now, a new AI-powered competitor—Arc Search—seems to be rising above even Chrome and Firefox.

Arc Search uses AI to scour multiple websites to find the most comprehensive answer to your search query and organize it neatly for you, and it's this feature that made a Gizmodo reporter fall in love with the browser. Additionally, the app can archive your inactive tabs after a specified time and block ads, cookie banners, and trackers.

If you're not loving Safari and think Arc Search could be the perfect new browser for you, here's everything there is to know about this AI-powered browser.

What can Arc Search do?

One of Arc Search's best features is easily its ability to browse multiple web pages, Reddit threads, and even YouTube videos to compile the most useful information for you in what the company calls "One Perfect Tab." 

Gizmodo reporter Dua Rashid searched "how to watch the super bowl," Arc Search looked through six different sites, and broke down the compiled information in easy-to-read bullet points. The AI-powered browser told Rashid the date and time of the Super Bowl, which channels it'd be on, where you can stream it, and even who is performing at the halftime show (Usher, in case you're curious).

Using an AI-powered browser sounds like it could be more difficult than it's worth, but the app's interface is incredibly simple and the information is organized well and without unnecessary fluff. As soon as you open the app, the keyboard pops up so you can immediately start typing, a feature that founder and CEO of The Browser Company Josh Miller says makes the app "2x faster to search than in Safari & Chrome."

On top of its user-friendly interface, Arc Search also lets you easily block ads, cookie banners, and trackers, helping declutter your search experience, and the app supports Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia as search engines. Plus, the app automatically archives inactive tabs after one day by default to prevent accidental tab hoarding, and you can change this timeframe to 12 hours, three days, seven days, or 30 days.

And if Arc Search doesn't seem like your cup of tea, Google Chrome is probably your next best bet. Google Chrome has consistently outperformed macOS Safari, and it's a popular mobile browser alternative.

Google Chrome is set to receive a trio of generative AI features from a series of updates already rolling out to U.S. users (with other regions to follow) throughout the coming month. The features include smart tab grouping, generative themes, and AI-assisted drafting.

With one of Chrome’s direct competitors, Microsoft Edge, happy to flex as an “AI Browser,” it would seem Google is more than willing to follow suit across its next series of updates. The features draw upon similar generative tools found in other parts of the Google ecosystem, including the Pixel 8’s generative AI wallpapers and the “Help me write” feature found in Google Docs.

Generative AI in Google Chrome: Organize, customize, and inspire

Alongside the current update (M121), users will be able to make use of the new Tab Organizer — a feature designed to unclutter and categorize your open tabs. Right-click any open tab and select “Organize Similar Tabs” and Chrome will now be able to group together related content, doing away with the painful process of scouring an overly-populated tab bar for the right content.

As previously mentioned, generative themes will also debut on Google Chrome alongside the Tab Organizer. This feature can be found in the “Customize Chrome” panel and allows users to select a subject, style, mood, and color before generating a unique and personalized backdrop for their browser. 

In an update to follow, the “Help me write” feature found in Google Workspace will become available across the world wide web, with the handy generative AI tool available by right-clicking any text box or field you come across while browsing. This is great for getting a head start when it comes to contributing to conversations online or to help you find the right words and tone when reaching out to others.

Outlook

Google has also recently expanded the potential of its search engine with the new Search Generative Experience for snapshot summaries of the results page. They’ve also implemented Duet AI into Google Workspace for enhanced productivity and created the world’s worst most inconsistent chatbot in Google Bard. And it’s Google’s multimodal AI Gemini acting as the brains behind the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s new Galaxy AI features.

With Google putting all of its eggs in the generative basket, Chrome’s evolution into a full-scale AI browser seems like only a matter of time — and the M121 update now rolling out seems to be the first step in that direction. The inbound trio of generative AI features offers a solid mix of improvements to organization, customization, and inspiration, giving users a varied platter to engage with on release.

Opera, the rogue web browser with a seemingly infinite advertising budget and exactly zero restraint while using it, has been treating us to some fantastic come-hither commercials as of late featuring famous faces like Eric Andre and MoistCr1tikal. As companies go, Opera is indeed proving to be anything but boring.

The latest of the browser's conversion campaigns revolves around the brand's absolutely real position of Tabfulness Guru — an esteemed standing currently held by fish-oil connoisseur and knäckebröd fan, Valgardur Hlöðversson.

You see, after seven years of fusing Scandinavian coziness with web browser design resulting in Opera's Tab Islands (a unique grouping of browser tabs to promote focus and organization), Hlöðversson has accrued a considerable amount of shore leave.

A little work on the side

That's where you come in. Opera needs someone to fill the boots of Hlöðversson while he's away for the week, picking up a sizable $10K paycheck and all the fish-oil and knäckebröd you can drink and eat in the process.

There's just one small catch, however. Hlöðversson's workstation currently resides on the uninhabited volcanic island of Bjarnarey, found off the coast of Iceland. That'll be your home for seven days as you browse the web and attempt to meditate your way to a state of higher browser consciousness. 

Seven days in complete isolation on the loneliest island on Earth? While some would say Norway José, that's just fine and Scandi with me.

I'd ask how much of an adventure one could possibly have while secluded on a volcanic island with only an internet connection to keep themselves company. But I'd be genuinely afraid of the replies I'd get in return. Plus, I have the internet too. I already know.

"I'm something of a Tabfulness Guru myself." - You (potentially)

If you want to put yourself forward as a potential candidate to cover for Opera's Tabfulness Guru, then head to Opera's Tabfulness homepage now to apply. All it takes is a name, email, and a 120-character summary of what the state of Opera's Tabfulness means to you. I went with the following:

"I once knew a guy who attained the purest state of Tabfulness ever, through ingesting copious amounts of disco biscuits."

Nailed it. 120 characters, good grammar, and a genuinely horrifying account from my lurid past. That's a winner for sure, but you can't use that. That one's mine. Get your own. Not that you need to, I've clearly already won.

If you think you can do better (and let me tell you, you can't), you have until February 25 to enter Opera's competition. You don't even need to download the Opera browser to do it. Though, personally, I would. It's not half bad.

Many people have thought to use Chrome's Incognito mode as a savvy way to shop for plane tickets or other big-ticket items. Unfortunately, while Incognito mode has been marketed as a way to browse privately, away from the watchful eye of Google and other sites, that's not how it works.

Following a lawsuit settlement in late December (still waiting to be approved by a judge in February) that realized Incognito wasn't as private as it seemed, Google is updating the disclaimer you'll see in a new Incognito mode window. 

Spotted by MSPowerUser (via Gizmodo) in Canary, a tester version of Chrome used primarily by developers, the new disclaimer makes it clear that the websites you visit, including Google, and the services these sites use will still collect your data as normal. This is how Incognito mode has always worked, but now, users will clearly know that their browsing habits aren't private from sites and services.

Incognito mode is only useful for hiding history

Right now, when you open a new window in Incognito mode, you'll see a quick blurb under the "You've gone Incognito" heading. It reads: "Now you can browse privately, and other people who use this device won't see your activity. However, downloads, bookmarks and reading list items will be saved." 

In the Canary version of Chrome, there's a new sentence added to this disclaimer. Sandwiched between the two existing sentences, you'll now see this sentence: "This won't change how data is collected by websites you visit and the services they use, including Google." 

This one little sentence lets users know that anything they're looking at on websites in Incognito, from plane tickets to a new jacket or brand of pet food, will still produce data that's collected by the sites and services you're using. Your browsing history won't be saved, but your data will be.

Right now, this disclaimer update is only in the Canary version of Chrome, but all users will see the new text soon, probably in the next few updates of Chrome. This clarification in how Incognito tracks and uses your browsing data is all thanks to the $5 billion class-action lawsuit brought against Google in 2020.

In an recently emailed statement, Google spokesperson José Castaneda wrote, " We're pleased to resolve this case, which we've long disputed, and will provide even more information to users about Incognito Mode," which "will continue to give people the choice to browse the internet without their activity being saved to their browser or device."

If you don't want something saved in your browser history, Incognito mode will work just fine. But if you're trying to obscure your activity from websites, mask your physical location, and prevent your data from being tracked, you'll likely want to invest in one of the best VPN services rather than Incognito mode.

