Category: News

Here is what happened so far in 2026

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

This is going to be a rather personal look at the past couple of months and how things have evolved since then.

As you may know, Softonic, the Spanish company that acquired Ghacks years ago, sold it in a rather hasty deal. The writing was on the wall for some time, especially since the budget for the site was cut in half more or less. This meant less articles written and it fueled the spiral downwards.

We, the writers, were not in the loop. One day in December, we were told that the site had been sold. Our access was cut immediately and the entire team was fired passively. Later, I was asked if I wanted to write a good-bye article, but it was already too late for that in my opinion.

Anyway, this meant that I stopped writing for Ghacks after nearly 20 years of doing so more or less every day. It was tough for Ashwin as well, who lost his main source of income.

There is little chance that the Ghacks situation is going to change in the future.

For now, these are the places that you can find my articles or takes at:

  • Chipp.in, my personal blog: No ads, no tracking, tech news, some tutorials. I do not post as frequently as I’d like to.
  • Weekly Tech Insights: a newsletter published once a week. I recently started to integrate longer takes on certain tech news, also has tutorials and other nice stuff. Totally free.
  • Ask Woody Newsletter: I was approached by Will from the Ask Woody Newsletter some time ago and became a contributor. My plan is to submit articles to the newsletter regularly. Ashwin also started contributing.
  • Gamestar Tech: This is the online tech section of one of the biggest German gaming magazines. Contribute daily tech news in German.
  • Windows 11 Book: I have started working on the next revision of the book. Much has changed since 2024 and the book is in dire need of updating.

As far as personal sites are concerned, it is getting incredibly difficult to maintain them. AI tools are taking over, whether you like it or do not. More and more users will ask AI on search engine sites and elsewhere when they run into a problem or need an opinion or advice. This means less traffic to sites, which make less money as a consequence.

Many of my favorite tech news sites have vanished in the past couple of years. Google is changing its algorithm constantly and that usually means less visits. Yes, there are some holdouts, but even these face the problems.

You need to offer something that the competition or AI can’t bring to the table. And that is what I plan to do here. This site will never grow to Ghacks levels, as it is niche, not really indexed well in search engines. Means: only a handful of people will ever find it, unless an article gets suddenly pushed via a major Internet site.

My plan: grow slowly by word of mouth only, ignore search engines or AI, they are unpredictable. Build trust, never falter, never change. We will see how this goes.

This is the new Firefox design that is currently in testing

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

News leaked some time ago that Mozilla was working on a new design for its open source Firefox web browser. Now, with the most recent version of the cutting edge Nightly browser comes the first glimpse of that new design.

However, the new Firefox design is not enabled by default and it may take some time before that is going to be the case.

What is Project Nova?

Internally dubbed Project Nova, this redesign departs from Firefox’s current aesthetic in favor of a much softer, modern interface heavily characterized by rounded elements. The most striking changes include the address bar and tabs, which now sit within a segmented, “floating island” UI element.

Additionally, web page content no longer sits flush against the edges of the browser window; instead, it is elegantly framed within a rounded container. Combined with curved hover effects and refreshed icons, Nova gives Firefox a noticeably more fluid and approachable appearance.

Beyond its structural changes, the Nova redesign introduces a fresh splash of personality through customizable pastel gradients and vibrant color accents on the new tab page and menus. As the major successor to the “Proton” UI introduced in 2021, Nova also brings functional layout updates, including improved integration for vertical tabs, a built-in compact mode to decrease UI spacing, and a revamped settings page.

How to enable Nova in Firefox

Make sure that you have installed the latest version of Firefox Nightly. Nova will come to Beta and Stable Firefox eventually, but this may take some time. If you want to give Nova a try right now, you need the development version.

  1. Load about:config in the Firefox address bar.
  2. Search for browser.nova.enabled.
  3. Use the toggle at the end of the line to set the preference to True.
  4. Restart Firefox.

If all worked out, you should see first bits of the new design in action.

