Google Chrome 42 Browser Update Enables Push Notifications From Web Pages Even If Your Window Is Closed
It's not too often that Chrome browser updates are particularly notable these days since Google uses a rapid release cycle that sees frequent upgrades. But every once in awhile there's an update that brings something interesting to the table rather than mostly bug fixes. Case in point, Google this week promoted Chrome 42 to the stable channel for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and with the numerical update comes support for the Push API and Notifications API.
When used in conjunction with one another, these APIs allow websites to send notifications to Chrome even after closing out the site in question. Giving websites this kind of power would normally be cause for concern, though Google has attempted to put any fears of abuse to rest by requiring that users give websites permission to send notifications. For more technical details, you can read W3C's Editor's Draft for the Push API.
In addition to the Push API and Notifications API, Google said it added a bunch of other Web Platform APIs, along with a number of new apps and extensions. Chrome 42 also includes "lots of under the hood changes for stability and performance," and of course a bunch of security fixes -- 45 of them, to be exact.
Beyond the fixes, Google said that Chrome 42 is a "performance-focused build," with the WebRTC team and other Chrome component teams working together and making "performance improvements a priority for this release." The teams paid particularly attention to GPU performance, which is supposed improved significantly in Windows.
If you don't already have Chrome, you can download it here.
When used in conjunction with one another, these APIs allow websites to send notifications to Chrome even after closing out the site in question. Giving websites this kind of power would normally be cause for concern, though Google has attempted to put any fears of abuse to rest by requiring that users give websites permission to send notifications. For more technical details, you can read W3C's Editor's Draft for the Push API.
In addition to the Push API and Notifications API, Google said it added a bunch of other Web Platform APIs, along with a number of new apps and extensions. Chrome 42 also includes "lots of under the hood changes for stability and performance," and of course a bunch of security fixes -- 45 of them, to be exact.
Beyond the fixes, Google said that Chrome 42 is a "performance-focused build," with the WebRTC team and other Chrome component teams working together and making "performance improvements a priority for this release." The teams paid particularly attention to GPU performance, which is supposed improved significantly in Windows.
If you don't already have Chrome, you can download it here.