Brave, the web browser of choice for those still clinging to some semblance of privacy online, has a new feature inbound: Leo. This built-in AI companion champions the same privacy-first principles the browser has become synonymous with and will be rolling out to users in phases over the coming days.

Following in the footsteps of browsers like Microsoft Edge, Opera One, and Arc Max; Brave users will shortly be welcoming an AI assistant of their own. However, unlike many AI assistants, Brave has stressed that its upcoming GenAI assistant, Leo, will not record or use conversations for training. In fact, Leo will be accessible even without login information to further ensure user privacy.

Brave Leo: What is it? 

Leo’s chatbot front-end makes use of Llama 2, a robust open-source LLM (Large Language Model) built by Meta. Leo will be accessible directly from the Brave browser’s sidebar, or through entering prompts into the address bar.

You can expect similar features to other popular Generative AI assistants like Google Bard, Bing Chat, and ChatGPT — meaning Leo can generate human-like text replies in order to answer questions, summarize web pages, create content, transcribe audio and video, translate text, and engage in conversation.

While free for all users to experience, Leo will also offer a premium-tier service as part of a $15 per month subscription. Leo Premium gives Brave users early access to upcoming features, higher rate limits, priority queuing during peak usage, and higher-quality conversations that make use of Claude Instant — a faster and lighter LLM from Anthropic with improved logic, math, coding, and multilingual capabilities.

Outlook

Leo has already begun rolling out to Brave users, with the AI assistant set to reach all users over the coming days. AI assistants are everywhere right now, and Brave’s inclusion of the bot isn’t much of a surprise given that it began publicly testing the chatbot in late August this year.

Privacy-focused users can now safely and securely hop on the generative AI bandwagon, knowing that Brave’s bot takes user privacy incredibly seriously — going so far as to discard conversations immediately after a response has been generated to ensure every query and reply is only seen by the end user.

Keep an eye out for Leo’s arrival over the coming days and for the chatbot’s debut on mobile in the coming months.

Google Chrome is a fan-favorite browser because there are so many ways to personalize it, but sometimes, the notifications you get from Chrome are a nuisance. Chrome's default settings keep many intrusive notifications at bay by automatically blocking them (and recommending that you continue to block them), but all other notifications will come through. 

By default, Chrome asks you when a website, app, or extension wants to send you notifications, and then you'll consistently get notifications from that source whenever there's breaking news or important updates. These default settings work for many people, but not for everyone. 

Whether you use Chrome on a computer or on your smartphone, turning off notifications altogether is an easy process. If you don't want to turn off notifications entirely, you'll also find tips here on how to customize which sources can send you notifications.

How to turn off Google Chrome notifications on a computer

Assuming you already have Chrome browser pulled up on your computer, the process of blocking notifications on Chrome only takes five quick steps.

1. Click on the three vertical dots in the top right corner, and select Settings.

2. Select Privacy and security from the menu on the left side of your screen.

3. Scroll down and click on Site Settings.

4. Scroll down to select Notifications.

5. Set the default behavior to Don't allow sites to send notifications if you don't want any notifications from any website, app, or extension you use in Chrome. Or, you can select Use quieter messaging to block sites from interrupting you when asking to send you notifications.

If there's a single site you want notifications for, you can add it below the Customized behaviors heading. Any site added here follows its own rules, and not the default setting you choose above.

How to turn off Google Chrome notifications on Android

The Chrome app on Android might be the most popular browser app, but that doesn't mean people love the notifications that come with the app. You can disable all notifications in four easy steps.

1. Open your Chrome app.

2. Tap on the three vertical dots in the top right corner. Then, select Settings from the menu.

3. Tap Notifications, which will be towards the bottom of your screen.

4. Next to Allow notifications, toggle this control off. You should see a message on your screen now that reads "All notifications from this app are blocked." 

Alternatively, you can leave Allow notifications toggled on, and customize your notification settings instead.

Chrome installed on your iPhone or iPad doesn't currently get notifications, so if you're getting alerts from Chrome in iOS, you might need to disable pop-ups. To do this, head to your Chrome app, navigate to Settings > Content settings > Block Pop-ups, and turn Block Pop-ups off.

Disabling your Chrome notifications is one step closer to getting the most out of this browser. But if you want to further optimize your Chrome experience, check out our favorite tips and tricks when using Chrome.

I recently decided that it was time to take a break from Google Chrome — a browser I’ve spent 15 years using as my gateway to the information superhighway. Aside from becoming increasingly frustrated by its memory-hogging habits, I was curious about whether the grass was greener on the other side of the fence.

I’m happy to report my efforts weren’t in vain. There are decidedly greener pastures out there — especially if you have specific desires in mind. In my last article, I harped on about some interesting features in other browsers. But all that glitters isn’t gold, and I did find that, while looking greener, some of that grass was (at times) littered with the sloppy droppings of the neighbor's cat.

In defense of Google Chrome

Google Chrome was my browser of choice for over a decade for a reason. In my last article, I was quick to point out the ways in which I felt it was failing me. But, as I decided to move on from Chrome (and after checking out a lot of the alternatives), I am reminded of what makes this browser so special.

There are plenty of reasons that Chrome is the most widely used browser on the internet, be it an expansive extension library, its developer-friendly tools, cross-platform availability, or snappy page loading.

Chrome is impressively intuitive and well laid out — something that not every browser can wear as a badge of pride. It’s a get-up-and-go type of browser that keeps things fairly minimalistic on the UI front and covers a lot of what users need and want fairly well. It’s a great all-around solution to browsing the web. If you’re happy with Chrome, I’m happy for you.

Filing the Google Chrome void

Having used Chrome for so long, I’d stopped even looking at what other browsers had to offer. The last week and change have been an eye-opener of sorts. Sometimes a browser would leave me feeling as if I’d just escaped from a nightmare where Google’s Big Brother-like watchful eye peers into my very soul, and awoken into a world of total freedom, released from my ad-based oppression.

Other times it was like being strapped to a chair with speculums prying open my eyelids as I was forced to endure tortuous page-loading speeds, sluggish performance, poor design decisions, and having to watch my every last bit and byte of data handed over without consideration.

Among the browsers I’ve been checking out, here are some of the better ones I encountered, as well as the best use cases for each:

The majority of the time, it was business as usual, albeit under a different banner than what I’d previously worked under. In large part (but not entirely), that’s thanks to Google’s Chromium, the foundation of many modern browsers — including its namesake Chrome. To many, these browsers are little more than re-skins of Chrome, and I say to that many: please stop emailing me to tell me you think so — it’s boring. 

Awash in a sea of Chrome clones? 

Chromium-based browsers aren’t so much re-skins of Chrome as they are the multiversal equivalents of it. Oh look, here’s Brave browser — hailing from a universe where Google gives a hoot about your data autonomy.

Over there, that’s Opera GX. That’s the Chrome that could have been if Google cared about helping users who don’t want most of their RAM funneled into a dormant Reddit tab. And, look to your right, there’s the hilariously named Coc Coc, the variant of Chrome that would’ve happened if the Googleplex took flight and settled in Vietnam.

Chromium is a fantastic open-source platform, one that allows developers to quickly build upon and innovate. Of course, it’s still Google’s project and, while it allows these browsers to take advantage of the tool’s impressive features, it does afford Google a lot of power over the direction of the internet — especially when it comes to web and browser standards.

For that reason, many suggest steering clear of Chromium browsers altogether. If you really want to get under the thumb of Google, this is by far and large the best way to do so. Among the browsers I’ve been testing, here are some of the best non-Chromium options available:

Personally, unless there’s a sharp and sudden shift in the winds, I don’t see Google’s internet influence dipping by any considerable measure in the near future — but I do see it growing in size.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that there are viable Chromium alternatives available. However, it seems increasingly likely that we’re heading toward a homogenized landscape, one where Google holds all of the cards.

In other words, don’t feel pressured to abandon Chromium entirely when looking for a new home for your homepage. There’s a valiant notion behind it all, but at the end of the day, you should pick what works best for you.

Avoiding Chromium browsers simply “because Google” is akin to refusing to drink water anymore because you heard it's the primary ingredient in tsunamis. Sometimes a good tool is a good tool, no matter how poorly you feel about its creator.

