This is how Google\'s next-generation AV1 video codec is being rolled out, and next, Google is setting its sights on HDR and 3D audio standards.
Protocol\'s Janko Roettgers has a report on \"Project Caviar,\" Google\'s plan to take on Dolby and create royalty-free alternatives to its HDR standard (Dolby Vision) and its 3D audio standard (Dolby Atmos). Dolby\'s old media business model relies on royalty fees from hardware manufacturers and support from content creators.
The company\'s technology is deeply embedded in movie theaters and Blu-rays, and more modern streaming companies like Apple are big backers of Dolby technology. That all costs money, though, and Protocol\'s report says $50 streaming sticks end up having around $2 of that price tag go to Dolby.
Surround sound has been a movie feature forever with various numbers of front, back, and side speakers, but Dolby Atmos adds height into the equation. If you take a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup—that\'s three front speakers, two back, a subwoofer, and for 7.1, two side speakers—Dolby Atmos adds four overhead speakers into the mix, allowing sound to pan overhead of the viewer. Atmos is supported by Apple, Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney+.
Protocol\'s Janko Roettgers has a report on \"Project Caviar,\" Google\'s plan to take on Dolby and create royalty-free alternatives to its HDR standard (Dolby Vision) and its 3D audio standard (Dolby Atmos). Dolby\'s old media business model relies on royalty fees from hardware manufacturers and support from content creators.
The company\'s technology is deeply embedded in movie theaters and Blu-rays, and more modern streaming companies like Apple are big backers of Dolby technology. That all costs money, though, and Protocol\'s report says $50 streaming sticks end up having around $2 of that price tag go to Dolby.
Surround sound has been a movie feature forever with various numbers of front, back, and side speakers, but Dolby Atmos adds height into the equation. If you take a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup—that\'s three front speakers, two back, a subwoofer, and for 7.1, two side speakers—Dolby Atmos adds four overhead speakers into the mix, allowing sound to pan overhead of the viewer. Atmos is supported by Apple, Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney+.
Google is tackling Dolby via the \"Alliance for Open Media\" standards group, which counts Amazon, Apple, Arm, Google, Intel, Meta, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix, Nvidia, and Samsung in its \"founding members\" group. This is the same group behind the AV1 standard, which grew out of Google\'s purchase of On2 and the open sourcing of its video codec.
The company\'s technology is deeply embedded in movie theaters and Blu-rays, and more modern streaming companies like Apple are big backers of Dolby technology. That all costs money, though, and Protocol\'s report says $50 streaming sticks end up having around $2 of that price tag go to Dolby.
Surround sound has been a movie feature forever with various numbers of front, back, and side speakers, but Dolby Atmos adds height into the equation. If you take a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup—that\'s three front speakers, two back, a subwoofer, and for 7.1, two side speakers—Dolby Atmos adds four overhead speakers into the mix, allowing sound to pan overhead of the viewer. Atmos is supported by Apple, Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney+.
Google is tackling Dolby via the \"Alliance for Open Media\" standards group, which counts Amazon, Apple, Arm, Google, Intel, Meta, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix, Nvidia, and Samsung in its \"founding members\" group. This is the same group behind the AV1 standard, which grew out of Google\'s purchase of On2 and the open sourcing of its video codec.
Neither Dolby Vision nor Atmos competitors require new codec development. Google\'s strategy is mostly about standardizing a way to ship audio and video data that doesn\'t involve paying Dolby and branding it well enough to compete.
Surround sound has been a movie feature forever with various numbers of front, back, and side speakers, but Dolby Atmos adds height into the equation. If you take a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup—that\'s three front speakers, two back, a subwoofer, and for 7.1, two side speakers—Dolby Atmos adds four overhead speakers into the mix, allowing sound to pan overhead of the viewer. Atmos is supported by Apple, Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney+.
Google is tackling Dolby via the \"Alliance for Open Media\" standards group, which counts Amazon, Apple, Arm, Google, Intel, Meta, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix, Nvidia, and Samsung in its \"founding members\" group. This is the same group behind the AV1 standard, which grew out of Google\'s purchase of On2 and the open sourcing of its video codec.
