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Google Quietly Launches Data Saver Extension For Chrome

Posted by timothy on from the keeping-track-of-things dept.

An anonymous reader writes Google has quietly released a Data Saver extension for Chrome, bringing the company's data compression feature to the desktop for the first time. You can download the extension, currently in beta, from the Chrome Web Store. We say "quietly" because there doesn't seem to be an announcement from Google. The extension was published on March 23 and appears to work exactly as advertised on the tin, based on what we've seen in our early tests.

39 comments

  1. Proxy! WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, it's a Google proxy service that routes, not just my searches through Google but, ALL of my browser activity through Google?

    I'm going to take a pass. Thanks anyway, Google.

    1. Re:Proxy! WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes, that's exactly what Chrome is. But what does the extension do?

    2. Re:Proxy! WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It makes the unicorns run faster

    3. Re:Proxy! WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, that's exactly what Chrome is. But what does the extension do?

      Cola just went through my nostrils. Nice one. :-)

    4. Re:Proxy! WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, it's a Google proxy service that routes, not just my searches through Google but, ALL of my browser activity through Google?

      Except for pages accessed via SSL and Incognito pages.

      I'd imagine it rebuilds and minifies the HTML, JavaScript, and CSS content that makes up pages.

      Maybe it tracks your visits to "ilovefurriesporn.com" too. Who knows?

    5. Re:Proxy! WTF? by ArcadeMan · · Score: 3, Funny

      ilovefurriesporn.com doesn't even exists, you insensitive clod!

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    6. Re:Proxy! WTF? by tepples · · Score: 2

      Except for pages accessed via SSL

      Which means that once your favorite sites adopt HSTS, Data Saver becomes useless.

    7. Re:Proxy! WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      It's a poor man's version of Opera's Turbo, which Opera has had for five years now.

      Just another example of Opera doing all of the innovation with the other browser makers stealing them.

    8. Re:Proxy! WTF? by rogoshen1 · · Score: 1

      yet.

    9. Re:Proxy! WTF? by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      ALL of my browser activity through Google?

      1) No, SSL and incognito not included.
      2) It does what just about every other "data saver" of this type have always done (BES compression, Opera data saver, I believe safari has an example as well)

  2. What does it do? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe it works "exactly as advertised on the tin", but TFS doesn't say whatever the tin says.
    Why should I care about some random unexplained extension?

    1. Re:What does it do? by SternisheFan · · Score: 2

      It does exactly what it says on the tin" was originally an advertising slogan in the United Kingdom, which then became a common idiomatic phrase.[1][2] It colloquially means anything that is as it appears or claims to be without further explanation needed. It originated in a series of television advertisements by the woodstain and wood-dye manufacturer Ronseal, initiated in 1994 and still being broadcast as of 2013.[3] The phrase originated from a winning entry to a competition run by Polycell. The winner Mrs Ailsie Allen coined the phrase " it does what it says". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D...

  3. So, _every_ page you look at is known by Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, _every_ page you look at is known by Google, Cool.

    1. Re:So, _every_ page you look at is known by Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can trust Google. Didn't they say "do not be evil"? 'nuff said.

  4. Anyone remember Google Web Accelerator? by dkegel · · Score: 2

    /. posters have such a short memory :-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G...

    1. Re:Anyone remember Google Web Accelerator? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I remember it. It's an accelerating web proxy. Opera offers one, too.

      And one can even set a compressing proxy at home. What's the difference between "Data saver" and such proxies?

    2. Re:Anyone remember Google Web Accelerator? by dkegel · · Score: 1

      I suppose Google's might be able to place the compressing proxy closer to you, reducing latency a bit.

    3. Re:Anyone remember Google Web Accelerator? by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      Yep and just like GWS you get the "privilege" of giving ALL your info to Google....why not let 'em read your mail and set a cam up in your bedroom while you are at it?

      I don't know about everybody else but this kind of crap is why I spread out my Internet services as much as possible, email through Yahoo (my Gmail is strictly for forums), searches through Bing and maps by Google, oh and privacy badger shutting down any of the site tracking crap. I'm certainly not giving all my data to Google just for faster page loads and am glad i use Comodo Secure Chromium so that if Google bakes this in the next release it won't end up in my browser.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    4. Re:Anyone remember Google Web Accelerator? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see some value in this.
      As a VPN user I'm finding some ecommerce sites don't like my VPN'd IP address. There appear to be some blocklists that they can subscribe to.
      I'd use this as a proxy that won't be blocked because nobody wants to block google from their website.
      Of course I would only use it for the bare minimum to complete a transaction. I should be safe from google snooping since all that traffic should be SSL and thus opaque to their system.

    5. Re:Anyone remember Google Web Accelerator? by jdi_knght · · Score: 2

      Yeah, I remember it. It's an accelerating web proxy. Opera offers one, too.

      And one can even set a compressing proxy at home. What's the difference between "Data saver" and such proxies?

      Google's closely follows a lot of stuff that their PageSpeed Module does. On-the-fly HTML/JS/CSS optimization, image conversion to WebP, etc. I don't know if they've extended it beyond that to other areas like recompressing videos (which I believe Opera's service does).

      Worth noting that a variant of it has been available in Chrome's mobile browser for awhile now, and there was an unofficial version for the desktop called Data Compression Proxy which was essentially a little hack to run the desktop browser through the mobile service.

