Update (5/19/20 @ 5:00 PM ET): IFA 2020 will still happen as a scaled-down invite-only event in Berlin this September.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has infected over 2 million people worldwide and has brought many countries to a complete standstill. The pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on industries globally, with several companies in the technology sector being forced to delay launches indefinitely and cancel all live events, including major tech events like MWC 2020 and Google I/O 2020. Despite constant efforts from industry leaders and governments worldwide to address the situation, it doesn’t seem like the effects of the pandemic are going to wear off anytime soon. In a recent string of tweets from the official IFA Berlin Twitter handle, the event organizers have revealed that the upcoming IFA 2020 event will also be impacted by the pandemic.
#IFA20: Set for an innovative concept designed for unprecedented times.
IFA Berlin is set to go ahead in 2020, but with an innovative new concept, following the decision by the Berlin government to ban all events with more than 5,000 participants until 24 October 2020.
1/6 pic.twitter.com/MLDvamLXzf
The IFA 2020 event in Berlin, which was scheduled from September 4-9, will not be going ahead as planned “following the decision by the Berlin government to ban all events with more than 5,000 participants until 24th October 2020.” In a statement on the matter, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of gfu Consumer and Home Electronics, Hans-Joachin Kamp, explained, “We expected this development given the constantly evolving pandemic and appreciate that we have now a clear regulatory framework that enables us, our partner Messe Berlin, and our exhibitors to make detailed plans for IFA 2020.” The event organizers are currently discussing a range of alternative concepts to take the event forward and will be presenting an updated concept for IFA 2020 in the near future. We will update this post as and when we receive more details from the organizers. As of now, we aren’t sure if the IFA restructuring will have any effect on the planned announcements.
Update: Still Happening
While events across the globe are still being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, IFA organizers have announced the show is still happening. The event will look much different this year as it will be great scaled back. IFA 2020 will be closed to the public and invite-only. The conference will be broken into four smaller events, each with no more than 1,000 attendees. Organizers will also be implementing “social distancing, careful crowd control and other effective public hygiene measures.” There will also be a number of digital events for those who will not be in attendance. IFA 2020 could be a big measuring stick for slowly opening up more tech events in the future.
Earlier this year, Samsung launched the Galaxy S20 series, and all three models supported 5G in some capacity. The Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra supported both sub-6GHz spectra as well as mmWave frequencies (Verizon’s Ultra Wideband). The smallest Galaxy S20 5G, however, only supported sub-6GHz. That changes in June as Verizon is launching a model with mmWave support.
As mentioned, the Galaxy S20 was previously only available with support for sub-GHz 5G. It allows for a wider range and is much better at penetrating through walls. T-Mobile is leading the charge on sub-6GHz 5G in the US and they’ve been able to expand thanks to the Sprint merger. Verizon doesn’t yet have a sub-6GHz network, which is why they didn’t offer the Galaxy S20 5G.
Verizon will have its own sub-GHz network “later this year,” but for the time being, they are launching a Galaxy S20 with mmWave 5G support. mmWave doesn’t have the wide range or penetrability of sub-6GHz, but it offers very fast download and upload speeds. It’s sort of like the difference between 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi. Finally, all three Galaxy S20 devices will be able to access Verizon’s Ultra Wideband 5G.
The Verizon model will be available on June 4th with 128GB of storage in an exclusive “Cloud White” color. Pre-orders will be available online or with the My Verizon app on May 21st for $41.66 a month for 24 months on Verizon Device Payment (0% APR; $999.99 retail). Verizon is also offering several promotions:
Buy any Samsung Galaxy S20 5G series smartphone and get up to $1,000 towards another, when you add a new Unlimited line and purchase the phone on a Verizon Device Payment plan.
New and existing customers save $150 when you buy a new Samsung Galaxy S20 5G UW. This discount is given in 24 month bill credits.
Existing customers can save up to 50% with an additional $350 savings when you upgrade to a new Galaxy S20 and trade-in your existing smartphone and have an active Verizon premium Unlimited plan (Above, Beyond, Do, Play or Get).
Finally, if you purchase a Galaxy S20 5G series smartphone on a Verizon device payment plan you can also save $150 on select Samsung tablets and $100 on select Samsung wearables.
