The company behind Arc is now building a second, much simpler browser
www.theverge.com
The Arc browser isn’t dead — it’s just finished.

Just switched to arc on windows. It’s really buggy but I wanted to still give it a chance because it feels really nice when it does what it should. I hoped it will get better over time. Still hope so but I don’t believe anymore…

  • Todd Bonzalez@lemm.eeEnglish
    641·
    13 days ago

    The plan this time is to build not just a different interface for a browser, but a different kind of browser entirely — one that is much more proactive, more powerful, more AI-centric, more in line with that original vision.

    lol

    • MagicShel@lemmy.zipEnglish
      8·
      13 days ago

      I’m trying to figure out what that means. Like if I were to imagine a wishlist of things AI might do in a browser:

      • generate user-scripts to modify styling and perhaps even layouts through natural language.
      • Use AI to automatically detect and remove advertisements, nsfw, etc. as desired
      • identify spoofed websites and prevent them from opening
      • search through browser history by natural language so that you’ll always be able to find that one page where you read that thing
      • scan through a massive website (Wikipedia, corporate confluence or sharepoint) to find pages relevant to a natural language search
      • identify fake content (lies, veiled advertisements, seo spam, satire)

      Okay that’s all I can think of off the top of my head. Those would in theory be nice features to have, although I’d be worried about the ability to reliable deliver.

      I also think all of that could be offered as a plugin for a regular browser. So I’m at a loss as to what would make the whole browser AI-centric.

      Also I’m only reading the quote here, but I’d they are referring to the original vision of the web, it has nothing to do with any of this shit. But if that’s not the original vision being referred to then never mind.

  • Nate@programming.devEnglish
    16·
    13 days ago

    I’ve been using the Zen fork of Firefox and have been enjoying it greatly. It’s still pretty early, and a lot of the Firefox issues are still there, but regardless it’s felt better than any other browser I’ve used lately.

    And since it’s Firefox, it’s unaffected by he Mv3 bullshit

    • ben@lemmy.zipEnglish
      6·
      13 days ago

      Yeah Zen is really nice, was going to try Arc one time but was immediately turned off by the account requirement.

    • laserkaspar@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      3·
      12 days ago

      Just switched to it and really liking it so far. But it’s missing folders for now… But they say they will push them the day Mozilla releases them to stable Firefox. I hope this project survives!

  • Alphane Moon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    161·
    13 days ago

    The plan this time is to build not just a different interface for a browser, but a different kind of browser entirely — one that is much more proactive, more powerful, more AI-centric, more in line with that original vision.

    Who could have thought? These goons are so predictable…

  • irotsoma@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    13 days ago

    I stay away from proprietary stuff when there are great open source alternatives out there. A proprietary system will always be more driven by those funding it, than the needs of the user and nearly always turn users into products, selling their information.

    I’ve been using Firefox variants for a while. I use LibreWolf on desktop and Mull on mobile and a self hosted sync server so it works seamlessly. But there are others, or just use Firefox and disable or block telemetry. There are a few sites here and there that I don’t have the choice not to use and don’t like the privacy features or don’t render properly, so I keep Chrome around for emergencies. But that’s rare, mostly government sites.