Category: News

Google tests removing the Search button for, you guessed that one right, more AI

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google continues to make changes to Google Search. After introducing AI mode and some other AI features recently, it is now reportedly testing removing the trusted Search-button for another round of AI infusions.

The report comes from Search Engine Watch noting that some users are now seeing the new AI first search page now instead. While the search field remains for now, Google has removed the search button for three AI-powered features: Create images, ask about files and brainstorm. The “I am feeling lucky” button remains for now though.

While that is not a big problem for users who know that you can simply press the Enter-key to start a search, it may confuse some Google users nevertheless. They may activate the AI mode button, which opens an interface to interact with Google’s AI Gemini.

Pressing the three other buttons starts other activities, but not the classic search. According to Search Engine Watch, two of the three AI features work without a Google account, at least for now. Those are “ask about files” and brainstorm. Only create image remains locked for Google account customers.

So, is this a problem? Probably for some users who used the button all the time to start their searches and do not know about pressing the Enter-key.

The test shows that Google continues to focus on pushing AI options to Google Search and some of its other products, such as Google Maps or Gmail. I’m not a huge fan of this. Not because I have something against AI, but because it is causing problems for the remaining independent site owners and blog writers out there.

Ever since Google’s Panda update, things have been going downhill for many. Now with Google keeping more and more visitors to its search engine on its own site, thanks to AI delivering the answer right on site, even larger publishers have faced declines in traffic.

Microsoft is ending MV2 extensions support in Edge

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

If you are using Microsoft Edge as a browser on your systems and classic MV2 extensions, then you should be aware that Microsoft announced end of support for this type of extensions.

The company revealed that the top 95 percent of the top Edge extensions are already migrated to MV3 and that there are only 58 MV2-based extensions with “meaningful usage” in the Edge Add-on Store.

As a consequence, Microsoft aims to transition all non-Enterprise installations of Edge to supporting MV3 only by the end of 2026. Enterprise customers will get an extension to early 2027.

Edge users may start to see notices on the “Manage Extensions” page of the browser (edge://extensions) and on detail pages that support is ending. MV2 extensions will be turned off by default over the next few months and customers may get MV3 extensions recommended, if an alternative is available.

The changes will roll out to experimental versions of the browser first before they hit the stable population.

With Microsoft dropping support, the situation looks rather grim when it comes to Chromium-based browsers. Firefox remains a strong supporter for MV2 extensions and should be first pick in most cases.

However, here is an overview of Chromium-based browsers and their MV2 support:

BrowserMV2 Support StatusApproachCatch
BraveCuratedCustom Chromium engine patchesOnly supports four specific extensions (uBlock Origin, AdGuard, NoScript, uMatrix)
OperaLegacy onlyMaintaining backend workaroundsOnly works for previously installed extensions; the Opera store is now MV3-only
ThoriumFullHard-forking and restoring MV2 codeEnthusiast project; updates rely on a small team
SupermiumFullHard-forking and restoring MV2 codeNiche browser primarily designed for older Windows systems

Notes:

  • Brave force-enabled MV2 support by modifying their underlying Chromium engine, but they are not supporting the entire MV2 ecosystem.
  • Opera committed to keeping existing MV2 extensions functioning for as long as it remains “technically reasonable”. However, they have stopped accepting new MV2 extensions and transitioned their official extension store entirely to MV3.
  • Thorium: A performance-focused Chromium fork where the lead developer has explicitly committed to maintaining the MV2 loading code indefinitely.
  • Supermium: A privacy-focused browser (originally designed to bring modern web rendering to legacy Windows systems) that guarantees permanent MV2 support.

Seems that Firefox for iOS is getting an enabled adblocker

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

For the longest of times, Firefox users had to rely on extensions or other means to integrate content blocking in the open source browser. Extensions like NoScript or uBlock Origin provided Firefox users with excellent blocking capabilities.

However, only a fraction of all users of the browser installed these extensions. Mozilla’s argument that Firefox was a privacy-focused browser always fell a bit short because of it.

This could change soon though. After testing an ad-blocker in desktop Firefox earlier this year, Mozilla has integrated the option to block ads in Firefox Beta for iOS.