Google Photos is arguably the company’s most popular service and it continues to get better. Sharing photos is a big part of storing photos in the cloud, which is why Google makes sure it’s easy to do so. Last year, Photos added a feature for sharing photos in a messenger-like UI. Now, Google is making it easier to share photos again with new controls for shared albums.
Users will now have the option to share albums from Google Photos with anyone who has a Gmail/Google account. This gives users more control over who’s added to the album because they’re directly adding specific people. The “Send in Google Photos” carousel now reads “Invite to Album.”
Previously, sharing albums could be done in a similar way, but it was not the default method. When a user is invited to an album they will get an email and a Google Photos notification. Users can also remove people from albums at any time, removing all of their photos and videos in the process.
Generating a link is no longer required to share an album, but it is still possible. This is the easiest way to invite a group of people or someone who may not be on Google Photos or have a Google account. Link sharing can be turned off at any time and the owner decides who can contribute to the album.
Look for these features to be rolling out this week to Google Photos. As Google mentions in the blog post, people are sharing more photos than ever as we’re stuck at home away from friends and family. Shared albums are a great way to keep others in the loop.
Update 2 (5/19/20 @ 2:45 PM ET): Google has re-approved the Join Chrome extension as well.
Update 1 (5/15/20 @ 2:25 AM ET): The Pushbullet Chrome extension has now been approved. The article as published on May 14, 2020, is preserved below.
In a bid to ensure that the Chrome Web Store doesn’t host any malicious Chrome extensions, Google routinely updates the platform’s privacy policies. Back in October 2018, the company announced one such update which was aimed at making extensions more secure. As part of the update, Google introduced new user controls for host permissions, made changes to the extensions review process, added new code readability requirements, and made 2-Step Verification necessary for Chrome Web Store developer accounts. While such changes are great for keeping malicious extensions off the platform, they now seem to be affecting legit Chrome extensions like Pushbullet and Join.
The developers behind Pushbullet and Join were recently alerted by Google that their extensions didn’t comply with the Chrome Web Store’s privacy policy and violated the “Use of Permissions” section. When the developers reached out to Google inquiring how their extensions violated the privacy policy, the company reverted back with a generic reply that states:
“Your product violates the “Use of Permission” section of the policy, which requires that you:
Request access to the narrowest permissions necessary to implement your product’s features or services.
If more than one permission could be used to implement a feature, you must request those with the least access to data or functionality.
Don’t attempt to “future proof” your product by requesting a permission that might benefit services or features that have not yet been implemented.”
In response to the aforementioned reply, Pushbullet’s developer reduced the extension’s permission requests and resubmitted the extension for review. However, the updated extension was rejected once again and the company gave the same reason as before. When asked for further clarification, Google didn’t respond to the developer’s email. The developer now plans to make a few other changes to the permission requests and submit the extension for review again. But that brings up another issue. Chrome Web Store’s privacy policy states that multiple resubmission “may also result in the suspension of related Google services associated with your Google account” as Google’s automated system might think that the developer is trying to find a way around the rules with multiple submissions.
Just submitted an updated extension for another review! This attempt removes our optional clipboard permissions (which disables feature they are needed for sadly) and limits our localhost request to only the port we need. Fingers crossed we hit the mark this time!
Sadly though, the developer is left with no other option and has submitted another update with more changes to Pushbullet’s permissions requests. It’s also worth noting that even if the developer’s Google account isn’t suspended due to multiple submissions, they have less than 7 days to update the extension or it will be removed from the Chrome Web Store. When the developer shared this issue on Twitter, two Google developer advocates for Chrome extensions had this to say:
Will take a proper read through this, but @DotProto may already have thoughts.
Yeah, that’s where I’m still catching up. The changes you’ve made look good at first blush, so I’m a little lost on the follow-up rejection. I’m going to open an appeal to get a second opinion.
Similarly, Join’s developer also reached out to Google for clarification but received the same generic response. What’s even worse is that when the developer tried to justify Join’s permission requests to the company, he received the same responses over and over again. Despite several attempts, Google didn’t explain what exactly needed to be changed in the extension and said that it couldn’t “provide any additional information regarding the issue.”
While both the Join and PushBullet Chrome extensions may very well violate Google’s User Data Privacy guidelines, it’s inarguable that the company could have done a better job of communicating exactly how both are in violation, so that the developers can easily fix the issue. At the time of writing, there were no further updates from the developers regarding the matter. We’ll update this post as and when we learn more about the situation.
