Second Bloomberg “allows us to rethink the basics of how we use the Web”, for The Verge it is an “excellent” product and in the opinion of the editorial staff of Inverse it is even “the best browser released in the last decade”. Not that many came out, to be honest.
After all, creating a new browser is not easy, above all because those that already exist tend to kill any newcomer: according to data updated to June 2023, Chrome and Safari together have over 83% of the market and the others are left with only crumbs. It’s also partly our fault and our habits, but the fact remains that the battle for browsers seems to be a losing battle, from which even giants like Microsoft they came out with broken bones (Edge and the dying Explorer have just over 5% of the market).
Streaming 10 tricks you (maybe) don’t know to better use Apple TV, Disney Plus and Prime Video by Emanuele Capone 19 April 2023
youtube: Arc aesthetics
Made in New York, not in the Valley
Arc fits into this scenario, which is said to be “the best browser released in the last decade”: the news these days is that it is finally available for everyone in Mac and iOS version, after having long been accessible by invitation only (the Windows variant is expected later this year). But the news is also a bit that there is a new browser.
What drives someone to create a new navigation program online, which after thirty years is still the fundamental tool with which we access the Net? How to stand out and stand out? So far, the alternatives to the most common ones have all focused more or less on the same thing: privacy. That is, greater freedom, less tracking, less censorship: this is (would be) the distinctive feature of the various Tor, DuckDuckGo, Firefox Focus and similar. Arc no: it aims at something else, it aims at being “an operating system for the Internet” ea reinvent our relationship with the Net. To twist it, too.
Released on April 19, 2022, Arc si basa su Chromium (the same architecture as Chrome), is compatible with various Google browser extensions and also uses Google as the default search engine. It was developed by a startup which, however, is based in New York and not in Silicon Valley, which is already a big difference compared to its rivals: it’s called The Browser Company, it was founded by Josh Miller e Hursh Agrawal and among the employees it has a certain Darin Fisher. They are 3 important names in the history of the Internet: Miller and Agrawal were co-founders of Brancha link sharing startup that in 2014 it was bought by Facebook for 15 million (and they then worked almost two years in Zuckerberg’s company); above all, Fisher is a programmer who helped create Netscape, worked for 16 years on Chrome and then on Neeva. In short, they are not fools.
A variant of Gmail created with Arc Preview Apple doubles down on privacy: on-device AI and new filters for sensitive content by Andrea Nepori July 20, 2023
The characteristics of Arc and the reasons for its success
Born in 2020, The Browser Company has collected so far $18 million in funding from about twenty different investors: it definitely has a good pedigree, which is a good calling card but it is not enough on its own. So why is Arc so popular? Why is it having all this success, especially among professionals? Probably because it tries to let’s get out of our habits a bit mentioned earlier, that it’s something we hate to do but also love (trying to) do.
Without going into the details of how Arc is made from a stylistic point of view and in everyday use (that is easy to check, if you have a Mac or an iPhone), the whole point is that this browser really tries to change our relationship with the Net. In a positive way, however: no horizontal tabs but Spaces vertically (where tabs and bookmarks are grouped) and wide availability of tools to do more things together, from fetch notes at video callsall while browsing, and above all the possibility of redesigning practically any site according to your tastes.
The function is called Boost (strengthening, in Italian) and in summary allows you to change the look and feel of an entire site or just a part, to change the font and hers size, to hide one piece of a page and highlight another. Precisely to adapt navigation to your needs and not vice versa. Maybe it’s not something everyone can do, and maybe you’ll mess things up at first, but it’s not necessary to do it and in any case you can easily go back. And then there is already a large gallery of already made Boosts (by those who evidently know how to do them) that can be imported into Arc and tried out effortlessly.
But there’s not only this: there also seems to be that underlying philosophy that points to one more transparent and less intrusive technology, which is gaining ground in these years in which we risk being overwhelmed by technology. It’s the same idea of simplicity that led TikTok to allow text-only posts instead of videosthe same as in the world of smartphones is very well interpreted by those of Nothing. It’s honestly a good idea, now it remains to be seen if The Browser Company trio can apply it to the competitive browser environment.
@capoema