Neither Dolby Vision nor Atmos competitors require new codec development. Google\'s strategy is mostly about standardizing a way to ship audio and video data that doesn\'t involve paying Dolby and branding it well enough to compete.
To start, the group already has specs for an \"Immersive Audio Container\" published on the web, which describes itself as a \"codec-agnostic audio bitstream format to deliver three-dimensional sound fields that can be used for multichannel sound playback.\" For HDR, the group wants to adopt the HDR10+ standard, which was originally cooked up by Samsung but lacks content.
","password":"+wMCaZf$T_.}","created_at":"2026-06-09 15:09:44","updated_at":"2026-06-09 15:09:44","status":"0"}, {"id":2,"guid":"4c416e82-618d-4d42-89c5-0a8674dc2571","name":"Reshard","surname":"Plymsoll","content":"We simply prevent the browser from allowing that initial tracker web request to even get off the ground. And, using our Tracker Radar technology, we are continually crawling the web ourselves to identify the universe of these requests.
Our product vision is privacy, simplified, and so we block as many trackers as we can while simultaneously not breaking website functionality. This is of course a constant effort since trackers are continually changing.
As you might imagine, this is also a challenging technical problem. Without some additional privacy technology like we provide in our product, blocking some of these hidden trackers — like Google Analytics — can break some sites based on how tightly they’ve been integrated into website functionality.
Our product vision is privacy, simplified, and so we block as many trackers as we can while simultaneously not breaking website functionality. This is of course a constant effort since trackers are continually changing.
As you might imagine, this is also a challenging technical problem. Without some additional privacy technology like we provide in our product, blocking some of these hidden trackers — like Google Analytics — can break some sites based on how tightly they’ve been integrated into website functionality.
But we think a tracker blocker that doesn’t prevent the most prevalent hidden tracker from loading isn’t a credible tracker blocker (as Google Analytics is by far the most prevalent). We are now also starting to work on blocking initial requests of visible third-party content like video embeds, with more to come on that in a future post.
As you might imagine, this is also a challenging technical problem. Without some additional privacy technology like we provide in our product, blocking some of these hidden trackers — like Google Analytics — can break some sites based on how tightly they’ve been integrated into website functionality.
But we think a tracker blocker that doesn’t prevent the most prevalent hidden tracker from loading isn’t a credible tracker blocker (as Google Analytics is by far the most prevalent). We are now also starting to work on blocking initial requests of visible third-party content like video embeds, with more to come on that in a future post.
The result of using the DuckDuckGo app & extension on a web page is that potentially hundreds of behind-the-scenes tracker requests are blocked before they even load, meaning not just greater privacy but also additional benefits like less data transfer and faster load times. That\'s because so much of the data associated with a website nowadays is actually just for tracking you!
But we think a tracker blocker that doesn’t prevent the most prevalent hidden tracker from loading isn’t a credible tracker blocker (as Google Analytics is by far the most prevalent). We are now also starting to work on blocking initial requests of visible third-party content like video embeds, with more to come on that in a future post.
The result of using the DuckDuckGo app & extension on a web page is that potentially hundreds of behind-the-scenes tracker requests are blocked before they even load, meaning not just greater privacy but also additional benefits like less data transfer and faster load times. That\'s because so much of the data associated with a website nowadays is actually just for tracking you!
Chart showing the page load times, number of web requests and data transferred when visiting WebMD.com on desktop.
","password":"}!vDI]4gtdb#","created_at":"2026-06-09 15:09:44","updated_at":"2026-06-09 15:09:44","status":"0"}, {"id":3,"guid":"66ccb7c8-eec7-4a66-afbc-4602e7cca37f","name":"Takiyah","surname":"Gilberd","content":"In this context, browser privacy tech that just restricts trackers after they have loaded is like using an umbrella in a hurricane: You’re still gonna get wet!
