There's a new Chromebook in town from Acer this week with the Acer Chromebook Spin 514. This device is the first Acer Chromebook with a new AMD Ryzen 3000 C-Series mobile processor inside and AMD Radeon graphics. The Enterprise version of the Chromebook Spin 514 includes a full-sized HDMI port and the full collection of Chrome OS "built-in business capabilities" like zero-touch enrollment.
Threat researchers from Avast, a company known for digital security and privacy products, have discovered a massive amount of malware infections for people around the world. The researchers say that around 3 million people globally are infected with malware via third-party browser extensions for Instagram, Facebook, Vimeo, and others. Avast researchers say that malware is hidden in at least 28 third-party Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge extensions associated with some of the most popular platforms on the Internet.
Atari is currently shipping out the very first VCS consoles to those who backed the system on indiegogo, and when those backers get their units, it'll come packing a surprise: Google Chrome. Atari announced today that Chrome is the official built-in browser of the VCS. While it's somewhat rare to see consoles supporting a third-party browser like Chrome natively, it makes sense for the VCS as Atari envisions it as a console/PC hybrid.
Although they started out as strengths of modern web browsers, extensions have quickly become liabilities. Mirroring a lingering problem with Android apps in the Google Play Store, the Chrome Web Store has become notorious for all sorts of shady extensions, from scams to actively harmful utilities promising the moon and beyond. To its credit, Google has been working to improve the state of Chrome Extensions and next year will focus on protecting users' privacy and security though at the usual expense of some convenience.
Google's at a point where they're confident in Chrome to an extreme degree. Today's news makes that point in a promise that Chrome's seamless payments and password management systems will be active for all signed-in users in the coming weeks and months. These systems were made available to some users over the past year - now they'll be ready to roll for everyone. If you've not used one or both of these features, now's the time to take a peek at what you've been missing.
Not too long ago, Google made a somewhat unpopular decision to tie signing into Google accounts with singing into Google Chrome. Although there are advertised benefits to this unified system, some users also found it even more convenient, especially as it forced them to rely on Chrome's syncing functionality to get access to data stored in their Google accounts. Google has, since then, been trying to decouple Chrome Sync from that functionality and its upcoming changes to Chrome on Android and the desktop make Chrome Sync even more unnecessary.
The web browser address bar has long ceased simply being a place where you type in a website's URL or address. In fact, there is a growing trend these days to actually hide those addresses in the address bar, ironic as that may sound. That input field has pretty much become a mini search engine where you type what you're looking for without having to go to Google or Bing explicitly. In the current Chrome release, it will even let you type in commands to control the browser without having to go through menus and settings.
ASUS announced a new Chrome OS desktop machine today with the ASUS Chromebox 4. This device works with a 10th gen Intel processor, Google Play (with Android apps aplenty), and a compact form factor. The best part about this machine is its relatively low price - right around $290 USD.
Chrome for Apple's M1 Macs has been released, a specially-developed version of the browser for Apple Silicon, a day after Google had to pull down its first attempt over stability issues. Attempts to download Chrome now bring up two different options: you can either have Chrome for a Mac with an Intel chip, or Chrome for a Mac with an Apple chip.
![Chrome for Mac gets a special version optimized for Apple Silicon [Update]](https://www.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/m1_apple_chip_main-1280x720.jpg)
If you plan to own a Mac featuring Apple's own hardware (or you've already bought one) and you're a Google Chrome user, then we have good news: a new optimized version of the browser has just been released for Macs featuring the M1 chip. The new version was launched quietly by Google and recently spied by some Mac users -- and, of course, the Chrome version with support for Intel models isn't going anywhere.
The final Chrome update of the year 2020 was released this week. Google claims that this new Chrome 87 release includes significant improvements to both speed and memory utilization - both of which are long overdue for a boost in one of the most-used web browsers in the entire world. This update also signs a sea change for Google, as Chrome is set to include the ability to search tabs (all the tabs open at once), and activate Chrome Actions.
As if ads weren't bad enough, some less conscientious site owners have learned to misuse and abuse one of the modern Web's features that, on their own, could actually be benign. But just like notifications on your phone, webpage notifications have not only become a nuisance, some have even become dangerous. In its efforts to make the Web a better place and make ads look less devious, Google is pushing a new feature in version 86 of Chrome that will block sites that use notifications to display abusive and misleading content.