Anyone whose Web sessions tend to spiral out of control with multiple tabs open across a number of windows will know how annoying it can be when some irritating ad or autoplay video kicks into action, leaving you with an often frustrating search to hunt down the offending tab.
If you’re a Chrome user, these time-wasting shenanigans will now be nothing but an unpleasant memory, as Google’s latest update for its browser includes a feature it’s been testing since November that shows which tabs are playing audio.
Spot the little speaker icon on the tab and either delete it or enter the page and mute the audio on the site’s video player. Brilliant, eh?
But wait, there’s more. Chrome 32, rolled out by the Web giant Tuesday, will also show which of your tabs are currently using your webcam or being streamed to a television via Chromecast.
The latest build of Chrome also offers a more noticeable warning when it detects a malicious download it’s blocked – it’ll appear in the download tray at the bottom of the screen and looks like this:
Windows 8 users of Google’s updated browser will also notice a new look for Metro mode: “Manage multiple Chrome windows and quickly get to your favorite Chrome apps with an integrated app launcher,” Google software engineer Yuri Wiitala wrote on the Chrome blog, adding, “On the desktop, we’ve updated the default styling of UI elements like form controls and scrollbars to match the sleek design of the new Chrome Metro interface.”
To grab the latest version of Chrome for Windows, Mac, or Linux, jump over to here.
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