Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority TL;DR A new flag in Chrome Canary directs searches made from the address bar directly to AI Mode. The Chromium commit description states that it’s just for exploration and there are no plans to push it live. Google also said something similar when it was testing AI Overviews and AI … Read More “Chrome might start routing your Google Searches to AI Mode” »
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority TL;DR Google is reportedly testing a floating Chrome search bar that can be summoned with a keyboard shortcut, letting users search the web without opening the browser first. The interface includes Google’s AI Mode, support for file and image uploads, and even AI image generation from the same window. The … Read More “Google’s new Chrome shortcut is the fastest way to search yet” »
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR Chrome’s recent Android update is crashing on some tablets before the browser can even open. Affected users see a “You can have up to 5 windows” message, even when only one Chrome window is active. The bug appears tied to Chrome version 148.0.7778.178 and is heavily impacting Samsung tablets … Read More “Some Android tablets can’t open Chrome after the latest update” »
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR Google has announced that Device Bound Session Credentials are now generally available in Chrome for Windows. The security feature binds a session cookie to the device the user authenticated from, making it harder for malicious actors to exploit stolen cookies. The feature is rolling out to Workspace customers and … Read More “The Chrome browser is getting a big safety upgrade — if you use Windows” »
Andy Walker / Android Authority TL;DR A recently disclosed Chromium vulnerability could allow malicious websites to silently hijack browsers like Chrome and Edge without downloads, pop-ups, or user interaction. The exploit abuses Browser Fetch, a feature meant for background downloads to keep persistent connections alive, potentially turning browsers into lightweight botnets for proxying traffic or … Read More “This Chrome flaw could hand hackers the keys to your browser” »
TL;DR Google says its new AI-powered Magic Pointer experience is now rolling out to Gemini in Chrome. The feature lets Gemini understand what your cursor is pointing at so you can interact with webpage content more naturally. Google also shared new details about the thinking behind Magic Pointer. Google just gave us our first look … Read More “Googlebooks’ Magic Pointer is also coming to Gemini in Chrome” »
TL;DR Google is rolling out Chrome’s auto browse feature to Android. Auto browse is an agentic tool that’s able to browse the web on your behalf. The feature will be available to Google AI Pro and Ultra users in the US on select devices running Android 12 or higher. If you ever needed help finding … Read More “Chrome on Android can now do your online errands for you” »
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR A bug in Chrome v148 is causing the bookmarks bar to appear by default on new tab pages. The bar stays, regardless of whether you hit Ctrl+Shift+B, disable the feature in settings, or disable the flag. The bar will only go away once you navigate to a website. Google … Read More “Chrome’s bookmarks bar refuses to stay hidden in new bug” »
Google Chrome’s “weights.bin” file has been gathering a lot of attention, particularly for its forced, inexplicable, and inescapable nature. This file is responsible for on-device Gemini Nano features and is actually good for your privacy, but users have been looking for ways to opt out of these features, delete the file, and stop it from … Read More “How to delete Chrome’s weights.bin file and disable Gemini Nano” »
Megan Ellis / Android Authority TL;DR By default, Chrome downloads a multi-gigabyte file called weights.bin on desktop computers. This file is the Gemini Nano model that powers on-device AI features. Google says it’s rolling out an option to easily delete weights.bin from Chrome settings. Earlier today, we wrote about Chrome automatically downloading a large, poorly … Read More “Google addresses Chrome’s chunky weights.bin file download” »
