Google Begin Testing FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts) in Chrome

Google announced it has begun testing FLoC, Federated Learning of Cohorts, in Chrome. Specifically, the FLoC origin trial in Chrome 89 will work on websites that don’t opt-out of it. Google said that the initial testing of FLoC is taking place with a small percentage of users in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, and the U.S. Google also said that it will expand to other regions as the trial expands globally.

What is FLoC?

FLoC is a method for browsers to enable interest-based advertising. It works by gathering data about a user’s browsing habits and then clustering groups of users with similar interests into cohorts. The algorithm used to develop those cohorts may look at the URLs of sites that the user visited and the content of those pages, among other factors, according to the FLoC proposal on GitHub. Information about the cohort is then shared for advertising purposes.

According to Google statement “a new piece of web technology – Federated Learning of Cohorts – will start to roll out as a developer origin trial in Chrome. Keeping in mind the importance of “and,” FLoC is a new approach to interest-based advertising that both improves privacy and gives publishers a tool they need for viable advertising business models. Federated Learning of Cohorts is still in development and we expect it to evolve based on input from the web community and learnings from this initial trial.”

Google has announced that it expects to start testing Federated Learning of Cohorts-based cohorts with advertisers beginning in Q2 of this year. There are more details on how this works over here.

Also Read: 
Google Ads New Summary Views User Interface

Good news for Windows 10 users, Google is rolling out dark mode on chrome 74 for Windows, Mac, and Linux in the next couple of weeks or days. On Tuesday, Google officially announced the new dark mode will be available for Windows 10 users like they roll out of Chrome 73 for MacOS in the last month.

You have to make sure that Windows 10 is up-to-date, so Chrome will automatically updates itself to match the dark mode is enabled or not. Chrome community manager explained “I can confirm that we are rolling out this feature to a small number of Chrome M 74 users now, and that it will become more widely available in the near future”.

How To Enable Dark Mode on Chrome:

If you don’t want to wait for this Chrome’s new feature, you can do it by force with a shortcut trick to enable dark mode.

• Open the “Properties” of a Chrome shortcut
• In the “Target” field, after “C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe” ADD “—force-dark-mode” (Without the quotation marks)
• “Apply” and “OK”

Chrome 74 also includes security features like Lite Mode for Android that will replace its Data Saver setting. Google said that data saver to lite mode provides more benefits in addition to data savings. There are some more features is coming in Chrome 74 such as “Remove Animations” for Android, to reduce motion sickness as well as blocking websites when you’re browsing in Incognito Mode. You can download Chrome 74 from Google’s Chrome site, or from help > About Chrome if you’re already using the browser.

Also Read: 

Google Launched New Password Checkup Chrome Extension

Protect your accounts from data breaches with Password Checkup

Are you using Chrome Browser and looking to safeguard your passwords? Now don’t need worry because Google has launched a new password checkup chrome extension which is designed to keep an eye on current data leak and safe from hijacking if their accounts have been impacted by recent security breaches.

The Security and Anti-abuse Research Team published a post and said that Google has released the new Password Checkup Chrome Extension that help to keep your account safe from hijacking with a defense in depth strategy that spans prevention, detection, and mitigation. The new Password Checkup Extension was launched to mark Safer Internet Day!

When you use a password, the new Password Checkup Extension will scan through the hacked databases and alert you if your password is already listed.

Steps to Install New Password Checkup Chrome Extension

Google also provided an infographic overview that how Password Checkup works to fulfill users security and privacy requirements.

This is the first version of new Password Checkup Extension which will continue refining it over the coming months, including improving site compatibility and username and password field detection.

Also Read: 

Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update 7 Feb