Chrome Blog
The latest news from the Google Chrome team
Google Cast is now built-in to Chrome
Monday, August 29, 2016
Two years ago we launched
Google Cast
, an extension for Chrome that allowed you to show content from your favorite websites on the best screen in your home — your TV — using
Chromecast
. Whether watching your favorite show on Netflix, or sharing a photo slideshow at a family gathering, Google Cast makes it easy to extend the web to the big screen.
Since we launched Chromecast, we’ve been working to make casting even better. We've launched
new Cast devices like Chromecast Audio
and partnered with other manufacturers to make
Cast-enabled TVs
and
speakers
. We’ve also made significant improvements in quality, with the vast majority of casting sessions now in HD.
Casting from Chrome has become incredibly popular: In the past month alone, people have casted more than 38 million times from Chrome, watching and listening to more than 50 million hours of content.
Today we’re happy to announce that Google Cast is now built fully into Chrome, and anyone can now Cast without having to install or configure anything. When you’re on websites that are
integrated with Cast,
you’ll see the Cast icon appear when you’re on the same network as a Cast device — and with a couple of clicks you can view your content on your TV or listen to music on your speakers:
You can also view websites that are not integrated with Cast on your TV by selecting the “Cast…” menu item from the Chrome menu:
And you can now cast to even more places — including sharing with participants on a video call in
Google Hangouts
and the
Cast for Education
app, which we a
nnounced recently
. Now you can share your presentation with your coworkers during a Hangout or to your peers in the classroom.
With Google Cast and Chrome, you can share what you love to watch with those around you. We’re excited to make this
available to everyone
. To get the new built-in Cast functionality all you need to do is make sure you have the latest version of Chrome.
Stephen Konig, Product Manager and House of Cards Binge-Watcher
Flash and Chrome
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Adobe Flash Player played a pivotal role in the adoption of video, gaming and animation on the Web. Today, sites typically use technologies like HTML5, giving you improved security, reduced power consumption and faster
page load times
. Going forward, Chrome will de-emphasize Flash in favor of HTML5. Here’s what that means for you.
Today, more than 90% of Flash on the web loads behind the scenes to support things like page analytics. This kind of Flash slows you down, and starting this September,
Chrome 53 will begin to block it
. HTML5 is much lighter and faster, and publishers are switching over to speed up page loading and save you more battery life. You’ll see an improvement in responsiveness and efficiency for many sites.
This is similar to a change we made last September, when some Flash content
became click-to-play
with Chrome 42. This had an immediate, positive impact for our users by improving page load times and saving battery power.
In December, Chrome 55 will make HTML5 the default experience, except for sites which only support Flash. For those, you’ll be prompted to enable Flash when you first visit the site. Aside from that, the only change you’ll notice is a safer and more power-efficient browsing experience.
Flash helped make the Web a rich, dynamic experience, and shaped the modern set of web standards. We continue to work closely with Adobe to ensure that your web experience is as fast and secure as possible and to help the Web transition to HTML5.
Posted by Anthony LaForge, curator of Flash in Chrome.
Fast and smooth video on Android
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
With Chrome 52, video playback on Android now feels smoother, loads faster, and consumes less battery.
Web video is huge, with over a billion hours played in Chrome every week on sites like Amazon, Facebook, The New York Times, Netflix and YouTube. Much of that is on mobile devices, and we want to make your viewing experience great.
With the release of Chrome 52 on Android, video playback has been improved for speed and power efficiency. This means you will see smoother playback and faster load times. Videos will now start playing sooner, instead of pausing briefly before loading, and your battery will last longer.
Video also now works with
Data Saver Mode
, saving you as much as 50% on data by showing a lightweight version of the video.
These improvements will be most noticeable on short videos, which make up the majority of videos on the web. With more publishers and sites moving to HTML5, your video experience on Chrome will just keep getting better. Update Chrome on Android today and give it a spin.
Posted by Renganathan Ramamoorthy, Proud Papa of Playbacks
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