Google Chrome Updated to Intelligently Pause Flash Animations

     As Adobe Flash has been on a constant downfall over the past few years, but it is still popular enough that often times it is the cause for the auto-play video on a website that makes us immediately leave site or want to smash it. As it is considered poor User Experience for a website to even have an auto-play video we are glad to see that Google Chrome is taking the steps to auto-pause any flash video that begins when the page loads.

     To be perfectly honest we are so thankful for a feature like this to be released with a browser as there are very few people if any who enjoy having auto-play videos especially flash videos which already cause slower load times and a heavier load on browsers. With Google Chrome taking this step it is just another way that Adobe Flash is slowly but surely being removed from our web experience which many of us will not miss.
     However, according to TechCrunch it would seem that Google actually partnered up with Adobe to keep Flash in check throughout web pages, and up until now there were only two options that Chrome offered to allow plugin content or stop all plugins from running automatically.


     Google is also saying that this update "significantly reduces power consumption." It will also stop annoying auto-playing videos from starting in the background. This will allow the browser to work with less power overall and for us laptop users that is a welcome update as often times browsers can have a large drain on laptop battery life.
     This update is now available in the Chrome desktop beta channel and Google says it will roll out the update to everyone soon.

Toshiba Unveils $330 Chromebook2 That Will Make You Re-think That MacBook Air

     In today's world of computers we are used to thinking that a computer needs an Operating System (OS) like Windows, but the Chromebook 2 is changing this way of thinking with a fully browser reliant system that utilizes the Google Drive system and all of the web based applications that Google offers such as Google Docs for a fraction of the price of what you would pay for a full OS laptop of any other brand.

     As you can see the $330 Chromebook 2 sports a sleek, slim and familiar design with chiclet-style keyboard and silver matte finish is bears a remarkable resemblance to the MacBook Air. The Chromebook 2 comes with a 13-inch 1080p IPS display, Skullcandy-branded stereo speakers, 2.5GHz Intel Celeron Processor with 4GB of RAM and a 0.76-inch-thick chassis. Weighing less than 3 pounds and offering many I/O features  for it's price: USB 2.0 port, USB 3.0 port, HDMI out and and SD card reader. They even included a 720p webcam built in and all of this for $330 when fully loaded.
     The most high end configuration will come with a 16GB solid-state drive and 100GB of Google Drive storage, which you may utilize for 2 years for free. Also contains a 4.0 bluetooth connectivity system in addition to the 802.11ac Wi-Fi and 9+ hours of battery life per charge.
     If you are someone who is on the run needs their documents to always be accessible with ease this Toshiba Chromebook may be for you. The Chromebook with a light-weight sleek design combined with the Google Chrome Store and the many applications that come out for browsers on a daily basis points us to a new future for computers. The Toshiba Chromebook 2 is set to release October 5, 2014 with the fully loaded sporting a cost-effective $330 price tag or for a step down you can purchase one for $250. The future of computers is just beginning.

Sources: Wired
               Toshiba

Google Chrome 64-bit Available: Faster and more Secure

     We all are constantly looking to download the best browser to enhance our online experience and Google Chrome 64 bit has delivered. With not only faster speeds on sites like youtube.com but also improving security and stability in many ways.
     Tasks such as decoding HD video have proven to be 15% faster under the 64-bit version of Chrome. Mozilla Firefox who is one of Chrome's leading competitors has been working on a 64-bit version just like Google but Google but Mozilla won't pull the trigger on releasing it to the public unlike Google. This may cause us to see a release of Mozilla's Firefox 64-bit in the near future if they want to enter this part of the market.
      Google has also said that it has seen an average improvement of 25% in graphics and multimedia content. This means less buffering for high quality video, less crashes and an overall better performance coming out of the browser. In addition the crash rate of Chrome 64-bit has been tested and shown to be half of that experienced in Chrome 32-bit.
     However there is one small downside to the new 64-bit and it's the fact that Chrome 64-bit does not support of a few of the not so popular plug-ins that are available for Chrome 32-bit. It is offering support for most of the major plug-ins such as Silverlight, Java and Flash which have all been updated to 64-bit furthering the increase in performance with this browser.

     To check if your google chrome is up to date to the 64-bit version go to the "about google chrome" selection from the drop down menu on the top righ-hand side of your Chrome browser and you will be able to update your browser if needed. If you are already up to date it will tell you "Google Chrome is up to date" or you will notice you have Google Chrome 37.
   

      Now it seems like a no brainer to go with the new Google Chrome 64-bit browser and that is because as of now it really is the best browser available. Until Mozilla releases a 64-bit version of Firefox overall this new version of Chrome has the best security, speeds and stability which is really what we want out of our browsers to begin with. At this time Google Chrome 64-bit is only available for Windows 7 64-bit and Windows 8/8.1. To download the new browser and test these claims yourself: Download Chrome 64-bit for Windows. Be sure that you see "For Windows 8/7 64-bit" below the Download Chrome button as shown below.

Sources: Extreme Tech
             Chromium Blog