Google is now supporting my awful browser habits, and I love it

By Monica J. White Published December 7, 2022

Google has just released a new update for Chrome, and it could be a real timesaver if you’re anything like me.

I have some pretty bad habits when it comes to how I use my browsers, and instead of forcing me to improve, Google is supporting me. Needless to say, I love it.

Google Chrome's new search function. — Google

With the latest update, Google added the option to search through your bookmarks, history, and tabs, all via the browser’s address bar. You can type in @tabs and then click the search option that pops up in order to have Chrome search through all the tabs you have open. Similarly, type in @bookmarks or @history to search through those directly from your address bar.

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It’s all super simple, and if your browser doesn’t support it yet, just type Update Chrome into the address bar to have the latest update for desktop (108) get downloaded. It’s possible that the rollout may be delayed for some users, so be patient and check back if you don’t immediately get it.

For users like me, this feature sounds amazing. I’m one of those people who have dozens of tabs open at a time, in multiple windows. I’m not sure why I do this to myself — I hate getting confused by them and having to frantically look for that one tab I had open when I actually need it for something. Don’t even get me started on my bookmarks. I have hundreds of them, all thrown into the same folder without care or reason.

These are bad habits, and I tried to force myself to take advantage of Google’s tab groups, or at least close all of these different tabs when I don’t need them. It never works. Somehow, my brain prefers to trick me into thinking that I enjoy having to search for the equivalent of a needle in a haystack just because I can. I do envy the people who manage to consistently keep just a few tabs open and then close them when they’re done. However, I’m not one of those people.

In short: Thank you, Google, for enabling me. I definitely appreciate this new feature. My aging PC, as it begs me to limit the number of operations it has to run at a time, perhaps appreciates it a little less.

Monica J. White

Computing Writer

Monica is a computing writer at Digital Trends, focusing on PC hardware. Since joining the team in 2021, Monica has written…

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Update: Google has responded to Digital Trends’ queries. The story has been updated with company’s statement below.
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https://x.com/ajiteshleo/status/1901484196972945872?s=61
The model in question is the Gemini 2.0 Flash, which was released earlier this year and got a reasoning upgrade, as well. It is worth noting here that you can not remove the watermark if you are using the mobile or desktop version of the Gemini 2.0 Flash model. Trying to do so returns a message like this:
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https://x.com/kaiju_ya/status/1901099096930496720?s=61
The output image, however, has its own Gemini watermark, although this itself can be removed with a simple crop. There are a few minor differences in the final image produced by Gemini after its watermark removal process, such as slightly different color temperatures and fuzzy surface details in photorealistic shots.

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