Attention, Windows XP and Vista users: Google is cutting you off. Come April, Chrome won’t get any more security updates or new features.
Microsoft stopped issuing security patches for XP in April of 2014, meaning Google has offered Chrome updates for the platform two years longer. Today, however, the Chrome team announced they’re dropping support for Windows XP and Vista. Mac users are affected too: OS X versions older than Mountain Lion (10.8) will also stop seeing Chrome updates come April.
“Starting April 2016, Chrome will continue to function on these platforms but will no longer receive updates and security fixes”, Google announced in a blog post.
The change means any Windows version without a numbered name, and any OS X version named after cats instead of places in California, isn’t getting security updates — leaving them perpetually vulnerable to any exploits discovered from that point on.
Of course, this is part of what deciding to use an older operating system means: All the programs you love eventually stop offering upgrades for you, leaving you increasingly vulnerable to all kinds of exploits.
Google recommends users upgrade to a newer OS if they want to keep getting Chrome updates. Mac users can upgrade to a newer of OS X free of charge, and maybe this change will inspire a few people to do just that. For Windows users, however, the change means spending money on an OS for hardware that’s presumably toward the end of its lifecycle. We think it’s unlikely people who haven’t already upgraded from XP or Vista are going to do that.
Luckily not every major browser is abandoning them: Mozilla’s Firefox doesn’t currently have any plans to stop supporting XP or Vista. So long as you’re using XP Service Pack 1 or newer, you can download the latest version of Firefox without issue.
It’s not Chrome, sure, but it’s a modern, full-featured browser that’s still getting security updates. Make sure you switch by April.
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.