Manifest V3 is how you’re meant to build Chrome extensions, and Google today laid out a more detailed transition timeline away from Manifest V2.
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Over the past few years, Google has worked to clean up, boost privacy, and increase security on the Chrome Web Store. The latest effort introduces badges in the Chrome Web Store to better highlight high-quality extensions.
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Google today announced the latest set of policy changes to limit extensions abuse and improve security of the Chrome Web Store. This includes requiring 2FA for Chrome Web Store developers and cracking down on deceptive installations.
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Over the past few years, Google has been continuously working to make Chrome extensions safer. Developers now have to limit what they do with collected data, while the Chrome Web Store early next year will feature a privacy practices disclosure .
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Earlier this year, Google announced some changes to the Chrome Web Store in an effort to curb malicious extensions. Now, Google is announcing that paid Chrome extensions will no longer be available.
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Google has removed over 70 add-ons from the Web Store for the Chrome web browser after reports of malicious activity.
Since the Chrome Web Store has become the sole source of Chrome extensions, as well as a begrudging secondary provider for Microsoft Edge extensions, safety and security is of the utmost importance. To that end, Google has announced a new set of restrictions on Chrome extensions that should help cut back on spam.
Google today announced “two significant changes” to the Chrome Web Store for extension developers. There’s a new default dashboard and up-front registration fee likely aimed at combating spam.
In recent weeks, Adblock Plus creator Wladimir Palant detailed how four browser extensions from Avast and AVG “upload detailed browsing profiles of their users.” Google this evening removed three of those named add-ons from the Chrome Web Store.
Google’s G Suite offers a rich platform to build upon, allowing developers to create G Suite extensions for Docs and Sheets or apps powered by Drive. These extensions are currently available from the Chrome Web Store, but Google has decided to give them a new home in the G Suite Marketplace.
Chrome 69 arrived yesterday, and with it vast redesigns of pretty much every part of the ubiquitous browser from Google. Other things that are closely related but not necessarily directly connected to Chrome, like the Chrome Web Store, have also been redesigned, though.
A while back Google announced that it would kill off apps for its Chrome browser. In the time since, we’ve seen some apps convert to extensions, but no steps were taken to get rid of apps entirely. That is, until today, as Google has just plunged a dagger into what was Chrome apps.
While the Play Store usually gets more billing, the Chrome Web Store serves an equally large audience and is full of many useful apps and extensions. Google is updating the User Data Policy for the store with more stronger policies in regards to user data.
For many of us, email is a necessary evil. Necessary because most of the business world still uses email to communicate important information, evil because it can end up controlling your life. When someone emails you with a question, or a request, or whatever else, they’re putting you on the offensive – giving you tasks to accomplish and things to do. But there’s one selfish act you can take to make the experience a little better for yourself – scheduling.
A couple weeks back you may have seen a lot of news coverage about a Chrome extension that, when installed, replaces all instances of the word ‘millennials’ on the webpages you visit with ‘snake people’. The media seems to have this non-stop desire to write think piece after think piece about how snake peoples are a smartphone-obsessed, basement dwelling generation who expect everything on a silver spoon. If these posts are driving you crazy, Millennials to Snake People will ease the pain! There’s also an older one called ‘Cloud to Butt Plus’ which, while pretty self-explanatory, cuts straight to a kind of taboo topic that makes us uneasy and/or nervous, the feelings which are oftentimes best dealt with through laughter.
But maybe there’s some other word or phrase driving you mad that these extensions haven’t addressed. Thankfully, I’m here to help. And you don’t even need to have any web development experience, as I’ve already gone ahead done all the elbow work! When you’re finished you’ll be able to run this extension in the Chrome browser on your computer absolutely free, or for $5 you’ll be able to pay Google for the right to publish it to the Chrome Web Store where anyone can download it. So, here’s how to make a Chrome extension that replaces any word or phrase with the one of your choosing:
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It’s Friday! As the week draws to a close, we’ve shared some interesting little additions to the Play Store including new user feedback call-to-actions and a ‘Free App of the Week‘ promotion, and so it only makes sense to mention a change to the Chrome Web Store that happened this week: there’s a new device compatibility icon.
