Google to throttle Chrome tabs to boost battery life
Chrome developers look for ways to boost browser's battery life
Want Chrome to be faster and stop chewing through battery life? Google agrees.
The company has revealed the next update to its browser version 57, if you're keeping track will throttle individual background tabs to help boost performance and keep your device running longer.
"Like many browsers, Chrome has limited timers in the background to only run once per second. Via the new throttling policy, Chrome 57 will delay timers to limit average CPU load to 1% of a core if an application uses too much CPU in background," said Alexander Timin, software engineer at Google, in a blog post.
What that means is each tab will be given a tiny slice of CPU to use once it drops out of focused use after ten seconds.
He added: "Tabs playing audio or maintaining real-time connections like WebSockets or WebRTC won't be affected."
Timin said Google's research suggested the new throttling mechanism leads to a quarter fewer busy background tabs.
"In the long-term, the ideal is for background tabs to be fully suspended and instead rely on new APIs for service workers to do work in the background," he added. "Chrome will continue to take steps in this direction to prolong users' battery life, while still enabling all the same experiences developers can build today."
That means Google will crack down further on background tabs, aiming to completely suspend them by 2020.
If you prefer your tabs not to be throttled, you can opt out via a trick from GHacks.
-
Network Rail is battling a torrent of cyber threatsNews FoI requests have revealed that the rail operator is under increasing attack, as cyber criminals set their sights on the transport sector
-
Energy providers are flying blind thanks to unpredictable AI data center demandsNews Research from Capgemini has found that uncertainty, speed constraints, and rising system complexity are leaving firms struggling to predict future consumption
-
Spanish spyware outfit uncovered, develops exploits for Windows, Chrome, and FirefoxNews Google was only able to discover the company after an anonymous submission was made to its Chrome bug reporting programme
-
Google adds new security vendor plugins for Chrome, improved Chrome OS policy controls for IT adminsNews New integrations across various security pillars aim to improve Chrome OS and Chrome browser security for enterprise customers
-
Google patches second Chrome browser zero-day of 2022
News Google acted quickly to secure against the type confusion vulnerability that was under active exploitation
-
Acer Chromebook Spin 513 review: Cheap and mostly cheerfulReviews An affordable Chromebook convertible with good looks but mediocre performance
-
Google says Chrome is now faster than Safari on Apple SiliconNews According to Apple's own benchmarks, Chrome 99 scored the highest out of any browser ever tested
-
Google Chrome update fixes zero-day under active exploitation
News Google releases a fresh wave of patches for severe vulnerabilities that could facilitate code execution and system takeover via Google Chrome
-
Asus Chromebook CX9 (CX9400CE) review: The most stylish Chromebook on the marketReviews A sleek, expensive Chromebook that tries to bring professional style to Google’s OS
-
Chromebook shipments plunge due to 'shift in demand'News Sales of Chrome OS devices fell 29.8% in the third quarter of 2021 to 6.5 million units, according to IDC
