Google to Speed Up Chrome For Faster Browsing

Google is planning to make Chrome faster in order to provide its users fast Internet browsing experience.

Thanks to a new, open-source data and web compression algorithm for the Internet called Brotli, which Google announced last year to boost its web page performance.

With Brotli, Google will speed up Chrome and users could get a significant performance boost in coming months.

Google introduced Brotli last September and claimed that the new algorithm is a "whole new data format" that could reduce file sizes by up to 26 percent higher than Zopfli, the company's three-year-old web compression technology.

Net result – Fast Internet Browsing

In a post on Google+ on Tuesday, web performance engineer at Google Ilya Grigorik announced that the new algorithm is coming to Chrome soon, which will change the way files are compressed, improving loading speeds by a quarter.

Besides faster loading speeds, Brotli also have additional benefits for smartphone users, which includes:

• Lower data transfer fees
• Reduced battery use

Brotli is currently in beta testing mode, with a current status "intent to ship", however, it is likely to be rolled out with the next stable release of Chrome.

Advantages of Brotli

• Brotli outperforms gzip for typical web assets (e.g. css, html, js) by 17–25%.
• Brotli -11 density compared to gzip -9:
• html (multi-language corpus): 25% savings
• js (alexa top 10k): 17% savings
• minified js (alexa top 10k): 17% savings
• css (alexa top 10k): 20% savings

Chrome to Speed Up Web Page Performance Over HTTPS

At present, Brotli is restricted to HTTPS connections, and if you are curious to see Brotli in action, you can activate the feature in Chrome Canary, which is Google's browser for testing new features.

Thereby, you can carry out internet speed test with the help of various website performance testing tools to know what difference Brotli makes to your Internet browsing experience.

So, Get Ready to Speed Up Chrome and make your web page performance faster.

Youtube is UNBANNED in PAKISTAN

After over three years of being told to ‘Surf Safely’, Internet users in the country were able to access the popular video-sharing website, YouTube, following orders from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) that the website be unblocked.

However, digital rights groups and other stakeholders, who had originally opposed the blocking of the website, still have concerns over the deal – struck between the government and Google – which may empower the former to censor content on the website.

YouTube was blocked in September 2012, after a blasphemous film, ‘Innocence of Muslims’, triggered global protests. The government of Pakistan initially tried to restrict access to the clip inside Pakistan, but ended up having to block the entire website because Google refused to restrict access to the video on the website itself.

“We have directed all ISPs to unblock the website as Google informed us on January 12 that a country version of YouTube has been launched for Pakistan. Google has been using country versions for different countries such as Saudi Arabia,” a PTA official, who was not authorised to speak on the record, told Dawn.

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Google’s accession to govt demands worries digital rights activists

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“Google has also informed us that objectionable content will be restricted in Pakistan. It has assured that, in the future, content can be restricted at the request of the government of Pakistan,” he said.

A spokesperson for Google told Dawn via email, “We are glad that YouTube is now accessible in Pakistan so viewers can watch and share videos, as well as take advantage of the vibrant and growing global online video community.”

Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK) Convener Wahajus Siraj told Dawn that he had checked to see if the objectionable video could still be accessed on YouTube.

“The film is no longer available on the website. There are certain purported links, but when I tried to open them, it told me the content could not be viewed in Pakistan. This shows that the government’s demands have been met,” he said.

“It doesn’t make a difference whether one types in youtube.com.pk or simply youtube.com. It seems that the website is filtering IP addresses and it gives Internet users in Pakistan the ‘PK’ version irrespective. This is a positive development,” he said.

Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) Chairman Syed Ahmad told Dawn that restoring access to the website was a good step because YouTube was a major source of educational material and several users depended on it for updates on new technology.

“We were concerned that not opening the website would hurt Pakistanis far more than it would hurt Google,” he said.

“Now, however, thanks to the localisation, the website won’t be blocked because of political issues. But there are still concerns that the government will be able to get content restricted,” he said.

“Although control lies with the management of YouTube, but if someone uploads a video critiquing government corruption, the Pakistani government can ask for the video to be restricted. In addition, the management of YouTube will have to pay more attention to the government’s demands making it easier for the government to censor content,” he said.

Digital Rights Foundation Executive Director Nighat Dad said that there was no transparency in the agreement between the government and Google.

“Earlier, the government used to say that the issue was pending before the Supreme Court and the court would decide. However, a few days ago, restrictions on YouTube were relaxed and then, suddenly. we came to know that Google representatives were in Pakistan and it was announced that the website had been localised,” she said.

“The agreement should be made public because that is how we can know what kind of material has been restricted and what kind of content will be restricted in the future,” she said.

