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Firefox Debuts Price Wise, an Experimental Price-Tracking Feature To Help Users Score Top Shopping Deals (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on from the interesting-updates dept.

The Firefox Test Pilot team on Monday rolled out two new experimental features, one of which is aimed to make this year's holiday shopping a bit easier on your wallet. It's called Price Wise, and it's an online shopping comparison tool that lets you add items from across several retailers to a Price Watcher list. From a report: When a price drops, a notification is automatically sent to your browser, and you can click regardless of what web page you are currently on. For now, Price Wise tracks just five retailers -- Amazon, Best Buy, eBay, Walmart, and the Home Depot -- but the company said it's planning on expanding to cover more outlets in the future.

Elsewhere, Mozilla is also rolling out a new feature called Email Tabs as part of its early adopter program. While Mozilla already offers a service for bookmarking content to read later via Pocket, Email Tabs enables users to choose multiple tabs and send links to one or more of them to their Gmail address. There are a number of options here. Users can choose to send links with screenshots, just links, or links with full articles. Price Wise is only available to users in the U.S. for now.

38 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. So they remove features people use... by mr_jrt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...for bloat like this? Seriously?

    What the hell is wrong with the Mozilla Foundation? Just focus on making a minimal, high-quality, open source browser. That's it. that's literally all you need to do. That's why we have rich extension mechanisms, right? So people/companies can build and add-on whatever gubbins they like without wasting core resources building and maintaining it.

    I despair sometimes, I really do.

    --
    Boo.
    1. Re:So they remove features people use... by higuita · · Score: 3, Informative

      first this is a test feature!
      second, you need to install it to use it.
      third, RTFA before throwing stones

      This as this is a official firefox add-on instead of community add-on... probably if it works, they could ask money for the shops to be included in the add-on, so everybody win a little

      --
      Higuita
    2. Re:So they remove features people use... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sure, it's a test feature, that you have to manually install *now*, but what if it goes further? Is this (or are they, if also considering "Email Tabs") something that really needs to be a browser feature rather than a browser extension? I think that's what people are complaining about. Neither are really pertinent to the browser itself, which is what Mozilla should be focused on. (and I would add Thunderbird)

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    3. Re:So they remove features people use... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

      You dropped your tin foil hat

      I'm sure Mozilla will develop a built-in Firefox feature to help me with that, though disabling it may be problematic.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    4. Re:So they remove features people use... by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      What the hell is wrong with the Mozilla Foundation? Just focus on making a minimal, high-quality, open source browser. That's it. that's literally all you need to do.

      No that's not literally all they need to do. Their goal is an open, non creepy internet for users not corporations. A bit part of that is an open browser. But that's useless if all the services are creepy too. So they have a location service that isn't creepy. And are working on a voice activationservice that's not either.

      And now this.

      Personally I applaud their efforts since I can see theat the internet and their goals are clearly larger than a single piece of software.

      I despair sometimes, I really do. ...

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    5. Re:So they remove features people use... by higuita · · Score: 1

      they test several features, some get in in firefox, like the page screenshot (it is simple enough and many people use it, specially less tech oriented people that do not even know how to install a add-on), most are never added... i used a past test, vertical tab, loved it and now i keep using it as a add-on... is it in your firefox? no, you have to install it just a normal add-on

      If it ever enters the normal firefox, complain at that time... i only imagine this on the browser as a new form of funding, just like the search engine

      --
      Higuita
    6. Re:So they remove features people use... by Torodung · · Score: 1

      It's fucking Test Pilot, you dunce. It's a web experiment, like "containers," where they intend to release an extension if it works out well.

      Besides, there's already "Invisible Hand."

    7. Re:So they remove features people use... by Torodung · · Score: 1

      They did a similar experiment with "Containers" (cookie isolation), and released it as an extension later. They even released a version called "Facebook Container" that isolates Facebook from all the websites you visit so it can't track you via third-party cookies.

      Mozilla is working on potentially useful stuff, not world domination.

    8. Re:So they remove features people use... by Rob+Y. · · Score: 1

      If it goes further, and enough people don't like it, they fork Firefox. That's what the open source part is for...

      --
      Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
    9. Re:So they remove features people use... by nmb3000 · · Score: 1

      Mozilla is working on potentially useful stuff, not world domination.

      Nobody suggested "world domination". Why the need for a straw man?

      What we *are* concerned about is yet another attempt to monetize Firefox by trading user privacy for dollars. You know, like the sponsored tiles which people hated and were removed, but have just recently been replaced with the totally-not-the-same-thing-trust-us sponsored content.

      That, and Mozilla has a bad habit of turning extensions into forced bundled features, like they did with Pocket.

      --
      "What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
      /)
    10. Re:So they remove features people use... by Luckyo · · Score: 2

      I see your meme and beat you to death with Pocket.

    11. Re:So they remove features people use... by Luckyo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Pocket shills called. They wanted to remind you that they already used all those lies in the past, and it may be harder to use the same lies now to push for the same agenda.