Update 1: Pushbullet extension approved following recent resubmission
Developer Advocate for Chrome extensions @DotProto has now confirmed that that the Pushbullet Chrome extension has been approved following the recent resubmission. In a tweet regarding the matter, he wrote: “FYI the latest submission has been approved. Apologies to Pushbullet for the rejection after addressed the original violation & to the broader dev community for not providing more actionable rejections.”
FYI the latest submission has been approved. Apologies to Pushbullet for the rejection after addressed the original violation & to the broader dev community for not providing more actionable rejections https://t.co/b7Au7Mjppn
It’s also worth noting that Join’s developer @joaomgcd has also resubmitted the extension for review. However, at the time of writing, we had no further updates regarding its approval. We’ll update this post as and when we learn more from the developer.
Update 2: Join extension approved
Thankfully, this story has a happy ending. The Join Chrome extension has now been re-approved by Google as well. We’re glad both Join and Pushbullet were reinstated, but it would be nice if Google could avoid these situations from the get-go.
Smartphone manufacturers rely on custom Android skins to offer a tailored experience to their users. While there’s a variety of Android overlays – thanks to the customizable nature of Android – there are a few that most users can recall off the top of their heads. Xiaomi’s MIUI is definitely one of them and is among the most popular and widely used Android skins in the world – thanks to the brand’s value-for-money offerings in all price brackets and extreme customization which makes it stand out from among the rest. Today, Xiaomi released the latest version of its Android-based operating system globally as MIUI 12.
Users of Xiaomi, Redmi, and POCO-branded devices have been anticipating this latest release as the company puts a stronger focus on privacy and security features. As users begin to receive the latest update, they will also notice new UI elements and intricate system animations. In addition to the visual changes, MIUI 12 gets a host of features aimed at improving the privacy and security of the devices.
We got a chance to use the pre-release build of MIUI 12 global beta and discovered the following new features which have been added to Xiaomi’s Android interface.
What’s new in MIUI 12?
The MIUI 12 interface strikes a balance between aesthetics and vital information portrayed in a visually gripping manner. MIUI 12 gets several new interactive and visually detailed elements to offer a gripping and exciting experience. Since these changes are most likely to grab your attention, we’ll start with the UI and UX changes in MIUI followed by the under-the-hood improvements that the latest version of Xiaomi’s Android skin comes with.
User Interface Improvements
As we mentioned above, MIUI 12 gets a horde of new and striking changes in terms of appearance. The most evident ones of these include the new radially curved elements, the new animations, the new “Control center,” vivid 3D stats, and much improved dark mode. We take brief notes at each of these new features in the following sections.
New Design and animations
With MIUI 12, Xiaomi is emphasizing a lot on the design by focussing on small details that make for a premium experience. With the new interface, Xiaomi has made some changes at the system level for adding real-time gaussian blur effect. With a new physics and rendering engine in MIUI 12, UI elements change engagingly with each touch interaction.
The new visuals and animations in MIUI 12, as per Xiaomi, are inspired by nature. There is a variety of new animation ranging from the launching or closing of apps to switching apps using the bottom navigation bar. Xiaomi’s physics engine renders these animations with 3D trajectories utilizing G2 curvature that simulates real-life motion. Xiaomi is also adding subtle movements to the app icons to make the user experience more stimulating.
Control Center
One of the design elements that can be seen in a completely new avatar in MIUI 12 is the new Control center. The Control center has been isolated from the notifications panel and replaces the traditional quick settings tiles we see in Android as well as in previously released versions of MIUI. You can access the notifications by swiping down from the left side of the display’s upper edge whereas the Control center can be opened by swiping down from the right side of the display.
The Control center features a grid of quick setting shortcuts with the most important ones such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and mobile data shown in the form of rounded rectangular buttons with a tiny arrow in the bottom corner which can be used to show available Wi-Fi connections or Bluetooth devices on an overlay card. Another nifty addition is the new slider for brightness which is now placed in the center of the control center and is relatively more easily accessible than before, especially on phones with big displays. The Control center can be expanded by a downward swipe on the bar below the brightness slider and icons can be arranged manually based on your preferences.
All of these buttons in the Control center are animated and some, including the dark mode or the flashlight toggles, also change color when you tap on them. Users who prefer the MIUI 11-style quick settings panel will be able to turn off the Control center from Display settings.
