Mozilla has reworked Firefox in an attempt to get rid of user interface clutter and to make its web browser easier to use. A new version, released Tuesday, cleans up the address bar, simplifies main-menu options, consolidates website permission requests and gives tabs a new look. The effort is designed “to give you a safe, …

One of the internet’s foundations just got an upgrade. Quic, a protocol for transmitting data between computers, improves speed and security on the internet and can replace Transmission Control Protocol, or TCP, a standard that dates back to Ye Olde Internet of 1974. Earlier this week, the Internet Engineering Task Force, which sets many standards for the global network, published …

USB-C just got a power upgrade to 240 watts that’ll let you plug in devices like gaming laptops, docking stations and 4K monitors. By more than doubling power from today’s 100-watt top capacity, the new USB-C standard could eventually let you toss a lot of proprietary chargers into your junk drawer. The USB Implementers Forum, the industry group that develops …

Expect many 2022 phones to run about 30% faster thanks to new processors coming from chip designer Arm, the UK company whose technology is used in billions of mobile devices. The company on Tuesday announced its new processor designs, including the top-end Cortex-X2 processing core. In 2020, Arm announced its Cortex-X1 chip design, offering new options to Android phone makers …

Microsoft Edge will get a speed boost with version 91 this week thanks to a feature called sleeping tabs that gives computing priority to the tabs you’re actively using while pausing others in the background. The new web browser version also will start up faster, the software giant announced at its annual Build developer conference on Tuesday. The changes will …

Quantum computers, if they mature enough, will be able to crack much of today’s encryption. That’ll lay bare private communications, company data and military secrets. Today’s quantum computers are too rudimentary to do so. But data surreptitiously gathered now could still be sensitive when more powerful quantum computers come online in a few years. The computing industry is well aware of …

Google Chrome is getting a new ability to fix your hacked password fast. It’s standard for web browsers to warn you when your password is found on a list of hacked passwords, but now Google’s browser also will be able to fix it with a  tap of a button. When Google spots a vulnerable password, Google Assistant will offer a …

Google Photos has new AI-powered techniques to make your photos come alive, tapping into your nostalgia and making shots more shareable in an effort to make its photography services more appealing. The company introduced the features at its Google I/O developer conference Tuesday. One option, called cinematic moments, uses artificial intelligence algorithms to combine two photos of the same scene into …

Google has begun building a new and larger quantum computing research center that will employ hundreds of people to design and build a broadly useful quantum computer by 2029. It’s the latest sign that the competition to turn these radical new machines into practical tools is growing more intense as established players like IBM and Honeywell vie with quantum computing …

Motorola has begun a plan to give its smartphones medium-distance charging technology from startup GuRu Wireless that requires not only no charging cables but also no charging pad. The technology beams power 10 feet or more using radio waves sent from a charging hub to devices like phones, laptops and potentially even drones. The companies announced the partnership Wednesday, though …