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Thank you, Chrome team 🤩🤩🤩

Since Chrome came out back in 2008, it’s been a constant companion in my life. In fact, Chrome’s launch is how I helped get the startup I worked for at the time onto TechCrunch for the first time.

We did shots to celebrate. Chrome rocked, and we were Day One Fans.

But over time what was once a romance began to sour, as Chrome got a bit slower, a bit heavier and a bit worse over the years.

The devolution felt a bit like what was happening to Google search, in which a very good idea was slowly turned into something that made more money at the cost of functionality, speed and user happiness (more on that natural terminus of that progression here).

And because I am a petulant child, I have been very annoyed by what has happened to Chrome, software that I have never paid a single dollar to use. To make this point, I went out to round up a tweet or two from myself complaining about Chrome over the years, but after finding at least nine examples since May I started to feel bad (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine). So let’s move on.

What went wrong with Chrome? I don’t know. Over time its taste for RAM, lag and being generally annoying grew. But as I was living in a G Suite world, sticking to Chrome made sense — so I endured.

And now, I may not have to any longer. This week Google detailed an impending set of Chrome updates that are amazing to read through and imagine the real-world impact of. Big Goog appears to have gone deep into its browser’s code, finding ways to make it faster, lighter on memory usage and smarter.

I am so very excited.

What’s coming? Pulling from Google’s Chromium blog instead of its more consumer-friendly post (a big thanks to The Verge for bringing this set of updates to my attention), here are the highlights as far as I am concerned (Bolding: TechCrunch in each block quote):

Even if you have a lot of tabs open, you likely only focus on a small set of them to get a task done. Starting in this release, Chrome is actively managing your computer’s resources to make the tabs you care about fast—while allowing you to keep hundreds of tabs open—so you can pick up where you left off.

In this release, we’re improving how Chrome understands and manages resources with Tab throttling, occlusion tracking and back/forward caching, so you can quickly get to what you need when you need it.

Google this is literally me. I feel incredibly seen. Thank you.

We investigated how background tabs use system resources and found that JavaScript Timers represent >40% of the work in background tabs. Reducing their impact on CPU and power is important to make the browser more efficient. Beginning in M87, we’re throttling JavaScript timer wake-ups in background tabs to once per minute. This reduces CPU usage by up to 5x, and extends battery life up to 1.25 hours in our internal testing.

When the world works again, I want to buy lunch for everyone who took part in this effort.

Next, we’re bringing Occlusion Tracking–which was previously added to Chrome OS and Mac–to Windows, which allows Chrome to know which windows and tabs are actually visible to you. With this information, Chrome can optimize resources for the tabs you are using, not the ones you’ve minimized, making Chrome up to 25% faster to start up and 7% faster to load pages, all while using less memory.

Hell yes.

How many times have you visited a website and clicked a link to go to another page, only to realize it’s not what you wanted and click the back button? […] In Chrome 87, our back/forward cache will make 20% of those back/forward navigations instant, with plans to increase this to 50% through further improvements and developer outreach in the near future.

I didn’t even know I needed this, but I do. And I can’t wait to have it.

All in all, as I write this short post to you inside of Chrome, I cannot help but be freaking excited about New And Improved Chrome. More later after I get some testing in, but, honestly, yay!
https://tcrn.ch/2IZ497m

Gmail users get new controls for data used to personalize Google’s ‘smart’ features 🙂🙂🙂

Google is introducing new controls for data it uses to personalize various “smart” features across its suite of products. This means Gmail users will soon be able to access a setting that stipulates whether their Gmail, Chat, or Meet data can be leveraged for Google’s automated Smart Reply or Smart Compose, for example, or whether bill payment reminders gleaned from email data can be issued through Google Assistant.

The launch comes as Google and other internet giants face increasing scrutiny over their data privacy practices, ushering in new regulations designed to protect consumers’ online privacy.

Smart data
Google has introduced myriad “smart” features that apply AI and machine learning techniques to user data to enhance its services. For example, Gmail users are likely familiar with Smart Compose, which is basically auto-complete for emails — it can use historical grammar and typing habits to make word and sentence suggestions in real time.

Amid concerns over the way Big Tech companies manipulate user data for their own purposes, Google has offered a few data privacy controls over the years, including dedicated security dashboards and privacy checkup tools that allow users to manage and deactivate such features as location history, web and app activity, and YouTube viewing history. Earlier this year, Google also activated a new auto-delete feature by default for some users.