Yes, not a huge change, but helpful nonetheless. If an extension or theme is compatible with your device, you’ll see a reassuring “Compatible with your device” indicator in the right-hand information rail, above the app description. If not, you’ll (as always) see the “Add to Chrome” button replaced by a red “Not Compatible” button, like the one pictured below. That picture was taken from techdows.com because it’s surprisingly hard to find a Chrome Web Store app not compatible with any of my computers, but what the picture below is showing is Chrome disabling NPAPI plugins on Windows 8, as the technology is not compatible with Windows 8 Metro mode.
This change was initially spotted by a tipster speaking with the unofficial Chrome Operating System blog.
Back in May of last year, Google started enforcing a policy that requires Chrome extensions be hosted on its Chrome Web Store, but only on Windows. The goal was to prevent malware hidden in extensions installable from outside its store, and it even started disabling extensions already installed on users’ systems that weren’t hosted on the Chrome Web Store. Now, Google says it will bring that requirement to Mac Chrome users over the coming months, as well as the Chrome developer channel for Windows that wasn’t previously enforcing the policy:
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Tab overload.
One of the things I struggle with on a daily basis—and forgive me, I know it’s a first world problem—is an overload of Google Chrome tabs. I have a bad habit of just opening countless new tabs without even thinking, and I’m really bad about managing them and closing the ones I’m no longer using. Chrome just makes it way too easy to end up with a few dozen tabs open, while only actually using a few.
I figured it wasn’t possible that I was the only one that struggled with this. With just a quick Google search, I found a free Chrome extension called “Tab Wrangler” to help rectify the situation. It’s a nifty little plugin. Without hardly any set up, it will help manage your tabs for you and close the ones you don’t need—and it will even keep you updated on your negligence with a little red badge telling you how many tabs it has closed for you…
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Google’s Francois Beaufort has revealed in a post on Google+ that Chrome OS users can now run Linux on their machines in a desktop window. This means that developers don’t have to switch back and forth between operating systems, but rather can run them side by side. This capability is made possible by the Crouton Chrome extension, which is available on the Chrome Web Store for free.
If you’re among the first wave of Inbox users, and you’ve got the software installed on your smartphone and tablet, you’ll probably want to swing by the Chrome Web Store and grab Google’s new web app.
Casual Chrome users rejoice! You can now install free apps without having to sign into the Chrome Web Store. Revealed by platform evangelist François Beaufort, this new option lets people pick up software without the need of a Google account. This type of setup could be useful to people who haven’t fully committed to using Mountain View’s web browser on a full-time basis.
In 2010 Google took steps towards separating its Chrome browser and the way its apps operated. Unlike traditional web-based applications, the software didn’t have URLs or navigation buttons, making it feel more like native desktop programs. This new breed of Chrome apps were also capable of working offline, connecting with peripherals and delivering desktop notifications.
Google, looking to unify its Chrome and Android products, updated its Chrome Web Store today with the ability to filter app results by those that also have an Android counterpart. Along the top of the homepage and on the side of search result pages, you can now narrow the results by “For Android,” in addition to the runs offline, by Google, and free criteria that have been there for a while.
This means, that if you are searching for, say, a note taking app, you could narrow it down by those that have both a version for Chrome and Android. It’s not a huge feature by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s certainly useful for those who are looking to unify their experiences on Android and Chrome.
You can try it out for yourself on the Chrome Web Store.
Google’s Chromium Blog just announced intentions of the search engine giant to knock out toolbars and “multipurpose extensions” out of the Chrome Web Store. The update to the policy is basically summed up as: “extensions in the Chrome Web Store must have a single purpose that is narrow and easy-to-understand.” That sounds simple enough, no?
