Category: Chrome 68

The second build of Chrome OS based on Chrome 66 has landed in the platform’s Dev channel, just two days after the first build was released.  The new build is version 66.0.3350.3 (Platform version: 10425.0.0) for those keeping score at home and should be available to devices running in what is effectively the Alpha channel for the platform.

Just like the first release of Chrome 66, there were no release notes provided on this update nor any links to logs to see what had changes.  The Chromium team only provided the generic, “This build contains a number of bug fixes, security updates and feature enhancements“.  The lack of release notes however is not uncommon, especially in the Dev Channel.

In their continuing effort to keep end users safe and aware when they are visiting a non-secure website, Google has announced that starting in July 2018, these sites will be clearly identified in the Chrome browser.  The change will coincide with the release of Chrome 68 and will be across all platforms as well as Chrome OS.  A non-secure website is noted as http:// when you visit the site while a secure, encrypted site is noted as https:// in the URL.

The official announcement should not come as a surprise.  Google has already been urging sites to move to secure deployments with changes in how page ranking is done for secure versus non-secure sites.  This is the culmination of that effort.