Therefore, to really stop a cross-site tracker, the kind that tries to track your activity from site to site, you have to prevent it from actually loading in your browser in the first place. This is a critical blocking feature that we provide in our all-in-one privacy browser extension for desktop Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari, as well as in our own mobile browser for iOS and Android.
Blocking trackers from even loading also has major benefits beyond privacy: increased speed and less data usage. In our tests on a sample web page (WebMD.com), using our tracker blocking resulted in 66% fewer files loading, 34% less data transferred, and, consequently, increasing page load speed by 46% (see bottom section for details).
To sum up, to really stop trackers, you need to totally block them from loading in your browser — just placing restrictions on trackers after they load (like preventing them from using third-party cookies) won\'t cut it. That\'s the story in a nutshell, and below is more detail if you want to dig deeper, including how you can see it working in your own browser.
To dig in a bit further, let’s define a cross-site web tracker as anything that can load on a web page to track your web activity across sites, e.g., your browsing history. To do so, a cross-site web tracker has to do three things:
Therefore, to really stop a cross-site tracker, the kind that tries to track your activity from site to site, you have to prevent it from actually loading in your browser in the first place. This is a critical blocking feature that we provide in our all-in-one privacy browser extension for desktop Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari, as well as in our own mobile browser for iOS and Android.
Blocking trackers from even loading also has major benefits beyond privacy: increased speed and less data usage. In our tests on a sample web page (WebMD.com), using our tracker blocking resulted in 66% fewer files loading, 34% less data transferred, and, consequently, increasing page load speed by 46% (see bottom section for details).
To sum up, to really stop trackers, you need to totally block them from loading in your browser — just placing restrictions on trackers after they load (like preventing them from using third-party cookies) won\'t cut it. That\'s the story in a nutshell, and below is more detail if you want to dig deeper, including how you can see it working in your own browser.
To dig in a bit further, let’s define a cross-site web tracker as anything that can load on a web page to track your web activity across sites, e.g., your browsing history. To do so, a cross-site web tracker has to do three things:
Associate your information with your unique ID at the tracking company (behind the tracker).
Blocking trackers from even loading also has major benefits beyond privacy: increased speed and less data usage. In our tests on a sample web page (WebMD.com), using our tracker blocking resulted in 66% fewer files loading, 34% less data transferred, and, consequently, increasing page load speed by 46% (see bottom section for details).
To sum up, to really stop trackers, you need to totally block them from loading in your browser — just placing restrictions on trackers after they load (like preventing them from using third-party cookies) won\'t cut it. That\'s the story in a nutshell, and below is more detail if you want to dig deeper, including how you can see it working in your own browser.
To dig in a bit further, let’s define a cross-site web tracker as anything that can load on a web page to track your web activity across sites, e.g., your browsing history. To do so, a cross-site web tracker has to do three things:
Associate your information with your unique ID at the tracking company (behind the tracker).
Send your information back to the tracking company for future profiling.
To sum up, to really stop trackers, you need to totally block them from loading in your browser — just placing restrictions on trackers after they load (like preventing them from using third-party cookies) won\'t cut it. That\'s the story in a nutshell, and below is more detail if you want to dig deeper, including how you can see it working in your own browser.
To dig in a bit further, let’s define a cross-site web tracker as anything that can load on a web page to track your web activity across sites, e.g., your browsing history. To do so, a cross-site web tracker has to do three things:
Associate your information with your unique ID at the tracking company (behind the tracker).
Send your information back to the tracking company for future profiling.
When you go to a website, it loads the web address (URL) at the top of the browser. What you may not realize, though, is that websites also ask your browser to load many more web addresses (URLs) in the background, and some of those are to third-party trackers.
