All articles tagged with #browsers
AI browsers are poised to become orchestration hubs that run agentic AI and route workloads across local devices, enterprise data centers, and the cloud, using local models and cross-environment coordination to improve efficiency, privacy, and responsiveness—though security concerns and deployment timelines remain.
Security experts warn that pop‑ups claiming your device is hacked—common in Chrome and Safari—are a form of scareware designed to scare you into paying, installing dubious software, or divulging credentials. Do not click any buttons in the warning. Instead, close the tab, run a trusted antivirus, update your browser and OS, and protect yourself with pop‑up blockers and safe browsing habits. If in doubt, verify alerts through official security sources rather than following in‑page prompts.
Lifehacker explains JustTheBrowser, a free, open-source set of scripts that disable AI features, telemetry, and promos in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, with platform-specific steps for Windows, macOS, and Linux to apply a browser-wide setting.
The article discusses the potential future where AI surpasses humans in web browsing and search, highlighting recent developments like AI-integrated browsers such as Perplexity’s Comet and ChatGPT Atlas, and the ambitions of tech leaders like Microsoft to revolutionize how we interact with the internet.
The article discusses Perplexity's efforts to find a browser before a significant bid related to Wild Chrome, highlighting the involvement of prominent tech and business leaders.
AI is shifting from chatbots to web browsers as the next phase of development, with new tools like Perplexity’s Comet and ChatGPT’s Agent enabling AI to access and interact with online data and services, although these are still in early, unreliable stages and are currently limited to premium users.
The article explores the competitive landscape of web browsers in 2025, highlighting new and upcoming alternatives to Chrome and Safari, including AI-powered browsers like Comet, Dia, and Neon, privacy-focused options such as Brave, DuckDuckGo, and Ladybird, as well as niche browsers like Opera Air, SigmaOS, and Zen Browser, each offering unique features aimed at enhancing user experience, privacy, and well-being.
The U.S. Department of Justice is pushing to break up Google's monopoly, potentially forcing the company to sell off Chrome and Android, and stop paying to be the default search engine in browsers like Firefox and Safari. While the legal battle unfolds, users are encouraged to consider alternatives to Chrome, which is criticized for poor privacy practices. Browsers like Safari, Firefox, and others offer better privacy features and are free to use, challenging Google's dominance in the search and browser markets.
Experts are divided on whether using apps or websites on your phone is safer, but many lean towards websites for occasional use due to their generally better privacy controls and fewer data collection capabilities. Apps, while vetted by Apple and Google, can collect more personal data and may share it with advertisers. Websites, especially when accessed through privacy-focused browsers like Firefox or Safari, offer more options to enhance privacy and security. However, the choice may depend on the specific browser and app in question.
Microsoft Edge for Android is adding support for extensions, with the latest pre-release builds quietly incorporating the functionality, which is currently hidden behind a flag and expected to hit the beta channel in late February and stable release in late March. The "Extensions Beta" page in Edge for Android already shows popular extensions like "Dark Reader," "Global Speed," and "uBlock Origin," and this move could potentially set a foundation for other browsers on mobile devices, although there's no indication that Google Chrome will support extensions on mobile.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued a warning about a clickjacking threat in popular browsers, specifically Mozilla's Firefox and Thunderbird. Clickjacking is a technique where a malicious website tricks users into clicking on something different from what they intended, potentially leading to unauthorized control over affected systems. CISA advises users and administrators to update their browsers and follow basic cybersecurity practices, such as being cautious of permission prompts and regularly backing up data. Staying informed and vigilant is crucial to protecting against cyber threats, especially during the holiday season.
Google's new Topics API, part of its Privacy Sandbox, aims to replace third-party cookies by allowing browsers to share user interests with third parties while preserving privacy. If you're concerned about sharing this information, you can easily disable it in Chrome's settings under Ad privacy. While this method is not foolproof, it provides a starting point for protecting your privacy online. Alternatively, you can explore more privacy-centric browsers like DuckDuckGo and Brave.
Browsers are integrating AI assistants like SigmaOS's Airis to automatically change the way a page looks and works, and even rewrite the words on the page to suit users' needs. Airis lets users ask questions about a webpage and provides answers in the context of the page. It can also help edit and rewrite text, and even rewrite existing webpages. Microsoft is adding a Bing sidebar to its Edge browser, while Opera recently launched its own rewriting and summarizing tools, along with a dedicated sidebar for accessing ChatGPT and other bots.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has criticized Google's decision to remove support for the JPEG XL image format, which was based on Google's PIK format, from its Chrome browser. The FSF claims that Google's decision is another sign of the company's control over browsers and the web. Google engineers stated that there was not enough interest from the entire ecosystem to continue experimenting with JPEG XL, and the format did not bring sufficient incremental benefits over existing formats. JPEG XL proponents suggested widespread adoption of the format could spur a 25-30% reduction in global bandwidth use.
WebGPU, a new web graphics API, is coming to Chrome and other browsers on desktop and mobile platforms. It allows developers and apps to access more advanced GPU features and provides first-class support for general computations on the GPU, resulting in a 3x improvement in machine learning model inferences. WebGPU will greatly reduce JavaScript workload for the same graphics and enable newer game engines to expose more advanced rendering features. It will first be available in Chrome 113 and later on Android and Linux, while Safari and Firefox also plan to support it.