Octopus
a coral "Dumbo" octopus loose in a child's bedroom

What you see on every new tab

Octopus puts a small coral-pink octopus with a Dumbo-ish face in a child's bedroom. He is not an animation clip: every arm is simulated, he decides what to do from his own drives, and no two tabs show the same scene.

• Real arms: eight arms with two rows of suckers that reach, grip, curl from the tip and re-plant as he moves. No skeleton, no canned poses.
• Play: he stacks and topples blocks, climbs the curtain and drops, squeezes into the jar, bounces on the bed, flips the bowl and hides under it, swats and chases the ball.
• A mind: five drives (energy, curiosity, playfulness, tidiness, thirst) drift with time. Tired, he naps. Thirsty, he heads for the jar. Tidy, he rehangs pictures and puts toys away.

Nothing is a video. The scene is generated live on your graphics card with WebGL, so it never loops and never looks the same twice.

What it reacts to

• Mouse: he reaches curiously toward a slow cursor and follows it; a sudden jerk startles him into an ink puff.
• Chain reactions: the ball knocks blocks, blocks knock the lamp, the curtain gusts when he lands near it.
• Night: he naps more after dark and goes looking for the flashlight.

Free or Pro?Pro

Ambient New Tab is free to install, with three free themes. Octopus is a Pro theme. Pro is a one-time $19 purchase, no subscription, and it unlocks every Pro theme, music sync, and every theme we release in the future. You can preview Octopus full screen before you buy: open the Themes panel and rest your mouse on it. Changed your mind? 14-day refund, no questions.

How to get it

1. Add Ambient New Tab to Chrome (or Edge, Brave, Arc, Vivaldi, Opera).
2. Open a new tab and click the Themes pill in the bottom-right corner.
3. Pick Octopus. Done.

Questions

Does he do the same things every time?

No. His behaviour is scored live from his drives, what is in the room and what he did recently, so each tab is a different few minutes of his day.

Is Octopus free?

It is a Pro theme. Pro is a one-time $19 purchase, no subscription, that unlocks every Pro theme, music sync, and every future theme.

Is it distracting?

He is slow and quiet most of the time. If you want stillness while you type, Marble or Constellation are calmer.

Does it work on my phone?

No. It's a desktop browser extension for Chrome and Edge on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS. If you're reading this on a phone, send yourself the link.

More themes

See every theme →