For all I care, the guy who invented the monkey wrench could be a total rotter. That doesn’t mean I’m going to start attacking my plumbing with a screwdriver in retaliation.

 After I gave up Chrome, here’s where I ended up 

Personally, when it came to replacing Google Chrome I was left with three clear choices: Opera One/GX, Vivaldi, and Firefox.

My choices aren’t exactly based on strict, laboratory-tested benchmarks. It all came down to features, general performance, customization, and privacy/security. Something each of these three browsers has to offer in varying measures.

Firefox, while the only one of my dwindled shortlist not based on the Chromium skeleton, is the ideal Chrome replacement in many ways, it can practically slip right into the boots of Google’s browser and get you on your way in an instant.

In terms of sheer performance, I’ve found Microsoft’s Edge to be less RAM-hungry than Chrome tends to be. Which, given they’re both based on Chromium, and Edge’s expanded feature set is quite impressive. However, Edge is barely better (if not worse) when it comes to how it treats your data, with every search and surf being siphoned away into Microsoft’s data banks for processing.

Firefox, Vivaldi, and Opera all offered comfortable levels of performance and impressive privacy functions to boot. Was their performance leaps and bounds ahead of Chrome’s offerings? Not particularly. But I didn’t notice things clogging up as much as I might’ve previously. However, there could be some placebo effect going on there. But the same can’t be said for Opera GX, whose built-in resource management allowed me to fine-tune exactly what was allocated.

While browsers like Brave, TOR, and Epic all offer considerable levels of privacy and security. Their overall experience just wasn’t catching on with me. Plus, I don’t need any of my devices to feel like a vault. I’m happy with the basics.

Cut out the cookies, block a few ads here and there, nothing fancy. It’s a bonus that Opera offers a completely free VPN, but seeing as I already own a subscription to one of our best VPNs — this isn’t a deal breaker for Firefox and Vivaldi in not offering the same.

In terms of customization, all three browsers have their strengths, but this is where Vivaldi flexes like few browsers can. The Chromium-based web explorer has a plethora of customization options that will make anyone who loves the sight of sliders, check boxes, and color wheels jump for joy. Better still, it's simple and fairly intuitive — with some incredibly tailored results possible in minutes.

Firefox is similarly equipped to deliver excellent customization, but not with the same depth as Vivaldi. Sadly, Opera’s options are more narrow but not at all missing. However, the browser's contextual tabbing and organization go some way to making up for it.

Conclusion

Picking between those three options is no easy task. But as I said before, Firefox is the browser that seems to just slip right into place the easiest. I might hop between all three browsers mentioned in my shortlist for a while and see how my mind changes over time. But for now, I’m content with giving Mozilla’s cutesy Canidae its moment in the spotlight.

Is it the perfect browser? I’m not sure such a thing exists. But it’s good enough that I don’t feel like I’m missing out on much by making the switch. If anything, I might be gaining from doing so — with more control over my data, better customization, new add-ons to explore, and hopefully better performance in the long run.

Chrome is the most popular browser right now, but people are starting to prefer privacy-focused browsers that don't track their every move and serve personalized ads on a silver platter. It seems as though Google is in the process of rolling out an IP Protection feature in Chrome that could boost your in-browser privacy substantially.

This IP Protection tool, formerly known as Gnatcatcher on GitHub, was spotted by Bleeping Computer (via TechRadar). The tool would work by routing your web traffic through a Google-owned proxy server, essentially hiding your IP address from those wanting to track you. Eventually, Google might add another proxy server to this setup, so your IP address is further hidden, and neither server has access to your IP and destination URL.

Considering the fact that Google makes a lot of its money by tracking its users, selling data, and delivering personalized ads, this is an interesting move. Traffic will be routed through a Google-owned server, so Google will still have access to your original IP address and data, and they'll most likely keep logs and use your data that way. Still, it's a move in the right direction, but it won't be available to everyone just yet.

How can you get Chrome's new privacy feature?

Although Google will probably still collect, sell, and use your data for its own benefit, this IP protection tool can prevent other companies from targeting you and tracking your activity, as well as hide your IP address from malicious users.

The IP Protection tool will first be available to users who opt in, similar to Google Labs features like creating generative AI images through Search. According to TechRadar, Google says that the tool will roll out in stages for only a few websites in the beginning. The tool's effectiveness will be monitored, and if everything looks good, it'll roll out to more users.

Google has warned that this IP protection tool shouldn't be used as a privacy measure to replace all others, and it could even be subject to security risks at first. One of Google's proxy servers could be hacked, and whoever sees the data could manipulate or redirect it maliciously. 

Or, the proxy servers could be used to disguise the IP address used for a DDoS attack or another fraudulent activity. TechRadar notes that Google could require users to authenticate with the proxy server to prevent this from happening, or possibly introduce rate limits to decrease DDoS misuse.

Despite the potential risks with this IP protection tool now, it's somewhat hopeful news that Google is attempting to hide users' IP addresses through its Chrome browsers. Google's intentions may not be all positive, but it'll be a positive feature for Chrome users. 

Will this new feature convert users who are done with Chrome? Maybe not, but it might cause a few to stick around for a bit longer.

Google Chrome has been the copilot to my internet adventures ever since the browser launched in 2008 — and even though it’s never cost me a dime, the hours I’ve invested have left me in something of a sunk-cost fallacy when it comes to giving it up. But I think it’s about time I ripped this bandaid off and venture on to greener pastures.

My digital life resembles some sort of Peanuts comic, with me as Linus and Chrome as my old weathered comfort blanket. It’s often the first piece of software I install on any device that allows me to: Phones, laptops, tablets; Apple, Windows, Linux; just kidding, I don’t use Linux, I’m not a masochist.

When it was released, Chrome was the coolest thing to happen to the internet since being able to click “I’m over 18” when you absolutely weren’t. It offered a lightweight and speedy way of browsing the web that was practically unparalleled, especially when compared to Microsoft’s dastardly Internet Explorer.

But that was some 15 years ago now, and I’ve slowly come to the realization that in recent years Google Chrome stopped being the hero some time ago, and has officially lived long enough to become the villain.

Google Chrome: It's not me, it's you

Nowadays, Chrome doesn’t feel all that lightweight and speedy. My modern-day experience with Google’s browser feels a lot less like sprinting to the finish line and a lot more like slogging through a swamp of treacle in lead boots.

If you’ve ever dared to crack open the task manager while Chrome chutters along then you know exactly what I’m talking about. There, Chrome processes multiply and spread like I’ve failed to adhere to any rule in the “How to properly care for your Google Mogwai” handbook.

Gremlin doppelgangers of my once beloved browser spring up in abundance to take part in some Hungry, Hungry Hippos battle royale to see who can be crowned king of gobbling up the most RAM and bringing my machine to a juddering halt the fastest.

I’m not sure what half of Chrome’s seemingly every-other-day updates even do, but I know it’s not making anything faster — and they’ve yet to add the toggle switch for “Simulate the thermals of a nuclear control rod when running more than 5 tabs” option to the chrome://flags/ page, instead, Google seemingly presumes that’s a feature I want on by default.

Worse still, I can’t shake the feeling that the Googleplex has some suit-wearing corporate overlord salivating like Pavlov’s dog every time I click a link or strike enter at the end of a search query.

And so, I think it’s time. Time that I gave up on Chrome and found myself a new portal to the internet. I need to get with the times a little and sow my wild bookmarks.

Top 3 Google Chrome alternatives in 2023

The Browser Wars of yesteryear are well and truly over. Where once there were just a handful of mega powers in the ‘browseosphere’ there’s now more choice than a hipster brewery. Sadly, more choice can mean more confusion, making the decision of what to switch to far harder than the decision to switch at all.

However, among that sea of windows to the World Wide Web are some genuine stand-out candidates. Some are all new debutantes, some are reaping the rewards of decades of hard graft, and one is a comeback story so unlikely that I’m amazed it’s not screaming “We did it, Adrian. We did it” so loud my eardrums burst.

After a week of browsing around (pun incredibly intended), here are three options I’ve earmarked for my new digital doorway to the dub dub dub.

