As per schedule, the stable release of Google Chrome 17 is here. The biggest new feature is omnibox pre-rendering. Google already tries to autocomplete URLs for you as you begin typing in the omnibox, which is Google’s fancy way of referring to Chrome’s addressbar. However, in the latest version, Google will also begin to load the suggested URL in the background, if it believes that you are very likely to visit that website. This creates an illusion of speed by loading the website in advance. The technique itself is not new. In fact, Google’s infamous Web Accelerator heavily relied on pre-fetching to speed up web browsing, and Chrome already pre-fetches some of the search results on Google.com.

While pre-fetching of content is a great feature for most consumers, it does have its share of disadvantages. If you have a tight data cap, the last thing you want is your browser to waste your bandwidth by loading pages you might not even want to visit. It will also create headaches for webmasters by registering fake hits that will increase bandwidth and server resource consumption, besides messing up analytics. Netscape had earlier experimented with pre-fetching, but it allowed the webmasters to be in control.

The other major new feature is called “Safe Browsing”. Going forward, Google will cross check all downloaded executables against a whitelist of publishers and files. If it doesn’t find a match, it will attempt to determine if the download is safe or not by leveraging a complicated machine learning algorithm. It is worth nothing that this feature sends data about the file along with your IP address to Google. After two weeks, any personally identifiable information (such as IP address) is deleted, and only the file URL is retained on Google’s servers.

Chrome 17 also fixes a grand total of 20 security vulnerabilities. Google awarded a total of $10,500 to security researchers for the discovery of these potential security threats. You can learn more about the security issues patched by Google over here.

The new release can be downloaded from google.com/chrome. However, Chrome users on the stable channel should be automatically updated to the Chrome 17 during their next browsing session.

Some people are going to go crazy with this.

Google is about to launch a new “get paid to surf” program where you can earn some incentives by trading your browsing habits and sending usage statistics to Google. Termed as Google Screenwise, the program will track your usage behavior in Google Chrome through a browser extension (pending official announcement). This is Google’s wild attempt to learn browsing habits of users in mass and create a better online experience for everyone. At least, the landing page at www.google.com/landing/screenwisepanel/ says so.

The monetary compensation is not direct hard cash, as panel members will receive the money via Amazon gift cards. As a panelist, you will get $5 for installing the Screenwise extension and a recurring fee of $5 will be paid every 3 months, provided you keep sending them your Chrome usage data and keep the extension installed.

If $25 sounds too meager, hang on for a year. The landing page has a tiny remark at the bottom which says – “As we continue to develop this research experience, we will evaluate what, if any, changes will be made to gifts amounts for continuing participation beyond 12 months.”

Speaking of data, Google isn’t saying what the company intends to track. Usage behavior can mean a lot for savvy users who spend 8 hours a day inside a browser. Not to forget the new unified privacy policy of Google, which will combine information you’ve provided in various Google services such as Blogger, YouTube, web search, Gmail and so forth.

I am curious to know why Google is becoming data hungry day by day. They have Google Chrome, Gmail, Android, YouTube – the best players in each department. Sure this is not enough, as they are willing to pay you for your data, browsing habits and privacy. This is the easiest 25$ a year offer I won’t regret turning down.

If you’re not paying for something, you’re not the customer but the product being sold. And If you’re getting something for free and managing some cash along with it, you’re what? Probably, Google knows the exact term.

Thanks Matt. Image via Geekandpoke.

The German Government is relying on Google Chrome for the safety of its users online. It has recommended all Windows 7 users to move to Google Chrome, which offers a better sandbox protection and automatic update features. This recommendation has been put up as part of a security best practices guideline.The Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security declared Chrome to be the best browser, from a security perspective.

Google Chrome is indeed secure, and we have seen it claim wins in multiple Pwn2Own contests. It has remained unbeaten for a long time, and this is owing to the extremely secure sandbox.

In computer security, a sandbox is a security mechanism for separating running programs. The sandbox typically provides a tightly controlled set of resources for guest programs to run in, such as scratch space on disk and memory.

The Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security, known as BSI in Germany, said,

Your internet browser is the key component for the use of services on the Web and thus represents the main target for cyber-attacks. By using Google Chrome in conjunction with the other measures outlined above, you can significantly reduce the risk of a successful IT attack.

Overall, this is an excellent move by the German Government to make its users secure. Germany sees a market dominated by Firefox at 51% and IE at 24%, and there are only 14.3% Google Chrome users, currently. However, this recommendation has some practical issues. Google Chrome has had issues with the Flash Player, its rapid release cycle poses problems for developers and most importantly, it puts too much of data in the hands of Google. This can raise serious privacy concerns.

The guidelines laid down by the BSI can be found here.

Google AdSense is one of the biggest revenue generator for small and medium traffic websites. The AdSense team have been revamping their reporting interface which makes it easier for publisher to see their earnings and other related reports.

As a publisher I have always been comfortable using desktop reporting software to keep an eye on my AdSense earnings. However, of late most of the software have stopped working.

Also Read: Useful Tips and Tricks To Grow Your AdSense Income

This means that I have to constantly login into the AdSense web interface to check on my earnings every now and then. However, thanks to Google that will now be a thing of the past. Google has released a extension for Google Chrome which will allow AdSense publishers to view basic details of their earnings in Google Chrome.

The AdSense Publisher Toolbar extension (Download) allows you to view your current days earnings, yesterday’s earnings, current months earnings and last months earnings. In addition to that it also displays the top custom channels and lifetime earnings.

Once you have installed the extension, you will have to click on the extension icon and then authorize your Google account. If you use different account for AdSense and Gmail, you can easily sign in to another account thanks to Google’s multiple account sign in.

The AdSense Publisher extension is definitely a nice way to keep an eye on your AdSense earnings without having to constantly login to the actual AdSense website. I would highly recommend this extension if you are in a habit of checking your earnings multiple times through a day.

Of course, it is always a healthy habit to login to the actual AdSense reporting interface to check on detailed reports and performance of your channels and other data from time to time to increase your performance.

Don’t Forget to Read Other AdSense Tips and Tricks

• One Tricky AdSense Policy That Might Get You into Trouble
• View Google AdSense Earnings for Different Geo-locations/Countries
• Best Google AdSense Placements for Blogs/Websites
• Best Google AdSense Placements for Forums

If you thought the site you were browsing was secure simply due to the little s  at the end of HTTP, you may want to re-evaluate.

Security researchers at ACROS  have posted details concerning a vulnerability in versions 14 and 15 of Google’s Chrome browser. The issue comes from an inconsistency that Chrome has when following and rendering redirections to other web pages. This means that an attacker can redirect a visitor to a page that looks identical to a legitimate page, with a real looking HTTPS URL, when infact they are not on the expected page. This can lead to theft of credentials, credit cards and other personal information.

The crux of the issue comes down to Chrome being very quick to update the address bar, even before any of the page content has actually loaded. This allows the researchers to change the destination without it being reflected to the address bar. Most users will “confirm” they are on the correct page simply by reading the address page and matching it with what they are looking at, especially when the majority only visit a handful of specific websites.

While the newest releases of Chrome (16, beta and above) have had this issue resolved, Google’s browser holds a relatively large marketshare of approximately 20% world wide. That’s more than 70 million. If over 75% of those users have updated version, one can speculate that roughly 1.7 million users are susceptible to this attack. With Google’s auto-update mechanism, it’s highly unlikely that there are so many old installations.

At Techie-Buzz alone, more than 1 million of the 3.5+ million visitors use Chrome. Google Chrome has been growing at a very rapid rate, pushing Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Mozilla’s Firefox lower and lower. Chances are, you’re using Chrome because it’s fast, so if you want to stay as safe as possible, keep Chrome updated and take a look at some of the popular security/privacy extensions.