In Gmail, users can already delve into their account settings and stipulate not only whether Smart Compose is activated, but whether it’s personalized to their writing style.

But even if users know these features exist, it’s easy to lose track of which settings are on and off.

Rolling out “in the coming weeks,” Google’s new setting aims to add centralized controls for Gmail data used to power its various smart features. Users who visit their account settings will now see an option asking whether they want to activate or deactivate smart features in Gmail, Chat, or Meet.

A second screen asks the user whether they also want to allow their Gmail, Chat, and Meet data to be used to personalize other Google services, such as Google Assistant, Google Maps, and Google Travel.

Along with features like bill reminders in Google Assistant, this will impact things like whether Google can create automated travel itineraries from trip bookings it detects in users’ Gmail messages.

Data play
Numerous data privacy laws have taken effect in the past few years, including GDPR in Europe and the CCPA in California. Companies like Google have had to change how they operate or face the wrath of legislators. Indeed, Google is currently facing complaints on numerous fronts, including an accusation by browser rival Brave that Google is breaching European data protection law by sharing data between its services without proper consent.

Closer to home, Google is facing a $5 billion class action lawsuit in California that alleges the internet giant essentially ignores users’ privacy wishes. And in the U.K., Google is facing another lawsuit over how YouTube uses kids’ data to target advertising.

Put simply, Google is fighting fires on many fronts.

The company said its new setting is less about adding privacy functionality than it is about giving users a “clearer choice over the data processing” that makes its smart features possible. Google said the feature was designed based on learnings from “user experience research and regulators’ emphasis on comprehensible, actionable user choices over data.”
https://bit.ly/3pvFJ6x

Google Photos will end free, unlimited storage 😮🤔

Google changes its storage policy, Facebook extends its political ad ban and Ring doorbells are recalled. This is your Daily Crunch for November 11, 2020.

The big story: Google Photos will end free, unlimited storage

Google is changing its storage policies for free accounts in a way that could have a big impact on anyone regularly using Google Photos.

Currently, Google Photos allows users to store unlimited images (and HD video) as long as they’re under 16 megapixels. Starting on June 1, 2021, new photos and videos will all count toward the 15 gigabytes of free storage that the company offers to anyone with a free Google account.

Google says it will take the average user three years to reach 15 gigabytes — at which point they’ll either need to delete some photos or pay for a Google One account. Also on June 1: Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms and Jamboard files will start counting toward your storage total as well.

The tech giants

Facebook extends its temporary ban on political ads for another month — The company says the temporary ban will continue for at least another month.

ByteDance asks federal appeals court to vacate US order forcing it to sell TikTok — TikTok’s parent company says it remains committed to a negotiated solution and will only try to stop the government from forcing a sale “if discussions reach an impasse.”

Ring doorbells recalled over fire threat — The recall comes in the wake of 23 reports of fire and eight reports of minor burns.

Startups, funding and venture capital

SentinelOne, an AI-based endpoint security firm, confirms $267M raise on a $3.1B valuation — SentinelOne’s Singularity monitors and secures laptops, phones and other network-connected devices and services.

E-commerce startup Heroes raises $65M in equity and debt to become the Thrasio of Europe — The company has a strategy of acquiring and scaling high-performing Amazon businesses.

Seedcamp raises £78M for its fifth fund — This new fund increases the amount of capital the firm will invest in pre-seed and seed-stage companies.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

Dear Sophie: What does Biden’s win mean for tech immigration? — Attorney Sophie Alcorn looks at the presidential election’s impact on U.S. immigration and immigration reform.

Greylock’s Asheem Chandna on ‘shifting left’ in cybersecurity and the future of enterprise startups — Enterprise software is changing faster this year than it has in a decade.

Square and PayPal earnings bring good (and bad) news for fintech startups — Square’s earnings give us a window into consumer payment activity, card usage, stock purchases and more.

(Reminder: Extra Crunch is our membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.)

Everything else

Honda to mass-produce Level 3 autonomous cars by March — Honda claims it will be the first automaker to mass-produce vehicles with autonomous capabilities that meet SAE Level 3 standards.

Data audit of UK political parties finds laundry list of failings — The audit claims parties are failing to come clean with voters about how they’re being invisibly profiled and targeted.
https://tcrn.ch/2IkCIoY