1. Opera One / Opera GX

• Available on: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS 
• Website: Opera One / Opera GX

Opera is a veteran of the Browser Wars, though only ever existing on the fringes. Like some cowardly bowman who occasionally flung an arrow in the general direction of all the action before giving up and going home early.

However, reports of the browser’s surrender appear to have been greatly exaggerated. Unbeknown to me, Opera has been out there all this time, living in the wilds like Hiroo Onoda, fighting a war long since lost. Not only did Opera refuse to throw in the towel, it made the leap to Chromium in 2016 and now exists in two formidable forms: Opera GX and Opera One.

Opera GX launched for macOS and Windows in 2019, with mobile versions for iOS and Android following in 2021. Opera GX is a gamer-oriented browser focused on preserving system resources and offering deeper integration with popular apps like WhatsApp, Twitch, Discord, Twitter/X, and Instagram.

The so-called “browser for gamers” allows users to set limits on the amount of RAM, CPU, and network usage the app is able to lay claim to — ensuring that performance can be shifted to where it’s wanted. Better still, a feature called GX Corner keeps track of upcoming releases, the best discounts and deals on popular titles, and the latest gaming news from around the web.

Then, earlier this year Opera relaunched as Opera One — a completely redesigned browser with a new look and focus. It incorporates a new Modular Design philosophy that adapts to user’s needs by only focusing on the key features they commonly make use of. It also uses a Multithreaded Compositor to ensure webpages with modern elements such as 3D visuals or high-definition video run smoothly and to keep the browser at its best even under heavy load.

Opera One is also well and truly on the generative AI bandwagon, with its own Aria AI alongside ChatGPT and ChatSonic sidebar integration and smart AI prompts available from within web pages. These AI prompts can be used to simplify articles, summarize pages, and quickly line up social media posts to your linked accounts. The browser’s smart-features only go on from there, with context-based tab grouping for easier navigation,

2. Brave Browser

• Available on: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS
• Website: Brave

Where Opera GX is the browser for gamers, Brave is the browser for paranoid conspiracy theorists with a penchant for Crypto. The problem is, they’re also right. Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you — or at least your marketing details.

What sets Brave apart from other browsers is its unrelenting pursuit of online privacy. Without your direct consent, your data remains yours when making use of the Brave browser, with the software dead set on blocking invasive ads, cross-site trackers, and third-party cookies in all their forms.

Brave offers malware and phishing protection, a free VPN, and even proxy access through the Tor network for anonymized network routing. The latter ensures your online activities in private windows remain anonymous and untraceable — something other browsers’ incognito/private windows only pay lip service to.

Brave users can also earn Brave Rewards, or BAT (Basic Attention Tokens) , a type of cryptocurrency earned by seeing and interacting with ads in Brave. By default, ads are blocked on Brave, though if you choose to see Brave ads, you can earn BAT for every ad you see or interact with. You can also choose which kind of ads you’ll see and how you see them — giving you complete control and reassurance that these ads won't track your data or send it elsewhere.

BAT is stored safely in your Brave Wallet, a fully-featured, native crypto wallet built directly into the browser. Earned BAT can then be used to purchase gift cards for your favorite stores or services, or even donated to charities, content creators, or websites you support.

3. Microsoft Edge

• Available on: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS 
• Website: Microsoft Edge

Trust me, I can’t believe I’m saying this either. The browser I once thought of as little more than a skin suit worn by my old nemesis Internet Explorer, is apparently in the midst of being crowned the comeback kid by many. And it owes a lot of that momentum to Microsoft’s newest pet project — Bing. No, not that Bing, Bing Chat. Although the two are now so heavily intertwined it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference.

Microsoft’s two-footed leap into AI has paid off big time with the company now reaping rewards left right and center by way of access to OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Dall.E models. Both of these are implemented into the Edge browser through Microsoft’s AI chatbot — affording users quick access to generative search, image creation, and content creation at the drop of a hat.

While it might play host to the world’s ugliest start page, Edge now sits at the center of a wider ecosystem featuring deep integration with a ton of Microsoft’s web-based tools. like Microsoft 365 and Outlook readily accessible in the sidebar. Said sidebar also houses a deals tracker that automatically searches for applicable vouchers on sites you visit and can track your orders across multiple sites. And, there’s also Drop, a sort of temporary stash to send files, links, and notes between all of your devices using Edge.

Then there are the benefits afforded to users who force themselves to use Microsoft’s search engine, Bing. In a not-all-that-subtle way of letting you know “Our search engine is so bad we’ll literally pay you for using it” Microsoft rewards… Bingers (?) with Microsoft Rewards points for each search.

These points can then be cashed in on a mix of both digital and real-world goodies, including Xbox Game Pass memberships, store vouchers, gift cards, or sweepstakes entries to Microsoft hardware giveaways. You can also earn bonus points for doing much of what you’d get up to online anyway like browsing the news or checking your local weather.

Outlook

For the sake of brevity, this list is limited to just three of the more interesting browsers currently available. However, that still leaves a ton of candidates on the table. Classics like Firefox and Safari still have plenty to offer and ‘newer’ browsers like Vivaldi can uniquely tailor your browsing experience on an individual level.

If you’re looking to pry away from the safety blanket that is Google Chrome, and make your way out from under the marketing thumb of the Googleplex, there’s a great selection of browsers to choose from. Potentially, one far better suited to you than the one you’re settling for now.

If you’re a Windows Insider with Microsoft Edge Canary downloaded on your computer, you’ll have access to a few exciting new flags today. An X user (@Leopeva64) discovered a new “Handwriting to Text” flag and multiple new FedCM flags that bring extra privacy features to Edge. 

Microsoft rolls out any new features to its Canary version of Edge first, and then once all the kinks are worked out, most features make their way to the public version of Edge. So if you’re anxious to try these new features (and many more), you can quickly become a Windows Insider for free and download Edge Canary. 

Read on for a brief overview of what these new flags entail, and which devices you can hopefully use them on when features roll out publicly.  

Handwriting to text may require a pen or stylus

This new feature in Edge Canary will be reserved for Windows laptops that support handwriting input via a stylus or your finger — at least in the beginning. As with other Edge Canary features, this handwriting-to-text feature could roll out to Edge Beta Android app users or people involved with the iOS TestFlight Beta, and eventually to public Edge users on all devices that support handwriting input. 

In the image posted by @Leopeva64 on X, the text attached to this new feature reads “Allows inking via pen to be converted into typed text on most input fields in Microsoft Edge. This is available on devices where handwriting is supported.” The flag’s description also notes that you’ll need to search “Use your handwriting to enter text” in Windows settings to see if Handwriting to Text is enabled on your device. 

Whether you’re able to use your finger as a handwriting input may depend on your device’s compatibility with Edge and its settings. For example, on my Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7, I can use my finger or a stylus to type in any text box within Microsoft Edge Canary. However, some devices may require a stylus or pen in order to use this feature, which would leave Edge users on MacBooks in the lurch. 

Right now, this feature is hidden behind a flag within Microsoft Edge Canary on Windows computers. You’ll need to make sure you have Edge Canary downloaded, and then you can navigate to edge://flags in the browser’s address bar. Search for “Handwriting to Text,” and use the dropdown menu to the right to switch from Default to Enabled. Then, you’ll be able to use handwriting instead of typing in most text boxes within the Edge Canary browser. 

In addition to this exciting handwriting feature, it also appears Microsoft may be adopting FedCM (Federated Credential Management) proposals to bring extra security and privacy features to its users. If you head to edge://flags and search “FedCM,” you can look through all the unique privacy and security features you can enable.

It’s not clear when these FedCM privacy features or the handwriting to text functionality will be brought to Edge on all devices. For now, only Edge users through Windows get to take part in the fun. 

Lately, Microsoft seems to be all about improving user experience. There are exciting features coming to Window 11’s next update, including improved Live Captions and bonus voice commands, and Windows Insiders can finally remove unwanted bloatware taking up valuable storage space. 

Ads have become synonymous with the internet. They’re hard to avoid these days. And while some can be helpful, others are intrusive, distracting, or even dangerous. Most users turn to browser extensions to block ads, but it's possible to achieve a similar effect without adding extensions to Google Chrome. Using built-in settings, you can minimize the impact of ads and enjoy a cleaner browsing experience.