Visual representation of data
There’s a key emphasis on visualizing data so it’s not just random and dull numbers that only attract geeks. Xiaomi has added animated visual elements to highlight the storage, utilization of storage, battery capacity, and the usage of battery. These visual elements make data engaging for the average users and not restricting these stats to the pro-users.
Besides considerable uptake of color-coding, these elements are also interactive – for instance, you can drag your finger over the battery consumption graph to see hourly battery usage or over the 3D stacked bar graph for the storage to see the categorization of file types stored on the device.
Dark Mode
The new enhanced dark mode on MIUI 12 features a darker color palette for system backgrounds, system apps, and third-party apps alike. This is an essential feature for those times when you find yourself using your phone at night or right before sleep. While the dark mode is much easier on your eyes, it also reduces battery consumption, especially on devices that feature AMOLED display.
Although dark mode was added to MIUI with the previous version – i.e. MIUI 11, the improved dark mode can also be applied selectively per app and even forced on apps that do not support the solid black true dark mode – like WhatsApp. Besides, the stock nature-inspired wallpapers in MIUI 12 can also adjust to a darker shade when you apply the dark mode feature.
Super Wallpapers
With MIUI 12, Xiaomi adds an interesting perspective to wallpapers. Since the UI is inspired by nature and the living elements of the universe, MIUI 12 also comes with a new set of live wallpapers – called Super Wallpapers – with multiple levels of aerial views above the Earth as well as Mars. When the screen is locked, the planets are visible from how they would appear in the distant space. When you tap on the display to activate it, you see a nearer view – perceivably from the planet’s orbit. And, when the phone is finally unlocked, a swift animation teleports you to vantage point right above the planet in a jiffy. Our verbal description may fall short of how good this feature is, so here’s an example of how MIUI’s Super Wallpapers work:
User Experience Improvements
Besides the visual changes added in MIUI 12, there are a few functional improvements that enhance the overall user experience. New features added to MIUI 12 include floating windows, a new launcher with an app drawer, and a refined Ultra battery saver mode. In addition to these, MIUI 12 also gets a new and versatile casting feature that allows users to mirror their smartphone’s screen for official presentations or telecasting games or media to a larger display.
Floating Windows for multitasking
MIUI 12 brings some great new multitasking features that make Android much easier to use for power users. The new MIUI 12 global build adds floating windows which allow you to use two different apps at once. You can use these floating windows with simple gestures and resize, move, or close your windowed apps without disturbing your current activity. The floating windows also support MIUI’s navigation gestures and allow you to navigate in both the apps interchangeably and without any limitation.
Floating windows are supported in almost all of Xiaomi’s system apps as well as in a variety of third-party apps including Netflix, TikTok, Facebook, etc. You can either long-press on the app preview in the Recents menu or tap on the “Floating windows” option on the top left on the page. You can also pin up to 10 of your favorites apps to quickly access them from this menu.
App Drawer
Xiaomi’s newly introduced app launcher is one of the highlights of MIUI 12, especially for long-time Android users. Xiaomi started evaluating an app drawer in the MIUI global builds last year but now the feature comes integrated within the system. The newest addition to this launcher is an app drawer with highly useful organization tools that automatically sort apps according to the category. Besides this, you can also choose between a light and dark background for the launcher and vary the transparency of the background.
The launcher is similar to the POCO Launcher, which is also available for download from the Google Play Store and comes with certain additional features like an app vault and support for organizing icons based on color. The feature may not be active by default but can be Home Screen setting in MIUI 12. Users who prefer the traditional home screen without an app drawer can continue using that instead.
Ultra Battery Saver
Ultra Battery Saver is a new mode that will help users get more battery life out of their Xiaomi, Redmi, or POCO phones. When your phone’s battery starts running low, MIUI 12’s Ultra Battery Saver can be turned on to suspend the most battery-intensive processes while the system prioritizes more essential features. Calls, messages, and network connectivity remain fully useable in ultra battery saver mode.
You can choose up to six other apps besides Messages, Phone, and Contacts that you can use in the Ultra Battery Saver mode. Meanwhile, the background and the overall system theme is turned to a dark theme to conserve battery.
Casting
While stock Android has a built-in system for casting, it doesn’t provide many features aside from basic screen mirroring. MIUI 12 improves upon stock Android’s casting feature with some new abilities that make presentations much easier and more presentable while controlling them right from your phone. You can now cast your phone’s display to an external screen wirelessly in MIUI 12. The interface allows casting documents, apps, videos, or even games. The casting feature can be accessed from the share sheets within documents, photos, and videos, or from the drop-down Game Turbo menu in supported games.
