Google adds Adobe Flash pause button to improve battery life in Chrome

GOOGLE AND ADOBE have been working together to find a solution to the age-old problem of Flash.

Flash is still a widely used runtime for animation on web pages and we are still some way from seeing it disappear. There is just one problem. It’s rubbish.

Now Google has announced that future versions of its Chrome browser will include a feature that will automatically stop Flash animation if it borks and ask you what you want to do about it.

The move only affects desktop versions of Chrome, as Flash was ditched from the mobile version some time ago, and is therefore being played up as a way to extend battery life on your precious lappy.

Google explains, “Adobe Flash allows web pages to display rich content — but sometimes that can put a squeeze on your laptop’s battery. So we’ve been working with Adobe to ensure that your experience on the web can be power-efficient as well as rich and interactive — and today, we’re introducing an update to Chrome that does just that.”

Chrome will now intelligently search for Flash content that isn’t essential to the page and pause it, giving you the option to start it up again if you really want. There is also a radio button if you want to opt out of the service, or use it on battery only.

The update is now available on the beta channel of Chrome, where fortune favours the brave. For those who prefer stability, it’ll doubtless reach the stable channel next month. We’ll keep you updated in Thursday’s Google Updates column.

In a recent Reddit AMA, Chrome developers acknowledged that the browser is guilty of some rather spectacular RAM and battery hogging tricks, and that they are working on fixing them.

This appears to be the first fruits of those efforts, with more promised in the coming months.

Source : http://www.theinquirer.net/