WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.280 There's a new web browser that everyone's talking about. 00:00:03.280 --> 00:00:07.240 It's called Arc, and it was just released only for Mac and iOS. 00:00:07.240 --> 00:00:12.760 It claims to be an operating system for the web that will usher in a whole new way of browsing. 00:00:12.760 --> 00:00:18.800 I'm trying it, and it's pretty neat. But it does, however, face one big problem. 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:22.160 What web browser do you use? I normally use Google Chrome. Chrome? 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:28.440 Safari. Google Chrome, mostly Chrome. But are you willing to switch? 00:00:28.440 --> 00:00:31.440 I mostly use Safari, though I've gone through my fair share 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:36.240 of browsers over the years. I remember when Firefox was new and gave us tabbed browsing. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:39.640 I even had an Opera era because that was the fastest browser 00:00:39.640 --> 00:00:42.840 for my crappy laptop at the time. Why? 00:00:42.840 --> 00:00:48.960 Everything's integrated. Cross platform, if I have Windows PC, if I have Mac, 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:52.440 they all use Chrome. But Firefox is available cross platform? 00:00:52.440 --> 00:00:57.520 It's not Google. If Firefox make a search engine that's good enough, 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:00.720 then I'll probably consider it. I want to use Firefox. 00:01:00.720 --> 00:01:04.920 I really do. What do you use? You can. I know, but it's so much work. 00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:08.600 It's so much effort to switch. It's the easiest to use between two different systems, 00:01:08.600 --> 00:01:12.040 between Windows and Mac. You can have your favorite, your task bar. 00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:15.080 Everything's shared in between them. It's just the syncing. 00:01:15.080 --> 00:01:19.040 It's just the syncing, yeah. Because users don't need to pay up and buy a browser, 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:22.920 it should be really easy to switch around. And yet, few do. 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:26.480 Which is why I asked all my Mac-using colleagues to try ARC out. 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:30.880 I'm not interested. I only like Chrome. You Google's shill. 00:01:30.880 --> 00:01:34.960 He's going to be missing out, because ARC is different enough to be worth trying. 00:01:34.960 --> 00:01:38.800 Tabs and the address bar are on the left-hand side instead of the top. 00:01:38.800 --> 00:01:42.920 This is especially welcome, since websites waste a lot of horizontal space these days. 00:01:42.920 --> 00:01:47.080 I think it looks beautiful with the vibrant colors, themes, and margins. 00:01:47.080 --> 00:01:50.840 That tab sidebar becomes a liability if you're the type to have 00:01:50.840 --> 00:01:56.440 multiple small browser Windows open at a time. But look what happens when you put it into full screen mode. 00:01:56.440 --> 00:02:01.440 You can take advantage of split screen to group two or more websites into one tab, 00:02:01.440 --> 00:02:07.080 just like you can with macOS's full screen mode. Only this is a little more straightforward and convenient. 00:02:07.080 --> 00:02:10.480 Plus, a lot of our computer life is spent in a web browser anyway. 00:02:10.480 --> 00:02:14.040 And to keep you there, there's a built-in sketchpad and notepad, 00:02:14.040 --> 00:02:17.720 which are treated just like any other tabs. What stands out to me 00:02:17.720 --> 00:02:22.840 is that ARC has a different vision for browsing. You can set up profiles to divide your work 00:02:22.840 --> 00:02:26.560 in personal life, and they're really easy to switch between. 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:30.360 But ARC will archive the tabs within profiles 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:34.520 after only 12 hours. Certainly surprised to open up your computer after a day 00:02:34.520 --> 00:02:38.180 and find everything you were looking at missing. You have to go into history to get them back 00:02:38.180 --> 00:02:43.960 or change the setting to 30 days, like I did. However, there's a well thought out process here. 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:49.280 Tabs you use all the time across profiles should be favorited as buttons at the top. 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:53.040 And tabs you wanna keep within profiles should get pinned up here. 00:02:53.040 --> 00:02:55.140 Also, check out this tab layering. 00:02:56.040 --> 00:03:00.120 Pretty neat. Outside the main browser window, there's mini ARC Windows, 00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:04.920 which appear when you click on a web link from within a Mac app. I like how it helps contain and constrain 00:03:04.920 --> 00:03:09.600 the web browsing outside of the main browser. If you can adapt to these paradigms, 00:03:09.600 --> 00:03:12.960 maybe this could help you become more intentional about your browsing. 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:17.500 So does it. The main goal of it was to sort of clean up all your tabs 00:03:17.500 --> 00:03:21.120 and have it be a bit more work focused, I guess you could say. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:26.460 You can have a lot more things open at the same time, without having a bunch of clutter in your taskbar. 00:03:26.460 --> 00:03:30.140 If I'm at work, I sort of have three to five websites 00:03:30.140 --> 00:03:35.660 that I'm constantly using. So those are just the obvious ones. At home, I actually have a different workspace entirely. 