If you have installed Firefox 153.2 for iOS, you may notice a new option to “block ads” in the settings under browsing after enabling the “Ad Blocker” feature flag in the browser.

The setting appears to be enabled by default, but it is unclear whether that is only for the beta or if the final stable release will also have the content blocker enabled by default — or get it at all.

According to user tests, the implementation lacks user interface visibility, just like the test implementation in desktop Firefox. It remains to be seen where this will lead to. Will Firefox get a native content blocker just like Brave and some other Chromium-based browsers like Opera or Vivaldi? It is difficult to tell right now, but since it is in Beta, it seems possible that the next major Firefox for iOS release will include a built-in content blocker.

What is your take on this? Rely on native content blockers or extensions? Let us know in the comments below.

Microsoft shows ads to paying customers to extract even more money

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

If you use Microsoft 365, you may use the Office apps on your desktop devices that are part of the subscription package.

If you do, you may have noticed a new button in the title bar of any Office app that you launch on your device. It says “Upgrade your plan” and has a red dot attached to it to get your attention.

When you click on it, you get an option to upgrade to a new plan that costs more. Microsoft says that this upgrade gives customers “more AI usage and exclusive Copilot features”.

While you can close the window that opened, you may notice that the advertising button remains attached to the title bar. To make matters worse, Microsoft is not giving you any option to hide or remove it, let alone configure that something like it should never be shown again.

Someone at Microsoft must have thought that the upselling in the apps is a great way to increase revenue. The company has probably the numbers to back this up. While you anger some customers, you may get others to upgrade their plan and increase your bottom line in the process.

However, shoving an ad in the face of paying customers may not be the brightest of ideas, at least not this way. Microsoft has displayed ads in various products, including Windows, in the past years. All in an effort to push products, make additional sales or get users to upgrade.

It is probably one of the reasons why Windows has a less than stellar reputation at this point.

The strategy is always the same: add the ad in a location that gets lots of eyes, ignore the voice that questions the idea and also any user comment that is critical of the addition. Then, when things get too heated, remove it and claim that something like this will never happen again.

For anyone fed up with this, LibreOffice, a free and ad-free Office suite, may be a suitable replacement.

Firefox 153.0.1 is out with several crash fixes and more

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Mozilla released a new stable version of its Firefox web browser a moment ago. Firefox 153.0.1 is a point update for the open source browser that is a bug-fix release for the most part. Good news from the security front: there are no security issues that needed fixing in the release.

Note: There is one unresolved issue that may affect Firefox users on Windows. Windows users who experience a crash after installing the update may need to download Firefox manually from Mozilla’s website to install it over the current broken installation. You could also wait with the installation of this update until the issue is resolved for good.

Probably the biggest fixes are several crashes that users of older versions of the browser may have experienced:

  • Fixed a startup crash on Windows that could occur after updating. It could happen when “some of the application’s internal files could not be loaded”. The updated Firefox should start properly now, but Mozilla notes, that some “parts of the interface” may not display correctly as a consequence.
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when loading a frame using a javascript: address.
  • Fixed a crash that could happen while typing in editable areas of a webpage.

Other than that, there is a fix for audio playing silently on some sites after pausing and resuming playback, and a fix for the New Tab page flashing “a few seconds after the page loaded” on systems with custom wallpapers.

Here is the list of the remaining fixes in the release:

  • Search engines that are already installed are not labeled as “New” anymore.
  • Pointer lock is improved, which is used by games and other web content to contain the pointer in the browser window.
  • Fixed that View Page Source would not load blob: documents. Also fixed a time-out issue on documents that inherit their origin.
  • Fixed an issue with the Developer Tool’s Inspector Rules view. Pseudo-elements could only be expanded once per selected element.

The update to Firefox 153.0.1 is available already. It should be installed automatically on most systems, but you can speed it up by selecting Help > About Firefox in the main menu.

You can now use a selfie to sign-in to your Google account

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google announced a new option to sign-in to a Google account this week. Called “Selfie Video”, it is specifically designed for signing-in when you are locked out or use a device that is not your “usual phone or computer”.

