Dine out and get paid in the process with the Seated restaurant app

You don’t really need another reason to dine out. We get it —  you’re tired, you know you won’t be able to make coq au vin the same way that those French-trained chefs can, you don’t want to deal with a sink full of dirty dishes tonight (or let’s face it, tomorrow morning), and ultimately, you just want someone to bring you plate after plate of delicious food without lifting a finger. But somehow, if that laundry list of restaurant dining pros still isn’t enough to convince you that tonight is the night for you to treat yourself, perhaps Seated can do the trick. Seated is more than a reservation app — it’s a restaurant discovery app that actively rewards you for choosing to dine at some of the finest establishments in your city.

It’s a restaurant discovery app that actively rewards you for choosing to dine at some of the finest establishments in your city.

Currently active in 14 cities across the United States — Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, Providence, Rhode Island; San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. — Seated encourages local foodies to explore their neighborhood culinary gems by giving them a little extra incentive. There’s no point system, no delayed gratification. Rather, when you book a meal through Seated, you receive between $10 and $50 in rewards from brands like Amazon, Lyft, and Starbucks. So not only are you finally trying that new restaurant that everyone’s been talking about, but you’re also earning Lyft credits that you can use to get home.

While there are plenty of other restaurant reservation apps on the market, Seated believes it can make a difference by the quality of its participating institutions. As Brice Gumpel, co-founder of Seated, told Digital Trends at a recent event, customers are more likely to follow through on their Seated reservations and come in with a bigger party. Consequently, some of the most highly rated and sought after restaurants in the U.S. have taken to Seated to attract newer, younger customers (the average age of a Seated user, the company tells us, is between 23 and 38 years old).

For example, one of the more popular restaurants on Seated in New York is Le Coq Rico, the restaurant from three Michelin-starred chef Antoine Westermann. And while The New York Times gave the establishment a rave review, the poultry-focused restaurant may have had trouble convincing younger patrons to give its fine dining a try. Not so with Seated — as Anthony Battaglia, general manager of Le Coq Rico told us, “For Le Coq Rico, a fairly new restaurant in New York, partnering with Seated is a win-win deal for Seated, us, and of course our guests!”

Seated simply requires a photo of your receipt, or you can link your credit card.

While making reservations ahead of time is Seated’s bread and butter, it’s not the only way to earn with the app. This week, the company launched a new walk-in feature that allows you to simply browse nearby restaurants, and where available, select the “Walk-In” option when you’re looking for a more spontaneous meal. The end result is the same — you still receive $10 to $50 in rewards after your meal. To prove that you did, in fact, make good on your reservation, Seated simply requires a photo of your receipt, or you can link your credit card.

“Diners have more options than ever to eat a meal outside of a restaurant thanks to the influx of fast casual, meal kits, and delivery. Seated focuses on getting diners into the physical restaurant more often,” Gumpel said. “Our newest walk-in feature, now live in 14 cities, builds on this mission and provides people deciding to dine last minute with a new solution to discover a great restaurant quickly and still be rewarded for doing so.”

Seated also pledged to donate one meal to a child in need through the ShareTheMeal app for every meal booked on Seated, so your decision to dine out also positively impacts the lives of those in need. And if that alone isn’t reason enough to head to a restaurant tonight, we’re not sure what is.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The best food-delivery apps that bring deliciousness to you
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Porsche’s Design Book One sale makes this luxury laptop more affordable

Porsche Design

Given that it can transform into multiple forms and comes with powerful performance, the Porsche Design Book One is the closest competitors to Microsoft’s Surface Book. Like its rival, the Book One’s premium build quality, along with the Porsche Design branding, commanded a hefty price tag. The laptop initially launched for $2,500, but retailer Newegg is now listing the notebook for just $1,499, a savings of just under $1,000, which is good until Monday, April 23.