The casting feature also complements MIUI 12’s new floating window feature, allowing you to cast a specific screen and then minimize that screen to start interacting with other apps without disrupting your presentation. Any incoming calls or notifications will be hidden from the cast on the external display.
If you have a particularly long presentation or using the feature to cast a long video, you can continue to cast while your screen is off, saving battery life. None of these features require an internet connection but may use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to connect to the larger screen.
Enhanced Privacy Protections
MIUI 12 brings many new security features, making it a great solution for privacy-conscious users. Like we mentioned above, Xiaomi is not simply adding these new privacy features but also taking the effort of making them visually attractive. Besides making the privacy-related information easy to consume, MIUI 12 also makes this information easy to consume by simplifying how privacy-related permissions are grouped. As compared to stock Android, the information is present much more refreshing, illustrative, and intriguing.
MIUI 12 offers a comprehensive overview of the permission being used by different apps by using clear text and description under each permission. Compared to stock Android, the privacy data represented in MIUI 12 is easier to understand and less intimidating to the users. In addition, MIUI 12 also allows users to control permissions for actions like the state of NFC connection and the ability of apps to show permanent notifications or as pop-up windows.
Besides the visual revamp of how MIUI 12 portrays information about privacy, it has also added easily noticeable alerts and controls that form an extra layer of protection and create awareness over stock Android as well as other Android skins.
Malicious apps rely on stealth to gather this information. Xiaomi has introduced the Background permission notifications features in MIUI 12 and it alerts you whenever an app begins using your location services, microphone, or camera. The new Background permission notifications system removes the risk of spyware or any other malware by showing you colored icons in the status bar.
A new High-risk permissions control feature gives you access to restriction options for certain high-risk permissions. This adds another layer of control over your data and who is trying to collect it.
MIUI 12 has other options to protect your private information when you’re sharing media. For instance, you can choose to share an image without the EXIF data that is generally attached to that photo and often contains time, location, and metadata information which can be used to trace you if uploaded anywhere online. This new feature in MIUI prevents information to be shared with anyone else who has a copy of this image.
When will my phone receive the MIUI 12 update?
Xiaomi users will start receiving the new MIUI 12 update starting in June 2020. If you have one of the following phones you’ll be first in line to receive the update:
The second phase of updates comes to the Xiaomi devices beginning in July of 2020.
We will continue to deliver more news about MIUI 12 updates as they make way to Xiaomi, Redmi, and POCO phones around the world.
We thank Xiaomi for sponsoring this post. Our sponsors help us pay for the many costs associated with running XDA, including server costs, full-time developers, news writers, and much more. While you might see sponsored content (which will always be labeled as such) alongside Portal content, the Portal team is in no way responsible for these posts. Sponsored content, advertising, and XDA Depot are managed by a separate team entirely. XDA will never compromise its journalistic integrity by accepting money to write favorably about a company, or alter our opinions or views in any way. Our opinion cannot be bought.
The Google Pixel 4a has been receiving a lot of attention lately as its announcement quickly approaches. After the Pixel 4a is announced, however, the rumor mill will move on to the Google Pixel 5. Not much is explicitly known about the device series yet, but there have been rumblings since early January of Google bowing out of the “flagship” market. Now, we’re fairly confident in saying that the Google Pixel 5 will indeed not be a “flagship” device in the sense that it will have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 rather than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865.
Back in January, we were the first to report of 3 possible Pixel code-names: sunfish, bramble, and redfin. Sunfish was a device powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 while both bramble and redfin were built on top of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765. We quickly confirmed that “sunfish” is indeed the Pixel 4a, but thus far there hasn’t been definitive evidence linking the bramble and redfin code-names to any particular Pixel device (and to this date, there still isn’t). We’ve long suspected that these two code-names refer to Google’s late 2020 flagship Pixel devices, though. Back in March, XDA Senior Member cstark27 analyzed the leaked Google Camera 7.4 APK and was the first to discover that bramble and redfin were possibly set to use the Pixel 2020 photo configuration.