It is not the biggest of re-designs at the moment. In fact, depending on the theme and website, you may not even notice that much has changed to begin with.

You can now ask Gemini to create Microsoft Office documents directly

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google added a useful new feature to its Gemini AI recently: the ability to create Microsoft Office documents directly using prompts.

While Gemini could create tables and such already, you had to copy the information manually up until now into a Microsoft Office file, if Microsoft Office is your Office suite of choice.

This changes with the most recent update. Now, you can ask Gemini to create Microsoft Office documents directly and the process could not be simpler.

Just add “export the table to Excel format” or “export the text to Word format” to your prompt to do so. Gemini will then show an attachment at the top that is in the right format and contains the information that you requested.

For instance, I used the following prompt to get Gemini to compare the classic Steam Controller to the new gamepad that Valve plans to release in a few days:

Compare the old and new Steam Controller. Create a table. Export that table to Excel format

Gemini displayed the Excel spreadsheet at the top and below that it listed the information that I requested.

All you need to do is click on the attached file to display it right away. This opens options to print it or save it to the local system.

Interestingly enough, the information that Gemini presents to you directly may be different from the information that you requested to be put into the Office document. I guess you can use the instructions to make them identical though, which would be useful to make sure that the Office document has the right information.

Google Chrome update patches another 0-day vulnerability

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google released a security update for its Chrome web browser that fixes 21 distinct security issues, including a 0-day issue that is exploited in the wild.

You know the drill: If you run Chrome or have it installed, update asap to close the vulnerabilities and protect your systems from potential attacks.

My preferred way of updating the browser is to run winget upgrade google.chrome.exe from the command line. You can also start it, select Menu > Help > About Google Chrome.

The 21 vulnerabilities have a severity of high or medium. The 0-day vulnerability is CVE-2026-5281, which Google describes as a “Use after free in Dawn”.

  • Use after free describes memory corruption vulnerabilities that occurs when a program attempts to access sections of computer memory that have already been released back to the system.
  • Dawn is a WebGPU implementation.

The official description of the vulnerability is the following:

Use after free in Dawn in Google Chrome prior to 146.0.7680.178 allowed a remote attacker who had compromised the renderer process to execute arbitrary code via a crafted HTML page.

The new versions of the browser after installation of the update:

  • Chrome for Windows: 146.0.7680.177 or 146.0.7680.178
  • Chrome for Mac: 146.0.7680.177 or 146.0.7680.178
  • Chrome for Linux: 146.0.7680.177
  • Chrome for Android: 146.0.76380.177

Mozilla changes plans, extends Firefox support on Windows 7 and 8 once more

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

No one has seen that development coming. After announcing the end of support for its Firefox web browser for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 starting in February 2026, Mozilla seems to have had a change of heart.

Now, the organization says that it is extending support once again. The information has been published on its What Train Is It Now website, which lists the latest and upcoming Firefox releases.

There, Mozilla writes:

We have decided to extend support to ESR 115 only on Windows 7-8.1 and macOS 10.12-10.14 up to August 2026. We will re-evaluate this decision in July 2026 and announce any updates on ESR 115’s end-of-life then.

Support for Firefox on Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and the macOS versions 10.12, 10.13, and 10.14, is guaranteed until at least August 2026. At least? Yes, as Mozilla may extend support again. In either way, the organization will make an announcement in July 2026 regarding the web browser’s support on the older operating systems.

Firefox 115.x users on these operating systems should receive browser updates, only security fixes and critical bug fixes, as usually via the integrated updating system.

The extension gives users on these old systems access to one of the major browsers, as the other major browser makers, including Google and Microsoft, have stopped supporting the older operating systems for a long time already.

Security updates are guaranteed for another six months at the very least. Good move by Mozilla.

Mozilla is working on a Firefox redesign – a fan favorite feature could make an official return

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Mozilla is working on a redesign of its open source Firefox web browser according to leaked mockups of the project. Previous attempts to redesign the browser split the community. While some heralded the changes as a move to modernize the browser, others pointed out that these redesigns were removing or changing features.