“The Porsche Design Book One is an uncompromising reinterpretation of the 2-in-1 concept,” the company wrote. If you want a thin tablet experience, like the Surface Book, the Book One’s screen can be detached from the body. In addition to touchscreen support, it also comes with a digital pen for inking. What makes the Book One unique is that the screen is mounted on a hinge that can rotate 360 degrees, similar to HP’s design for the Spectre x360. In tablet mode with the screen rotated, but still attached to the keyboard, you will benefit from the battery that is in the screen and the battery in the keyboard base.

Even though the Book One debuted with premium hardware when it launched — Intel’s seventh-generation Core i7 CPU, 16 GB RAM, and 512GB SSD — one potential reason for the significant price drop is that the processor isn’t quite as new anymore. Computers from HP, Dell, and Lenovo, for example, are now shipping with Intel’s eighth-generation processor, which delivers a jump in performance. “The performance delta between the latest, 8th Gen Kaby Lake Refresh chips and their 7th Gen Kaby Lake predecessors feels like a two- or three-year leap,” Laptop Mag said of the latest processor.

The drop in price could allow Newegg to clear out inventory ahead of a potential refresh of the Book One. Porsche Design currently lists the laptop for $1,595, which is still a significant saving compared to the launch price. For comparison, Microsoft’s Surface Book 2 is priced at $2,499 when configured with a similar seventh-generation Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB memory, and 512GB of storage. The advantage of the Surface Book 2 is that you gain discrete GPU support.

At this time, it’s unclear if Porsche Design plans to refresh the Book One laptop or when such an update may be launched.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The best laptops
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• The best touchscreen laptops
• The lightest laptops you can buy
• The best lightweight laptops you can buy

This chessboard isn’t haunted, it just moves the pieces on its own

My chess board collects dust at home. It’s a game I have loved playing ever since my father taught it to me at a young age, but over the past few years, it has been tough finding opponents within my circle of family and friends. The digital age and the smartphone revolution have made it easier for people to find other chess players and computers to play with through digital screens — I’ve played the occasional game on airplanes and through a few apps — but it’s not the same experience as placing a chess piece on a physical black-and-white board.

Square Off is a smart chess board that offers the best of both worlds. The company behind it, InfiVention, wants to bring back the tactile sensation of the 1,500-year-old game, while still making sure it’s as easy as ever to play with anyone in the world.

It’s Wizard’s Chess!

We first saw Square Off at CES 2017, where we gave it our Best Cool Tech award. The chess pieces on the board can move without any help. Think Wizard’s Chess from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, where the pieces magically slide across the board to their designated tiles. Pieces aren’t brutally destroyed when captured, thankfully, but they are dragged off.

Wizard’s Chess from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

How does it work? There’s a reason the board is very thick: Inside, you’ll find mechanized arms and magnets that move the chess pieces to the right places. The game’s not completely hands-free like Wizard’s Chess, as you’ll need to move your own pieces, but the opponent’s pieces are controlled by artificial intelligence (A.I.), and there are various levels of difficulty to choose from when you play against the A.I.

The mechanized arms and magnet will listen to the remote player’s instructions and move pieces to the desired place.

Alternatively, you can play with friends or people online thanks to the Bluetooth-connected iOS and Android app. Square Off is powered by more than 21 million users playing on Chess.com, so you should not have problems finding an opponent. More importantly, challengers do not need a Square Off board to play against you. Make your moves on the board, and the mechanized arms and magnet will listen to the remote player’s instructions and move pieces to the desired place, whether they’re using an app or the Chess.com website. This integration is still in the works, and InfiVention said it will be ready in a few weeks. Currently, you can challenge people who are online (their board must be turned on), and they have about 3 minutes to respond before the challenge disappears.

Playing against A.I. or people online aren’t the only things you can do with the Square Off board. You can livestream international grand master tournaments and see the moves play out in real time on your board, or you can re-create games from the past to see how famous matches unfolded for chess viewing parties or educational purposes.

