The latest version of Google Chrome will arrive on September 4 and it comes with the interface overhaul called Material Design. A specific portion of the company’s notes for the enterprise makes this clear, stating that Chrome will sport “a new design across all operating systems.” The same paragraph also mentions autofill updates and integration into the notification center on Windows 10.
If you’re not familiar with Material Design, it’s a new approach to Chrome’s interface from a visual standpoint. If you’re on a Windows 10 PC, you can actually unlock a portion of the redesign in Chrome 68 by changing the “UI Layout for the browser’s top chrome” flag to “Refresh.” On MacOS, you will also need to enable “Use Views browser windows instead of Cocoa” to see Material Design in action.
In a nutshell, Google tries to emulate printed paper with this new design. Launched in 2014, Material Design emerged in Google Now to emulate cards, rendering crisp edges and shadows to give these virtual cards depth. Material Design then appeared in Android 5.0 and is slowly infiltrating all apps and services provided by Google, including its Chrome web browser.
“Material Design is guided by print design methods — typography, grids, space, scale, color, and imagery — to create hierarchy, meaning, and focus that immerse viewers in the experience,” Google says. “Material Design is inspired by the physical world and its textures, including how they reflect light and cast shadows. Material surfaces reimagine the mediums of paper and ink.”
One of the apparent Material Design-based changes in Chrome is the address bar sporting cleaner, rounded edges. The tabs get a visual overhaul as well showing straight edges and slightly rounded corners, just like those you may see on real-world folders. All drop-down and right-click menus are clean, widely spaced and card-like, imitating printed media.
Outside the addition of Material Design, Chrome 69 will require you to grant permission for websites to use Flash every time you restart the browser. Adobe confirmed in 2017 that it would no longer update and/or distribute Flash starting 2020. Adobe’s long-time media platform will be replaced by the technologies served up in HTML5, WebGL and WebAssembly.
On the enterprise front, Chrome 69 will include a password alert policy. According to Google, if someone tries to sign into a website that’s not whitelisted or is flagged as suspicious by the company, a popup will warn the individual to reset his/her password. This move attempts to crack down on those who like reusing passwords across multiple sites, leading to compromised accounts and company network breaches.
“Third parties can sometimes inject code that disrupts the stability of Chrome Browser,” the notes add. “In Chrome 66, we introduced on-screen warnings that alerted users when a third-party injects code. In Chrome 69, third-party code is now blocked by default. If you still use software that injects code into browser processes, you can temporarily enable access using the new ThirdPartyBlockingEnabled policy.”
Google Chrome 69 arrives on September 4.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.