Tag: chrome

Gemini Google Chrome

Gemini in Chrome: Google integrates AI directly into the browser

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google announced Gemini in Chrome yesterday. The integration of the AI into Google’s browser is the next step in Google’s masterplan to spice up its products using artificial intelligence.

Chrome users in the United States who are subscribed to Google AI Pro or the new Google AI Ultra plan, will be the first to gain access to the AI.

The initial version closes the gap to other browsers that use AI already to summarize webpages for users or allow users to ask questions about the content of a website.

Gemini for Chrome will do the same initially. You activate the AI tool with a click on its icon in Chrome. From there, you can ask questions or give it instructions. The first iteration is limited to the active webpage. You can, for instance, ask it to explain certain concepts to you or provide a summary of the key points.

Google included the following examples in a demo video:

  • Make a regular recipe gluten-free.
  • Helping a student understand the differences between chemical bonds.
  • Adding a reminder to calendar.
  • Asking Gemini which plant is best from a selection of plants in open tabs.
  • Asking Gemini which poses one should do for a racing podium.

Note: it is a good idea to verify information generated by AI to make sure it is accurate.

Gemini in Chrome: goal is full access to all tabs and agentic functionality

Google is working on improving this base functionality. The company plans to give Gemini access to all open tabs. This enables more features, including the ability to compare different webpages or products or taking everything into account when generating a response.

Gemini will also be able to open websites on behalf of the user, according to Google’s announcement. Google did not explain why users would want the AI to open webpages on their behalf.

Closing Words

Like it or not, AI is going to be integrated into the majority of web browsers. Not everyone will see the use of this, but this will surely expose AI tools to more users. This could change how users use web browsers, searches, and the Web significantly.

Now You: do you use AI features or tools in your browser of choice already? Let me know in the comments below.

Google Search

Chrome 136 update patches security issue that is exploited in the wild

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google released a security update for its Chrome web browser for the desktop and Android that fixes several security issue. One of the issues is rated high and already exploited on the Internet according to Google.

The details:

  • The update is available for Chrome on Windows, Linux, Mac, and Android.
  • It includes fixes for four security issues in total.
  • The update is a point update for Chrome 136.

The security update changes the version of the Chrome web browser to the following versions:

  • Windows and Mac: 136.0.7103.113 or 136.0.7103.114
  • Linux: 136.0.7103.113
  • Android: 136.0.7103.125

Google lists just two of the fixed security issues on the official Chrome Releases blog. One of them is CVE-2025-4664, which is rated high and described as a “insufficient policy enforcement in loader” security issue.

Malicious users may exploit the issue to “leak cross-origin data via a crafted HTML page”. Google notes that it is aware of exploits in the wild, but does not provide additional information on the scope of the attacks.

Chrome users are encouraged to update their browser immediately to protect their data against potential attacks targetting the vulnerability.

Desktop users may select Menu > Help > About Google Chrome to run a check for updates. This should pick up the latest version and install it on the device. Android users can’t speed up the installation of the update unfortunately.

It is possible that other Chromium-based browsers are also affected by the issue. Expect security updates for these browsers in the coming hours and days as well.

uBlock Origin working in Chrome

More Chrome users are getting “this extension was turned off” notifications

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google has been hard at work to establish Manifest V3 as the new and only set of rules for Chrome extensions. Report suggest that Google has shifted the process into a higher gear and is disabling classic extension support for more Chrome users.

The effect is the following: any extension that is not compatible with Manifest V3 will be disabled. Chrome displays “was turned off” messages to users in that case on start. A check of the extensions management page reveals a similar message: “This extension was turned off because it’s no longer supported”.

Most Chrome users will probably experience this with the popular uBlock Origin extension. It cannot be ported fully to Manifest V3, as Google changed core functionality.

In other words, the change has a very positive effect for Google, as it gets rid of what is probably the most popular content blocker for Chrome.

While there is uBlock Origin Lite by the same developer, it is limited in some regards to the classic version. It is better than no content blocking, but still inferior.