Playing against a computer vs. playing online

The setup process is straightforward, but the biggest downside of the Square Off board is its size. It takes up a lot of space, and you may have some trouble finding a good spot for it in your home. It needs to be plugged in to work, so that will further limit where you can place it. It also means it’s tougher to take out of the house. A power switch on the side of the board turns it on, and you’ll hear some whizzing sounds as the board gets ready.

Pair the board with the app, and then you can either choose to play with A.I. (from level 1 through 20, with 20 being the hardest) or with friends. You can also choose to play as white or black. For every move, you need to push down the piece you want to move until you hear a beep, and then push down on the square you’re moving it to until you hear another beep. If you make an illegal move, the board will make several beep sounds and you’ll have to go again. You can do complex moves such as promote pawns when they reach the end of the other board, and even castling.

Whether it’s against the A.I. or a human, this board will provide endless hours of fun for chess players of all skill levels.

The beeps from the board didn’t distract me much, and neither did the whirring sounds from the mechanized arms, but it does make a quiet game loud.

What surprised me the most is how much fun I had playing against the A.I. It felt as though I was playing with someone sitting across from me, because I was watching the A.I. move pieces on the board. It was suspenseful, waiting for the board to make its move (it’s usually quick at making decisions), and that suspense is usually followed with a groan as the board drags one of my captured pieces off.  I defeated the board easily on level 2, but I suffered a defeat at level 7. Hey, it’s been a while.

It’s a completely different sensation from playing against a computer through a digital screen, where you don’t feel much thrill or suspense.

I then played against a member of the InfiVention team, who is based in India. Challenging each other through the app was quick and easy, and the experience is very similar to playing against the A.I. The only noticeable difference is the pause after your turn. My human opponent didn’t make his moves as fast as the computer, which further enhances the gameplay because it builds up more anxiety and suspense. My heart always skipped a beat when I heard the mechanical arms moving. Whether it’s against the A.I. or a human, this board will provide endless hours of fun for chess players of all skill levels.

InfiVention told Digital Trends it expects to add an “Analyze” feature into the app soon, which will tell you what better moves you could have made during a game to help improve your skill. A messaging feature is also in the pipeline, so you’ll be able to talk to your opponents as you play.

Square Off costs $250, and it ships from India. It all started thanks to a successfully funded Kickstarter from 2016, and you can sign up on the company’s waiting list to hear when their next batch is ready for purchase.

Chess hasn’t really changed much in its 1,500 years of existence, but we’re happy to say Square Off genuinely enhances our experience of the game. It certainly will replace my dusty old chess board at home.

Editors’ Recommendations

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Chrome’s desktop browser now supports web-based VR on the Oculus Rift

Well, how about that! Someone on Reddit discovered that Google Chrome now supports the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. As of version 66.0.3359.117, you can load up the browser’s “flags” settings (type “chrome://flags” in the address bar) and see the new “Oculus browser support” listing. If enabled, Google Chrome will use Facebook’s VR device for virtual reality. It’s typically set to default although you can manually choose to disable or enable the setting. 

“Yep, it works,” one Reddit user confirms. “Had a quick look at the Google Mars surface demo. Without the flag enabled, you just get an option for a desktop 360 view. Enable the flag though and an option to view in VR is there, and it launches it straight to the headset.” 

Google provides demos here created for WebVR, an application programming interface based on JavaScript that enables virtual reality experiences in a browser without additional software to download and install. WebVR can detect the virtual reality headset, determine its capabilities, get its position and orientation info, and render images at a framerate supported by the PC’s graphics chip and the headset. 

The news follows Google’s added support for WebVR in Chrome 61 for Daydream View headsets in September. According to Google evangelist Francois Beaufort, the browser allows users to interact with any website in virtual reality, follow links between pages, and automatically switch from 2D content to 3D-based sites that support WebVR.

