Google want to save its users' bandwidth at home.

Google want to save its users' bandwidth at home. The company has released a "Data Saver extension for Chrome,"brin

ging its data compression feature for its desktop users for the first time.

While tethering to a mobile Hotspot for Internet connection for your laptop, this new Data Saver extension for Chrome helps you reduce bandwidth usage by compressing the pages you visit over the Internet.

 

If you are unaware of it, the data compression proxy service by Google is designed to save users' bandwidth, load pages faster, and increase security (by checking for malicious web pages) on your smartphones and tablets.

 

REDUCE AS MUCH AS 50% OF DATA USAGE

 

Until now, the data compression service has been meant to benefit only mobile users, but the latest Data Saver Chrome Extension aims at helping desktop users by reducing their data usage by as much as 50 percent.

 "Reduces data usage [bandwidth] by using Google servers to optimize pages you visit," the extension's official description reads. "Browse more for less! When this [Data Saver] extension is enabled, Chrome will use Google servers to compress [web] pages you visit before downloading them."

When you visit a website, web server delivers the requested files to your browser. If enabled by the server, Gzip compresses web pages and style sheets before sending them over to the browser.

 

Gzip compression drastically reduces transfer time since the files are much smaller.

 

Data Saver Extension for Chrome checks if the website you visited has gzip enabled or not. If not, it compresses the requested web page via Google Data Compression proxy and makes it significantly smaller.

 

"The proxy performs intelligent compression and minification of HTML, JavaScript and CSS resources, which removes unnecessary whitespace, comments, and other metadata which is not essential to the rendering of the page. These optimizations, combined with mandatory gzip compression for all resources, can yield substantial bandwidth savings for the client." Google explains.

 

AVAILABLE FOR CHROME 41 AND HIGHER

 

The Data Saver Chrome extension currently doesn't support secure SSL pages or incognito pages, and Google notes that users may experience issues when they have enabled the extension. Data Saver is available on Chrome both for Android as well as iOS.

 

User will need Chrome 41 or higher version to use the extension. As soon as you install it, the extension starts to work by default. In case you want to disable it, click on the Data Saver icon in the menu bar and select "Turn Off Data Saver."

 

You can now download Google's new Data Saver extension for Chrome, which is currently in beta version, from the Chrome Web Store. The extension was released on March 23, without any announcement from the search engine giant.

http://thehackernews.com/2015/03/
data-saver-chrome-extension.html

Hands on with Windows 10 build 10049, closer look at Spartan and more

Written by 

Zac Bowden

 on Monday, Mar 30th, 2015 at 04:33PM @ZacB_

​Microsoft has today released a new build of Windows 10 to Windows Insiders which includes an early build of Project Spartan. As per usual, we've taken our hands and placed them all over the new build, showcasing some of the new changes you can expect to see. Build 10049 is all about Spartan, therefore there isn't really anything 'new' to see other than Spartan itself.

Give the embedded video a watch below. We go over all the new features available in build 10049, including updates to the Calculator and Alarms apps. Build 10049 may be the last build Insiders get before BUILD, in which the company is expected to unveil further improvements to its UI, as well as a number of updates to its Windows apps.

Microsoft has also updated a number of Modern UI apps in this build. Alarms, Calculator, Sound Recorder are now all white. I understand that Microsoft is working on making this an option, allowing users to switch between a dark or light theme much like on Windows Phone. Build 10041 saw these apps in dark mode, and 10049 has them in light.

 

Microsoft said earlier today that this build is primarily about Spartan, therefore there isn't really anything new to show you. Spartan in this build is in pre-release form, meaning the product does not represent the final version.

MICROSOFT

WINDOWS 10

Project Spartan Debuts on Windows 10 Build 10049, Aims to be 'An Amazing Browser'

Project Spartan Debuts on Windows 10 Build 10049, Aims to be 'An Amazing Browser'

"be fast, more secure, reliable, power efficient"

 

Brad Stephenson

 

In a post on Blogging Windows, Microsoft announced that the new Windows 10 internet browser, Project Spartan, is now available for testing by Windows Insiders with the latest Windows 10 Technical Preview build. This preview version of Project Spartan is not feature complete, as Microsoft plans to add more features and many improvements to the browser until it releases alongside Windows 10 this summer.

Cortana integration is only available for US Windows Insiders at this time with the promise of a wider rollout for Microsoft’s personal assistant within the browser at a later date. The inclusion of Cortana within Project Spartan promises to offer “help at just the right moment, based on what she knows about the Web, about you and what you might be trying to do”. How useful this will be though and if this is something users will actually use remains to be seen.

Other Project Spartan features highlighted (and are included in the preview for all regions) include:

• The ability to draw and write on webpages (such as circling text in an online article).
• Simplified sharing via email, OneNote and social media.
• A new Reading List that allows saving of webpages and PDFs for later viewing.
• An integrated Reading View which essentially extracts a webpage’s text for easier reading.

Microsoft wants Project Spartan to "be an amazing browser"

So why Spartan? According to Microsoft, Spartan was necessary as it has been designed for the modern web, taking advantage of what the web has to offer in this day and age. Microsoft wants Spartan to be an amazing browser -- be fast, more secure, reliable, power efficient in the ways that you expect it. Secondly, Spartan needs to be bold and forward-looking with compatibility and interoperability. Finally, Spartan will be regularly updated.

"This led us to believe we needed to step forward into a new era of browsing at Microsoft. To build a browser that is designed for the modern Web – a browser for people that have grown up with the Web; who have integrated the Web into their lives in incredible and unexpected ways; who are no longer just exploring a new frontier, but are using the Web to get things done. After all, the world we live in is evolving, the Web is evolving, and our needs are evolving."

The new browser is also touted as having a “fast, more secure and more reliable” engine for the modern Web though admittedly this is something that’s said about every new internet browser ever, and is expected. Check out the videos below showcasing Project Spartan, including our own hands-on video of the browser:

https://youtu.be/4A5ZXWTIlHw

https://youtu.be/e5PybdxRsH0

While intended as a replacement for Windows’ current internet browser, the launch of Project Spartan with Windows 10 will not necessarily mean the death of Internet Explorer 11 which Microsoft has confirmed will still be supported in Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, but the death of the Internet Explorer brand name is a whole different arguement. Microsoft promises to "make it easy for our enterprise customers to make Internet Explorer 11 the default browser via group policy".

For those of you who have Windows 10 build 10049 installed, launch Project Spartan and give it a test run. If you have suggestions or bugs to report, fire up the Windows Feedback app and give your thoughts. Only you can make Spartan the best browser it can be.

Project Spartan will be available for all users with the launch of Windows 10 later this summer.

Via: Blogging Windows

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