","password":"ODSsdaGrxEu-","created_at":"2026-06-09 15:09:44","updated_at":"2026-06-09 15:09:44","status":"0"}, {"id":4,"guid":"47579295-c193-423b-a5d4-53c6dfd77f29","name":"Tyren","surname":"Horr","content":"Graphics card manufacturer eVGA has made a name for itself manufacturing and selling Nvidia\'s GeForce GPUs for two decades, including some of the more attractively priced options on the market. But according to the YouTubers at Gamers Nexus, analyst Jon Peddie, and an EVGA forum post, EVGA is officially terminating its relationship with Nvidia and will not be manufacturing cards based on the company\'s RTX 4000-series GPUs.
EVGA\'s graphics cards have exclusively used Nvidia GPUs since its founding in 1999, and according to Gamers Nexus, GeForce sales represent 80 percent of EVGA\'s revenue, making this a momentous and arguably company-endangering change.
But EVGA CEO Andrew Han told Gamers Nexus that the decision was about \"principle\" rather than financials—Han complained about a lack of communication from Nvidia about new products, including information about pricing and availability.
Nvidia\'s pricing strategy was apparently another sore point for EVGA. Nvidia\'s first-party Founders Edition cards could often undercut the pricing of cards offered by EVGA and other vendors, forcing them to either lower prices or lose sales as a result.
EVGA\'s graphics cards have exclusively used Nvidia GPUs since its founding in 1999, and according to Gamers Nexus, GeForce sales represent 80 percent of EVGA\'s revenue, making this a momentous and arguably company-endangering change.
But EVGA CEO Andrew Han told Gamers Nexus that the decision was about \"principle\" rather than financials—Han complained about a lack of communication from Nvidia about new products, including information about pricing and availability.
Nvidia\'s pricing strategy was apparently another sore point for EVGA. Nvidia\'s first-party Founders Edition cards could often undercut the pricing of cards offered by EVGA and other vendors, forcing them to either lower prices or lose sales as a result.
Nvidia may not be entirely at fault here—the wider dynamics of the GPU market are also tough to navigate. As Peddie points out, even as GPU costs have gone up, profit margins for the board partners that manufacture Nvidia graphics cards have gone down.
But EVGA CEO Andrew Han told Gamers Nexus that the decision was about \"principle\" rather than financials—Han complained about a lack of communication from Nvidia about new products, including information about pricing and availability.
Nvidia\'s pricing strategy was apparently another sore point for EVGA. Nvidia\'s first-party Founders Edition cards could often undercut the pricing of cards offered by EVGA and other vendors, forcing them to either lower prices or lose sales as a result.
Nvidia may not be entirely at fault here—the wider dynamics of the GPU market are also tough to navigate. As Peddie points out, even as GPU costs have gone up, profit margins for the board partners that manufacture Nvidia graphics cards have gone down.
Modern high-end graphics cards have massively higher power, cooling, and PCI Express signaling requirements than cards from just a few years ago, making them more expensive to design and manufacture, and reporting about the RTX 4000 series indicates that that trend is only going to continue.
Nvidia\'s pricing strategy was apparently another sore point for EVGA. Nvidia\'s first-party Founders Edition cards could often undercut the pricing of cards offered by EVGA and other vendors, forcing them to either lower prices or lose sales as a result.
Nvidia may not be entirely at fault here—the wider dynamics of the GPU market are also tough to navigate. As Peddie points out, even as GPU costs have gone up, profit margins for the board partners that manufacture Nvidia graphics cards have gone down.
Modern high-end graphics cards have massively higher power, cooling, and PCI Express signaling requirements than cards from just a few years ago, making them more expensive to design and manufacture, and reporting about the RTX 4000 series indicates that that trend is only going to continue.
Profit margins for Nvidia\'s add-in board partners like eVGA have been sinking for a while.
","password":"isN4}&$C;jxv","created_at":"2026-06-09 15:09:44","updated_at":"2026-06-09 15:09:44","status":"0"}, {"id":5,"guid":"c2adf8e2-fc57-4873-a07f-5d5daf36208b","name":"Gema","surname":"Maginn","content":"We are companies operating search engines that compete against Google. As you know, we are deeply dissatisfied with the so-called remedy created by Google to address the adverse effects of its anticompetitive conduct in the Android case. We understand that Google regularly updates you regarding its pay-to-play auction, but it appears that you may not be receiving complete or accurate information.
