Google to end support for Chrome apps on all platforms outside Chrome OS

Screencap: Ubergizmo

In the coming months and year, Google will slowly be phasing out support for Chrome apps on other platforms outside of its own Chrome OS platform. This means, Windows, Mac, and Linux users will lose access to them. By the second half of 2017, these apps won’t show up on the Chrome Web Store. Newly-published apps coming out at the latter part of this year will only be available on Chrome OS. By early 2018, users can no longer load these apps. What will be remaining there are the extensions and themes.

And while it seems like a big deal, it would seem only a small number of users are using Chrome apps. According to Google, “Today, approximately 1 percent of users on Windows, Mac, and Linux actively use Chrome packaged apps, and most hosted apps are already implemented as regular web apps.” And with the advancements in open web, Google feels like there isn’t a real need for these apps. Google is encouraging developers to migrate their Chrome apps to the web or help out Google with new APIs to fill in gaps left by the Chrome apps.

Google Chrome to start blocking Flash next month

Starting in September, Google Chrome plans to shift the emphasis from Flash to HTML5. Chrome 53 will start block Flash, particularly those kinds that load “behind the scenes,” which can slow down casual browsing. HTML5 is known to be less resource-heavy as well as improve battery life, page loading, and responsiveness across the web.

Come December, Chrome 55 will make HTML5 the default browsing experience. Sites that have Flash-only support will be the only exceptions. But you’ll have the option to enable Flash when you visit. These changes will hopefully result in fewer crashes and hang-ups.

Source: Engadget

Chrome on Android to load videos faster while using less battery

A new version of Chrome on Android is promising faster loading times for videos while using up less of your battery. With Chrome 52, you should see videos playing sooner on the mobile browser instead of having it pause briefly before loading as you can see in the demo video above. At the same time, it’ll supposedly make your battery last longer. If you use Data Saver Mode, videos also work there, too. It’ll save you as much as 50 percent on data by what Google says is using a lightweight version of the video. You are supposed to see the differences in short videos, which makes up a lot of online content. But we can’t say how short is short.

Google to let you Cast tabs on Chrome sans extension soon

The latest update coming to Chrome 51 will allow you to Cast the browser to your TV or another Cast-supported monitor without having to use the Google Cast extension. The update bakes the functionality into the browser and it has an option you can select from the tool menu. You can even right click on browser to Cast a specific page.

This new Cast feature will take out the ability to determine bitrate, video quality, and resolution since it’ll automatically adjust this for you depending on your bandwidth. The existing extension won’t go anywhere though, this just gives you the ability to Cast much faster. The update is rolling out to users in the coming weeks.

Source: The Verge