Category: News

Stellantis testing annoying ads in infotainment systems of cars

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Most modern cars come with infotainment systems. These control a variety of functions, including the radio, calls, navigation and more.

It was only a matter of time before some car manufacturers started to play with the idea of displaying ads on those screens to their customers to increase their profit margin.

Stellantis, the fourth-largest manufacturer of cars, owns brands such as Jeep, Fiat, Maserati, Opel, Peugot, or Chrysler. It seems that someone at Stellantis must have that idea of displaying ads to customers, as owners of Jeeps are now flocking to social media to report that their car’s infotainment system is pestering them with ads.

Here is what happens: ds are displayed whenever the car stops. They display on the screen and may be closed with a tap on the close icon. Problem is, there does not appear to be a setting to disable the display of ads entirely.

This means that, whenever an affected owner stops at a red light, an ad is shown. Drivers who want to look a the navigational map or make changes to the radio cannot, unless they close the ad first.

The ad, interestingly named “Purchase Peace of Mind”, is always shown. There is no variance, and there is no option to get rid of it by saying “no”. The reason for that is simple: the ad uses dark patterns. There is no “I do not want to, please do not bother me again” option.

The response would probably be better if Stellantis would sell an adblocker called “Peace of Mind” to its customers.

You can only close it, only to see the exact same thing again on the next stop of the car. Talk about frustrating experiences.

Here is a video in which the issue is discussed in detail:

This development may lead to the rise of adblockers for cars or specialized services that block ads in cars or disable online connectivity.

What is your take on this? Would you buy a car that had an infotainment system with these kind of ads? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Brave Browser gets support for injecting scripts into websites

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Remember userscripts? These little scripts are a useful alternative to browser extensions. They can be used for lots of things, most often for changing something on websites, like removing elements.

Brave Software announced support for scriplets in the company’s Brave Browser today. These work similarly to userscripts. Users of the browser may add scriptlets to Brave so that they run on selected sites automatically.

The new feature has landed in Brave 1.75, the current stable version of the browser.

Good to known: the process is fiddly right now. You need to enable developer mode, add the scriptlets yourself, and assign websites to these scriplets using custom filters.

Here is how it works in detail:

  1. Load the Content Filters section of the settings. The easiest option is to load this URL: brave://settings/shields/filters
  2. Toggle Developer Mode to turn it on.
  3. Activate the “add new scriplet” button on the same page after enabling developer mode.
  4. Type a name for the scriptlet. You may want to avoid spaces.
  5. Type or paste the code of the script.
  6. Select the Save button.
  7. Now use the following syntax to assign the scriptlet to specific websites: example.com##+js(name-of-your-scriptlet.js)
  8. Select the save changes button.

Notes:

  • Replace example.com with the hostname of the website, e.g., chipp.in.
  • Replace name-of-your-scriptlet.js with the name that you have specified during creation.

Brave will execute the script whenever the matching domain is visited.

You can check out the technical documentation of the feature here.

Userscripts or Scriptlets?

Userscript extensions offer some advantages. They may load userscripts easily from various sources, and they may also update them. They also work in all browsers, which is great if you use multiple browsers.

Brave’s solution supports pasting scripts, but it is still fiddly to link them to specific sites and maintain them.

With that said, it may be interesting to advanced users who prefer to avoid extensions whenever possible.

I cannot really say how Brave’s integrated solution compares to userscripts. It is more powerful, equally powerful, or less?

What is your take on the integration? Good move by Brave?

Google Chrome is getting an automatic picture-in-picture mode

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google plans to roll out an automatic picture-in-picture mode in Chrome 134. The browser will be released next month. When it does, Chrome may continue to show video content on certain sites when the user scrolls away from the video content.

This feature works for the most part identical to that of Mozilla Firefox, which has had the feature for some time now.

Google has added a few safeguards to the feature. In particular, automatic picture-in-picture kicks only in if..

  • The site uses a secure connection (https).
  • Media is playing in the active window / tab.
  • Media played with sound for at least two seconds.
  • The media player needs to have set a handler for picture-in-picture.
  • Google uses heuristics next to that using media engagement, unless you explicitly allow a site to enable the mode.