Current VR headsets work with WebVR in different ways. For instance, the HTC Vive works with Firefox, Servo, and Supermedium on Windows devices while Firefox Nightly supports WebVR applications for the Vive on MacOS. With the Oculus Rift, WebVR works in Firefox, Supermedium, and now Chrome on Windows devices. 

Here is the full list: 

• HTC Vive: Firefox, Servo, and Supermedium (Windows / Firefox Nightly (MacOS) 
• Oculus Rift: Firefox, Servo, Supermedium, Chrome (Windows)
• Samsung Gear VR: Oculus Browser, Samsung Internet
• Daydream: Chrome
• Google Cardboard: Chrome
• Windows Mixed Reality headsets: Microsoft Edge / Firefox and Supermedium via SteamVR
• PlayStation VR: no support 

The cheapest way to access WebVR-supported content if you already have an Android phone is to use Google Cardboard, the company’s solution for virtual adventurers on a really tight budget. Google’s first-party entry sets you back a mere $15 whereas if your Android phone supports the Daydream platform, you could opt for the pricier Daydream View headset that typically sells for $100 (although its currently on sale for $50 until April 28). 

WebVR is the brainchild of Mozilla’s Vladimir Vukićević, introduced in 2014. The first full version didn’t become available until March 2016, presented by the Google Chrome and Mozilla VR teams. Version 1.1 arrived in April 2017 while WebVR 2.0 is expected to arrive in 2018. Along with members from Google and Mozilla, developers from Microsoft have also joined the joint WebVR collaboration. 

For now, Chrome for desktop appears to only support the Oculus Rift. So far, there is no indication that the HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality headsets will join Chrome’s list of supported hardware, but 2018 is still young, so we will see. 

Editors’ Recommendations

• Mozilla announces Firefox Reality, a browser for augmented and virtual reality
• The Best VR headsets
• Oculus Rift vs. Vive Pro
• Lenovo Mirage Solo with Daydream hands-on review
• Oculus Rift re-enters virtual space after bad software caused a global blackout

Here’s what we’re reading, watching, playing, and listening to this week

How we’re spending our leisure time.

Everyone has a bit of quiet downtime once in a while. Whether you’re sitting quietly at home or trying to relax on a plane or just giving your busy mind and hands a break, it’s important to relax.

A good way to do that is to read a book, listen to some music or watch a movie or show. See what’s caught our attention **for the week of April 20th*.

Ara Wagoner

Awwwww, look at the little pink deathbringer!

Sword Art Online is back, and we’ve got new characters and a new dynamic inside a world that felt criminally underexplored the last time we saw it! Sword Art Online Alternate: Gun Gale Online (boy, that’s a mouthful) is the latest entry into the popular franchise about VRMMO gaming and the multi-world hijinks its players come across. This year’s model doesn’t seem to have any “you die in the video game, you die for real” drama this year, bringing the stakes down and giving the show a bit more of a slice of life feel, which is a refreshing twist: instead of people dying for real in these beautiful fantasy games, we have a protagonist who finds an ultra-cute online avatar inside Gun Gale Online, one of the most hardcore VRMMOs on the market.

We’re only two episodes in, but it’s been a fun ride bordering on hilarious. LLENN is a newbie who only stuck around in Gun Gale Online because she’d finally found a cute, short avatar, and as a result she’s often panicked and seems to get by on amazing luck. GGO is available on Crunchyroll and Hulu, and whether you’re a gamer or not, this is a show that will make you laugh and make you whoop.

Marc Lagace

One of my all-time favorite videos on YouTube is this gem from back when the first iPhone was released, where a woman with $16K in hand buy her way to the front of the line — only to learn that store policy only allowed them to sellone phone per customer. Meanwhile, the dude at the front of the line made off an extra $800 to put towards his new phone, plus accessories — instantly became an Internet legend that day.

