133025162
submission
techtsp writes:
Starting with Chrome 86, the web browser plans to limit JavaScript timer wake ups in background webpages to 1 wake up per minute. This way, Google will restrict the execution of certain background tasks. For example, checking if the scroll position changed, reporting logs, analyzing interactions with ads. Google plans to achieve this, courtesy of a new experimental feature called “Throttle Javascript timers in background.”
Google recently experimented with a prototype that limits Javascript timer wake ups to 1 per minute. In this experiment, Google opened 36 random tabs in the background while the foreground tab was about:blank. At the end of the experiment, Google found that throttling Javascript timers extends the battery life by almost 2 hours (28 percent) for a user with up to 36 background tabs, and when the foreground tab is about:blank.
Similarly, Google ran another experiment. But this time, instead of a blank tab in the foreground, Google played a YouTube video in fullscreen mode. According to Google, throttling Javascript timers increases the battery life by almost 36 minutes (13 percent) for a user who has up to 36 tabs running in the background, in addition to a YouTube video in the foreground. Chrome will provide developers with a message in the DevTools console when a Javascript timer is delayed by more than 5 seconds.
132402888
submission
techtsp writes:
Mozilla is bringing some noteworthy changes and features for Firefox users in the coming days. The company’s upcoming Firefox 79 release wants users to test experiments, which is similar to what Chromium-based web browsers like Chrome and Edge offer.
Firefox 79, which is in the Nightly channel, has added a new option ‘Firefox Experiments.’ This option will allow users to enable/disable experimental features under Preferences.
Mozilla already offers a glimpse of features one could test exclusively on Nightly. In fact, Mozilla has a dedicated Experimental Features page on MDN just for that. Now, extending some of these features to a stable release will take Mozilla’s experiments to a whole new level.
Given the experimental nature of those features, they will not be enabled by default. Instead, users can decide if they wish to enable specific features by navigating to the ‘Firefox Experiments’ preference.
Firefox Experiments will work similarly to how Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge allow users to try unreleased features via about:flags.
132097020
submission
techtsp writes:
Aiming to make progressive web apps (PWAs) fully compatible with native OS components, Google Chrome 85 is rolling out App shortcuts. As a result, Chromium-based web browser applications like Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge will soon allow PWAs to perform common tasks like composing an email or tweets directly from Windows 10 taskbar.
To recall, Windows 10 October 2018 Update enabled access to top sites in the Jump List on the Windows taskbar or Start menu using Microsoft Edge. Not only Windows but Mac users can also create a new web browser window directly by interacting with the Chrome icon on the macOS dock. The same philosophy will apply to App shortcuts using web browser applications based on the Chromium engine.
Windows 10 native app icons in the quick launch bar already support a shortcut menu for commonly or frequently performed tasks in the app. Similarly, this menu can be invoked by right-clicking the PWA’s quick launch bar icon.
App shortcuts feature is currently in development on Microsoft Edge. Meanwhile, Google Chrome 85 is in the Dev channel.
131651166
submission
techtsp writes:
In a major breakthrough, Microsoft Edge now supports Native File System API, which will take Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) and their usage to a whole new level.
An official roadmap entry points towards the new development, which only means one thing: Bridging the native app gap using modern web technologies. This is exactly where Microsoft Edge’s Native File System API support comes into play, and Edge is already rolling out a native PDF editing support that uses this Native File System API. In the future, Microsoft Edge users can easily save edits made to PDF documents back to the file instead of saving a copy each time.
Over the last few years, the web has evolved into an incredibly powerful platform in itself, and with the introduction and significant adoption of PWAs, the cross-device software delivery became much easier. But no matter how great PWAs are, they have certain limitations that we can’t possibly ignore. And these limitations prevent users from replacing native apps with progressive web apps. In short, PWAs can’t do everything that native apps can do.
131298350
submission
techtsp writes:
Firefox will prevent websites from forcing users to directly save PDFs without opening them in the web browser window. Mozilla is rolling out this feature to the masses with the stable release of Firefox 78. Right now, Mozilla has added this feature to Firefox 78 in the Nightly channel. The issue was first raised in 2011, and it took Mozilla 9 years to fix it. Many websites host and offer PDF documents with the following HTTP header: Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=”whatever.pdf.” This is an indication to the web browser that the PDF file should be saved with the specified name rather than try opening it in the web browser window. But since Firefox has a built-in PDF viewer, it should be for users to decide whether they want to view or save PDF documents.
76024971
submission
techtsp writes:
Marcia J. Bates, UCLA Professor Emerita of Information Studies recently explained why Google's birth led to the downfall of AltaVista. According to Bates,early search engines including AltaVista adapted the classical IR methods. At the other hand, Google founders started off with a completely different approach in mind. Google successfully recognized the potential of URLs, which could be added to the algorithms for the sake of information indexing altogether. Google’s modern age techniques were a huge boost to those older techniques. Whatever other business and company management issues AltaVista faced, it was the last of the old style information retrieval engines.
73123833
submission
techtsp writes:
Canadian telecommunications company BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY) has once again made their ways into the news with lot of gossiping taking place about its acquisition, and this time there’s Microsoft at the other end of the story. Sources even claim that few other tech companies like Xiaomi, Lenovo and Huawei are also amongst those interested in positively spinning their chances off with BlackBerry. The move comes right after BlackBerry as of late declared that it will lay off number of employments across the globe and will merge its device software, hardware and applications business.