Users who really need to use Chrome can postpone the death of uBlock Origin and other Chrome extensions that are not compatible with Manifest V3 by setting a policy. This will work only until mid-2025 though, unless Google pushes the change back a bit.

Your options

In the end, it may be better to switch to a browser that is still offering support. If you prefer Chromium, you could give Brave or Opera a try. Both companies have pledged to support Manifest V2 extensions, at least some of them, even after Google ends support in Chrome.

Another option is to switch to Firefox or a Firefox fork, like Mullvad Browser. Mozilla said that it is going to support Manifest V2 extensions and V3 extensions at the same time in Firefox. Means, you can run good old uBlock Origin in Firefox without having to worry about it suddenly being turned off.

Google Search

Just block third-party cookies

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google is apparently testing a new privacy feature in Chrome that blocks third-party cookies by default in the browsers Incognito mode.

While that is great that Google is introducing the change, most Internet users may want to take matters into their own hands instead.

Why not block third-party cookies altogether? Yes, there is a tiny-tiny chance that some services may not work correctly anymore when you make the change. Most users on the other hand should not notice any ill-effects.

Here is the main benefit: advertisers and sites can no longer use third-party cookies to track you on the Internet.

One of the biggest offenders is Google, as it operates ads and other services on the majority of websites.

While disabling third-party cookies won’t do you much good in regards to Google, as you are using Chrome and therefore likely an open book to Google anyway, it does against many other firms on the Internet that track users for financial gains.

Here is how you disable third-party cookies in Chrome:

  1. Load chrome://settings/cookies in the Chrome address bar. You may also select Menu > Settings > Privacy and security > Third-party cookies to get there manually.
  2. Enable “Block third-party cookies”.
  3. Disable “Allow related sites to see your activity in the group”.

The change is active right away. Use the browser normally and take note of any issues that you may encounter. This can be login related issues or other issues, such as missing functionality on websites.

You may add sites to an allow list. If you notice that a site misbehaves after you switched third-party cookies off, you may add it to the list of exceptions to see if that resolves the issue.

Here is how that is done:

  1. Load chrome://settings/cookies again in the address bar.
  2. Click on the add button under “Sites allowed to use third-party cookies.
  3. Add [*.]domainname to add an exception for the entire site. Replace “domainname” with the name of the actual domain, e.g., chipp.in.

Verify that the change has fixed the issue that you have experienced.

Clearly, you’d also want to install a content blocker to speed up web browsing and improve privacy further.

Chromium’s feature to limit installed extensions is still great

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Browser extensions are great. They improve usability and functionality on the Internet. From blocking ads and tracking over creating screenshots to improving password management or games.

All extensions come with a manifest file. This file defines rights and permissions. One of these sets the websites the extension is designed to run on. This can be a single website, part of a domain, or on the entire Internet.

Chromium has a great usability feature to limit the access of extensions. You can use it for the following:

  • Allow an extension to only run on sites you select.
  • Block an extension from running automatically. Make it run only when you want it to.

This may sound complicated, but it can increase privacy or performance significantly. Here is how you use the feature.

Limiting extensions in Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers

Chrome menu to limit extensions

Make sure you have one extension installed. This works in Chrome, Brave, and many other Chromium-based browsers.

  1. Right-click on the icon of the extension in the toolbar of the browser. Some extension icons may not be displayed. You find them when you click on the general extensions icon in that case.
  2. Move the cursor over “This can read and change site data”.
  3. Select one of the following options:
    • When you click the extension: this prevents the extension from running automatically when the website is opened. You need to click on its icon to load it.
    • On “sitename”: this allows the extension to run on the active website.
    • On “all sites”: this allows the extension to run on all websites (it is configured for).

Some notes:

  • Functionality of some extensions may be reduced or not available when you select the click to run option. A prime example for this are ad blockers, which need to run when the site loads.
  • When you select the option to run an extension on a specific site, it is set to “click to run” on any other site you have not picked.
  • You may modify the setting at any time.

The list of allowed sites is manageable. You find it under Chrome menu > Extensions > Details of the extensions.

There you see “site access”, which lists all allowed sites. You may also add new sites there, if you prefer that.