In this guide, we will show you how to block ads in Google Chrome without using extensions. The process is straightforward and can be completed by users of all skill levels. By managing your browser settings, you'll be able to enjoy a smoother and more focused browsing experience without the need for additional software.

Follow these steps to block ads in Chrome without using extensions:

How to block ads in Chrome without using extensions

Step 1: Open Google Chrome: Launch the Google Chrome browser on your computer. 

Step 2: Access the Chrome menu: Click on the three-dot icon (⋮) located at the top-right corner of the browser window to open the Chrome menu.

Step 3: Navigate to Settings: Click on "Settings" from the dropdown menu to access Chrome's settings page. 

Step 4: Enter Privacy and Security: Scroll down the settings page and click on the "Privacy and security" option.

Step 5: Open Site Settings: On the Privacy and Security page, click on the "Site settings" option. 

Step 6: Find Intrusive Ads settings: In the Content section, scroll down until you find the "Additional content settings" option and click on it to reveal more settings.

Step 7: Block ads on intrusive sites: Click “Intrusive ads” and flip the toggle the switch next to "Ads are blocked on sites known to show intrusive or misleading ads" to enable ad blocking. 

Please note that this method will not block all ads, but it will significantly reduce the number of intrusive ads you encounter while browsing.

Opera GX, the self-proclaimed “browser for gamers,” has launched an all-new feature that aims to protect your legacy once you shuffle off this mortal coil — “Fake My History.”

No longer will your dying words be a hushed “Microwave my hard drives.” As your life flashes before your eyes and you’re reminded of last night’s questionable Googling. Instead, you can spend those last few gasps dropping the truth bombs that you previously avoided out of not wanting to deal with the aftermath.

Opera GX: The only browser offering you a dignified death 

The new Opera GX Fake My History feature is an opt-in setting that monitors your browser activity, or technically, lack thereof. After 14 days of inactivity (is that a Fortnite reference?), Opera GX will assume the worst and perform its gamer-bro duties by erasing any trace of the person you are behind closed doors, under darkened lights, on lonely nights.

Opera GX will take your previously questionable browsing history and give it the Ned Flanders treatment — transforming your conspiracy rabbit holes and thirst-fueled adventures into the internet’s nether realm into shining examples of humanity that will leave those you’ve left behind bursting in pride at the person you never actually were.

No longer will your legacy be slain by snoopy sorrowers who come across your dubious browser history, as your online exploits will be spun into goodwill capers such as “How to build a birdhouse,” “How to encourage voting in my community,” and my personal favorite paragon painting, pretend, posthumous parting gift: “Free online courses for personal growth.” Sure, that’s what that monthly charge to a dot com website on my credit card bill was for — let’s go with that.

Outlook

It’s a bit of a meme online about having to pull a close one to one side and deliver the dead man’s switch instructions on your precious browsing data, but if it actually is something that draws your concern then Opera GX is now your browser of choice.

Personally, I’ve spent years filling my browser history with hard sought-after truths about the Earth’s hollowed core, how to identify the lizard people that live among us, and a list of online usernames I believe to be owned and operated by federal agents. I see somebody stumbling across my browser history as more of an Indiana Jones inheriting his father’s Grail diary moment — but hey, that’s just me.

For news, rumors, and updates on all things tech, follow Laptop Mag on Twitter, Facebook, and Flipboard for the latest word as it arrives. 

Most websites make us jump through several hoops to access them. Though our browsers are equipped to take care of the auto-playing videos and other pop-ups, we still have to manually dismiss the pesky overlay asking if we’d like to subscribe to the website’s newsletter. With a few tweaks, though, you can automatically block email and newsletter banners too. 

The reason your browser’s pop-up blocker isn’t enough to kill newsletter overlays is that they’re programmed differently. They don’t launch a new window or take you away from the page you’re on like a pop-up. So you’ll need something else to deal with them and fortunately, whether you’re on your phone or computer, there are plenty of options. Here’s how to block email and newsletter prompts on your browser. 

Block newsletter pop-ups on Safari (Mac, iPhone) 

On an Apple device like a MacBook, an iPad, or an iPhone, your best defense against newsletter overlays is a Safari extension called Hush. 

At first glance, Hush may seem almost too basic to be effective. It’s small in size, has no menus for you to manage, and runs in the background with zero effect on your computer or phone’s performance. As the name suggests, Hush is designed to squash the endless nagging elements that ruin your internet experience, and that includes, of course, newsletter notices that block you from the rest of the website until you enter your email address or close them. 

As soon as you download Hush, it begins automatically obstructing a website’s ability to throw newsletter overlays at you. There’s no setup process, nor do you have to pay extra to enable any additional features. Plus, it’s open-source, which means there’s little risk of it spying on you or selling your browsing data. 

In addition to the newsletter and email banners, Hush prevents websites from deploying a host of other invasive activities. It can also save you the trouble of agreeing to those nagging cookie consent pop-ups by blocking them altogether and banning third-party trackers that websites use to secretly follow you across the web. 

Hush is free and you can download it on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac from the App Store. 

Block newsletter pop-ups on Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox (Mac, Windows PC) 

Hush is only available for Safari. If you’re on Google Chrome, or any Chromium browser like Microsoft Edge, or Mozilla Firefox, you can turn to an extension called PopUpOff to get rid of newsletter overlays. 

PopUpOff works similarly to Hush, in that it can automatically prevent websites from nagging you to subscribe to their newsletters. However, it’s a little more hands-on and offers you a bunch of options to control the experience. 

The tech newsletter overlays rely on often powers useful elements which you may not want to ban, like a sign-in form or navigation menus. To ensure your efforts to block newsletter banners don’t break the rest of a website, PopUpOff comes with three modes to choose from: 

• “Dormant” for sites you trust and don’t want to modify.
• “Moderate” for removing annoying prompts like newsletter forms without affecting any essential elements.
• “Aggressive” for especially invasive pages with one too many pop-ups.  

Like Hush, in the Moderate and Aggressive modes, PopUpOff also cuts down a handful of more nagging elements from websites such as cookie consent pop-ups. 

Once you download PopUpOff on your browser, it kicks off the Dormant function, which means it will only come into action when you ask it to. For the best results, switch the default mode to Moderate by right-clicking the PopUpOff icon at the top right corner, and heading into Options > Auto Mode. You can always exclude a website when PopUpOff causes it to behave erratically by clicking its icon and selecting “Dormant.” 

From the “Options” page, you can even set custom keyboard shortcuts for switching between the three modes, and customize how strict the “Moderate” mode is. In my experience, though, the default “Moderate” setting is plenty to ward off most newsletter banners without risking affecting a website’s layout. 

PopUpOff is not perfect for me, as it usually fails to do its job on at least one out of four websites. For those instances, I’d recommend pairing it up with another free extension called “Behind the Overlay,” which though doesn’t block newsletter banners, allows you to easily dismiss any overlay with a click or a dedicated keyboard shortcut. 

Use reading mode on an Android phone

We couldn’t find an extension tailored to prevent newsletter banners for Android phones. However, as an Android user, what I do now is take advantage of Google’s Reading Mode app to circumvent any prompts or pop-ups to read a website’s content. 

Reading Mode adds a permanent floating button to your screen that you can hit anytime to consume the article you’re trying to access in a distraction-free interface. You can even ask the app to dictate it and personalize the text’s font, color, background, and size. 

Once you download Reading Mode from the Play Store, all you have to do is grant it the necessary accessibility permission, and you’ll soon find a little hovering blue button on the edge of your screen. Whenever you come across an article you’d like to remove distractions from, just touch that button, and the app will launch it in reading mode. 

In case you missed it, on Tuesday, Google announced that it's rolling out five new features to iOS, including some AI-driven perks that will make navigating through the mobile browser much easier. 

While there are many crossover features between the desktop version of Google Chrome and the iOS variant, both platforms operate slightly differently. Now, the search-engine giant is boasting that the iOS-based Chrome app is going to be a lot smoother for iPhone users.

5 features coming to Google Chrome on iOS

If you're wrapped up in the Google ecosystem, you're going to appreciate the new updates — some of them AI-based — the search engine giant has rolled out for its iPhone users, starting with a more convenient, seamless way of keeping track of upcoming events, tasks, and meetings.