We weren’t comfortable definitively proclaiming that the Pixel 5 will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 at the time just based on that code analysis, though. That’s because there was still only one piece of evidence linking “bramble” and “redfin” to the Snapdragon 765—our initial code-name discovery back in January. Now, though, we have another piece of evidence linking these two code-names to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765.
In Android 11 Developer Preview 4, XDA Senior Member cstark27 discovered that the pre-installed EUICCGoogle APK was updated with a new reference to Google’s upcoming devices. In the APK’s resources, he discovered that the “modem_model_mappings_json” string now contained a new line for the “g7250” modem, which is likely Google’s code-name for the Snapdragon 765 (though it could also refer to the Snapdragon 765G or Snapdragon 768G since all 3 are pin and software compatible). The g7250 modem was paired with a hashed name (Google is being sneaky here), so cstark27 had to modify the Google Camera APK to return the hash from a given code-name. When he spoofed his device code-name to be “redfin” and “bramble,” the logcat output returned the hashed names that matched the ones from EUICCGoogle’s resources.
On the left is the hashed names from the EUICCGoogle APK and on the right is output from a modified APK to return the hash from a given codename.
In addition, earlier today David Ruddock, Editor-in-Chief at Android Police,claimed via his own source that the Pixel 5 will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 SoC. Therefore, it’s safe to assume now that Google will not be releasing a device with Qualcomm’s top-tier Snapdragon 865 later this year.
As previously mentioned, this has been rumored since our initial discovery back in January, though no definitive proof has surfaced. In fact, there’s still no definitive evidence that this is the case, but all of the evidence we have thus far certainly points that way. This rumor also lines up with the recent Google Opinion Rewards survey that asked users if they would prefer a $349 Pixel or a $699 “Premium” Pixel smartphone. The $699 price is cheaper than previous flagship Pixel devices and would make sense if it didn’t have the Snapdragon 865.
Beyond the rumors of the processor, not much else is known about the Google Pixel 5. The aforementioned Opinion Rewards survey mentioned wireless charging and water-resistance as features for the “Premium” Pixel. Android 11 code also seems to hint that at least one Pixel 5 device (redfin) will support reverse wireless charging. There’s still plenty of time to learn more about the device series before a likely launch in the Fall.
Privacy and security are two of the biggest concerns when it comes to using the internet. With so many people looking to Chrome for their web browsing needs, Google is constantly making tweaks to make the internet safer and more secure. The company has announced several new privacy and security features that will be included in Google Chrome 83.
First up, Chrome will be rolling out redesigned privacy controls. The goal of the redesign is to make the controls easier to find and understand. Users can choose if and how cookies are used by websites, including the ability to block third-party cookies (even in Incognito mode) or block cookies entirely on some or all websites.
Controls in Site Settings have been reorganized into two sections for easier access. One section is for website permissions, including location, camera, microphone, and notifications. The second section is new and it shows the most recent permissions activity. At the top of the Chrome settings, users will now see “You and Google,” which is where the sync controls have been moved. Deleting browsing data has been moved to the top of the Privacy & Security section.
The next new feature is called “Safety Check.” This new tool will tell users if their passwords have been compromised and how to fix them. It will warn users before visiting a dangerous site or downloading a harmful app or extension if Safe Browsing is turned off. There’s also a new way to quickly see if Chrome is up to date with the latest security patches, and it can tell users how to remove malicious extensions.
In addition to never saving browsing history, information entered in forms, and deleting cookies every time you close the window, Incognito mode will start blocking third-party cookies by default. Each Incognito session will include a new control at the top of the New Page tab. Users can choose to allow third-party cookies for specific sites.
Google is adding a new puzzle piece icon to the Chrome toolbar for extensions. Clicking the icon will show you what data extensions can access on the current website. Lastly, there are two new security features that users can opt-in to. “Enhanced Safe Browsing” gives you more proactive and tailored protection from phishing, malware, and other web-based threats. If enabled, Chrome proactively checks whether pages and downloads are dangerous by sending information about them to Google Safe Browsing.
The next feature is Secure DNS, which can improve your security and privacy while browsing the web. “When you access a website, your browser first needs to determine which server is hosting it, using a step known as a ‘DNS (Domain Name System) lookup.’ Chrome’s Secure DNS feature uses DNS-over-HTTPS to encrypt this step. Chrome will upgrade users to DNS-over-HTTPS if their current DNS provider supports it.
Look for all of these features in Chrome 83 in the upcoming weeks.