Chrome users may allow or disallow automatic picture-in-picture mode, which gives them control over the feature.

Enable or disable Chrome’s auto picture-in-picture feature

You can give it a try in Chrome 134 or newer by following these instructions:

  1. Load chrome://flags/#auto-picture-in-picture-for-video-playback in the Chrome 134 or newer address bar.
  2. Set the value of the feature to enabled.
  3. Restart Google Chrome.

Note: the feature won’t be available on all sites at the time of writing. It does not work on YouTube for instance.

If you do not need the feature, you could set the value of the experimental flag to disabled to block it. This flag will be removed in the future though, which means that you do need to make changes to the settings in Chrome at that point to disable automatic picture-in-picture mode in Google Chrome.

Since it launches in Chrome, it is likely that it will also launch in other Chromium-based browsers in the future.

What is your take on this feature in general? Do you use it in another browser already? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Hide Gemini removes Google AI features on the Internet

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google, just like Microsoft, puts lots of effort into adding its Gemini AI to its products. AI is changing the Internet as we know it.

There is the AI Overviews feature, which gives searches an AI generated answer on Google Search. Other examples include the Gemini button on properties such as Gmail or Google Docs.

Hide Gemini is a browser extension that removes Google AI features on Google sites. It does away with AI Overviews and most / all Gemini buttons that Google has added to its services.

The extension is available for Chromium-based browsers, including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, and Opera, and also Mozilla Firefox and Firefox-based browsers such as Mullvad Browser or Tor Browser.

Hide Gemini works automatically in the background. All you have to do is install it in your browser of choice. It either removes the AI content or uses CSS to hide it, so that it is not visible anymore when you access Google services such as Search or Gmail.

The developer notes that some AI content may still show up. One example is the “help we write” feature on Google Docs, which shows up in the canvas area. Temporary promotions that Google adds to its services may also be visible, even with the extension installed.

Extensions like Hide Gemini work well most of the time, but they work only when code is not changed by Google. Any change that Google makes to its sites may result in AI content being shown again, even with the extension installed.

This is only a temporary nuisance, provided that the developer reacts quickly and updates the extension to take the changes into account.

What is your take on AI features plastered on the web? Is that something that you use regularly or try to avoid as best as you can? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Windows 10

Microsoft cancels a Defender feature that gave subscribers a free VPN

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft introduced a new feature that it called Privacy Protection less than two years ago to Microsoft 365 Home and Family plans. The feature gave subscribers access to a VPN service along with 50 gigabytes of traffic per month.

Microsoft limited the feature to the Microsoft Defender app, subscribers, and users from a handful of countries only.

At this moment, Microsoft is sending out emails to users of the VPN that it is being cancelled.

The details:

  • The service will be pulled on February 28, 2025.
  • It affects Home and Family subscribers only.

About Privacy Protection: reason for its removal

I reviewed Privacy Protection back in 2024 on Ghacks. While bare bones, it was still miles ahead of Google’s offering, which I called the most basic VPN one could get. Interestingly enough, Google did shut down its Google One VPN in mid 2024 for many customers.

Microsoft explains on a support page that its goal is to ensure that subscribers “remain safer online” and that it decided to pull the feature after evaluation of its usage and effectiveness.

The company says that Windows, iOS, and macOS users do not need to take any action. Android users, who have used the feature, need to remove its VPN profile manually from their device.

These are the steps according to Microsoft:

  1. Go to your phone’s Settings app.
  2. Search for ‘VPN’ in the settings.
  3. If you’ve onboarded to privacy protection, you should see a ‘Microsoft Defender’ VPN profile in the list of VPN profiles.
  4. Use the info icon to tap on it and remove it.

Microsoft Edge Secure Network, a browser VPN integrated into Edge by Microsoft, does not appear to be affected by the change.

Closing Words

VPN solutions, like Microsoft’s Privacy Protection or Google’s One VPN feature, offered basic functionality when compared to dedicated VPN solutions. Heck, Google did not even support options like selecting a server to connect to.

Major features, like dual-hop connections, selecting different protocols, using obfuscation techniques, or kill switch functionality, were never supported.

