Chrome's next update makes it less resource hungry.

A big part of what's won Chrome a lot of converts is how much faster it is over the competition. That speed comes at a price, though: The web browser is notoriously a resource hog (especially if you have a dozen or so tabs open at once) and it dramatically cuts into battery life. As Google tells it, the latest version of the browser will help absolve those sins a bit. New tweaks include restoring only the most frequently used tabs should it detect that your machine is precariously low on resources, and a way of detecting when a page isn't busy with something else and using the free processor cycles to clean up idle memory.

That, coupled with pausing crap like auto-playing Flash ads can free up somewhere around 10 percent of memory usage on average, with a G.mail tab using a whopping 25 percent less memory. There's video below in case you wanted proof. Mountain View says that it'll activate these new features as default over the next few weeks. Something tells me that this probably still won't stop Apple from crowing about how much battery life you can save by using Safari any time soon.

Google Chrome to begin pausing Flash ads around the web on 1st September.

Adobe Flash is notoriously both resource intensive and ubiquitous on the web, which has not helped the open web survive in the consumer shift to mobile devices that have smaller screens and processors. Flash isn't even supported in most mobile environments any more because of its poor performance. Google is as a result working hard to eliminate Flash content from its ad network and create a better web browsing experience. Today it announced September 1st is when it will begin pausing many of the Flash ads seen around the web for users of its Chrome web browser.
Fortunately for Google, it’s able to convert most of the Flash ads uploaded to its Ad Words advertiser network to the less intensive HTML 5 automatically. The company provides a section on its support site where advertisers can go to see what Flash ads are eligible for this conversion, and it has even made a step-by-step tool for converting ads which can’t be automatically converted or haven’t already been uploaded to Google’s servers.

Google first announced this shift back in June, and while the company has its own mobile operating system with a massive amount of native apps in the form of Android, it’s still a big proponent of the web. Perhaps because that’s where it was born, but really because the web isn't closed off like mobile operating systems, and the underlying hypertext language of the web allows the company to easily scrape and index it for its Search business, among other things. The company introduced a setting to its Chrome browser in March which enables this disabling of Flash plugin content. Chrome for Android and iOS doesn't support it at all.

Watch incredible water jet pack flight formation world record attempt.

The city of Cavalaire sur mer in the South of France recently played host to one of the most spectacular world records this summer, when a group of 58 daredevils set a new record for Largest water jet pack flight formation

The choreographed attempt back in June saw flyboarders take to the skies as part of Breitling Flyboard Family event.

Those taking part included 2015 North American Flyboard Champion Damone Rippy, who delighted the watching crowd by performing his signature ‘Eye of the Storm’ double backflip during the attempt.
Full story at YouTube.

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Tesla's Charger prototype.

And today that admirable trait comes in the form of what appears to be an automated charger for its Model S car.

The 37-second clip posted to its Twitter account shows a metallic prototype finding and connecting with the charging port of the car. It's not the most radical thing in the world – we have had automated robots in car manufacturing plants for decades – but it does show that the company is constantly working on innovative solutions to improve its product.

Tesla didn't provide any context around the video but we are going to make a few educated guesses:

A lot of Tesla owners get very annoyed when they realize they've forgotten to plug in their car overnight
The charger begins after following a combination of motion and proximity detection (or maybe it uses a pressure pad), i.e., when it knows the car is there
The car charging port puts out some kind of information that identifies its location – it could be just the ring of lights you can see in the video; it could be that the lights flash at a certain frequency that identifies it as a Tesla charging socket rather than, say, a flash light There are of course a lot of things to consider before such a charger could be added to your house:

How do you stop people driving off with the charger still attached?
What if the driver wants to get something out the trunk after they park and the charger is in the way?
How does the charger port on the car open – does it require the driver to remember to do something?
Would it require professional installation (limiting roll out)?
What safety features are needed to prevent it hitting people?
What happens if it can't find the charger port, and instead scrapes up your car?

Make mobile payments using your voice

A Dutch bank has started allowing mobile banking customers to log in and pay for items using their voice.

Voice-activated payments have been launched on the ING Netherlands mobile banking app, offering a simple alternative to entering a pin or password.

Users simply have to say a short phrase, and the app will match up the sound recording to a file stored on the phone.

The shape of vocal cavities and the way someone moves their mouth means that speech can be more unique than a fingerprint, it is claimed.

Fraudulent attempts to access the app can be recorded, stored and used to improve security.

And while the technology is new for mobile banking, it is used widely on bank phone systems to reduce fraud.

The Associated Press reported last year that US government departments even use it when people call to deal with tax and pension issues.

A biometrics company called Nuance is providing the speech-recognition technology for ING Netherlands.

The system launched on Tuesday, and is available on iOS and Android phones.

Making digital payments easier is a big focus of banks and financial services providers.

Hackers used Twitter, photos to reach US computers

Russian government-backed hackers who penetrated high-profile U.S. government and defence industry computers this year used a method combining Twitter with data hidden in seemingly benign photographs, according to experts studying the campaign.

In a public report Wednesday, researchers at security company Fire Eye INC said the group used the unusual tandem as a means of communicating with previously infected computers. Fire Eye has briefed law enforcement on what it found.

The technique, uncovered during a Fire Eye investigation at an unnamed victim organization, shows how government-backed hackers can shift tactics on the fly after they are discovered.

"It's striking how many layers of obfuscation that the group adopts," said Fire Eye Strategic Analysis Manager Jennifer Weedon. "These groups are innovating and becoming more creative."

The machines were given an algorithm for checking a different Twitter account every day. If a human agent registered that account and tweeted a certain message, instructions for a series of actions by the computer would be activated.

The tweeted information included a website address, a number and a handful of letters. The computer would go to the website and look for a photo of at least the size indicated by the number, while the letters were part of a key for decoding the instructions in a message hidden within the data used to display the picture on the website.

Weedon said the communication method might have been a fail safe in case other channels were discovered and cut. Vikram Thakur, a senior manager at Symantec Corp, said his team had also found Twitter controls combined with hidden data in photos, a technique known as steganography.

Fire Eye identified the campaign as the work of a group it has been internally calling APT 29, for advanced persistent threat. In April, it said another Russian-government supported group, APT 28, had used a previously unknown flaws in Adobe Systems Inc.'s Flash software to infect high-value targets.

Other security firms use different names for the same or allied groups. Symantec recently reported another data-stealing tool used in tandem with the steganography, which it calls Seaduke. Thakur said both tools were employed by the group it knows as the Duke family.

Thakur said another tool in that kit is Cozy Duke, which Russian firm Kaspersky Lab says is associated with recent breaches at the State Department and the White House.