Apps
Google Chrome Will Drop Flash Support in 2020
Adobe Flash Player is a tool that has received quite the mixed reception over the years. We can’t forget that the userbase of the product has been on a steep decline ever since the introduction of HTML5.
Well, Google has just mentioned how awful this decline has gotten. The percentage of daily Chrome users who’ve loaded at least one page containing Flash content per day has gone down from around 80% in 2014 to under 8% in early 2018.
The statistics have been provided by Parisa Tabriz, Director of Engineering at Google, during a keynote speech at Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS) held in San Diego last week.
The subject of discussion in her speech was about security features in Chrome and other aspects of the web platform. Of course, Adobe Flash and its usage was one of the important points to bring.
According to the future plans regarding Content Streaming, Adobe Flash will be dropped from Google Chrome once Version 87 is released to the public. In other words, we’ll see the browser stop supporting this feature in December of 2020.
It’s worth mentioning the fact that Adobe has also mentioned last year that they had plans to stop supporting Adobe Flash Player by 2020 as well. In other words, everyone seems to be ready to move on.
Before Google Chrome’s Version 87 comes around, however. People who like using Flash still can access the feature in a click-to-run policy. There is a catch too, as starting from Chrome 76 —expected in July 2019— Flash will be disabled by default, meaning users will have to enable the plugin in their settings before even entering a click-to-run state.
I will be missing the old Flash games I used to run in sites like Newgrounds and Kongregate. But considering that there are better ways to make games online it’s not hard to see this industry evolving. I guess we’ll just have to get ready for Flash’s demise.
WhatsApp launched dual-account support today. You can switch between accounts in WhatsApp.
Mark Zuckerberg announced the feature on Facebook and said it would soon be available.
People used to need two phones for two WhatsApp accounts. The company now allows two accounts on one phone. App cloning lets users use multiple WhatsApp instances on Xiaomi and Oppo phones.
“Helpful for switching between accounts – such as your work and personal – now you no longer need to log out each time, carry two phones or worry about messaging from the wrong place,” the company wrote in a blog post.
Users can add accounts under Settings > Add Account. Your second SIM or multi-SIM phone is needed for setup. Account-specific notifications and privacy settings are available, the company said.
WhatsApp discouraged fake apps to prevent fraud.
WhatsApp added Android passkey support this week, enabling access without SMS-based two-factor authentication.
X, formerly Twitter, announced today that it will experiment with charging “new unverified” users $1 per year to interact with posts. The company said this test is live in New Zealand and the Philippines and won’t affect existing users.
Users can post, like, repost, reply, bookmark, and quote for that fee. Free users get a read-only account to view posts and follow accounts.
This “Not A bot” program is not a profit driver, according to the company’s support account, but reason is hard to trust. The Elon Musk-owned company claims this program will reduce spam.
We created this new test to improve our already successful efforts to reduce spam, platform manipulation, and bot activity while balancing platform accessibility with the small fee. It does not generate profits, the company said.
The company said it would share spam-fighting program results on its support page.
Musk announced that X will charge “a small monthly payment” to use its service. The test program pays annually, but ethos is the same.
X (then Twitter) started requiring logins to view posts in June. Days later, the platform allowed logged-out users to view posts.
One year after Musk’s $44 billion acquisition, Simialrweb reports X traffic has dropped. The company has taken drastic measures to cut costs and make money.
In an interview last month, CEO Linda Yaccarino predicted X’s 2024 profitability. The former NBCU executive avoided discussing X’s user fees in the interview.
As of now, X only offers a $8 monthly plan. According to recently discovered code, the company may introduce three premium tiers, one ad-free.
Rick Osterloh, Google’s SVP of devices and services, says the Pixel 8 Pro will be the first hardware to run Google’s generative AI models.
At an event today, Osterloh said the Pixel 8 Pro’s custom-built Tensor G3 chip, which accelerates AI workloads, can run “distilled” versions of Google’s text- and image-generating models to power image editing and other apps.
Osterloh said, “We’ve worked closely with our research teams across Google to take advantage of their most advanced foundation models and distill them into a version efficient enough to run on our flagship Pixel.”
Google improved Magic Eraser, its photo-editing tool, to remove larger objects and people smudge-free using on-device models. Osterloh claims that this improved Magic Eraser creates new pixels to fill in shot gaps, producing a higher-quality image.
Osterloh says a new on-device model will “intelligently” sharpen and enhance photo details, improving zoom.
On-device processing benefits audio recording. The Pixel 8 Pro’s recording app will soon summarize meeting highlights.
Gboard will use a large language model on the Pixel 8 Pro to power smart replies. Osterloh claims that the upgraded Gboard will provide “higher-quality” reply suggestions and better conversational awareness.
Osterloh said an update in December will add on-device generative AI features except for Magic Eraser, which appears on the Pixel 8 Pro at launch.
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