This does not mean that the basic VPN solutions were useless. Users could still use the VPNs to protect their Internet traffic, especially in public places.

Now it is your turn. Do you use a VPN service sometimes or regularly? If so, which one is your favorite and why?

Brave personalized search

Brave Search: raise or discard domains in search for custom results

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Brave launched a new search feature today that introduces reranking options. The core idea is to give users of the search engine an option to see more results of websites they like or prefer, and less or nothing at all of sites that they do not like or want to see.

This is especially useful if you come upon sites that you do not value highly regularly, or miss articles or information from a site that you do value.

Brave notes that rerank only applies to the current user. It has no impact on a site’s presence on the search engine, other than for the user who made the change. The feature does not require an account, which is another plus.

Denoted sites do not appear in search results any longer on Brave Search. This works similarly to the extension uBlacklist, which works on Google Search only though.

Raised sites get a new ranking signal that boost their ranking. While they may still not be shown in the first few spots in the results, their rank should be higher than before.

Brave Search’s AI component takes the new signals into account, which means that you should see sites mentioned more often or less there as well.

Good to know: the feature uses Brave Goggles, a feature that Brave introduced in 2022. It allows users to create custom filters that change search result rankings.

How to use the new feature on Brave Search

You can access the new feature after you run a search. Click on the new rerank icon in the top right corner to display the options. There you may:

  • Raise any listed site to strengthen it in Brave Search.
  • Discard any site to make sure it won’t show up in the search results anymore.

The listing changes when you switch pages in the results.

There is no option currently to add custom sites. If you want to get rid of a site or promote one, you need to run a search that includes it. The best way to do that is to search for the name of the site, as it will likely appear in the results in that case.

The finetuning applies to any search. If you raise a site, it will rank higher regardless of search term. That’s important to note, as it may catapult sites that cover anything to the top of the results regularly, if you raise them.

A click on the edit button displays options to remove sites again.

Closing Words

Rerank is an excellent feature that may improve Brave Search for users who use it. While I wish it would include an option to add a site manually, it is possible that it will come at a later point.

It is still possible to run default searches using a browser’s private browsing mode.

You can read more about the new feature on the Brave website.

Firefox 134.0.2

Firefox 134.0.2 is here with a few non-security corrections

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Mozilla plans to release a second point update for Firefox 134 later today. Firefox 134.0.2 is another non-security update that addresses a few pressing problems in the browser that had to be fixed early.

Most Firefox installations will be upgraded automatically once the update is released. As this does not happen in real-time, some users may want to trigger the update manually instead.

How to update Firefox: One easy way of doing so is to select Menu > Help > About Firefox. The browser displays the current version and runs a check for updates. It should pick up the latest, download it and install it. A restart is required to complete the process.

Good to know: Firefox 134.0.1, released last week, fixed an issue on YouTube and a crash issue.

Firefox 134.0.2: the changes

The official release notes are not available yet. Mozilla will publish them later today on this page.

Here is a quick overview of the included fixes:

  • After a crash, the crash reporter was not displayed for some localized builds.
  • Anchored links in HTML framesets pointing to local files did not work.
  • Network requests could not be resend in the Developer Tools when debugging extensions.
  • Data consumption from service works could unexpectedly halt.

Most Firefox users should not be affected by any of these issues, as they apply mostly to edge cases or development related cases.

Suggested course of action: Since the release does not fix any security issues, most users should not feel pressed to install the update immediately.

The next major release happens on February 4th, which is about two weeks from today.

Linux Mint 22.1 is available with a big list of changes

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

A new version of the Linux distribution Linux Mint is now available. Linux Mint 22.1 is a long term service release that will be supported until 2029. Downloads are already available on the official website and various mirror servers.

As always, Linux 22.1 is available in three editions: Cinnamon, Xfce, and MATE. Cinnamon is the most popular version, Xfce is a lighter version that does not support some of the Cinnamon features, but is lighter on resources because of that. Mate is a traditional edition that continues to be supported.

Tip: check out the list of known issues here before you start the upgrade or installation.