Here is an overview of the main changes according to the leak:

  • Strongly Rounded Elements: The most characteristic feature of the Nova design is its prominent use of rounded corners. The tabs, address bar, sidebar launcher, website content area, and elements on the start page are all significantly more rounded. The top section (tab bar and navigation bar) now forms a single rounded unit.
  • Subtle Color Gradients: Unlike the previous design, which relied on solid, single-color surfaces, Mozilla is introducing subtle color gradients across parts of the interface.
  • New Color Accents: The mockups show a noticeable tendency toward violet tones. However, these colors appear to adapt to the chosen theme, as another screenshot demonstrates a mint-green start page with matching UI colors.
  • Improved Vertical Tabs Integration: The redesign prominently features built-in support for vertical tabs as an alternative to the traditional horizontal tab bar.
  • Return of “Compact Mode”: While Firefox currently hides its space-saving “compact mode” behind advanced settings, the Nova mockups explicitly show a visible toggle for it. This suggests Mozilla might officially support and promote a compact UI layout again.
  • Split-Screen Tabs: The dark theme mockups showcase a layout with two tabs open side-by-side, hinting at a native split-screen or tiling feature currently in development.

Mozilla is not reinventing the wheel with this new design. Most web browsers look very similar in this day and age. In fact, compared to the current version of Firefox, it is focusing heavily on colors and rounded elements as the main distinguishing visual changes.

The one thing that excites me the most is the (supposed) return of the compact mode. This mode, which is still supported unofficially by Firefox, is my favorite display mode, as it reduces the size of the UI to give websites more room. Its existence in the mockups suggests strongly that Mozilla might return it officially to Firefox, a change that I would welcome with open arms. It would be another feature that Mozilla is returning or adding to Firefox in the past two or so years.

The mockups show a work in progress. This means that it is not really clear if a redesigned Firefox will look exactly like that.

Now You: What is your take on the proposed redesign of the web browser?

Google to release two Chrome Stable releases per month

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google updates the stable version of its Chrome web browser every week right now. It gets one major version bump, for instance from version 145 to 146, and three point updates. The big update introduces new features and changes plus security updates, the point updates usually only security fixes and major bug fixes.

Google announced a major change to the browser’s release cycle today on the official Chrome for Developers blog. “Starting September 2026, Chrome will move to a two-week release cycle”, writes Google on the blog.

Google continues:

The new release cycle means that a new beta and stable version of Chrome will ship every two weeks, starting from the stable release of Chrome 153 on September 8th. This applies to all platforms—Desktop, Android, and iOS. There will be no changes to the Dev and the Canary channels.

The company explains that this is done to “match the demands of a modern web” by providing developers and users with “immediate access to the latest performance improvements, fixes and new capabilities”. It may also help Google reclaim the (major) browser rank with the highest version, a coveted rank that it lost recently to Mozilla’s Firefox web browser.

The changes apply to stable Chrome on all platforms only. The Extended Stable release is not affected by this. It has a different schedule, as it is updated on an eight-week cycle. Similarly, Beta and Canary channels are also not affected by the change.

While the change may not look like big, as Google retains the number of Chrome releases in a month, it is far from small either. Security updates install without major problems usually, but this can’t be said for a browser release that introduces changes or new features.

With two coming each month, users have to keep a good eye on the changes and better increase the number of backups that they make before installing new software to account for potential issues arising from this.

While I won’t cover all Chrome releases here on Chipp, you can expect me to cover those that are causing major issues.

Firefox 148.0 is out with its AI kill switch and support for Windows 7 and 8.1 comes to an end

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Mozilla has released several updates for its web browser Firefox, including version 148.0 Stable and also updates for the extended support release (ESR) versions. It is a special day, as Mozilla is ending support for older versions of Windows and macOS with the release of Firefox 115.33.0 ESR.

