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Google To Launch Squoosh Free Image Editor On Chrome Browser

Chrome is the most widely used browser, but it also has its own catalog of applications. Thanks to Google, Squoosh, a free image editor, will come to Google and it should work directly within the browser. And it is not only compatible with Chrome as it also works with other browsers, including mobile ones.

Squoosh is an online image editor that’s very straightforward to use to use and is quite basic. But it has one important feature, as it’s extremely fast. It actually looks like a locally executed application. You access Squoosh through its website, from any browser on any device. You can use the example images that are already preloaded, to test it, or upload one from your computer or mobile.

Squoosh has two main functions – compressing and resizing an image. All the tools you need are placed on the right side of the screen. You have several compression algorithms like MozJPG, OptiPNG, and so on, allowing users to compress any pic without losing its quality. Best of all, you can see the image change in real time by sliding a bar over the screen.

It is also possible to adjust the quality of the compression and the color palette. When you’re done, all you have to do is download the modified image.

Google To Launch Squoosh Free Image Editor On Chrome Browser

As we’ve said, Squoosh is a simple but very efficient and fast image editor and, above all, it is convenient, as it permits users to check the changes of the compression algorithm in real time which is quite spectacular, honestly.

Squoosh has been created by a division of Google that is dedicated to experimenting with applications developed for the Chrome browser.

Among its projects, which you can consult on Github, there is also a text editor for Chrome and ChromeOS, a filter that turns a website into an artistic box, analysis tools, programming guidelines, and much more. An excellent example of the increasingly versatile applications provided by the Google cloud.

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Google Plans To Improve Split-Screen in Android Q Permitting Apps To Run Simultaneously

At the moment, the split-screen feature in Android only allows users to display two apps but only one of them is active. However, Google plans to improve split-screen in Android Q permitting apps to run simultaneously.

Currently, split-screen on Android has a severe limitation as it’s not allowing users to run two apps at the same time. In other words, the active app is only that one with which the users interact, while the other one remains in standby. Luckily, Google is now working on an improved split-screen feature for Android Q which would permit users to run two applications simultaneously with the “multi-window” function.

Also, even though Google made some recommendations on how the split-screen feature can e used, many app devs didn’t take them into consideration, and the majority of the apps are not operating correctly in ‘multi-window” in current Android OS versions.

Google Plans To Improve Split-Screen in Android Q Permitting Apps To Run Simultaneously

The upcoming feature Google wants to implement in Android Q is dubbed Multi-resume and would permit for all apps in multi-window to run simultaneously. Currently, some manufacturers, especially Samsung, made some tweaks in Android to allow the split-screen feature to run two apps at the same time.

However, that new feature Google would implement in Android Q would be the first native split-screen function that would permit running more apps simultaneously. Also, at the moment, Android testers can probe this new feature, which would be a mandatory behavior in Android Q, on Android Pie devices. But, both the manufacturers of smartphones and app developers might opt-in for this testing phase.

Additionally, with the emergence of folding smartphones and Google Foldable tech project to make Android OS suitable for such devices, the split-screen feature would become a commonly used function, so improving it might be a mandatory step to take for Google to make its mobile OS compatible with foldable phones.

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Updating Apps While You’re Using Them Is The Next Goal for Android

Among the news coming from Samsung, Google also presented an upcoming feature in Android that would allow users to use applications as the system is updating apps. The presentation took place at Android Dev Summit as part of Android’s In-App Updates API, which is at this moment under testing by Google.

“You’ll have two options with this API; the first is a full-screen experience for critical updates when you expect the user to wait for the update to be applied immediately. The second option is a flexible update, which means the user can keep using the app while the update is downloaded. You can completely customize the update flow, so it feels like part of your app,” said Stephanie Cuthbertson, Android’s Director of Product Management.

According to The Verge, the new Android feature is a fail-safe against users who refuse to keep their apps updated as the process is requiring a few steps.