Flash forward to 2018 and that same dude, Marc Rebillet, is carving out a new legendary status for himself as a YouTube musician/comedian/weirdo. He’s got some real talent and has been steadily growing his channel in part by posting live-made music creations he calls “Idealogues” that are equal parts funny, bizarre, and catchy as all heck. To celebrate his channel reaching 20,000 subscribers, he live-streamed a 3-hour performance at the Deep Ellum Arts Fest which is pretty incredible to just watch unsuspecting people react to his art.

Check it out if you’re into recording music at home or simply enjoy exploring some of the weirder corners of YouTube.

Joe Maring

During MoviePass’s recent promotion that knocked down the monthly rate to just $6.95, I finally succumbed to its lustrous appeal and signed up for the service. As such, I’ve been seeing a lot more movies.

This past week, I saw Rampage and Isle of Dogs. The former is a great popcorn flick that has giant monsters wrecking Chicago and the latter is stunning work of art chronicling the story of a young boy that won’t stop at anything to find his lost best friend. This is the first and only Wes Anderson movie I’ve ever seen, but it’s already got me itching to check out the rest of his work.

Lastly, I also caught Back to the Future on the big screen last Sunday. I never got a chance to see the movie in theaters since it came out 12 years before I was born, so being able to finally do so was a pretty great experience. I tried hitting 88 Mph on the ride home, but I unfortunately didn’t make it to the 1950s. Sigh.

Jerry Hildenbrand

Work, eat, Far Cry 5. Not necessarily in that order …

It’s my favorite Far Cry yet because I get to run around and wreck cars, shoot guns, and go fishing — things I’d just love to do all day in real life. I like to think of it as Grand Theft Auto: West Virginia.

Because I’m glued to a chair for the rest of my life I play a lot of video games and usually end up preordering whatever comes next. I also usually end up disappointed, but not this time. If you’re a fan of the Far Cry series or just like to run around wrecking cars and shooting guns, it’s worth the $55.

Hayato Huseman

I started up on Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet last weekend … I also finished it last weekend. The main plot is that Drew Barrymore’s character randomly up and dies, then reawakens as a zombie who can only eat human flesh. Sounds like a cheesy ’80s horror movie, I know, but it’s one of the funniest damn shows I’ve seen in years, and season two just dropped last month. It’s definitely worth your time.

As far as music goes, one of my new favorite albums of 2018 has to be Yeah Whatever by Owane. I love all of Owane’s music, but I think his new album is his best work yet. On top of his usual chill jazz rock vibe, there’s all kinds of crazy cool synth and saxophone arrangements.

Russell Holly

She’s been called “the next J.K. Rowling” and to be honest I find that comparison underselling the experience you get with this book. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi is an amazing story with a fascinating magical twist. It’s honestly unlike anything I’ve ever read, complete with emotional characters and a healthy dose of action.

If you’re looking for something different, and you’re a fan of fantasy, pick this up. You can get the Audiobook on sale in the Play Store if you’re not really up for a huge book like this right now.

See at Amazon

Tom Westrick

One of the few musicians I’ve seen in person is Rosanne Cash. She is the daughter of country legend Johnny Cash, and she’s a superbly talented songwriter and musician in her own right. I saw her and her full band perform in December 2014, and saw her again this past weekend — this time it was just her and her husband, John Levanthal. Both concerts were fantastic mixes of history, storytelling and music. Photography wasn’t allowed at the most recent concert, so I substituted in a video of one of Rosanne’s most recent hits.

I’ve been getting back into Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and I’m just starting season five. It’s a hilarious show, and I’m glad to see the writers tackling complex issues surrounding racism is police forces. It’s definitely worth a watch.

Your turn

What are YOU reading, watching, or listening to this week? Let us know in the comments!

Update, April 20th, 2018: This is a weekly series where we tell you what we’re into, so check back every Friday or Saturday!

