After I noticed Firefox has removed the Pocket branding but kept the Pocket stories, I also noticed the settings screen on the homepage no longer lets you disable sponsored stories or links.
Firefox 115:
Firefox 139:
You can still remove these advertisements, but you have to leave the homepage and dig through the settings to find that option.
I was listening to MKBHD'S waveform podcast last week where they interviewed the CEO of The Browser Company, they make Arc and Dia, a newer AI browser. Never heard of them prior but I feel like Firefox has gotten more clunky slow and loaded up with features I don't want, this post reminded me that I need to investigate a replacement.
I agree theyre putting effort into their AI branded browser now over Arc, but he did reiterate that Arc would remain in maintenance mode. Security patches, fixes would still get implemented but it's being facilitated by 2-3 engineers only and no new features will be developed for it. Has no bright future, but I wouldn't call that dead. He equated it to Safari, essentially.
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Good info to know, thanks.