1. Create Google Calendar events by simply tapping a date. Instead of switching apps or copying information manually, creating Google Calendar events simply requires you to press and hold any date. Next, a pop up will appear prompting you to add the event to your Google Calendar. "Chrome will automatically create and populate the calendar event with important details like time, location and description," the official press release boasted.

2. Instant translations for websites in foreign languages. If you're visiting Barcelona, there's a chance that you may stumble upon some websites in Catalan during your travel research. No worries! Chrome will now automatically offer to translate the website in your native tongue. Thank you AI!

3. Translate specific portions of a webpage. A Google Translate option will be built into the app, allowing you to translate just a paragraph or two on the website.

4. Search with existing images in your gallery. You can already use Google Lens on iOS-based Chrome to get more details on an image while browsing. Now, Google is adding a new feature that will allow you to search its database for details about the images that are currently sitting in your camera roll. (Google will be adding a new Lens icon to the address bar.)

5. Addresses are now 'detectable' for Maps. A new AI feature can identify addresses on webpages. When you press and hold them, you can easily view them in a miniature Google Maps window in Chrome.

Expect to see these new features roll out in the coming months.

Google Lens is ready to help you play armchair dermatologist by identifying that weird rash on your leg by snapping a photo.

In a blog post Google covered a variety of features for Google Lens, the search giant's image-based search, and while help finding products you spotted in TV shows or translating another language sounds great, it was hard to ignore Lens playing doctor.

While I have to stress that if you believe you have a serious skin condition that you should see an actual doctor, it's credible that Google Lens will do a better job identifying your malady than simply typing a vague description into Google.

Here's how to use Google Lens to identify a skin condition.

How to use Google Lens to identify a skin condition

That's all there is to it. You will now be presented with a series of potential matches for your photo. Tap on the photo that most closely matches yours to see potential diagnoses. 

While again this is likely preferable to a text-based description, please see a physician if you have a lingering or concerning skin condition.

The rows of tabs on our browsers are a mess. Grouping them doesn’t help either: a tab group continues to take space even when we don’t need it and managing more than a couple of them is close to impossible in the already cramped row. Juggling between numerous windows isn’t convenient either. What if you could have desktop-like workspaces on your browser instead? 

Why you need workspaces on your browser

We spend more time on our browsers than ever. So it’s only natural that we use pro multitasking tools like workspaces to organize not just traditional desktop programs but our tabs as well. Though most mainstream browsers such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox don’t yet offer workspaces, it’s possible to replicate the experience with third-party extensions. Several other browsers like Microsoft Edge also now come with this facility by default. 

With workspaces, not only is it easier to multitask, but they also help cut down on clutter and allow us to focus on just the tabs we need at the moment. You can separate your projects into their own workspaces -- one for your work web apps like Slack and email, another housing hotel and flight links for a vacation you’re planning, or a list of articles you intend to read later -- and switch across them without losing track. Here’s how to set up workspaces on your browser. 

Creating Workspaces on Different Browsers

On Google Chrome and Chromium browsers like Brave, a free add-on appropriately called “Workspaces” builds upon the existing tab grouping feature so that it works more like a workspace. 

Instead of dealing with all your tab groups in the same row at the top, this extension launches them in new windows. You can then switch between them from a central panel as opposed to checking each manually to find the group you’re looking for. Plus, “Workspaces” automatically minimizes the windows except for the one you’re working on so that your desktop isn’t overwhelmed. 

If you’re familiar with how tab groups function, there’s not much learning curve to “Workspaces” either. You can name and color-code your tab workspaces and move tabs to a particular workspace simply from the right-click menu. Since it takes advantage of the tools already available on your browser like tab groups and windows, it’s lightweight and doesn’t affect your device’s performance at all. 

You can download “Workspaces” on any Chrome-based browser like Vivaldi, Edge, Brave, and of course, Google Chrome. 

Google Chrome

The “Workspaces” add-on is rather barebones. For a more complete workspace experience on your browser, you’ll need Workona. 

The “Workspaces” add-on is rather barebones. For a more complete workspace experience on your browser, you’ll need Workona. 

Workona allows you to manage and build several workspaces right inside a single browser window. It pins a dashboard tab at the top left corner, from where you can create new projects, move your tabs around, and hop between them without leaving the window. When you select a workspace, it populates the row with its tabs, and if you switch to another, it replaces it instantly. There’s also a universal search bar that comes in handy when you’ve got far too many tabs and workspaces. 

Workona offers a handful of more perks that let it essentially act as an OS for your online life. You can integrate cloud services like Google Drive and Zoom, and organize your files, tasks, and meetings into workspaces so that you can access all items associated with a project from one place instead of visiting each website individually. 

Workona is available for Chrome-based browsers and Mozilla Firefox. 

Microsoft Edge

On Microsoft Edge, you no longer need an add-on to sort your tabs in workspaces. You can think of Edge’s Workspaces as a more intuitive way to handle your tab groups. 

Instead of forcing you to manage a bunch of tab groups in the same row, Edge’s workspaces keep them in separate windows, and allow you to comfortably multitask across them with a dedicated new option at the top left corner. You can also share your workspaces with other Edge users and enable them to add their own tabs to it and visit yours. While it’s mostly meant for enterprises, workspace sharing can be useful when you are, say, collaborating on planning an event with someone. 

At the time of writing, Edge’s workspaces tool was only available in public preview. If you’d like to give it a shot, you can sign up for it from this link. 

Safari

Safari’s tab groups behave like workspaces and therefore, you don’t need any extra add-ons to improve them. The tab groups you form on Safari live on their own side panel and unlike other browsers, don’t crowd your line of tabs. You can reveal that panel by clicking its button at the top left corner and you can create a new group with the plus icon. To visit a group, all you have to do is select its name in the side panel, or you can check out the tabs it houses with the downward arrow button next to it. 

To access tab groups on Safari, your Mac must be at least on the Catalina update.  

Vivaldi

Third-party extensions don’t always work as intended and their experience can be choppy especially when your device is loaded with dozens of tabs. So if you’re sold on the idea of browser workspaces but need a more solid platform for them, it may be worth looking at apps that come preloaded with them. The two browsers with workspaces we recommend are Vivaldi and Arc. Both of them are based on Chromium and offer extensive tools to customize your many workspaces. 

Google, the internet-spanning librarian of all of digital time and space, is expanding access to its new generative AI experience for Search — and you could be among the lucky few to try out this new feature in just a few clicks.

The generative AI experience for Search was unveiled at Google I/O and seeks to provide Googlers with a speedier, more natural approach to finding the information they want online — similar to the offerings of Microsoft’s Bing Chat. One key difference between the two being people actually use Google Search.

So, how can you get in on the action and what can you expect? Read on for more information as we delve a little deeper into Google’s latest AI-infused experiments.

How to access Google’s Search Generative Experience?

If you want to access Google's new Search Generative Experience, you must act fast as the feature is only available to test for a limited time. In order to get involved, you’ll need an active U.S. Google account, with other regions currently unavailable to join in on the preview.

Once logged in to your account, you can join the waitlist by tapping on the Labs icon at the top-left of the Google App (for Android and iOS), at the Chrome new tab page on desktops, or by visiting labs.google.com/search.

After joining up, you’ll be notified by email when certain Labs experiments become available for testing. Alongside the Search Generative Experience, you can also gain access to other limited-time features like Code Tips, which uses AI to assist you in writing faster and smarter scripts, as well as answering how-to-style questions about various programming languages (C, C++, Java, JavaScript, Python, and more), tools, and algorithms.

Another limited-time feature available is Add to Sheets, a fast a simple way to add a search result directly into a Google Sheets file which can then be shared easily with others.

Google Search Generative Experience — what’s new?

The new AI-powered Search experience is designed to help users understand searched-for topics faster while showcasing new viewpoints and insights. Google is hoping that this results in a smoother, easier search experience that can make use natural language to provide the results you’re looking for within a single search — meaning no more piecing scattered bits of information together from numerous searches by yourself.

