Firefox 77 • Hacker News Board

Re: Firefox 77

#21

Post by appleiigs » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 2:48 PM UTC

blakesterz wrote: post #5

"Pocket recommendations, featuring some of the best stories on the web, will appear on the Firefox new tab for our users in the UK." I really hate to admit how often those darn Pocket recommendations get me! I don't know how they choose what shows up on my tab, but more often than not, there's at least one thing in there I end up reading.

I was curious about that too. I wasn't sure if it was targeted ads or a news aggregator. I think it's more of a news aggregator.

From the Firefox New Tab FAQ (https://help.getpocket.com/article/1142-firefox-new-tab-reco...)

> Are these stories personalized to me? For the most part, no. Most recommendations on your new tab come from a general list of the best of stories on the web.

> Pocket occasionally partners with select publishers and brands to deliver high-quality sponsored stories to our users. These stories will always be clearly marked

> Pocket’s 30+ million global users help guide our curation by pointing us to thought-provoking essays, hidden gems, and fascinating deep-dives from across the web. Editors at Pocket then sift through the most-recommended and most-read stories and handpick the best to share with the wider Pocket and Firefox communities

Re: Firefox 77

#22

Post by klyrs » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 2:48 PM UTC

sunseb wrote: post #15

No Firefox, no! Please don't embed distraction directly into the browser (pocket recommendations)! I don't want to hear about Coronavirus or ongoing politics bullshit whenever I open a tab! I just want to ignore this noise.

This has been going on for quite a while now. AFAIK you can still disable pocket

Re: Firefox 77

#23

Post by randlet » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 2:48 PM UTC

have_faith wrote: post #13

> ...some of the best stories on the web, will appear on the Firefox new tab... Why is FireFox trying to get into article recommendations? I can only assume it allows some method of monetisation once users get used to it being there. Feels a bit off.

I'm sure it will be able to be disabled but it's so frustrating seeing more advertising being baked into the browser. I really don't want web browsers to subtly (or not so subtly) influence what people are reading.

edit: Like many others have noted before this everything is "free" model of the Internet seems completely broken to me and I feel a bit sad/hopeless about it.

Re: Firefox 77

#24

Post by pcx » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 2:51 PM UTC

Everyone not happy with pocket recommendations, what is the alternate source of revenue? Not enough will pay for the product. On the other hand Mozilla has to compete with Apple, Google & Microsoft, all of whom are fighting hard for the Web.

Mozilla is doing good overall. They are doing some fundamental work to get back the technical edge, still trying to keep the future of the platform open with WebAssembly and their products have become much more reliable now. We have to cut them some slack.

Re: Firefox 77

#25

Post by okasaki » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 2:51 PM UTC

jakemal wrote: post #19

have_faith wrote: post #13

> ...some of the best stories on the web, will appear on the Firefox new tab... Why is FireFox trying to get into article recommendations? I can only assume it allows some method of monetisation once users get used to it being there. Feels a bit off.

It looks like they are already monetizing it. A few of the articles have a "Sponsored by X" below them. I don't love that, but at least they set it up in a way where they aren't collecting data on users to show them. They have to pay the bills somehow.

The $500M per year they get from Google isn't enough to pay the bills?

Re: Firefox 77

#26

Post by vmateixeira » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 2:52 PM UTC

So... what kind of nonsense do I need to disable in about:config this time?

Re: Firefox 77

#27

Post by bzb3 » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 2:52 PM UTC

have_faith wrote: post #13

> ...some of the best stories on the web, will appear on the Firefox new tab... Why is FireFox trying to get into article recommendations? I can only assume it allows some method of monetisation once users get used to it being there. Feels a bit off.

Call them what they are: ads. They are ads, and they were added by default to the home page of Firefox.

Re: Firefox 77

#28

Post by jfk13 » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 2:53 PM UTC

sunseb wrote: post #15

No Firefox, no! Please don't embed distraction directly into the browser (pocket recommendations)! I don't want to hear about Coronavirus or ongoing politics bullshit whenever I open a tab! I just want to ignore this noise.

Fortunately, you can turn it off if you don't like it.

Re: Firefox 77

#29

Post by kleiba » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 2:53 PM UTC

The biggest item on my wish-list is still a user-option to restore the previous (sensible) click behavior for the address bar: one click places the cursor, double click selects (all, but if I need to triple click for that it would be fine, too).

Sadly, this wish will probably not come true any time soon... or ever.

Re: Firefox 77

#30

Post by bzb3 » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 2:54 PM UTC

pcx wrote: post #24

Everyone not happy with pocket recommendations, what is the alternate source of revenue? Not enough will pay for the product. On the other hand Mozilla has to compete with Apple, Google & Microsoft, all of whom are fighting hard for the Web. Mozilla is doing good overall. They are doing some fundamental work to get back the technical edge, still trying to keep the future of the platform open with WebAssembly and thei…

They could use the donations to improve Firefox, to pay the salaries of the engineers, instead of all the political nonsense they do with the foundation. Yes, your donations go towards that.

And they could cut the salaries of management instead of giving themselves raises.

Instead we got ads in the home page.