Google’s aggressive strategy with Chrome has taken Chrome to a stage where it can claim a dominant browser-market share. Now, where does a company obsessed with speed and performance go from here? Google recently showed off how well Chrome can use the Native Client Technology. With this, Google Chrome will take browser wars to a new level.

The Native Client Technology in Google Chrome has been in news from the beginning of this year. While Mozilla had declared that they will not implement Native Client in their Firefox browser, Opera software had criticized Google for not following the web-standard (WebGL) and allowing game developers a free ride on their browser.

Google Native Client  (NaCl  in an allusion to  sodium chloride  or common salt) is a  sandboxing  technology for running a subset of Intel  or ARM native code using software-based fault isolation.  Currently in development, it is proposed for safely running native code from a  web browser, allowing web-based applications to run at near-native speeds.

Adobe Air provides a Native Code API, and the recently launched  Silverlight 5  also brings Native Code into the browser. Moreover, we all know about the  notoriety  of ActiveX in Internet Explorer. Although Native code has always been an area of interest across platform because of the promised robustness, it poses a risk at the same time.

The “Native Client Technology” project was started to create robust applications by allowing them to leverage native (system) processing speeds. It has been present in Google Chrome 14 dev version as a disabled feature. However, after this stunt by Google, “Native Client Technology” might be reduced to a game-enabling project, which kicks WebGL in the gut.

Visit the Native Client developer page here.

Google has recently funded a research, which identified Chrome as the most secure web browser and Firefox the least. The reputed security firm Accuvant, which counts Charlie Miller as one of its Research Consultants, carried out the research.  Charles Miller was the first to find vulnerabilities in the iPhone and Android G1. He has also been winning the  CanSecWest Pwn2Own for the last four years. That makes him quite the guy for this kind of a research.

This research puts Google Chrome at the top, which has stayed unbeaten at Pwn2Own. Google funded this research knowing it will emerge at the top. Then, what was the real objective of this research? Of course, it was not about re-establishing facts. This research was aimed straight at Firefox.

Firefox has been the browser of choice for a majority of people. When Google Chrome started out, Firefox had a decisive user share. However, now, that Google Chrome is rising and has overtaken Firefox, Firefox is no more than a threat to Google Chrome. The only reason for conducting this research was to try to get people off the Firefox bandwagon. With most of the Internet using Google Chrome, Google would have a decisive control over the way people use the Internet.

The browser-security  comparison results  are available at this page with the following description:

The Accuvant LABS research team completed an extensive security evaluation of the three most widely used browsers Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Internet Explorer to determine which browser best secures against attackers. The team used a completely different and more extensive methodology than previous, similar studies. They compared browsers from a layered perspective, taking into account security architecture and anti-exploitation techniques.

Accuvant has also pointed out areas where Firefox can improve its code base. Mozilla’s Director of Engineering Jonathan  Nightingale  has  responded to the research  saying,

Firefox includes a broad array of technologies to eliminate or reduce security threats, from platform level features like address space randomization to internal systems like our layout frame poisoning system. Sandboxing is a useful addition to that toolbox that we are investigating, but no technology is a silver bullet. We invest in security throughout the development process with internal and external code reviews, constant testing and analysis of running code, and rapid response to security issues when they emerge. We’re proud of our reputation on security, and it remains a central priority for Firefox.

Ever since its launch, Google Chrome has been gaining market share at a steady rate. Now, StatsCounter is reporting that Google Chrome has finally managed to surpass Firefox globally. Chrome’s worldwide market share rose to 25.69%, while Firefox slipped to 25.23%. Microsoft Internet Explorer also continued its slide and fell to 40.63% at the end of November.

Google Chrome gained 21% over the past two years, while Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera lost 15.94%, 6.98, and 0.2% each. Safari also managed to gain 2.255 market share since November 2009. In India the figure are slightly different as Indian users have typically been more reactive to market changes than Americans. Only 26.9% Indians surf using Internet Explorer, while 34.29% and 34.75% rely on Firefox and Chrome respectively. Opera controls a shade above 2.5% of the market share in India.