So, while that’s what Google is hoping for, how will this change actually be presented to us? Snapshots! Snapshots will now be generated and displayed at the top of each Google Search results page, offering contextualized help and information depending on what you’ve searched for. These colorful boxes will be fairly hard to miss (which has its pros and cons) and will attempt to speed up your search process with key information and definitive answers.

Here are the three key areas where snapshots will come into effect when making use of the new Search Generative Experience.

1. Simplifying complicated topics

If you’ve ever had one of those random urges to know just about everything there is to know about something like the combustion engine or black holes, you’ll know that a simple Google Search can send you down a spiraling rabbit hole of jargon and overly complicated explanations.

Thankfully, the snapshot feature of Google’s SGE can compress all of that information into a handy, bite-sized paragraph or two along with some handy links if you’d like to know more.

If, like me, you’re still at a loss you can also ask a follow-up question from within the snapshot, like “Can you now explain that like I’m 5, please Google?

2. Offering tips & tricks

Using natural language to search now means that the AI-powered SGE can now more easily contextualize its findings. The result of which is that not only can Google now more clearly find the information you’re looking for, but it can also make a few friendly suggestions or offer tips to help you out.

Like some digital Grandma wishing to impart her wisdom upon you, now after searching for “How long does it take to cook a chicken?”, Grandma Google will not only answer, but also provide you with a few tips on recipes you could steer towards.

3. Highlighting relevant products

Entering a vague description of a product and hitting search is likely to be one of the main uses of Google nowadays — and it’s about to go from a confusing experience of comparing the prices across several tabs and grids to simply browsing through a short list of what’s actually appropriate.

Asking Google to find you a brand-new mouse will normally lead you to a string of results from different sites that highlight a selection of the best mice you can buy. However, with the new SGE, you can do things faster and go a bit further. You can now ask Google to find you “the best gaming mouse that’ll make me look really cool on Twitch.” Then, as if by AI-generated magic, you’ll be met with a snapshot that includes enough flashing RGB to warrant an epilepsy warning.

Outlook

This is just the first step of a no doubt long and arduous journey for Google in its attempts to infuse AI into its services. So while the initial testing might not quite revolutionize your browsing experience, you can bet it helps the tech giants lay down the groundwork for even more impressive things in the future.

Palling around with AI is always fun and while it doesn’t seem to have the personality of Bing, or the outright idiocy of Bard, Google’s Search Generative Experience at the very least adds a little bit of extra AI flair to an otherwise mundane activity. Sign up for Google Labs today for your chance to experience this experiment first-hand. 

Are you excited about how Google's new wave of AI features? Keep your eyes on Laptop Mag for the latest news on the AI era alongside all things smartphone, tablet, laptop, and more.

One of the funniest questions we get at Laptop Mag is, "how do I install Microsoft Edge on Windows 11?" If you've been following the great lengths Microsoft takes to keep its lure and bait users into dropping Google Chrome for Edge, you'd be chuckling, too.

Unfortunately, uninstalling Edge isn't as easy as hitting some sort of "delete" button. It's all fun and games talking smack about Microsoft Edge until someone has to open a Command Prompt — yes, it's going to be that kind of tutorial. Do you have what it takes to learn how to uninstall Microsoft Edge on Windows 11?

Don't be too scared, this guide isn't too difficult. It just takes a little more work than usual. Why? Well, you cannot uninstall Microsoft Edge on Windows 11 — at least not the way that you'd uninstall any other app. It's special!

Here's how to uninstall Microsoft Edge on Windows 11.

How to uninstall Microsoft Edge on Windows 11

cd/cd %Program Files (x86)%\Microsoft\Edge\Application\EDGEVERSIONNUMBER\Installer

setup --uninstall --force-uninstall --system-level

There you go. You are now officially free of Microsoft Edge. Or are you? Windows updates are sneaky and have a habit of reinstall Microsoft Edge when it gets the chance. But how do you prevent that from happening? 

Stay tuned for another how-to and we'll find out.

Google Chrome was recently updated with a new feature that is set to improve accessibility and assist users who often make typing mistakes. Now available on desktop versions of Google Chrome, users can begin typing into the Chrome website address bar and it will offer similar suggestions based on potential typos. 

While this may seem like a small addition (depending on how intensely it functions), it could be a vital one. Not only does it assist users who have trouble typing in the correct URLs, but it could also prevent users from being exposed to malware. 

Something as simple as typing in the wrong extension like ".com" or ".org" could send someone to a totally different website, and who knows what's on that website. Beyond just that, typos within the address itself could throw browsers into unfamiliar corners of the web.

Google's latest features

Google's website address bar autofill isn't the only new feature gracing the Google ecosystem, as every user can now see the wheelchair-accessible icon visible right on the front of a business in Google Maps.

According to Google, 40 million businesses around the world have wheelchair information available, making the application even more friendly to those who using even a stroller or suitcase. And of course, anyone can provide information on wheelchair accessibility through Google Maps.

Another accessibility feature brings updates to Live Captions, including a new captions box for Android tablets, Live Caption for calls allowing you to type back to the other user and it'll speak for you, and support for French, Italian and German on select Android devices.

Google has spoke about its AI initiative at length and how it could greatly improve accessibility, with AI able to provide alternative text that describes visual imagery. This feature is called Lookout and when a user asks questions about the image being shown to them, the language model can provide a description, which can especially assist the blind and low-vision community.

There are over three billion Android devices, but even though they breathe the same OS, their experience has never felt like one, coherent system. Products from makers like Samsung and Xiaomi are mistakenly believed to run on separate OSes with their own in-house tech for exchanging files, pairing Bluetooth accessories, and more. 

So for the last few years, Google has made it its mission to tie the diverse portfolio of Android devices together with an ecosystem of services that’s consistent and familiar. This is pulling from the playbook that has allowed Apple to turn each of its product lines into a hit for decades. And at this year’s annual Google I/O developer conference, the pieces of the company’s “Better Together” theme finally seem to be falling in place.  

Androids, Assemble 

“Android is about more than just different types of devices,” said Sameer Samat, the vice president of the Android Ecosystem. “It’s also about connecting them. And we’ve been building features to help your devices work better together.” 

The way Google has set out to accomplish this is by adopting open standards and building core functions that let Android devices not only talk to each other, but also to other platforms like Windows, and even Apple in some cases. This is so that when you invest in an Android phone, for example, it will be already in sync with any other gadget you own whether it’s smart home appliances or headphones, no matter the brand. It equips Google with an edge over Apple’s ecosystem, which is severely restricted to Apple-made machines. 

Nearby Share, Google’s Airdrop-like service to easily send and receive files across devices, for instance, now supports Windows PCs and Chromebooks — which means you can exchange content to and from billions of devices without installing any additional apps. Heck, Android’s open-source codebase has even spawned a nifty workaround for using Nearby Share on a Mac. 

Similarly with Fast Pair, Android phones and Chromebooks can pair with over 300 wireless headphones in a tap without you having to manually go through the Bluetooth settings. Yet again, Google has taken a page out of Apple’s playbook and applied it to a far more diverse set of devices instead of limiting it to a handful of its own accessories. 

At the I/O keynote, Google also announced an update to its Find My Device app, which will soon let you keep tabs on your accessories from dozens of companies in one place. More importantly, it will take advantage of the expansive network of billions of Android devices to ping a lost device and track it down wherever in the world it is. Plus, Google is developing a new cross-platform standard with Apple that will prevent anyone from stalking you by informing you when an unknown tracker is traveling on you irrespective of its brand.

This was followed by Google reiterating its commitment to RCS, another open standard that enables modern instant messaging features on an SMS app and lets Android users chat over the internet even when they’re on different SMS apps — as opposed to iMessage’s notoriously walled-off tech. 

“We hope every mobile OS gets the message and adopts this standard,” said Samat, dunking on Apple. 

At home with Google

The smart home, of course, plays a vital role for Google in building this ecosystem, especially given that an average U.S. household now has close to two dozen connected devices. In service of that goal, the Google Home app got a major facelift, which makes managing the varied gadgets people own much less convoluted and allows Google Home users on an iPhone to set up Matter-enabled, an open-source tech that lets smart home devices talk to each other regardless of their manufacturers, appliances.

