Google has presented the launch of the new version of your web browser Chrome 94 in which from this new version a change in development is marked and It has moved into a new release cycle. Now important new versions will be released every 4 weeks, instead of every 6 weeks, to accelerate the delivery of new features to users.
It is observed that the optimization of the version preparation process and the improvement of the test system make it possible to generate versions more frequently without compromising quality. For businesses and those who need more time to update, once every 8 weeks, the Extended Stable edition will be released separately, allowing you to switch to new functional versions not once every 4 weeks, but once every 8 weeks.
In addition to innovations and bug fixes, the new version removes 19 vulnerabilities, of which were identified as a result of automated tests with the AddressSanitizer, MemorySanitizer, LibFuzzer, AFL tools, among others. No critical issues have been identified that allow bypassing all levels of browser protection and running code on the system outside of the sandbox.
Main novelties of Chrome 94
In this new version we can find the HTTPS-First mode, which looks like the one that appeared previously in Firefox's HTTPS Only mode. If the mode is enabled in the settings when trying to open a resource without encryption via HTTP, the browser will first try to access the site via HTTPS, and if the attempt is unsuccessful, the user will be shown a warning about the lack HTTPS.
Another novelty that is presented is that added "Sharing Center" feature to share quickly a link to the current page with other users. Provides the ability to generate a QR code from a URL, save the page, send a link to another device associated with a user account, and transfer the link to third-party sites.
On the other hand, the inclusion of the WebGPU API, which replaces the WebGL API and provides the means to perform GPU operations such as rendering and computation. Conceptually, WebGPU it is close to the Vulkan, Metal and Direct3D 12 APIs. WebGPU provides JavaScript applications with a low-level means of control about organizing, processing, and transmitting commands to the GPU, and also allows you to manage resources compiled graphics shaders, memory, buffers, texture objects, and associated graphics.
For applications Standalone PWAs, the ability to register as URL handlers was implemented.
Also has been restructured in the browser settings interface, with which now each configuration section is now displayed on a separate page and not on a common page.
It has been implemented support for dynamic update of certificate registry issued and revoked, which will now be updated without being tied to browser updates.
Added a service page "chrome: // whats-new" with an overview of the changes visible to the user in the new version. The page is automatically displayed immediately after the update, or is accessed through the What's New button on the Help menu.
For security reasons and to prevent malicious activities, started blocking the use of the legacy MK protocol (URL: MK), which was once used in Internet Explorer and allowed web applications to extract information from compressed files.
And also the compatibility with the synchronization with previous versions of Chrome was removed (Chrome 48 and earlier).
How to update or install Google Chrome in Ubuntu and derivatives?
For those who are interested in being able to update to the new version of the browser on their systems, they can do so by following the instructions that we share below.
The first thing you should do is check if the update is already available, for this you have to go to chrome: // settings / help and the notification that there is an update will appear.
In case it is not so you must close your browser and you are going to open a terminal and type:
sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade
You open your browser again and it must have already been updated or the update notification will appear.
In case you want to install the browser or choose to download the deb package to update, we must go to the web page of the browser to obtain the deb package and to be able to install it in our system with the help of the package manager or from the terminal. The link is this.
Once the package is obtained, we only have to install with the following command:
sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb