• Manifest V2 Deprecation in Chromium:

  • Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome are phasing out support for Manifest V2 extensions in favor of Manifest V3.
  • Under Manifest V3, ad-blocking extensions lose key webRequest filtering APIs required to dynamically inspect and block ads efficiently.
  • Chromium-based alternatives are forced to use stripped-down versions like uBlock Origin Lite or rely on built-in native blockers.

• Firefox's Position as the Sole Major Alternative:

  • Mozilla reaffirmed via Bluesky that Firefox will continue supporting full Manifest V2 features and uBlock Origin indefinitely.
  • Because Safari and DuckDuckGo do not support full uBlock Origin and other browsers rely on Chromium (Edge, Opera, Brave, Vivaldi), Firefox remains the only major non-compromised browser for full uBlock Origin support.

Hacker News Discussion

• Extension Vetting and Security Trust:

  • Users emphasize that Firefox actively reviews and verifies uBlock Origin updates under its "Recommended Extensions" program, mitigating risks of malicious code injections.
  • Discussion surrounds permission models and whether browsers should introduce more granular, per-site, or container-specific permission toggles.

• Native Ad-Blocking vs. Browser Compatibility:

  • Commenters debate why Mozilla does not build full ad-blocking natively into Firefox; key reasons cited include revenue ties with search providers and the risk of websites breaking and explicitly blocking Gecko.
  • Chromium forks like Brave were discussed as alternatives due to built-in ad-blocking, though users noted differing levels of effectiveness and the inherent risk of the underlying Chromium engine monopoly.

• User Migration and the Web Monopoly:

  • Many participants report switching back to Firefox full-time due to the deprecation of Manifest V2 on Chrome/Edge.
  • There is widespread concern regarding the Chromium monoculture and the hope for independent browser engines like Ladybird.

令人惊讶的是：这个项目支持云浏览器提供商系统，允许用户在云端运行浏览器自动化任务。它不仅支持本地浏览器，还集成了Kernel和Browserbase等云浏览器服务，使开发者能够在没有本地浏览器的情况下执行复杂的网页自动化任务。

https://web.archive.org/web/20251129105205/https://www.csoonline.com/article/4097087/ai-browsers-can-be-tricked-with-malicious-prompts-hidden-in-url-fragments.html

Named anchors in URLs can be used for prompt injection in AI browser assistants. # URL parts are only evaluated in browser, and not send to servers. AI assistants in browsers do read them though.

https://pinokio.computer/<br /> Pinokio is a browser that lets you install, run, and programmatically control ANY application, automatically.

fair enough...

https://web.archive.org/web/20240702043645/https://github.com/LadybirdBrowser/ladybird Ladybird is a project that aims to become a new independent *nix browser (not borrowing from other engines). There's also a US non-profit founded for it ladybird.org. Still very much in pre-alpha.

This is interesting - I wonder how 3rd parties like Mozilla or Vivaldi testify?

If they say it's hard, they contradict their own marketing, and risk their main source of revenue.

If they say it's easy, they risk undermining all their own comms around the importance of choice, and the necessity of more diverse ecosystems.

https://arc.net/

First I've heard of this.

How is it biased?

Bookmarklets and the JS console seem to be the workaround.

For very large customizations, you may run into browser limits on the effective length of the bookmarklet URI. For a subset of well-formed programs, there is a way to store program parts in multiple bookmarklets, possibly loaded with the assistance of a separate bookmarklet "bootloader", although this would be tedious. The alternative is to use the JS console.

In FIrefox, you can open a given script that you've stored on your computer by pressing Ctrl+O/Cmd+O, selecting the file as you would in any other program, and then pressing Enter. (Note that this means you might need to press Enter twice, since opening the file in question merely puts its contents into the console input and does not automatically execute it—sort of a hybrid clipboard thing.) I have not tested the limits of the console input for e.g. input size.

As far as I know, you can also use the JS console to get around the design of the dubious WebExtensions APIs—by ignoring them completely and going back to the old days and using XPCOM/Gecko "private" APIs. The way you do is is to open about:addons by pressing Ctrl+Shift+A (or whatever), opening or pasting the code you want to run, and then pressing Enter. This should I think give you access to all the old familiar Mozilla internals. Note, though, that all bookmarklet functionality is disabled on about:addons (not just affecting bookmarklets that would otherwise violate CSP by loading e.g. an external script or dumping an inline one on the page`).

https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2022/a-web-for-all/

Web Browser Engineering by Pavel Panchekha & Chris Harrelson https://browser.engineering/

A Web Browser Built for Me by Robin Rendle https://www.robinrendle.com/notes/a-web-browser-built-for-me/

I love the phrase "a web that your read instead of one that tries so very hard to read you."

a succinct summary of the harms of tracking and adtech

I have downloaded this browser, to use with Office 365 (for my Uni stuff). I haven't really given it a full workout yet, mostly as I generally use Brave.

I personally think we'll see more Microsoft apps coming to Linux with the big one being the ultimate... basing Windows on a Linux Kernel, rather than the NT Kernel, within the next 5 year or so!

Another handy tutorial that I might want to do.

JavaScript creator Brendan Eich is working on a browser that blocks tracking, and replaces ads with less obtrusive ones. Websites can sign up to get a cut of the income from those ads. They'll also have a way for users to pay to visit sites ad-free.

http://brave.com/<br> https://github.com/brave<br> https://twitter.com/brave

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Naturally, those obtrusive advertisers won't like it. I'd love it if sites I visit often could give me ads for stuff I might actually buy, especially if they received a generous cut of each sale.

20 browser alter natives.

Bookmarks are just a special case of annotations