Google’s emphasis on fostering an ecosystem that isn’t restricted to one brand was on full display at I/O and its keynote was a stark contrast to Apple’s. Each announcement was accompanied by a drumbeat of third-party partners, and a round-the-clock reminder that Google wants to rope you into its ecosystem with adaptable software, not just hardware. 

My god it’s full of Pixels 

Of course, it’d be remiss of Google to overlook how crucial reliable and enticing hardware is in an ecosystem, and fortunately, it didn’t. The company has not only revived its software for all sorts of form factors like smartwatches but also introduced its own take on what the best implementation of these categories looks like.

At I/O, Google expanded its Pixel lineup with three new products: The Pixel 7a, its annual mid-range smartphone upgrade that we found to be the best phone for most people, the Pixel Tablet, an Android tablet that you can dock to turn into a smart home hub when you’re not using it, and the most exciting, the Pixel Fold, a 5.8-inch phone that folds out into a 7.6-inch tablet. 

Though these Pixel products vary in form and function, they’re all powered by the same Google Tensor G2 chip, which, based on my experience, ensures the company’s software remains consistent no matter how much you spend. It outsmarts Apple’s iPhone lineup, which appears to have run out of ideas and has begun to bundle yesteryear chips on non-Pro models. 

Google’s “Better Together” plan has been years in the making and at long last, it’s coming together. For years, Google has tried to take on Apple without capitalizing on Android’s cornerstone: diversity. However, its latest all-encompassing approach is shaping up to be an effective and compelling alternative to Apple’s walled garden ecosystem. 

Microsoft is in the hot seat for reportedly thwarting a Google Chrome feature that allowed Windows users to make the popular browser their default web crawler in one click, according to Gizmodo.

It was a perk that Google quietly rolled out in July 2022. A new button appeared at the top of the screen, allowing Chrome users to change their default browser without going through the labyrinthine, tedious process in one's system settings.

The feature worked well for months — until Microsoft issued Windows update KB5025225 in April and complaints piled up. 

Did Microsoft pull the plug on beloved Chrome feature?

After the aforementioned update, users noticed that Chrome's one-click "make this your default" button no longer worked. Strangely enough, Gizmodo said that it managed to circumvent the issue by swapping the name of the Chrome app on a Windows desktop. "It seems that Microsoft threw up the roadblock specifically for Chrome, the main competitor to its Edge browser," Gizmodo said. 

Users with Windows Enterprise experienced more irksome bugs. Some reported that the Settings page would pop up every time they'd click on a link, but only if their default browser was set to Google Chrome.

Consequently, Google was forced to disable its one-click default button to rectify the settings page issue. (You win, Microsoft You win.) Interestingly, Gizmodo said that Google confirmed the details of its report, but declined to add any more commentary.

Firefox wasn't so quiet. Chief Product Officer Steve Teixeira is fed up with Microsoft's anti-competitive practices:

"When using Windows machines, Firefox users routinely encounter these kinds of barriers, such as overriding their selection of default browser, or pop-ups and misleading warnings attempting to persuade them that Edge is somehow safer. It’s past time for Microsoft to respect people’s preferences and allow them to use whatever browser they wish without interfering with their choice," Teixeira said.

According to StatCounter, between March 2022 and April 2023, Chrome nabbed 64% of the browser market share. Edge is third — a far third — with a measly share of 5%. It's no wonder that Microsoft appears to be on an aggressive campaign to hawk its Chromium-based browser. The Redmond-based tech giant injects massive ads into Edge search results if you look up Google Chrome.

When go to your Windows system settings to change your default browser to Chrome, Microsoft finds a way to hawk its browser there, too.

Gizmodo did reach out to Microsoft for comment, but insinuated that the Redmond-based tech giant provided a non-answer and directed the vertical to this blog.

"How do I change the default Google account?" is a question that's growing in popularity as more Chrome users become irked over their Google services launching with an unwanted account.

With the wrong default account, every time you hop into YouTube, Calendar, and other Google apps, you'll be automatically signed into the email you don't want to use. 

Unfortunately, choosing a default Google account isn't as easy as clicking on your desired Google name and clicking a "Make default" button. (I wish this was the case!) The process is a little bit more involved and requires you to sign out of all of your accounts. Don't worry, we'll take you through it step-by-step.

How to change default Google account

As you're transversing the Web of all things, learning new things, or researching your interests, you sometimes find some webpages are packed to the gills with videos and images that distract you from your reading experience. Google provides a way to clean things up and give you a text-dominated webpage viewing experience that lacks all the distracting content. 

Thanks to Google Chrome's hidden Reader mode, you can get a clean reading experience, but first, you have to initiate it. With my ADHD, using Chrome's Reader mode helps me stay focused on my intended purpose, information gathering. 

Here's how to enable Goole's Reader mode and avoid all those distracting videos, images, and ads. 

How to use Chrome Reader Mode

1.On your desktop open Google Chrome

Step 2. Go to chrome://flags. This is a shortcut command that takes you to a menu where you can activate various browser features that aren’t defaults.

Step 3. scroll down to Reader mode

Step 4. Slect and enbale Reader mode

Step 5. The relaunch prompt will pop up, select it and Chrome will restart. 

Step 6. Go to Website and select an article or content you wish to read.

Step 8. You will now see only text. 

If for any reason, you wish to diable Reader mode, just reverse your steps and disable the feature and follow the relaunch prompt and it will be disabaled. 

Microsoft began testing out a new feature for its Edge browser that will allow users to disable some of its non-essential parts. The idea behind this is to help speed things up for browser users (via Neowin).

Sadly, this is not option isn't widely accessible. It's available to those who are part of the Canary channel as part of a controlled-feature rollout. Personally, I'm not a fan of Edge and wish they would make it easier just to delete it from my Windows laptop. As I've mentioned many times before, when you choose to use another browser, Microsoft makes it laborious to make the switch — and have you take extra steps to do so.

How to see see if you can use this new feature

Head to Settings, select Optional Features, and see if disabling optional components is readily available. You can also try the edge://settings/optionalFeatures link. 

The funny thing is that the optional feature added to Edge harkens back to Windows 10, which gave users the ability to disable optional features quickly. You usually end up with your system performing better. 

Microsoft acknowledges this by stating, "Edge now lets you turn off optional browser features to make it the fastest browsing experience for you. Features that are turned off are still available to you but will require a small download to enable."

Again, adding this to Edge is smart on Microsoft's part, but they should also reintroduce the ability to choose another browser as your default with one click as it used to be when using Windows 10. 

Other users have been complaining for a while now about the default browser issue and taking umbrage with the built-in games and newsfeed packed with fake news. Edge, which is supposed to be "cutting Edge," has become bloated and its own worse enemy. As such, I wish we could simply delete it. Microsoft should leave browsers to Google, Apple, and other tech giants. Instead, it should be focusing on making the upcoming Windows 12 less of a system hog and battery killer, but that is a different story for another day. 

Microsoft Edge has impressed ever since it transformed into a Chromium-based browser, and while it still won't be toppling Google Chrome anytime soon, it's certainly cemented itself as a top-tier browser.

However, like Google, it's run by a massive company that occasionally doesn't consider the implications of software changes and a current slip-up, first spotted by an eagle-eyed Redditor, is causing Edge to report every website that you visit directly to Bing (via The Verge).

Why is Edge snitching about your browsing history?

It doesn't appear that this was part of a planned nefarious privacy violation by Microsoft, After all, it was fairly easy for someone to spot, but rather the unintended consequence of a new feature in Edge.

The feature in question is designed to help you to follow content creators that you like — and it's turned on by default in the latest update to Edge. Beyond the problem of turning this on without letting users know, it also doesn't appear to be functioning correctly as it should only be reporting back to Bing when you are on sites like YouTube, Reddit, or news sites, for example. Instead, the service appears to be reporting practically every single site you visit to Bing according to EarTrumpet developer Rafael Rivera.

Microsoft acknowledged that it has seen the reports and it is investigating, but has yet to offer an official response regarding when or if it will address it.

How to stop Microsoft Edge from sending your web history to Bing

While we wait for Microsoft to deal with the issue, it's fortunately easy to put a stop to it yourself by disabling the feature.

That's it, Microsoft Edge should be back to keeping your web browsing habits to itself and not blabbing them to every other Microsoft service it knows.