Browser statistics tend to be wildly inaccurate and inconsistent. However, they are still good enough to gauge the market trend, and in this case the trend is clear. Google Chrome’s rise in popularity has been nothing short of spectacular. Introduced in late 2008, it has won the hearts of millions of web users with its focus on speed, security, and simplicity. Although Chrome is undoubtedly benefiting from Google’s deep pocket and wide reach, the Chrome team needs to be applauded for getting their priorities right. Within a short span of time Chrome has made its presence felt with its innovative drive and commitment to web standards.

Firefox on the other hand struggled to ship the ambitious Firefox 4 update, lost out in the browser speed wars, and seems to perennially lag behind Chrome. Many fans believe that Mozilla’s lack of vision is hurting Firefox, which was once the darling of the alternate browser crowd.

Google has released yet another update of its Chrome browser, fixing a high-risk vulnerability in the V8 JavaScript engine.   The latest build – Chrome 15.0.874.121 is the latest stable released and is now available for download for Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome Frame platforms.

The issue in V8 JavaScript engine caused an error which can be exploited to read restricted memory. This can be used by attackers or hackers to execute arbitrary code in the context of the user running the browser. On successful exploit, attackers can read /obtain sensitive information, and even execute the arbitrary code in the Chrome sandbox. Failed attacks can cause denial-of-service conditions causing the browser to crash.

The browser connects to SSL servers using certificates signed with MD2 or MD4 hashing algorithms. This can be exploited by attacker to fake valid certificates if an MD2 or MD4 collision attack is successful.

The V8 issues was identified by Christian Holler, and was rewarded $1000 for finding the error under Google’s Chromium Security reward scheme.

The Chrome 15.0.874.121 also brings in a fix which an SVG element placed within an iframe would not have a specified dimension even after having the width and height assigned. The SVG elements would instead take the maximum amount of space in the iframe.  The following links demonstrates the issue

• http://jonnew.com/js/svgIframe.html
• http://jsfiddle.net/newtang/e7Nsq/

More details on this issue can be found here.

Google Chrome’s earlier release – Chrome 15.0.874.102 had over 27 fixes and rewards accounted to USD $26k. The release also included new features in  Chrome  15, such as the redesigned New Tab page. If you ever encounter a problem or want to report a bug related to Google Chrome, then you can fill up this form notify the Google Chrome team.

Download the latest stable release:

• Download Chrome for Windows
• Download Chrome for Linux
• Download Chrome for Mac OS

Tabbed browsing has definitely changed the way we access webpages in browsers. However, I have faced a few problems with multiple tabs, one of them being   a scenario where I have 20 tabs open in Google Chrome and one of them suddenly starts playing loud video or music.

Finding the offending tab is often like finding a needle in a haystack and the best recourse is to just mute your system music. But what if you are playing music on another app? You would mute that too right. Another solution would be to just close all the tabs at once and get rid of the annoyance. Neither of these solutions are really graceful.

There have been several forum threads about this issue, but Google engineers have stated that it is hard for them to isolate a tab which is playing music or video and allow users to mute them, thanks to limitations in the operating system.

However, there is an option in the form of a Google Chrome Extension which will allow you to mute music or video sounds in all the tabs at once, using a toolbar option or a keyboard shortcut (Alt + W).

The extension in question is the Chrome Toolbox Options, which also provides with several other interesting features to enhance your Google Chrome experience including preventing Google Chrome from closing down when you close the last tab and more.

The “Mute all tabs” is definitely a great feature, but what if you want to now find and close the tab which is playing the loud music or video? Are you going to go through each individual tab and find the culprit? Well, that would take a long time. Well, another extension called “Mute Tab” can come in handy.

Mute Tab is an extension   which will allow you to find out which tabs are playing videos, music or flash and then allow you to mute them. This is definitely handy if you want to find a culprit tab and shut it down rather than having to browse through individual tabs.

That’s it, using these two extensions will save you a lot of trouble, and probably embarrassment when you are using Google Chrome. Do feel free to post your own suggestions if you use different methods to get rid of this annoyance.