Firefox 148.0: The release highlights

  • The AI kill switch and AI controls make their debut, allowing users to control AI in Firefox.
  • Important security fixes.
  • Improved PDF screen reader support for math formulas.
  • Translation improvements.
  • Telemetry adjustments.

How to download and install Firefox 148

Most unmanaged Firefox installations will be updated automatically to the latest release once it has been released officially. This may take minutes, hours and sometimes even days. You can speed this up by selecting Menu > Settings > Help > About Firefox.

The new AI controls

The new AI controls of the Firefox browser.

Probably the main feature of Firefox 148.0 is the new AI controls that Mozilla added to the browser. Load about:preferences#ai in the browser’s address bar or go to Menu > Settings > AI Controls to display all options.

The options are divided into two main sections: first a toggle to block all AI enhancements in Firefox with a single click or tap, and then individual controls for users who want to enable some but not other AI features.

So, if you want to block all AI, toggle “Block AI enhancements” and confirm the decision. This should take care of all current and future AI features in Firefox.

The second section is divided into two parts: On-device AI and AI chatbot providers in sidebar. Here you can enable or block the following features individually:

  • Translations.
  • Image alt text in Firefox PDF Viewer.
  • Tab group suggestions.
  • Key points in link previews.
  • Chatbot in sidebar.

When you see available, it means that the feature is not active. Blocked means that it is disabled and enabled means that it is active.

A word or two about Remote Improvements

Remote Improvements are small changes to Firefox that are delivered remotely. Previously, this required for Firefox to share “technical and interaction data”, short Telemetry, with Mozilla. Starting in Firefox 148, this is no longer the case.

In other words, you can receive the fixes without sharing the data or participating in experimental studies.

Opting-out

Uncheck the highlighted option to opt-out of remote updates.

The feature is on by default in Firefox 148, unless you have opted out of studies in the Settings prior to the release of Firefox 148.

To make sure that you are opted-out, do the following:

  • Load about:preferences#privacy in the address bar.
  • Scroll down to the Firefox Data Collection and Use section near the bottom.
  • Uncheck “Allow Firefox to improve features, performance, and stability between updates”.

Smaller changes in Firefox 148

  • Firefox now has improved support for screen readers accessing mathematical formulas embedded in PDFs.
  • Firefox Backup is now also available to Windows 10 users who set “Clear history when Firefox closes” to enabled. Backups will only include data that is not set to be cleared on exit in that case.
  • Translation into Vietnamese, and translation into and from Traditional Chinese is now supported.
  • New Tab wallpapers will show up on new container tabs also now.

The security updates

Firefox 148 fixes several security issues in previous versions. The severity is high and a massive 51 issues or potential issues are patched when the updated is installed.

The end of the road for old Windows and macOS versions

Mozilla is ending support for older operating systems with the release of Firefox 115.33.0 ESR. It is the last official release for systems that are no longer supported by their makers. Mozilla was the last major browser maker to support these operating systems, but this is coming to an end.

Firefox 115.33.0 continues to work on these systems, but updates won’t be released anymore. This means that security issues won’t get fixed anymore, which can be problematic as time passes by. Similarly, new web technology support is absent, which means that some sites or apps may not work correctly or at all.

Google teases three new Chrome features that sound familiar

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google announced three new features for its Chrome web browser on its official The Keyword blog recently. The new features — split view, save to Drive, and annotate — improve the productivity of Chrome users according to Google.

Users of several other browsers may not find the features as exciting as Google, as at least some of the features have been supported by other browsers for some time.

Split View is coming to Chrome

Split View is a typical example of such a feature. It allows you to display two websites next to each other in a single tab. Instead of displaying the two sites in two browser windows next to each other, you may display them in a single window.

This has some advantages, like easier handling as you interact with a single window only. However, there are also some disadvantages, including that only one address is shown in the address bar at a time.

Split View is not a new feature. In fact, Google is late to the party. Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi, Opera or Brave Browser support the mode already. Mozilla has also launched the feature in its Firefox web browser, but it is experimental at the time of writing.