      As for benefits: If under a pretty strict data cap where you're often touching the limit, it gives a lot of extra breathing room (easily comparable to the savings from an ad blocker). You wouldn't believe how unoptimized a lot of sites are. As a side benefit, if you're on dial-up, connecting through slow fixed wireless in a rural area, are using a poor cell data connection, etc (basically any time you're in a situation where pages are taking 5-10 seconds to load), it actually speeds things up quite a bit. Of course, if you're on true high speed, it'll probably slow things down more often than not since their proxy's going to add at least *some* latency, plus the additional hops if you're not lucky enough to get a nearby cached copy.

      In regards to the suggestion of "setting a compressing proxy at home", assuming for the moment that the home isn't where you're having problems with a data cap, sure. But it's going to take a lot of code to match the depth of stuff that either Google's or Opera's services do. Then again, you'd retain a little more privacy. And with your own root certs you could MITM yourself on SSL sites and get the bandwidth savings there too. I suppose it just depends on how much time you have and how badly you want/need it.

  5. It's basically a proxy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Kind of a creepy tradeoff, as all your traffic has to go through Google's servers, but they say that SSL pages and incognito tabs will bypass the accelerator.

  6. And it does... what, exactly? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Would it kill you to explain even vaguely what this thing does in the summary?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:And it does... what, exactly? by insanecarbonbasedlif · · Score: 2

      Would it kill you to explain even vaguely what this thing does in the summary?

      It save data so your Chrome browsing can be analyzed.

      --
      Just because I doubt myself does not mean I find your position compelling.
    2. Re:And it does... what, exactly? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      packet goes in, packet comes out smaller.

    3. Re:And it does... what, exactly? by Espectr0 · · Score: 2

      compresses HTTP traffic, especially images, like Opera Mini

      --
      Open Source Java Web Forum with LDAP authentication
    4. Re:And it does... what, exactly? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      Sounds like my ex-wife. Badoom.

      Works on many levels.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    5. Re:And it does... what, exactly? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. Yes, it would kill the heart, soul, and spirit of slashdot editing if things were explained in the summary.

      Allow me to explain. Slashdot has always had a fine tradition of delivering summaries that are a unique blend of possibly interesting but too vague to really understand exactly what is being talked about. At this point, you might say "ah, I get it. I see now that this allows people to click through to the original article, or simply turn to the internet to do their own independent research, and thus contribute to a well-informed, rounded discussion. What a great idea! It's like trolling, but for a good purpose!" But let me explain a few other fine traditions here at /., where we readers are not to be outdone. For our part, we must continue to jump to pick a position and defend it to death on an issue we don't quite grasp. This is all part of the brilliant design of /. that separates us from the rest (and the rest from us). It keeps noobs out. It keeps those who can't deal, out. It raises the bar for the site. And in life.

      Speaking about which, did you stop for a second to think about the philosophical aspect of such summaries? What would we talk about if it weren't for the piss poor jobs that editors around here do? Heck, would your comment even exist if the summary made sense completely? Would my reponse to your comment exist? Would I be typing this? Would you be reading this? Would our lives have purpose and meaning? See what I mean?

      I've seen people like you go down this slippery slope all the way to the dark side. Soon, they're starting to demand that editors fix grammatical errors in the summary. Tragic, I know. But I hope I managed to get this message out to you in the nick of time. Be safe.

    6. Re:And it does... what, exactly? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How much more vague can it get than "a Data Saver extension for Chrome" ? Some folks are so demanding. Sheesh....

    7. Re:And it does... what, exactly? by LordLimecat · · Score: 1, Funny

      Would it kill you to read the article? Its not even that long.

  7. Proxy by digitalPhant0m · · Score: 2

    Might as well just proxy all my stuff through the NSA's data compressor while I'm at it.

    1. Re:Proxy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Might as well just proxy all my stuff through the NSA's data compressor while I'm at it.

      I thought that was what they said? They did say Google right? NSA spelled any other way is still NSA.

    2. Re:Proxy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too late (cf Room 641A, etc.).

  8. Ziproxy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Didn't RTFA but it seems it's something like Ziproxy.

  9. Did anybody else read that as 'Data Server'? by neo-mkrey · · Score: 1

    Because that's what I parsed it as the first time.

  10. So just another proxy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How is this any different from a VPN or SSH Proxy that has compression enabled, aside from ease of use? I could potentially see this being useful if your on a hotspot, but for a typical home connection it's pointless.

    Not to mention, since the technology only works over unencrypted pages they get to read every page. If you truly need something like this to save bandwidth, get one from a non-advertising company, or set up your own. A simple SSH or a VPN service is all it takes, maybe $6-$10/mo.

  11. Already done by Tyrannosaur · · Score: 1

    Anyone remember opera turbo?
    http://www.opera.com/turbo

  12. Pointless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Saving bandwidth with compression is pretty pointless when Chrome consistently launches DoS attacks attempting to suck down various randomly overlapping parts the same video tens of times *per second* during the entire time you watch. Granted, this only occurs on a small percentage of videos, but those videos play fine in other browsers.

  13. Sounds like Google's version of Amazon's Silk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/09/amazons-silk-web-browser-adds-new-twist-to-old-idea/

    I'm not sure why it's so awful for Google to do it if Amazon has been doing it for a while for their users.

    I find these services more than a little creepy and would prefer the practice be outlawed entirely unless the originating website explicitly subscribes to allowing these cloud behemoths to mirror their content.

  14. duuurp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I really hope you are not a native english speaker if you had to look that trivial phrase up !