However, for this to work, it is necessary to set up Selfie Video prior to making use of it, Google notes.

Note: I got the “Selfie isn’t available as a sign-in option for this account” error when trying to set this up for tests. Not sure whether the feature is region-locked, as Google does not make any mentions of limitations.

Google describes the new feature in the following way:

Setting up a selfie video is simple: You just look at your device’s camera and complete a few short, guided head movements to capture multiple angles.

If you’re having trouble signing in later on, you just take another selfie to get back into your account. Selfie video compares the new video to the one you set up to confirm it is really you and help you get back into your account.

What about privacy and security? Google says the selfie video “is recorded and securely stored with your consent” and only used for sign in help, unless you decide to “share it for additional purposes”. The video is encrypted at rest according to Google, and there are “multiple layers of security to help prevent impersonation attempts”.

Here is my take: while this may look like yet another feature to get more data from its users, it is actually not the worst of ideas in some cases. First, it is optional, which means that you don’t have to use it and the majority of Google users probably won’t.

The main advantage is that this is independent of devices or security keys. If you don’t have access to your smartphone or computer anymore, you may lose access to your accounts or have troubles authorizing yourself. This selfie option could provide a way out in emergency situations. That is, provided that it works as advertised.

For users heavily invested — and thus trusting — in Google’s ecosystem, it could be an option for disaster recovery.

What about you? Would you use such a feature? Let me know in the comments below.

Google Search: AI Overviews reduces click-throughs by 60 percent, research suggests

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Ah Google Search, everyone’s favorite search engine that started out as an excellent source for Internet resources using links and is openly being turned into a service that eats everything that is in its way, even the very sites that fuel it.

A new report, cited by the Wall Street Journal, suggests that major US publishers have noticed sharp drops in organic Google Search traffic between June 2025 and June 2026.

According to the report, sites noticed decreases of organic traffic by up to 85 percent and the main reason for that appears to be AI Overviews. When Google Search displays an AI generated overview on a search results page, traffic to sites drops by about 60 percent according to the study. This leaves Discover traffic as the remaining traffic source from Google, but this comes with its own set of caveats, including a tendency for clickbait.

Major US publishers and sites, including Reddit, Politico and Business Insider, may turn to drastic measures to put an end to Google’s strategy of becoming the one and only destination on the Internet that users need.

Reddit, the Wall Street Journal reports, is considering dropping a potential renewal of its $60 million per year deal with Google. This would disallow Google from using the content published on Reddit for AI training and also prevent the company from showing Reddit content in its AI overviews.

Apart from losing the money, Reddit might also notice another drop in referrals from Google as a consequence, as it would likely no longer be listed by the AI Overviews feature.

My personal take: Google’s decisions have led to a decline in Internet blogs, at least in the tech sector. Independent owners of sites like Freeware Genius stopped publishing or pulled their sites entirely from the Internet because of Google. Now, the beneficiaries of Google’s algorithmic changes are facing a similar situation. Google is keeping the users that it used to send to these sites and now it is their business model that is in jeopardy.

Here is the outcome: Some will survive, as they may provide value that Google can’t replicate. Some will merge, others will vanish. Even big publications or sites may go down. Google might eventually notice that AI can’t generate fresh information on its own though.

Firefox

Firefox 153 launches with new security improvements and fixes

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Mozilla released Firefox 153.0 to the public yesterday. The new version of the open source browser comes with a good range of new features and changes, including some that are important for privacy and security.

The list of changes is long, but there are several standout features in changes. For one, Mozilla integrated the decade-old Containers feature of the browser directly into Firefox as an out-of-the-box feature.

Containers allow you to separate websites and data. The main idea is to contain data within containers, which means that anything that runs outside can’t access the container data. Whether it is a coincidence that Mozilla is making the feature more visible after Brave introduced it recently is unclear, but it could give Containers a much needed boost.

There are various methods to open sites in Containers. You can right-click on any open tab and select the “Open in new Container tab” option, or right-click on the new-tab-button instead.

Firefox ships with the usual four default containers personal, work, banking, and shopping, which you can edit. You can also add new containers or enable “Select a container for each new tab” to automatically open the container picker when opening a new tab.