Pornhub hasn’t been actively enforcing its deepfake ban

Remember how Pornhub said it was banning AI-generated deepfake videos? They’re still a problem months later. BuzzFeed News “easily” found over 100 of the non-consensual videos by searching for obvious keywords like “deepfake” and “fake deep,” nearly all of them explicitly mentioning their deepfake status in the title or the uploader’s username. The clips had been around for a while, too, as they had hundreds of thousands or even millions of views. Some videos surfaced in home page recommendations.

The site had removed some of the videos after BuzzFeed got in touch, but others were still listed (again, with hundreds of thousands of views) after searching for other keywords.

In a statement, VP Corey Price reiterated that Pornhub would remove deepfakes and other non-consensual content “as soon as we are made aware of it” through methods like content flags and a submission form. This material is “a form of sexual assault,” Price said.

The problem, as you might imagine, is that this is a purely reactive approach that doesn’t actually deal with the issue. What’s the likelihood that someone looking for this content is going to report it? While it’s difficult for any large video upload site to completely eliminate unwanted videos (just ask YouTube), it shouldn’t be possible to find an abundance of offending clips with basic search terms. Services ideally make at least some effort to proactively remove and filter content that violates their terms of service.

We’d add that Pornhub has a tendency toward inaction in other categories as well. It’s still well-known as a haven for (clearly unauthorized) game-themed CG porn, often based directly on character models lifted from the games’ resource files. The studios have tried to crack down on this material in the past, but it’s still abundant. There may not be a purge of this content until there’s a fundamental shift in Pornhub’s stance toward all material that violates its terms, not just the most offensive.

Source: BuzzFeed News

YouTube TV brings two Cheddar digital-only shows to its lineup

YouTube TV is making its way onto a more devices and bringing quite a few live TV channels along with it, including Turner Network channels. The Google-owned service is also in quite a few markets, making it easy to access from almost anywhere. Now YouTube TV is blending digital-only channels with its broadcast lineup via the addition of two new properties, Cheddar and Cheddar Big News.

“Cheddar’s emphasis on tech and media news coverage make it a strong fit for the millennial, tech-savvy audience that also loves YouTube TV,” YouTube TVs Christian Oestlien told Variety. While Cheddar already runs its own YouTube channel, this will offer live feeds and on-demand programming from the media company’s finance and news channels. Variety also notes that Cheddar already provides live and on-demand programming to the Dish Network, Sling TV, Comcast X1, Amazon, Facebook, Spotify, Twitter and Twitch platforms. Having a partnership with YouTube TV adds another set of viewers to Cheddar’s bottom line. Cheddar also plans to launch its Big News program on Sling TV and Philo in the latter half of this year.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Cheddar

Idris Elba’s Netflix show is ‘Charles in Charge’ with turntables

Netflix just scored a comedy coup. The service has unveiled Turn Up Charlie, a comedy series starring and partly executive produced by Idris Elba. The half-hour show has Elba playing a “struggling” single DJ (fitting given his extensive DJ background) who gets another chance when he becomes the caretaker for a famous friend’s rebellious daughter. Basically, it’s Charles in Charge with mixing and scratching. There’s no release date yet, but production on the first eight-episode season starts in May.

This isn’t Elba’s first Netflix rodeo, of course — he broke ground as a star in the streaming giant’s first original feature film, Beasts of No Nation, and it’s ridiculously easy to find his non-exclusive shows on the service. Turn Up Charlie will be his chance to show what he can do for Netflix in an episodic format, however, and it’s further evidence that the company now has a relatively easy time signing big-name talent.

Via: Variety, AV Club

Source: Netflix

Best Buy drops its price for the MacBook Air to as low as $650

If you’ve had your eye on a MacBook Air for a while, Best Buy’s latest offer makes it much more affordable. Expanding its range of existing deals, Best Buy is now offering a MacBook Air at $300 off. And if you happen to be a student, or a parent of one, then you can net yourself an additional $50 discount on select models, bringing the price down to as little as $650 for the entry-level model.