00:03:35.660 --> 00:03:40.860 So I use the space function. So that's just all the stuff that I generally just check 00:03:40.860 --> 00:03:44.660 either in the morning or after work. I tried installing it on my phone, 00:03:44.660 --> 00:03:48.420 but it required a desktop to install for some reason. 00:03:48.420 --> 00:03:51.580 The phone version of ARC is interesting. I like its design a lot 00:03:51.580 --> 00:03:55.940 because buttons feel like buttons, but it is wholly unfinished. 00:03:55.940 --> 00:04:01.300 It syncs to your desktop surfing sessions via iCloud, letting you carry on from what you were looking at there. 00:04:01.300 --> 00:04:04.340 However, you cannot contribute to it by adding a new tab. 00:04:04.340 --> 00:04:09.460 Instead, you can only search in one temporary tab that's gone as soon as you swipe it down, 00:04:09.460 --> 00:04:12.980 unless you pin it. I prefer on mobile over desktop. 00:04:12.980 --> 00:04:16.620 Really? Cause you can't even like keep tabs in mobile. I'm really simple phone user. 00:04:16.620 --> 00:04:21.380 So for like one tab is all I need. What else about the phone version makes it better than the desktop version for you? 00:04:21.380 --> 00:04:24.780 The fact that you can change the theme and you can change the icon 00:04:24.780 --> 00:04:28.060 that has cute little animations. At first I like it. 00:04:28.060 --> 00:04:33.100 I really like the UI. I think it's pretty pretty and like design-wise I like it. 00:04:33.100 --> 00:04:37.340 But then when I used it, I didn't like it as much 00:04:37.340 --> 00:04:41.180 because it's just like Google Chrome, but more beautiful. 00:04:41.180 --> 00:04:44.620 I have my own minor gripes too. The back button and address bar 00:04:44.620 --> 00:04:48.420 are too small and insignificant relative to their importance to surfing. 00:04:48.420 --> 00:04:52.580 But these are small things that wouldn't prevent me from switching. 00:04:52.580 --> 00:04:56.500 Would you switch to ARC? I don't think so. 00:04:56.500 --> 00:05:00.660 But you would still stick with Safari? Yes. Wow. 00:05:00.660 --> 00:05:05.100 I'll try it out. I'm open to anything that will like make my life better. 00:05:05.100 --> 00:05:08.860 Yeah, I kind of, as of now, I have like fully switched to ARC. 00:05:08.860 --> 00:05:14.420 Yeah. Whoa, that's crazy. Yeah, it was really easy with all the importing 00:05:14.420 --> 00:05:19.300 that it allows from Chrome. It just brings everything over. You just had to make an account, 00:05:19.300 --> 00:05:22.940 sync everything up and it worked. What? Hold on a minute. 00:05:22.940 --> 00:05:27.900 I wouldn't mind it on the PC. I'm kind of useful. So if ARC was available on the PC, then would you switch? 00:05:27.900 --> 00:05:32.540 Yeah. The streamlined design like a Mac, but on the PC would be great. 00:05:32.540 --> 00:05:36.460 I'm still quite indifferent to switching browsers. I go where the wind takes me. 00:05:36.460 --> 00:05:40.380 I started using Safari full time because I cover Apple and that's the browser. 00:05:40.380 --> 00:05:45.020 Apple made some big updates to Safari last year with tab groups and their own take on profiles. 00:05:45.020 --> 00:05:47.980 But because Apple stuck in their flat design ways 00:05:48.020 --> 00:05:52.700 and they built these features in a well-established interface, I found it difficult to incorporate them 00:05:52.700 --> 00:05:57.020 into my surfing habits. I'm glad I'm giving ARC a try thanks to this video, 00:05:57.020 --> 00:06:01.260 but does this mean I'm committing to an ARC era? I think I might just do it, 00:06:01.260 --> 00:06:05.820 but there are two niggling problems, Google and the money. 00:06:05.820 --> 00:06:09.820 ARC is built on Chromium, the free open source version of Google Chrome 00:06:09.820 --> 00:06:12.900 available for developers to build their own browser on top of. 00:06:12.900 --> 00:06:16.540 That means they all have the same engine and have all the same base features available. 00:06:16.540 --> 00:06:22.100 Making it easy for Chromeers to switch over. Even Microsoft, who dominated the browser space 20 years ago 00:06:22.100 --> 00:06:26.060 with Internet Explorer, has switched to their Chromium based edge. 00:06:26.060 --> 00:06:30.060 Yet, it means that Google dominates in yet another layer of the web space 00:06:30.060 --> 00:06:33.660 and I'm a little tired of it. Chromium may be open sourced, 00:06:33.660 --> 00:06:37.660 but Google still has control over it. So even if you're not using Chrome, 00:06:37.660 --> 00:06:41.420 the web is still being optimized for it in other parts of Google's business. 00:06:41.420 --> 00:06:45.500 Like most other browsers, ARC is free. Free with Google means, 00:06:45.540 --> 00:06:51.060 monetized with their advertising and surveillance, but ARC makes a big deal about not monetizing your data. 00:06:51.060 --> 00:06:54.980 So they're still going to be looking for ways to earn money differently. 00:06:54.980 --> 00:06:58.460 One way to monetization is ARC for teams 00:06:58.460 --> 00:07:03.180 and saying, hey, if you're working at a company, how do we make it so the best way to work together 00:07:03.180 --> 00:07:06.300 is in ARC with ARC together. 00:07:06.300 --> 00:07:09.620 Kind of the way that Figma, Notion, Airtable, all these companies monetize. 00:07:09.620 --> 00:07:14.700 I mean, it's really great. You give it away to individuals for free forever and then you charge their companies. 00:07:14.700 --> 00:07:18.500 Exploring monetization strategies that break from the convention of us users 00:07:18.500 --> 00:07:24.540 being the product is laudable, but would you or I pay for ARC? 00:07:24.540 --> 00:07:28.540 Depends on the price. Thanks for browsing through this Mac Address. 00:07:28.540 --> 00:07:32.100 If you surf the web, give this video a like. And if you surf the waves, 00:07:32.100 --> 00:07:36.620 well then you might as well subscribe. I'm curious in the comments below what browser you currently use 00:07:36.620 --> 00:07:39.900 and what eras you've had in the past. And would you try ARC?