Google Releases Chrome 30

Yesterday, Google released version 30.0.1599.66 of its Chrome browser, for all platforms: Linux, Mac OS X , Windows, and Chrome Frame.  According to Google’s Release Announcement, the new version incorporates some new capabilities:

• Easier searching by image
• A number of new apps/extension APIs
• Lots of under the hood changes for stability and performance

The new release also incorporates 50 security fixes.  Google’s announcement highlights 19 of these; of these, Google rates 10 as High severity.  More details are available in the announcement.

Because of its security content, I recommend that you update your systems as soon as you conveniently can.   Windows and Mac users should get the new version via Chrome’s built-in update system.  Linux users should check their distribution’s repositories for the new version.

Google Releases Chrome 29.0.1547.76

Google has released a new stable version, 29.0.1547.76, of its Chrome browser, for all platforms: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Chrome Frame.  This is primarily a bug fix release, which addresses some display issues, as well as a problem with Flash on some Windows devices.  More information is available in the Release Announcment.

Windows and Mac users should be able to get the new version via the built-in update mechanism. Linux users should check their distribution’s repositories for the new version.

Google Updates Chrome to 29.0.1547.65

Google has released a new version, 29.0.1547.65, of its Chrome browser for all platforms: Mac OS X, Linux, Windows, and Chrome Frame.  The major change in this release is an updated version of the bundled (“Pepper” based) Flash Player plug-in.  More information on the changes is available via the Release Announcement.

Windows and Mac users can get the new version via the built-in update mechanism; Linux users should check their distribution’s repositories for the new version.  If you need to get a complete installation package, you can download it here.

Google Releases Chrome 29

Google has released a new major version, 29.0.1547.57, of its Chrome browser for all platforms: Mac OS X, Linux, Windows, and Chrome Frame.  The new version incorporates some additional features:

• Your profile can be reset to its original state
• Suggestions offered when you type into the “Omnibox” will weight your recent activity more heavily
• There are several new APIs for applications and extensions

This release also includes fixes for 25 security vulnerabilities, including at least five rated by Google as High severity.

More information on the changes is available via the Release Announcement.

Because of the security content of this release, I recommend that you update your systems as soon as you conveniently can.   Windows and Mac users can get the new version via the built-in update mechanism; Linux users should check their distribution’s repositories for the new version.  If you need to get a complete installation package, you can download it here.

 

Google Expands Unsafe Site Reporting

For some time now, Google has published its Transparency Report, which gives a high-level overview of how Google relates to events in the world at large. The report has historically included several sections:

• Traffic to Google services (current and historical, highlighting disruptions)
• Information removal requests (by copyright holders and governments)
• Requests for user data (by governments)

This information can be interesting in light of current events. For example, at this writing, Google reports ongoing disruptions to their services in Pakistan, China, Morocco, Tajikistan,Turkey, and Iran.

Now, according to a post on the Official Google Blog, a new section will be added to the Transparency Report. The report is an outgrowth of work begun in 2006 with Google’s Safe Browsing Initiative.

So today we’re launching a new section on our Transparency Report that will shed more light on the sources of malware and phishing attacks. You can now learn how many people see Safe Browsing warnings each week, where malicious sites are hosted around the world, how quickly websites become reinfected after their owners clean malware from their sites, and other tidbits we’ve surfaced.

Google says that they flag about 10,000 sites per day for potentially malicious content. Many of there are legitimate sites that have been compromised in some way. The “Safe Browsing” section of the Transparency Report shows the number of unsafe sites detected per week, as well as the average time required to fix them.

Google, because its search engine “crawlers” cover so much of the Web, has an overview of what’s out there that few organizations can match. I think they are to be commended for making this information available.

Chrome Updates for Other Platforms

A few hours ago, I posted a note about the release of version 28.0.1500.45 of Google’s Chrome for the Linux platform.  Now the rest of the conventional PC world has been updated, too, with the Release Announcement for version 27.0.1453.116, for Windows, Mac OS X, and Chrome Frame.

This release incorporates fixes for a “click-jacking” vulnerability with the Flash plugin, and some other unspecified security issues.  It also fixes some other user interface bugs; more detail is available in the Release Announcement.  Although the identified security issue is not too serious (Google rates it as Medium severity), it’s probably a good idea to get the update, which you can do using the built-in update mechanism.

I confess that I am no more enlightened than before about why this update is different from the Linux update; I have no further information on what is actually in the Linux update.