    12. Re:So they remove features people use... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I remember about 15 years ago someone made a plug-in that put Amazon prices for books on other bookshop sites, so you could compare easily. This seems to be a slightly more advanced version of that.

      Like the old Amazon link plug-in I don't think it will take off, because people looking for bargains already know to check Google and PriceSpy etc. The intersection of people who don't know how to use Google but do know how to find and install this plug-in is going to be vanishingly small.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    13. Re:So they remove features people use... by houghi · · Score: 1

      So first, if it will work, the bloat will be implemented, taking away developers from things that users actually want that have been removed, due to lack of developers and to make Firefox less bloaty.

      Second, if they do this, companies can pay Firefox to get a place in their pricing, meaning that not all companies will be able or willing to pay, regardless if they have a lower and better price.So that means, by default, it will not work as advertised.

      So: Unwanted bloat is added. Wanted bloat is removed. I still have to do my own research to verify what the the add-on was supposed to tell me. I somehow do not see myself as a winner here.

      This word "everybody". I do not think it means that you think it means.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    14. Re:So they remove features people use... by DarkRookie2 · · Score: 1

      That's why we have rich extension mechanisms, right?

      Well, not anymore.

      --
      http://progressquest.com/spoltog.php?name=Son+Of+Son+Of+DarkRookie
    15. Re:So they remove features people use... by epine · · Score: 1

      What the hell is wrong with the Mozilla Foundation? Just focus on making a minimal, high-quality, open source browser.

      That's funny. I think Nassim Taleb is a bit of a blowhard. He was interviewed again not so long ago on EconTalk about Skin in the Game. There he spends about twenty minutes pointing out the obvious: he who doesn't survive doesn't play. By the end of this, I'm left holding my head in both hands and groaning from the obviousness of it all.

      And then here I am on Slashdot, and the received wisdom (+5) is "just keep doing what you're doing, the absorbing boundary of non-existence is smaller than it appears in your side view mirror".

      The fires of Isengard will spread. And the woods of Tuckborough and Buckland will burn. And all that was once green and good in this world will be gone. There won't be a Shire, Pippin.

      But here we just +5ed a post more naive than Pippin's least prudent half hour from the entire trilogy. And my god, there were moments when Pippin should have thrown himself down just about any deep well available.

    16. Re:So they remove features people use... by higuita · · Score: 1

      1- this tests are usually very small team and most of the times not even set management or whatever, it's something some developer wants to test or thinks it may be useful. They still have to do their own tasks. Think as "they are allowed to work some time on open source projects" and in this project, it is a firefox add-on

      2- Of course you can not include ALL shops, that is a big project on it own... but this is exactly just like search engines... Do search engines find everything? do they work for everyone? no, of course not... but they paid to be included and it is enough for most people

      So: unless you install it, no bload is added. Normal firefox developement is still done. What it does, i too do not care, but for some people it may be useful... that is what this is trying to check... Is it useful?!

      --
      Higuita
    17. Re:So they remove features people use... by higuita · · Score: 1

      do not blame mozilla to try to find some more funding sources... all features they added where conservative, did little or no tracking and could all be disabled.
      Yes, not perfect, but if google funding terminates, they would be in a bad financial position, so more funding sources is good.
      One way to avoid this kind of features is to donate money to mozilla... have you ever donate to then? :)
      no need to reply of course, even if you donated, many people that complain never donated anything

      --
      Higuita
    18. Re:So they remove features people use... by higuita · · Score: 1

      pocket is a product they acquired... if they didn't use it in anyplace it would be a waste of money...
      and while you do not use it, i know people that do use it. I too would prefer to have it as a add-on, but the code needed for it is also very small, so not a big bloat too

      --
      Higuita
  2. There's already an extension for this. by idontusenumbers · · Score: 2

    These sorts of sites have existed for decades and there's already an extension for firefox to do this.

    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-...

  3. Why embed this in a browser? by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously. Why does "Price Wise" need to be a browser feature, yet another piece of (unwanted, unneeded) bloat-ware? I can *remotely* imagine a use for the "Email Tabs" thing, but cannot imagine actually ever using it myself. For sure, if these experiments continue on to become full-fledged browser features, they will be two more things I will disable. Thankfully, I have Experiments disabled in FF.

    Dear Mozilla, Concentrate on making a *browser* not a kitchen sink -- we already have Emacs for that.* :-)

    [ * Said as a long, long time Emacs user... ]

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    1. Re:Why embed this in a browser? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      I totally agree, but why are they adding this kind of bloat to Firefox?

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:Why embed this in a browser? by mccalli · · Score: 1

      Does anyone remember Phoenix? It was the browser born from the bloat of Mozilla, created by someone outside the Mozilla organisation. Bloat stripped out - just a quick browser, with a couple of themes. After a series of naming contests and odd copyright disputes (Firebird) it became....Firefox.

      It's time for another Phoenix project.

  4. Changing objectives by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Firefox isn't a browser anymore, it's a private brand/company, and should be treated as such.

  5. Development priorities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They have three "engineers" (lol) working on pointless fluff intrinsically tied to a Google service, but couldn't spare a single person to maintain the built-in RSS reader, which encourages a decentralized internet and serves users instead of sponsors? Ok then.

