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The company behind Arc is now building a second, much simpler browser
Karlston posted a news in Software News
The Browser Company is already onto its second product — but it promises it’s not leaving Arc behind. Stop me if this sounds familiar: The Browser Company is building a browser that it thinks can make your internet life a little more organized, a little more useful, and maybe even a little more delightful. It has new ideas about tabs, and what your browser can do on your behalf. I’ve heard this story before! But the browser that Browser Company CEO Josh Miller wants to talk about when he calls me on Thursday isn’t Arc, the product he and his team have been working on for the last five years. It’s not Arc 2.0, either, even though Miller has been talking publicly about Arc 2.0 for a while now. It’s an entirely new browser. And for Miller and The Browser Company, it’s a chance to get back to building the future of browsers they set out to create in the first place. A strange thing has happened over the last couple of years, Miller says. Arc has grown fast — users quadrupled this year alone — but it has also become clear that Arc is never going to be a truly mainstream product. It’s too complicated, too different, too hard to get into. “It’s just too much novelty and change,” Miller says, “to get to the number of people we really want to get to.” User interviews and data have convinced the company that this is a power-user tool, and always will be. On the other hand, the people who use Arc tend to love Arc. They love the sidebar, they love having spaces and profiles, they love all the customization options. Generally speaking, those users have also settled into Arc — Miller says they don’t want new features as much as they just want their browser to be faster, smoother, more secure. And fair enough! So The Browser Company faced a situation many companies encounter: they had a well-liked product that was never going to be a game-changer. Rather than try to build the next thing into the current thing, and risk both alienating the people who like it and never reaching the people who don’t, the company decided to just build something new. Arc is not dying, Miller says. He says that over and over, in fact, even after I tell him the YouTube video the company just released sounds like the thing companies say right before they kill a product. It’s just that Arc won’t change much anymore. It’ll get stability updates and bug fixes, and there’s a team at The Browser Company dedicated to those. “In that sense,” Miller says, “it feels like a complete-ish product.” Most of the team’s energy and time will now be dedicated to starting from scratch. “Arc was basically this front-end, tab management innovation,” Miller says. “People loved it. It grew like a weed. Then it started getting slow and started crashing a lot, and we felt bad, and we had to learn how to make it fast. And we kind of lost sight, in some ways, of the fact that we’ve got to do the operating system part.” 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. Call it the iPhone of web browsers, or the “internet computer,” or whatever other metaphor you like. The idea is to turn the browser into an app platform. Miller still wants to do it, and he wants to do it for everyone. What does that look like? Miller is a bit vague on the details. The new browser, which Miller intimates could launch as soon as the beginning of next year, is designed to come with no switching costs, which means among other things that it will have horizontal tabs and fewer ideas about organization. The idea is to “make the first 90 seconds effortless” in order to get more people to switch. And then, slowly, to reveal what this new browser can do. Miller has a couple of favorite examples of how a browser might help you get stuff done, which he’s said to me, on Decoder, and elsewhere in recent months. There’s the teacher who spends hours copying and pasting data between enterprise apps; the Shopify sellers who spend too much time looking up order numbers and then pasting them into customer-support emails. Those are the sorts of things that a browser, with access to all your web apps and browsing data, could begin to do on your behalf. And with AI tools like the new “Computer use” feature from Anthropic, that kind of thing is beginning to become automated and possible. Designing a browser that is both accessible to everyone and a completely new thing won’t be easy. The Browser Company tried it once already, and ended up here. But Miller feels good about having built a good browser over the last five years. Now it’s time to get back to the real job. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of September): 4,292 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend -
During its recent Windows event, where the company announced the launch of Windows 11 version 24H2 and new AI features for Copilot+ PCs, Microsoft also revealed that more applications would soon be available natively on Windows. One of those apps was the Arc browser, a unique alternative to mainstream browsers, such as Chrome or Microsoft Edge. Now, Windows on ARM users can download an ARM-native version of Arc. Today, the Browser Company (that is the actual name of the team developing the Arc browser) released a new version of the browser for Windows users. Here is what the company says in the announcement: The changelog for the latest version does not contain much, but the most important thing is Windows on ARM support. Here is the changelog: You can download the Arc browser from the official website. It works on Windows 10 and 11, now including ARM-powered PCs, such as the latest models with Snapdragon X processors. However, you do not need the Surface Pro 11 or the Surface Laptop 11 to benefit from Arc's optimizations for ARM-powered devices—speed and energy efficiency improvements should be noticeable on older computers as well, such as the Surface Pro X or the Surface Pro 9 5G. Source RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of September): 4,292 news posts
