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Google to web: SHUT YOUR MOUTH or Chrome 32 beta will do it for you

Multimedia-blaring tabs to be named, shamed and given KILL switch

We're all been there. You fire up a web browser, open loads of tabs for further perusal and suddenly the office is full of noise from an advert proclaiming that in 15 minutes or less you can save on your car insurance – and you've no clue which tab it's in.

Now the boys and girls on Google's Chrome browser team have finished working on their solution to this bugbear: icons that identify what each tab is up to. The gang first showed off the idea in February, and now it's in the latest Chrome Beta, namely version 32.

Tabs playing audio are represented by a speaker icon; if a tab is using the computer's webcam (for sites such as Chatroulette if you're into that kind of thing) then a red dot appears; and a Chromecast icon if the tab is streaming content on Google's wonderplug.

The new beta version of Chrome will also now automatically block suspicious files thought to contain malware, an addition previewed last week. Users will get an icon warning them that the content is suspect, although they will be the option to download the suspect bytes anyway.

Finally, the new browser build will have some changes for those using the not-Metro interface of Windows 8. Chrome 32 will have a new application launcher, similar to the Chrome OS interface, which Yuri Wiitala, a Google software engineer and "Tenacious Tab Tracker", promises will "bring great experiences." ®

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