How to use Split View in Chrome

Simply right-click on a tab in the web browser and select “Add tab to new Split View”. Chrome splits the space in half, with the right side empty in the beginning. Just select an open tab, which Chrome displays, type an address or pick a bookmark to load it in the second half.

Chrome displays both open websites in the same tab, but only the URL of the active tab in the address bar.

PDF annotations

If you open PDF documents in Chrome, you can now “highlight text and add notes” to it right in the browser. Google says that this eliminates the need to use a separate application for that.

This is not exactly a new feature either, as both Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox have supported the feature for quite some time.

To use it, open a PDF document in Chrome and click on the draw icon in the toolbar once it is displayed. Here you find the new options to annotate directly to the PDF file.

Save to Drive

This is probably the strangest edition in this feature update. Google is reaching feature parity with Split View and PDF annotations, which is a good reason to introduce the features.

However, Save to Drive is the outlier. It enables you to save PDF documents that you view in Chrome to Google Drive. Google says this keeps important documents backed up in the cloud.

It is not as if this was not possible before already, at least in many cases. If you run Google Drive on your system, you could simply put the file into the Drive folder to store it locally and online. I guess it helps if you do not run the software and want to save PDFs to Drive directly. Saves the step of saving the document locally first before uploading it.

Now You: what is your take on the new features? Something that would make you switch to Google’s browser?

LanguageTool blocks free user access to browser extension: here are the best alternatives

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

LanguageTool is a popular AI-based grammar checker. It is available as a free — limited — version and a premium version that offers more features for a price.

Free LanguageTool users were limited in several ways since the introduction of the service. It lacked the advanced spell, style and grammar checking capabilities of the premium version. However, up until now, free users could use LanguageTool browser add-ons for deeper integration in web browsers.

This integration is being taken away. When you open the comparison of the free and premium version on the official website, you will notice that Learneo, Inc, the owners of the service, have removed browser add-ons support for free users.

The only integration that remains available is for the open source email client Thunderbird. Support for every browser listed on the page requires a premium subscription now.

Why is LanguageTool making the change? The company does not say, but the main reason is likely to drive subscriptions. Free users who have come to rely on the tool may not want to lose access to it. The only option, if they want to continue using the add-ons, is to pay LanguageTool for the privilege.

LanguageTool users may use copy and paste for the checking of style, spelling, and grammar, but it is cumbersome in comparison.

LanguageTool alternatives

There are two groups that I would like to highlight.

  • The first offers capabilities that are very similar to LanguageTool. These tools rely on server-side checks, like LanguageTool, which makes them convenient to use but not-so-great for privacy.
  • The second group runs locally. This is much better for privacy, but features may be limited because of that or not as powerful.

Best privacy-friendly alternatives

Harper is a free locally-hosted open source grammar checker. That is great for privacy and it does come with browser and services integrations. Since it runs locally, its latency is much lower than that of cloud-based services.

However, the main downside is that Harper supports English only. The developers hinted in the past that other languages would be added in the future, but for now, English and some if its major dialects is all you get.

Self-hosted LanguageTool. It may come as a surprise, but you can actually host a LanguageTool server, if you have the technical know-how to get it up and running. This allows you to continue using the add-ons — I think — and you find starting instructions here. Could be an option for technical users who do not mind setting up their own server and fiddling around with configurations and such.

General alternatives

If you do not mind that your texts are transferred to cloud-based servers for checking, you may find the following tools or services useful.

QuillBot is an all-in-one writing assistant that offers a similar feature set. The free version checks spelling and grammar, comes with a few AI-based features, such as paraphrasing text (up to 125 words), browser extensions (no Firefox apparently), and some other applications and operating systems.

Windows users who use Edge may also check out the free Microsoft Editor of the browser. It offers limited grammar and spell-checking, but lacks deeper functionality.

Grammarly is another popular choice, but it has been criticized heavily in the past for its data collection practices.

Now You: do you use a grammar checker service or something else to make sure that mistakes are kept to a minimum? Feel free to post your suggestions and about your experience with these tools below.