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The makers of the Arc web browser are teasing . . . something coming January 30
Karlston posted a news in Software News
The New York City-based software start-up The Browser Company has received a lot of media attention for its first product, the Arc web browser. It first launched Arc for MacOS and iOS in 2023, after an extensive invite-only beta period. Earlier this month, the company finally started inviting a few people to test the long-awaited Windows version of Arc. The Arc browser definitely does some different things with its user interface, including placing the URL address bar, tabs, and the search bar on the left side instead of at the top. It also supports organizing tabs into "spaces" in the browser and they can also be pinned on the sidebar. While the Arc browser has its share of fans, it seems that The Browser Company has even more ambitious plans. This week, it announced on both its X (formerly Twitter) account and its YouTube account that it is working on something else. What exactly is this new product? The company's YouTube video is extremely vague on what that reveal will actually show off. It does show its CEO and co-founder Josh Miller and other employees of The Browser Company talking about how, with the release of the Arc browser, "Act 1" is now over and it's time for the business to move onto "Act II". There's some talk about how the company wants to offer "a new computer". Miller says that the way we use the internet is like we hunt and gather information on a web browser and that now we need some way for the internet to come to users this time. So is this a software product? A hardware product? A combination of both? We don't really know. The only concrete info we have is that The Browser Company plans to make this "Act II" reveal on January 30, 2024. It definitely sounds like the company believes they have something major to show off, and we hope this hype is justified. Source -
Arc Browser is now available on Windows 10, ARM version is coming soon
Karlston posted a news in Software News
Earlier this year, the Arc Browser, an interesting alternative to mainstream browsers, finally arrived on Microsoft's platform. However, it was initially limited to just Windows 11 users. Fortunately, developers did not leave Windows 10 users dead in the waters and confirmed that a Windows 10 version was in the works. Now, a few months later, the Arc Browser is finally available on Windows 10. You can download the Arc Browser on your Windows 10 computer if it runs version 1901 or newer. Since Windows 10 is pretty much omnivore when it comes to hardware, users should note that the app requires a processor with the BMI2 instruction set. That means Arc will not work on Intel chips older than Haswell and pre-Excavator AMD processors. For now, Arc does not support computers with ARM processors, so no luck for your fancy new Surface Pro 11 or Surface Laptop 7. Fortunately, developers are working on an ARM-native variant of the Arc browser, so stay tuned. For those unfamiliar, Arc is a browser that was conceived first on macOS and then ported to Windows. It offers an extremely minimalistic UI with vertical-only tabs, spaces, some interesting AI integrations, and more. It is an interesting alternative for customers who are tired of modern browsers that may feel slightly bloated. The Arc browser is available for free for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, Windows 11, and now Windows 10 users. Future updates promise a built-in ad blocker, tracking prevention, and other interesting bonuses. You can download Arc from the official website. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of July): 3,313 news posts -
Arc Browser is getting native ad blocker, tracking prevention, and more
Karlston posted a news in Software News
The Browser Company revealed a bunch of features that will soon be available on the Arc Browser. In an email announcing the Early Bird program (basically an insider program for the Arc Browser), developers revealed that future updates will bring a native ad blocker, tracking prevention capabilities, and automatic cookie banner removal. The native ad-blocking capabilities are not available yet, but you can expect to see them in the Early Bird program first before they head out to the general public. If you want to sign up for the preview program, head to this website, click "Join our next cohort," and fill in your info. Developers will ask you for your Arc account and your technical knowledge level. You can download the Arc Browser from the official website. For now, it is only available on Windows 11, but The Browser Company promises to add Windows 10 support in the near future. As an online publication, Neowin relies on ads for operating costs, and if you use an ad blocker, we'd appreciate being whitelisted. In addition, we have an ad-free subscription for $28 a year, which is another way to show support! Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of June): 2,839 news posts -
