August 3 Tech news roundup: Chrome may soon stop supporting old extensions, YouTube frustrates ad blocker users, Apple releases security updates for old devices

Google Chrome may soon stop supporting some extensions

Google Chrome users are seeing an unwanted change, the browser has begun displaying a warning that says “These extensions may soon no longer be supported“. The message appears on the Extensions page, but what is about? Why are the add-ons going away?

The reason for this is Manifest V3. It is an API that is used for accessing some privacy related features in Chrome. But, unlike its predecessor, Manifest V2, the newer version lacks support for some specifications which will cripple the capabilities of content blockers. Even though Manifest V3 has been included in Chrome since 2019, Google has not removed support for the older version. But that is what is changing, Chrome is discontinuing support for Manifest V2 later this year, which is why users will be warned that some of the extensions that they use will stop working. It is up to extension developers to update their add-ons to support the newer API. The developers of uBlock Origin have warned that the add-on will not be able to block ads effectively, and that users are advised to switch to Mozilla Firefox for optimal ad blocking.

YouTube has a new way to prevent ad blockers, but it’s not working

Users who are using an ad blocker to access YouTube say they are experiencing a new issue. The streaming service is preventing them from watching videos, and instead displays a black screen. This is reportedly caused by ads that are embedded directly in the videos, i.e. server side ads. The black screen stays on for 6 seconds, before the video begins playing.

Since last year, Google has been pestering ad blocker users to subscribe to YouTube Premium. First, it began displaying a pop-up message to try and get users to disable their ad blocker software. Many users have reported that YouTube was lagging on Firefox and other browsers, but this did not seem to affect Chrome or Microsoft Edge.

It is clear that YouTube’s fight against ad blockers has become more aggressive, but ad blockers are not giving up. uBlock Origin has been updated to counter each and every obstacle that Google keeps throwing at content blocker extensions. Google is trying its best to annoy users, hoping that they would buy a YouTube subscription. The main problem here is that it is rather expensive, at $13.99 a month

Firefox is getting an automatic Picture-in-Picture mode for videos

Mozilla is adding a new feature to Firefox. The open-source browser will soon play videos automatically in Picture-in-Picture mode, aka in a pop-up window. This isn’t a particularly new feature in Firefox, but it had to be toggled manually. To use it, play a video and click on the PiP button that is displayed on the overlay. This will allow the video to play in a small window that you can drag over to any part of the screen, resize it, and it stays on top of other windows too. It is a handy way to watch the videos while you multitask on something else.

However, the new implementation of the feature will trigger the pop-up overlay automatically, i.e. when you play a video, it will auto-switch to picture-in-picture mode, without requiring any input from the user. The feature is available in the latest version of the Nightly channel, as an experimental option that you can toggle. The current version is Firefox Nightly 130.

Update your iPhone, iPad and Mac now to avoid security issues

Apple has released some important updates for iPhones, iPads and Mac devices. The updates patch critical security vulnerabilities in multiple versions of the operating systems.

macOS 14.6 allows M3 MacBook Pro users to connect their computer to multiple monitors. iPhone users in Japan can now use the Emergency SOS Satellite feature to contact rescue services. iOS 17.6 also brings the CatchUp feature that was revealed over a year ago. The option is currently exclusively available for MLS Season Pass subscribers in the Apple TV app. CatchUp displays a bunch of clips featuring highlights in a game that is in progress, and users who join the video stream later can watch the videos in the Key Plays carousel.

iOS 17.6 for iPhone XS and later comes with over 30 security patches, similarly iPadOS 17.6 fixes the flaws for most modern iPads. Apple has also issued iOS 16.7.9 and iOS 15.8.3 to fix some security issues that affect older iPhones and iPads to protect users who are still using old models.

OpenAI wants SearchGPT to become the best AI-powered search engine

OpenAI, the company behind the popular AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, has announced its plans to compete in the search engine market. It has introduced a new service called SearchGPT. And just like ChatGPT, SearchGPT will also be powered by artificial-intelligence.

The company aims to achieve greater heights than traditional search engines by revolutionizing the way people look up things on the internet. SearchGPT uses a conversational style similar to ChatGPT, to provide users with relevant information regarding their queries. The service will display answers quickly, and cite sources from which it obtained the data from, for transparency. Users will be able to ask follow-up questions to interact with the AI to maintain the context, ChatGPT’s main drawback is that it is trained on a database, which means the results that it provides are often out-of-date. Hopefully, SearchGPT won’t be set back by such limitations, and will provide relevant information in real-time. SearchGPT is currently available in closed beta, it is unclear when the service would be launched for all users.

Not every AI tool is useful, according to a recent survey, several workers have said that AI is harmful for work. It reportedly affected the productivity of the workers, and also lowered the quality of the job. This in turn has led to an increased workload.

Google has Gemini, while Microsoft has Copilot which co-incidentally is powered by ChatGPT, so OpenAI will have its hands full when it goes head on with its rivals. Whether it will be successful is a question that only time will answer.