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I am a hoarder in many aspects of my life, and online browsing isn't an exception. I collect tabs like a corvid collects shiny things. Add my uncontrollable need to customize to this and you create my online persona: a veteran internet user with many itches to scratch.
I discovered Arc a little over a year ago but only recently started using it as my default browser (approx a month). Y'all... it has changed my life. Its features make browsing insanely easy and intuitive, and I'm never going back to anything else on the browser market.
*I'll be dropping some of their short and sweet youtube vids throughout the following rec so you can see some of the features for yourselves.
Arc has fully reinvented how browser tabs work and, imo, they have landed in the sweet spot for how they should work. What do you mean you automatically archive and clean up my tabs? Also... I can have an actually intuitive tab hierarchy? I can create various browsing spaces, have different login profiles for each one and seamlessly navigate between them all? I can close my pinned tabs without actually losing the pin?
Other features make browsing just extremely easy and fun. I can hover and preview search results as I google? I can fully customize how my browser and content look like, and remove annoying ads and elements out of a website forever? Like, I literally zapped the new twitter logo and subscription buttons out of the site and have never had to lay eyes over an X logo ever again.
Best part of all, the team behind it is passionate af. They're constantly updating Arc with new features, they actively listen to feedback from their users, and their marketing is insanely cool.
Arc is insanely good and takes away tons of stressed caused by infinite-tab-syndrome. I highly recommend.
It's currently available for both Mac and Windows.
The mobile app (Arc Search) is insane, but it's currently available on iOS only. I'm waiting patiently for it to launch on Android, but I've used it on my friends' iPhones and it's super powerful. You can literally pick your phone up like you're having a call and search with your voice and the browser will search and reply to you.
This is not a paid message, btw. I'm just really passionate about tech and in my 15+ years of using the internet andΒ all other mainstream browsers (Explorer, Edge, Safari, Chrome, FireFox, Opera), I can truly get behind a product, and company, like this.
Get on it. It won't disappoint!
Jun 6, 2024
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really elevates ur browsing experience on the world wide web
Feb 1, 2024
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Wayyyy better browser for Mac (also windows I think). Allows easy multitasking there are so many things that make it a unique browsing experience with updates every week. also free.99 π
Jan 20, 2024
Nov 28, 2024
Top Recs from @flat_white
I don't actually want anyone to get their phone stolen, but I did. And it changed my life.
Mere minutes after living through a spiritually fulfilling experience (seeing Hozier live), my brand new phone and two of my friends' wallets got stolen at the bootleg merch booths outside the concert venue. One moment we were looking at tote bags and hoodies. Next thing we knew, we were smushed by a swarm of people, unable to move. My friends and I decided to retreat and, once we were out into a clearing, we were the same people... minus a phone and two wallets.
The experience of being non-violently robbed is existentially weird. One would think they'd realize they're being targeted. I mean, how can you not feel something out of the ordinary is happening on your person? I wasn't dumb. I was using a fanny pack under three layers of clothing, but these people are artists. The moment we got out of the ocean of people and realized what happened, we were in total shock.
I swear I went through all stages of grief in less than an hour, but at the end of the day... it was just a phone. Was it a recently big personal investment? Yes. Did it have all of the videos and pics of a life-changing concert? Also yes. Was I now in the middle of a "random" city without access to my digital wallet, GPS and other phone-related life essentials? Mhmm, yes. But it was still just a phone nonetheless.
The next day, I bought a Nokia 110 in a nearby convenience store, restored my sim and just kept on living. I was on the trip with my closest friends so I knew I would be fine being contactless for another four days. But now, I had to adapt to survive with nothing other than my manually-inputed contacts (for calls and SMS), my brand new 0.3 megapixel camera, and Snake.
This is something we all know, but you never really think about the type of bond you have to this material plane until it's challenged.
A month prior to the incident, I thought about getting a non-smartphone to limit my access to tech whenever I felt like my brain was getting too absorbed into my Pixel. I was feeling less present in my life and wanted to make a conscious decision to dumb-down my online activity, without actually getting rid of my cool camera and all-in-all amazing phone. Ironically, I had already researched slightly smarter Nokia phones and was even planning out a way to introduce a less tech-y lifestyle into my everyday. I guess the universe took my intentions too literally and decided I needed to go all in on the tech-less experience.
There are many reasons why I'm grateful for this experience, and one of the most important ones is the way I bonded with my friends over this brick phone. My Nokia takes some cool 0.3mp pictures, and the aesthetic became the entire vibe of the trip. We took cool pictures, laughed at the distorted audio the videos captured, and made fun of the cute noises it did when I texted someone. Most of all, I was forcibly present in every moment, and it actually felt freeing. I looked at my Nokia with love, and it looked back at me with no judgement at all.
Being a phone-less foreigner is not something I recommend. I had trustworthy company and was slightly familiar with the city I was traveling in, but it was still a challenge. Security-wise, no bueno. But I also haven't bought a new phone. I downgraded back to my old Pixel, which has issues with speed and battery (reasons why I decided to upgrade after five years in the first place), but I'm not sure if I'm ready to make that big of a purchase again quite yet.Β
There's a ton of morals to this story. Be safe and conscious when you travel; Look both ways before approaching a bootleg merch booth; Reflect on the way you engage with technology on your day-to-day; Memories are best lived being present; Nokia 110 phones sound funny, take cool pictures and might actually change your life.
Whatever it is you take from my experience, I hope it makes you feel grateful for something in your life.
Apr 17, 2024
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Make the person you're talking to get really riled up on their topic. Even just repeating the last couple of words they say as a question helps them dive deeper.
May 6, 2024
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Now it's easier to go into knowledge rabbit-holes on my phone B)
Jun 6, 2024