Source of Info: Dawn.com

Future Processors will only Support Windows 10

Microsoft is seemingly going to a new limit to define Windows 10 as the ultimate platform for the people of its ecosystem. In short, older OSes will no longer be supported by newer processors, making Windows 10  the absolute minimum starting point for people who are still holding out to their outdated hardware and software configurations.

As it turns out, the AMD, Intel and Qualcomm processors of the future will only support Windows 10 to get enterprise support. This news will allow Microsoft to further add reluctant business users who have stuck faithfully to older OS iterations.

What about Windows 7, 8 and 8.1?

The company is making it mandatory for Skylake processors to upgrade in the near future. It has made a list of these 6th-gen chips that will get support for Windows 7 and 8.1, but that too will end barely a year-and-a-half later on 17th of July, 2017.

After the expiry of the 2017 deadline, it is almost certain that an upgrade is needed and only those updates will be rolled out that don’t risk the “reliability or compatibility of the Windows 7/8.1 platform on other devices”.

Users with older versions of Intel and other options will get the support till Jan. 14, 2020 and Jan. 10, 2023 for versions 7 and 8.1 respectively.

Here’s Tyler Myerson in his own words regarding the change:

“Windows 7 was designed nearly 10 years ago before any x86/x64 SoCs existed. For Windows 7 to run on any modern silicon, device drivers and firmware need to emulate Windows 7’s expectations for interrupt processing, bus support, and power states – which is challenging for Wi-Fi, graphics, security, and more. As partners make customizations to legacy device drivers, services, and firmware settings, customers are likely to see regressions with Windows 7 ongoing servicing.”

It is not immediately clear what hardware developments are making Windows 7 a nuisance at this point, but as Skylake has shown, a better power management between the chip and the OS it runs on is possible. With Koby Lake coming soon, this and much more can be taken to an all new level.

Microsoft Hololens to come in Q1 2016 for Developers

After our experiences with smart watches, it is clear that an aspect as important as battery life is not to be underestimated. So far, HoloLens, said to be one of the exciting future prospects in technology, missed this detail but thankfully, Microsoft is working towards covering that too now.

According to the company, the mixed-reality computing platform will bring life of up to 5.5 hours on a single-charge, rather acceptable for a first-generation product of its kind. However, it can vary quite a lot with heavy 3D applications, whose use can shorten it to a rather subpar 2.5 hours.

Microsoft also detailed further aspects of the HoloLens, including connectivity. HoloLens uses both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for communication, so pretty much every wireless device out there is covered. Several headsets can be connected together for a shared experience too over Wi-Fi, and don’t need to be at the same place at the same time.

It can run just about any Windows 10 universal app. The field of view offered is similar to 15″ monitor placed at two feet from your face, due to cost and battery-life limitations. In the future, with improved manufacturing, that range can be expanded further as well.

We still aren’t sure when will the technology arrive for consumers but developer units should start hitting in Q1 2016. With this slightly different approach with virtual reality, Microsoft can surely blaze a trail for other lesser-known companies with HoloLens.

Facebook adds Built-in Tor support for its Android App

Rejoice for Privacy Lovers!

Facebook today took a surprising move by announcing that it is bringing the free anonymizing software TOR support to its Android app, almost two years after the social network planned to make Facebook available directly over Tor network.

Yes. Believe it or not, the Android version of the popular Facebook application now supports the Tor anonymity network.

In October 2014, Facebook launched a .onion website on TOR in order to let its users around the world access its service more securely.

Access Facebook over TOR via Orbot

This latest move to expand that access to the Android app opens up the option to millions more users to maintain their privacy when they visit the world's most popular social network.

Facebook says "a sizeable community of people" are already accessing the site over TOR, so the company is bringing this feature to Android via the free Orbot proxy app, which is available on the Google's Play Store.

"We commonly receive requests for additional platform support beyond the browser,"reads the announcement, "...we are now offering experimental support for using Facebook over Tor via the Orbot proxy app for Android devices."

How to Use Facebook Over TOR?

• In order to access Facebook over TOR, Download Orbot proxy app from the Play Store.
• Now open Facebook app and Select "Use Tor via Orbot" in the app's Settings menu.

That's it. Now you are connected to Facebook's Tor hidden service that will mask your real IP address and will stop your internet service provider (ISP) from seeing when you visit Facebook.

Moreover, this new feature could potentially allow users to access the social network site even if it is blocked in their country, like China and Iran.

Facebook says that the company is releasing this new feature "over the next few days," so do not expect to see the pop-up right now. 

And as the feature is currently in the experimental stage, flaws and other issues may occur.