Closing Words

The ability to restrict extension access in Chrome can be mighty useful. While it depends on the installed extensions, it may limit extension access to sites that you want to use the extensions on.

Sometimes, you may need extension functionality on a single site only. With this feature, you can do that exactly.

Mozilla has the feature “under development” apparently, but this has been the case for more than three years. Will it ever be a part of Firefox? I do not know.

What is your take on the feature? Do you use it actively, or is it the first time you hear about it? Let everyone know in the comment section below.

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.

Chrome

How to remove Google Lens from Chrome’s address bar

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

If you still use Google Chrome, then you may have noticed that the browser displays a Google Lens entry in the address bar. It is still rolling out I guess, but more and more installations get this.

With Google Lens integration, Chrome users may run searches for anything that they see on the page. So, activate Google Lens with a click or tap, and then draw around the element on the page that you want to know more about.

You can select text and run a search, but this is not really new, as you can do so easily already in all browsers. Lens lets you select anything though, which means that you can search for images or elements in images, and also text in images that you cannot select using basic text selection options in browsers.

Google Chrome with Google Lens visible in address bar.
Google Lens in the address bar of Google Chrome

Google Lens in Chrome depends on Google Search as the default search provider. It is also good to know that page data is transferred to Google whenever Lens is used in Chrome.

Some Chrome users will find Lens useful. Not for plain text, as you can do so already. Maybe for quick translating, but the core use is to search for anything that cannot be selected individually. So, a person in an image, text shown in videos or images, or any other element that is shown on the screen.

How to disable Google Lens in Chrome

Google Lens disable
Set Lens Overlay to Disabled to turn off Google Lens in Chrome

You can, at least temporarily, disable Google Lens in Chrome. Here is how this is done:

  1. Load chrome://flags/#enable-lens-overlay in the address bar.
  2. Set the status of Lens overlay to Disabled.
  3. Restart Google Chrome.

This disables the interface in Chrome.

Note: Experimental Flags like Lens Overlay may come and go at any time. It is possible that Google is going to remove the flag in a future version of Chrome. This would remove the option to disable Google Lens in Chrome, unless Google decides to integrate an option in the Chrome Settings.

What is your take on Google Lens in Chrome? Something that you would use, maybe if launched in a different browser. Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Chrome

Google Chrome 130: fixes 17 security issues

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google released a new stable version of its Chrome browser today. The new version is a security and feature update.

As far as security is concerned, users no longer have to worry about 17 security issues, as Google patched them in the new release.

Three of the publicly disclosed one are rated high, which comes second only to critical. Google makes no mention of exploits in the wild, which means that it is not aware of attacks targeting any of the fixed issues.

Chrome users may want to upgrade the web browser to the latest version as soon as possible. This is done automatically on most systems, but you may speed up the installation on the desktop by selecting Menu > Help > About Google Chrome.

Windows users may also run winget upgrade google.chrome.exe to upgrade the browser from the command line.

Did you know?

Chrome for Android may move and delete Tabs automatically

You can check out the full list of disclosed vulnerabilities that Google patched in Chrome here.

As far as new features or changes are concerned, there is little information from Google about those.

Developers may check out the Platform Status page for Chrome 130 to get an overview of development related changes.

The Enterprise and Education lists some of the changes that apply to users.

Here are the most noteworthy ones:

  • Chrome is going to start to display “small chips” after certain user actions. The example that Google gives is that when users add something to the reading list, Chrome displays a Toast that confirms the action and offers a link to the reading list side panel.
  • Some users get a new account menu when they select the avatar in Chrome for iOS on the new tab page.
  • PDFs display “seamlessly” in Chrome 130 for Android now.
  • Chrome freezes a tab that “has been hidden and silent for more than 5 minutes and uses a lot of CPU” when Energy Saver is enabled. TAbs with audio- or video-conferencing functionality and tabs that control external devices are exempt.
  • Chrome’s URL parser parses non-special URLs correctly now.
  • Chrome on Android supports third-party autofill and password providers now.

Google has also started to turn off classic extensions for first users.