The MacBook Air turns ten years old this year and though it might not have quite the same relevance today as when it first launched, it’s still a popular choice — especially at such a discounted price. However, it is important to note that there have been rumors that Apple will be updating and replacing the existing MacBook Air this year, which might be why Best Buy is offering such aggressive discounts for its remaining hardware.

Best Buy’s MacBook Air offering comes in three flavors. The first has a fifth-generation Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The second ups the ante to 256GB of storage space, while the third improves that to 512GB and pairs it up with a Core i7 CPU of the same generation. All CPU options are only dual-core, however.

The differing models are priced at $700, $900, and $1,250 respectively. In order to secure the additional $50 discount, you’ll need to sign up to Best Buy’s Student Deals program, after which you’ll be sent coupon codes you can redeem on the Best Buy website or in-store, as per MacRumors.

The MacBook Air range isn’t the only one getting the discount treatment at Best Buy at the moment. Joining it are a number of offerings from HP, Dell, and Lenovo, all discounted and many of them packing much more modern and powerful hardware than the Apple alternative. The deals released as part of this “Computing Savings Event,” however, do change on a day-to-day basis, so you’ll need to check back every 24 hours if you’re looking for something in particular.

You’ll also find new offers on smartphones, games, and TVs, so you can still look around if you’re not interested in a new laptop right now.

Editors’ Recommendations

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• The Best Laptops for College You Can Buy

Microsoft Windows Defender extension offers Chrome users extra protection

alexeyboldin/123RF

If you’re a Chrome user, you’ll have one more choice this week for defense against phishing while you’re on the internet. Even though Microsoft and Google compete in a number of areas — Windows 10’s Microsoft Edge browser is a direct competitor to Chrome — Microsoft is making nice with its frenemy by releasing its Windows Defender Browser Protection extension for Chrome browsers.

Although solutions already exist for Chrome — Google, for its part, displays a bright, red screen whenever you visit a website suspected of phishing or scam — Microsoft claims that Windows Defender for Chrome is superior and can stop more threats. When the company highlighted the merits of its Microsoft Edge browser, it noted that Windows Defender is 99 percent effective at thwarting threats. Chrome was effective at just 87 percent of the time, and Firefox had a 70 percent effective rate. In theory, with Windows Defender available as an extension and working in Chrome, Chrome users should benefit from the same level of protection as Microsoft Edge.

With Windows Defender engaged at the browser level, if you visit a malicious website, the screen will flash red, alerting you to navigate away. “The extension alerts you about known malicious links, and gives you a clear path back to safety,” Microsoft said. Microsoft maintains a list of known or suspected malicious sites that is constantly updated as part of Windows Defender.

The good news is that if you use Windows Defender, you’ll still benefit from Google’s anti-phishing protection. “The new extension doesn’t appear to disable Chrome’s own checking (or at least, it doesn’t seem to be doing so for me), so at the very least isn’t likely to make you less safe, and with phishing being as widespread as it is, the extra protection probably doesn’t hurt,” Ars Technica reported.

A report published by the Federal Bureau of Investigations revealed that phishing scams cost American businesses roughly $500 million per year, according to Forbes. Tripwire found that 76 percent of organizations have experienced a phishing attack in 2017. On the consumer side, the Anti-Phishing Working Group reported that more than 1.2 million attacks were recorded in 2016, a 66 percent increase from the year prior.

Given that Google’s Chrome browser is far more popular than Microsoft’s Edge offering, making Windows Defender more widely available will have broader reach and more impact. According to W3Counter‘s March 2018 report, Chrome commanded a browser market share of 60.6 percent, while Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Edge browsers had a 7.6 percent market share.

Editors’ Recommendations

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• A sneaky extension for Chrome, Firefox prevents its removal, hijacks browser
• Microsoft brings Windows 7 and 8.1 into the Defender fold, but there is a catch
• Google plans to ban cryptocurrency mining extensions from the Chrome Web Store
• Chrome’s built-in scanning tool is now causing a privacy uproar