Linux Mint 22.1 improvements (Cinnamon)

The official release notes reveal what is new and changed. Here are the highlights:

  • APT dependencies modernization, which lays the groundwork for future improvements.
  • Night Light support, which “adjusts the screen to help reduce eyestrain, headaches, and improve sleep quality”. You can configure it under Settings > Night Light.
  • New default theme with “smoother, rounded elements and darker tones”, and cleaner, modern dialogs.
  • Wayland compatibility improvements by using native dialogs for better integration.
  • Software manager optimizations (“better speed, ensuring faster application browsing and installations”).
  • Nemo actions support for keyboard shortcuts.
  • Improved Alt-Tab experience.
  • Support for notifications on fullscreen windows.

Now it is your turn. Have you tried Linux Mint before or this particular release already?

Firefox 134.0.1

Firefox 134.0.1 fixes a crash and an issue on YouTube

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Mozilla plans to release a point update for Firefox 134 later today. Firefox 134.0.1 is a small non-security update that addresses three main issues.

The details:

  • Fixes a startup crash that prevented some users from upgrading from Firefox 133.
  • Fixes user interface hangs on YouTube and Google Docs.
  • Fixes an issue with the search engine menus.

Firefox 134.0.1: the fixes

The big fix of this update is the crash fix. A bug prevented some Firefox Stable users from upgrading the browser to the recently released version 134.

Mozilla found out during an investigation that the bug affected some Firefox 133.0.3 users only. Once Firefox 134.0.1 gets released, it should be downloaded on those systems automatically and the update should run through without issues. Note that it is also possible to download and install Firefox manually from Mozilla.

The second issue affects some Firefox users who open YouTube or Google Docs in the web browser. The issue is caused by ghost windows being opened on the Google properties, according to Mozilla. Each of these windows is using between 30 and 100 megabytes of memory and memory usage could go up to several gigabytes as a consequence.

The third and final issue that Mozilla fixed in Firefox 134.0.1 impacted the selection of search engines in the browser. Some users reported that they did not see any search engines in Firefox, others that they had issues interacting with search engines.

Mozilla says that the issue has been caused by a search settings migration that it ran and that failed for some users.

All three bugs appear fixed in the new update. Note that it may take hours or even days after the release of the update before it reaches most Firefox Stable users. You can run a manual check for updates going to Menu > Help > About Firefox after the update has been released to install it as soon as possible.

Now You: do you use Firefox? Did you ran into any of the issues mentioned?

Firefox

Firefox 134 improves video playback on Windows

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Mozilla has released the first Firefox update of 2025. Firefox 134, Firefox 115.19.0, and Firefox 128.6.0 are already available.

The details:

  • Firefox 134 is a smaller release with just a few new features and changes.
  • It is also a security update.

Tip: Most Firefox installations are configured to update automatically. You can speed up the process by selecting Menu > Help > About Firefox.

Firefox 134

The official release notes list just a few changes. The new version introduces two new features:

  • Support for hardware-accelerated HEVC video playback.
  • Touchpad hold gestures support on Linux.

Hardware-acceleration should improve resource usage when that specific type of video is played in Firefox. The Linux feature works by placing two fingers on the touchpad of the computer. This stops any momentum scrolling happening at the time.

Other than that, search engine Ecosia is being added to more regions as an option.

Another change is being rolled out to users from the United States and Canada only. It changes the New Tab layout of the browser. The main difference is that Firefox displays “thought-provoking stories” now there as well, plus the obligatory sponsored stories.

Here is a sample image that Mozilla released that shows the new tab page:

Firefox New Tab page layout. Currently only in the US and Canada.

Mozilla lists the applied security fixes on the advisories website. The aggregate severity rating is high and 11 security issues rated high and moderate have been addressed in the update.

Firefox ESR updates

Mozilla maintains two Firefox ESR versions currently. Firefox ESR 115.19.0 is only available for older versions of Windows and macOS.

The current branch version, Firefox ESR 128.6.0 is only available for newer operating systems and versions.

Both release notes pages list just security fixes.

Now it is your turn. Do you run Firefox? If so, which version? How happy are you with the browser currently? Feel free to leave a comment down below.