The Multi-Account Container add-on is still useful, as it extends the functionality. You can use it to force-launch specific sites in a container and use other exclusive features.

As far as security and privacy are concerned, there are three additional changes that are noteworthy:

  • Extensions do not gain access to local files by default anymore. You can still grant them permission using the new “Access local files on your computer” permission.
  • Firefox now requires websites to request permission before connecting to devices on local networks, or to apps and services on a device.
  • Veteran Firefox users may remember the cookieBehavior preference. The values 3 (Allows third-party cookies only if the eTLD+1 already has at least one cookie set in a first-party context) and 4 (Blocks cookies from domains classified as trackers.) are being removed. They are hidden in Firefox 153 and may be removed as early as Firefox 155. Mozilla replaces them with what it says modern values. Link

Here are the remaining important changes and new features in Firefox 153:

  • HDR video playback is coming to Windows on devices that support it. Make sure that HDR video streaming is enabled under Settings > Display.
  • Share > Generate QR Code is a new option to share pages.
  • PDF Editor can now merge multiple PDFs by dragging them into the PDF sidebar and add new pages to PDFs.
  • Type “pick color” in the address bar to quickly copy a color code from the active page.
  • On Apple devices, Firefox supports Globe-F now.
  • Local permissions are not highlighted in red in the address bar.
  • You can launch Firefox labs now by typing labs in the address bar.

Last but not least, Mozilla patched several security issues in Firefox. The aggregate rating is high and there is no mention of exploits in the wild.

Android

Google changes Android backup rules so that everything counts against storage quotas

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Many mobile phone users rely on the automatic backup feature of their devices. On Android, users can back up images and videos, settings, the call history or SMS.

Not all of the backed up data counted against the storage quota of the user, which is 15 GB by default for free Google account users.

While Google has been pushing users towards backing up photos and videos online, likely also to get them close to the free limit and push paid storage, it has discounted some data up until now.

This changes in less than two months. Google is emailing Android users currently about the upcoming change to Android’s backup storage policy.

The main change: All data counts against a user’s storage quota. Google says this includes things such as SMS messages, the call history or device settings.

The email reveals the extra storage requirements for the particular user, which was 0.07 GB in my case and should be around 40 MB on average. It seems unlikely that this will drive the quote of the majority users across the treshold.

Google is also extending the backup capabilities. When you open the back up other data section in the preferences, which Google says is rolling out, you find options to turn off backups for device data or app data. Each entry is listed with the storage it occupies on the device currently, making it easy to find the largest sections. However, there is no option to sort by data, which can make browsing the app data section time consuming.

Brave Search features a Google Maps alternative now

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

One of the search engines that I use regularly is Brave Search. I have several reasons for that: it is fast, uses its own search index that is fully independent from Google Search and Bing Search, and often good at uncovering results that are burried deep under pages of “what the search algorithms believe is better content”.

For Maps, I do rely on Google Maps. While there are other maps services out there, I found most of them lacking in one way or another. However, in some countries, like Korea or China, I do use different map apps as Google Maps does not work well there or at all, or because they are better.

I stumbled upon Brave Maps just recently. It is not brand new, but Brave does not appear to advertise or link to it much at this point. From what I can tell, it appears to be based on OpenStreeMap for the most part.

You can run searches for places and get information, descriptions and reviews taken from TripAdvisor. One downside is that directions is not baked in but redirects to Google, Bing or OpenStreetMap route planners. That is somewhat of a let-down and will hopefully get addressed in future updates.

Another issue is that reviews are not fully baked in. You get some for a location, but they may be cut off and after three or so, a link to Tripadvisor points to the rest of the reviews. This is a main issue, as you can’t use Brave Maps to search all of the reviews for certain information.

All in all, it is good to see that Brave is adding a Maps feature to its growing list of services. However, at its current stage, it lacks essential features and that reduces its usefulness quite a lot. It is probably one of the reasons why Brave is not heavily advertising the feature yet.

Still, if you are looking for non-mainstream maps services, this is one to keep an eye on to see how it evolves in the coming years.