Chrome for Android may move and delete Tabs automatically

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google released Chrome 129 today for Android and desktop systems. The update fixes a few security issues and introduces new features and changes as well.

One change in particular affects users of Chrome on Android: the automatic handling of inactive tabs.

Once updated to Chrome 129 on Android, the browser will move inactive tabs to a new group automatically. There, the tabs remain for a period of 60 days before they are deleted automatically according to Google.

Tip: Switching from Chrome to Firefox is easier than ever before. If you worry about disabled or crippled extensions, Firefox is your best bet to avoid this.

Note: Whether the deleting is enabled by default is unclear. Google says that the tabs will get deleted automatically, but it was disabled in Chrome 129 Beta.

When is a tab considered inactive? Google moves tabs to the Inactive Tabs group after 14 days of inactivity. Inactivity means that the tab was not activated in that time in Chrome.

Chrome for Android's new Inactive menu.

Good news is that you may change the functionality in the settings. Here is how that is done:

  1. Open Google Chrome on the Android device.
  2. Select Menu > Settings to open the preference.
  3. Activate Tabs there to display tab-related settings.
  4. Tap on Inactive to customize the functionality.
  5. Set the period to 7 days, 14 days, 30 days, or never. The default is 14 days.
  6. Toggle “Close after 60 days” to enable or disable the auto-delete feature.

Google says that the feature is designed to reduce Chrome’s memory usage and to improve the accessibility of tabs in the browser.

Deleted tabs remain accessible through the browsing history, but only if it has not been deleted.

Chrome users who do not want inactive tabs to be moved to the new group should set the functionality to Never. This ensures that Chrome won’t move inactive tabs out of sight or delete them after the inactivity period.

How do you handle tabs in your browser? Keep everything open? Use bookmarks? Start afresh on every start? Feel free to leave a comment below.

0.0.0.0 Day: decade-old vulnerability affects all browsers

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Security researchers have disclosed a vulnerability that affects all modern browsers. What makes it particularly worrisome is that it has been known for 18 years; that goes back to a time before Google even thought of creating Chrome.

The details:

  • The researchers call the issue 0.0.0.0 Day.
  • It allows malicious websites to interact with services that run on the local network.
  • This could lead to unauthorized access or remote code execution attacks on local services from outside the local network.

In other words: the security issue allows the circumvention of security protections by malicious websites. Chromium’s Private Network protection does not protect against this, neither does Firefox. Apple’s Safari browser was also vulnerable, but the company has released a patch that blocks access to 0.0.0.0.

The blog post provides a technical description of the vulnerability. It also explains why it took this long to react on it.

The researchers found a Mozilla bug listing that dates back 18 years. It shows that the developers were not sure whether the reported bug was a security issue, a bug, or no flaw at all.

How Google, Mozilla, and Apple plan to react

Researchers at Oligo disclosed the vulnerability to security teams of major browsers in April 2024.

  • Google: plans to block access starting in Chrome 128 and finalize the rollout by Chrome 133. Other Chromium-based browsers will get this as well.
  • Apple: has implemented a change that blocks destination host IP addresses, if the IP is all zeroes.
  • Mozilla: fix is in progress. Firefox is special, as it never restricted Private Network Access in first place. Will implement Private Network Access, but no ETA on this one.

The fixes are important, but so is standardization of the issue. HTTP requests to 0.0.0.0 should be added to security standards according to the security researchers.

Closing Words

The security researchers note that use of 0.0.0.0 on the Web is on the rise. They use counters provided by Chromium for this. According to those, it is used by 0.015% of all websites. While that may not sound like much, it equates to roughly 100,000 public websites that may communicate with 0.0.0.0.

Malicious actors may exploit the issue in their attacks. Oligo points out that ShadowRay, a recent attack that targets AI workloads, could be executed from browsers using 0.0.0.0 as the attack vector.

It is unclear if browser extensions such as Port Authority for Firefox provide protection against this kind of attack.

What is your take on this new vulnerability? Seems that there is always something new, or shall I say old, that is affecting the security of browsers. (via Born)