Arc browser on Windows 11 gets AI features and other changes with Arc Max support
Karlston posted a news in Software News
Not so long ago, The Browser Company released the Arc browser for Windows 11. This minimalistic-looking browser offers a breath of fresh air to customers who are tired of mainstream browsers. Now, there is a new feature update with a bunch of interesting additions, namely Arc Max, a set of AI-powered capabilities for the browser. Developers of the Arc browser claim Arc Max was one of the most highly requested features. With Arc Max, Windows 11 users can organize their tabs with a single click (just hit that "Tidy" button to make things sorted out) and ask questions about the current web page using the Ctrl + F shortcut. Press it and then ask the AI for additional information. Arc Max features are optional, so if you do not want them, the browser lets you turn them off in settings. Other changes in Arc 1.10.0 for Windows 11 include the ability to rearrange tab spaces (separate collections of tabs, which you can create by clicking the button with a plus icon), skip/rewind controls in Picture-in-Picture, a fix for non-persisting settings across restarts, and a cleaner UI for the Command Bar (that annoying scroll bar is finally gone). You can check out the full release notes for Arc 1.10.0 here. If you are curious about giving Arc a spin, head to the official website to download it for free. Just keep in mind that as of right now, Arc is only available on Windows 11, but developers are working on bringing it to Windows 10 as well. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of June): 2,839 news posts -
Researcher reveals ‘catastrophic’ security flaw in the Arc browser
Karlston posted a news in Security & Privacy News
An exploit patched last month could have allowed attackers to access anyone’s browser just by knowing their user ID. A security researcher revealed a “catastrophic” vulnerability in the Arc browser that would have allowed attackers to insert arbitrary code into other users’ browser sessions with little than an easily findable user ID. The vulnerability was patched on August 26th and disclosed today in a blog post by security researcher xyz3va, as well as a statement from The Browser Company. The company says that its logs indicate no users were affected by the flaw. The exploit, CVE-2024-45489, relied on a misconfiguration in The Browser Company’s implementation of Firebase, a “database-as-a-backend service,” for storage of user info, including Arc Boosts, a feature that lets users customize the appearance of websites they visit. In its statement, The Browser Company writes: Or, in the words of xyz3va, You can get someone’s creatorID in several ways, including referral links, shared easels, and publicly shared Boosts. With that info, an attacker could have created a boost with arbitrary code in it and added it to the victim’s Arc account without any action on the victim’s part. That’s bad. The Browser Company responded quickly — xyz3va reported the bug to cofounder Hursh Agrawal, demonstrated it within minutes, and was added to the company Slack within half an hour. The bug was patched the next day, and the company’s statement details a list of security improvements it says it’s implementing, including setting up a bug bounty program, moving off of Firebase, disabling custom Javascript on synced Boosts, and hiring additional security staff. Source RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of August): 3,792 news posts -
The team behind the Arc browser gives an update on its upcoming Windows version
Karlston posted a news in Software News
There are a lot of web browsers for Windows PCs. There is Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Vivaldi, Brave, and others as well. However, a company called The Browser Company of New York has been working on its own version of a web browser called Arc. It currently plans to release it for Windows sometime in late 2023. The Arc browser is already available for Mac computers, but at the moment, it's only available via special invites. Today, the company posted up a YouTube video on its progress on the Windows version, which included a very brief glimpse of a Windows prototype. That prototype, and indeed the version of Arc that's available to the Mac PC invite users, shows a different user interface compared to most other web browsers, Instead of having the URL address and buttons on top, the Arc browser has a sidebar with those functions on the left-hand side. Based on reviews of the Mac version on sites like The Verge and How To Geek, you can manage tabs and apps from this sidebar. Any new tabs that stay open for 12 hours will automatically be closed by Arc, unless you pin them. This is supposed to make organizing tabs easier. Another interesting thing about Arc for Windows is that it's being built with Apple's Swift programming language. In the video, it's stated that using Swift has certain advantages to using C++ as the language. The plan is to open-source the code for the Arc browser. So when will this browser be released for Windows? Right now, the team says it could happen in six to eight months from now, which would put the timing around the end of 2023 or so. The video does say that there could be things come up that could delay the launch. Based on the video, it sounds like Arc is going to be something more than just a simple web browser, and hopefully, the team will be able to keep their schedule so we can check it out on Windows by the end of the year, or maybe early 2024. The team behind the Arc browser gives an update on its upcoming Windows version