We are writing to request a trilateral meeting with your office, ourselves, and Google, with the goal of establishing an effective preference menu. Our respective designees could work in advance to create a tight agenda for this meeting to ensure it is productive and collaborative.
We are heartfelt supporters of the Commission\'s ambition to remediate entrenched Google competition harms. We are asking to put these intentions into practice now, making full use of your existing tools.
At DuckDuckGo, we believe that everyone deserves simple online privacy protection. That’s why we pack our DuckDuckGo mobile apps and browser extensions with so much to keep you private online, including best-in-class tracker blocking, private search, and Smarter Encryption. It\'s also why, just a few months ago, we announced being a founding member of a new standards effort called Global Privacy Control (GPC), which is a browser or device setting that, when enabled, signals to all visited websites a preference for privacy.
We are writing to request a trilateral meeting with your office, ourselves, and Google, with the goal of establishing an effective preference menu. Our respective designees could work in advance to create a tight agenda for this meeting to ensure it is productive and collaborative.
We are heartfelt supporters of the Commission\'s ambition to remediate entrenched Google competition harms. We are asking to put these intentions into practice now, making full use of your existing tools.
At DuckDuckGo, we believe that everyone deserves simple online privacy protection. That’s why we pack our DuckDuckGo mobile apps and browser extensions with so much to keep you private online, including best-in-class tracker blocking, private search, and Smarter Encryption. It\'s also why, just a few months ago, we announced being a founding member of a new standards effort called Global Privacy Control (GPC), which is a browser or device setting that, when enabled, signals to all visited websites a preference for privacy.
While we already block most tracking while browsing, we believe GPC will ultimately provide additional legal protection in certain jurisdictions for situations where websites might otherwise sell or share your data with other companies that may profit or benefit from it (such as selling data you give them to advertisers or data brokers after your visit).
We are heartfelt supporters of the Commission\'s ambition to remediate entrenched Google competition harms. We are asking to put these intentions into practice now, making full use of your existing tools.
At DuckDuckGo, we believe that everyone deserves simple online privacy protection. That’s why we pack our DuckDuckGo mobile apps and browser extensions with so much to keep you private online, including best-in-class tracker blocking, private search, and Smarter Encryption. It\'s also why, just a few months ago, we announced being a founding member of a new standards effort called Global Privacy Control (GPC), which is a browser or device setting that, when enabled, signals to all visited websites a preference for privacy.
While we already block most tracking while browsing, we believe GPC will ultimately provide additional legal protection in certain jurisdictions for situations where websites might otherwise sell or share your data with other companies that may profit or benefit from it (such as selling data you give them to advertisers or data brokers after your visit).
Today, we’re turning on the GPC setting by default in our mobile apps (DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser on iOS/Android) and desktop extensions (DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials on Chrome/Firefox/Edge).
At DuckDuckGo, we believe that everyone deserves simple online privacy protection. That’s why we pack our DuckDuckGo mobile apps and browser extensions with so much to keep you private online, including best-in-class tracker blocking, private search, and Smarter Encryption. It\'s also why, just a few months ago, we announced being a founding member of a new standards effort called Global Privacy Control (GPC), which is a browser or device setting that, when enabled, signals to all visited websites a preference for privacy.
While we already block most tracking while browsing, we believe GPC will ultimately provide additional legal protection in certain jurisdictions for situations where websites might otherwise sell or share your data with other companies that may profit or benefit from it (such as selling data you give them to advertisers or data brokers after your visit).
Today, we’re turning on the GPC setting by default in our mobile apps (DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser on iOS/Android) and desktop extensions (DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials on Chrome/Firefox/Edge).
Screenshot showing the GPC setting enabled in the DuckDuckGo desktop extension.
","password":"tg*-INMb)xED","created_at":"2026-06-09 15:09:44","updated_at":"2026-06-09 15:09:44","status":"0"},