Updating Apps While You’re Using Them Is The Next Goal for Android

The In-App Updates API is currently in its testing phase at Google. When it comes out, this new Android feature will allow updating apps while you’re using them, easing up the Android apps update process.

Besides this upcoming function, at the before-mentioned Android Dev Summit, Google also presented its Foldables technology with which the company wants to support the forthcoming Samsung folding smartphone announced by Samsung Senior Vice President Justin Denison at the 2018 Samsung Developer Conference.

Even though Justin Denison did not disclose an exact release date for Samsung’s foldable smartphone, Galaxy F, Android and Google’s devs reported that the upcoming folding smartphone would hit the shelves in 2019. Also, the new Google’s Foldables technology is specially designed to support the forthcoming Galaxy F with a GUI and apps that would work with the device’s folding display.

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Google Chrome 71 Will Block Abusive Ads, Among Other New Features

With Chrome 71, Google is stepping up its fight against the problem of abusive ads on the Internet by blocking all ads on a site that displays them permanently. Google tries to thwart ads that deceive and completely annoys Internet users. Starting with the release of Google Chrome 71, scheduled for December 2018, the most popular Internet browser will automatically cut off all ads from some sites that offer “consistent abusive experiences.”

In November 2017, Google implemented in Google Chrome several protections against so-called “trick to click” that tried to redirect Internet users to unvisited sites to earn money through ads or identity theft. The Chrome 71 update is an extension of it, aiming to stop forced redirections, as it will simply determine if a website contains “abusive” ad content.

Following its own internal investigations into abusive web practices, Google claims to have identified the tactics used. Such ads may act as system warnings or use fake “X” shaped closing buttons to encourage an Internet user to click on content incorrectly. These scams can lead to phishing attacks, as well as they might attempt to steal a user’s private information.

Google Chrome 71 Will Block Abusive Ads, Among Other New Features

Google Chrome 71 will seek to help you get rid of these malicious ads by punishing website owners who publish such content, by removing all bulk ads. Any website which shows such advertisements will have 30 days to replace them with well-meaning ads and to report that to Google before Chrome 71 blocks all ads on that respective site.

These measures, however, will not be extended to those using alternative browsers. Mozilla Firefox has recently implemented better tracking protection and targeting ads that use trackers to collect information from Internet users that they may not be happy to share that info.

Google Chrome 71 will come out somewhen in December with several changes, including the new auto play rules which will aim to reduce the number of videos and audio content played automatically when a website is accessed, giving users more control over the content displayed in their browser.

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Google Partnered With iRobot To Map Houses For Improving Their Smart Devices’ Behavior

One of Google’s greatest successes has been its mapping system, which has led to applications such as Google Maps, Google Street View or Google Earth. With time we have gone from only having images and maps of the main roads and cities of the world to being able to see even inside some locations as we can also enter into buildings open to the public, such as shopping malls, airports, and car parks. And little by little the scale went down, and we can now visit shops, bookstores, cafes, and so on. Google wants to scan and map as much as it could. But there was one place it hadn’t tried to get into until now – your home. But now, however, Google allies with iRobot to map houses.

The company led by Sundar Pichai, Google, has stated along with iRobot, the company that manufactures the famous Roomba vacuum cleaners, to share the data that these devices collect in users’ homes through their sensors and cameras. One of the latest models of this manufacturer, the Rumba i7 Plus, can scan the house by the distance it travels and a low-resolution camera. That allows it to establish cleaning routines for each of the rooms on the house.

Google teams up with iRobot to map houses

With this new partnership, Google will be able to access the planimetry data, that is to say, in 2D, but it is not interested in using the images of the iRobot products’ cameras or the volume generated by the vacuum cleaners. According to the two companies, the reason why Google is interested in these data is to improve the behavior of their devices, such as Google Home.

Through the information obtained by Google from the iRobot’s vacuum cleaners, the company can recommend the best place to put a loudspeaker, automatically set up the smart light systems when we install them and promote future uses that may be generated in the smart homes of the future. However, both Google and iRobot have made it clear that they will not use the data for malicious purposes.

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