    1. Re:Development priorities by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

      They have three "engineers" (lol) working on pointless fluff intrinsically tied to a Google service, but couldn't spare a single person to maintain the built-in RSS reader, which encourages a decentralized internet and serves users instead of sponsors? Ok then.

      Does Mozilla get money from Google? (yes)
      Does Google make money when people use RSS instead of using a browser and their services (Search, News)? (no)

      There are your reasons.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  6. 3rd party service? by mysidia · · Score: 1

    This looks like another thing that belongs as a 3rd party addon. This is just a 3rd party service that tracks prices in some way and does PUSH notifications. Anyone could write such plugin. I see no reason for the core browser team to be doing this.

    1. Re:3rd party service? by Fly+Swatter · · Score: 2

      Ah, but this probably tracks you tracking the prices. That's data that can be sold!

    2. Re:3rd party service? by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

      This is just a 3rd party service that tracks prices in some way and does PUSH notifications.

      Problem solved ...

      user_pref("dom.push.connection.enabled", false);
      user_pref("dom.push.enabled", false);
      user_pref("dom.webnotifications.enabled", false);
      user_pref("dom.webnotifications.serviceworker.enabled", false);

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  7. petrol prices by bigtreeman · · Score: 1

    tracking petrol price fluctuations would be immense

    --
    Go well
  8. Next up: Price Line by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

    Soon to be added retailers will be airlines and hotels, etc... and this feature will be renamed "Price Line". The pop-ups will have a picture of William Shatner and/or Kaley Cuoco with audio (hopefully matching the photo displayed) hawking the new lower price ...

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  9. And about this "Email Tabs" thing ... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

    From the Email Tabs Test Pilot page:

    Email Tabs currently works with the Gmail webmail client, but we’re working to bring it to other popular webmail providers as well.

    And how does *that* work? Do I have to be currently logged into Gmail, so Firefox can screw with it, or provide my Gmail credentials to Firefox, so Firefox can access it via some API, or will the mail originate from Mozilla? None of those options sound appealing. In addition, I don't use Gmail via the browser, except to periodically log in, permanently delete things in the Trash, and log out, I use Thunderbird.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    1. Re:And about this "Email Tabs" thing ... by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

      How about I don't use Gmail. Tying it to Gmail sounds stupid.

      I'm on a Mac and I wouldn't use this service anyways. I just print the page and under the PDF menu there's an option to 'email PDF' and one to 'save PDF' if I feel like saving it instead of emailing.

  10. They can make money off this by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    eventually they'll steer folks to deals. Ever since google stopped paying them they've been looking for new sources of revenue.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  11. No! by BrendaEM · · Score: 1

    Mozilla is really whoring Firefox. How low will it go. Did you notice there was an ad, almost like this post in Slashot?

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
  12. For those who don't know what Test Pilot is... by Torodung · · Score: 4, Informative

    So many respondents to this article, in their haste to hate on Mozilla, haven't a clue what Test Pilot is. It's a series of experiments, hosted on a web page, that you need an add-on installed just to get access to the experiments. Then you choose which experiments you want as add-ons. Or ignore them. Your choice. Or don't install Test Pilot at all and ignore the whole thing.

    Nobody's bloating up the browser. You'd literally have to install two separate extensions just to get this on your Firefox.

    1. Re:For those who don't know what Test Pilot is... by houghi · · Score: 2

      OK. Ket us look at the test-pilot part. There are people working on it. Meaning they are not working on other things that are actually browser related. This is Firefox thast is working on it. They should be working on things people are asking for.

      Next: if the pilot fails, they would have wasted a lot of time. This might be the best outcome.
      If the pilot is a success, it will be implemented into the browser, the moment they have found a way to commercialize it. (Not that hard)
      That will be a bad thing, because if I look up at the prices of toothpaste, I do not want Amazon and others know that I am doing that. There is a reason I use Duckduck.

      So the best moment to complain about it is before it went into production. As a result of that, there can be three outcomes.
      1) The outcry was large enough, so they stop developing it.
      2) The outcome was good enough as a warning, so they won't ever put it into the default browser
      3) They do not care and put it in anyway.

      Although option 3 is the most likely outcome, we should be at least trying to get option one, in hope to get at least option 2.

      A test pilot is not just the technical part. The backlash must be part of the pilot as well. How is it received? And the answer is "bad" (at leats here).

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  13. create bookmark mailto:?subject=interesting&bo by Herve5 · · Score: 1

    IIRC there was a way, in any browser, to create a bookmark replacing its url with a string like
    emailto:?subject=interesting url&body= [here I don"t remember how to pass the url] but I used for years in my fossin macintoshes, before switching to Linux (and I forgot the bookmark ;-)
    In the formula above I intentionally wrote "emailto" instead of mailto otherwise you just get a ink indeed, like that : mailto:?subject=blah...
    Anyone to help?
    I'd love to, well, forget about gmail... and specific addons...

    --
    Herve S.