Latest news with #techswitch
Android Authority
23-07-2025
- Android Authority
I fired ChatGPT for a week and hired a European AI instead
Nathan Drescher / Android Authority I've cut my ties to a bunch of American tech. Gmail became Fastmail, Keep turned into Obsidian, and I replaced Tasks with ToDoist. I figured AI would be the hardest one to give up. I've been using ChatGPT in an unorthodox way, not for chatting, but as a full-on project management system for scheduling, reminders, and budgeting. Then I stumbled on LeChat a few months ago. LeChat, from the company Mistral, is Europe's answer to the LLM arms race. I used it instead of ChatGPT to run my life for a full week, pushing it way beyond what it was built for. What I found was a mix of blazing speed and blunt honesty, as well as a bunch of limitations to my workflow. Would you consider switching to a non-American AI tool like LeChat? 0 votes Yes, I'm already using a non-American AI tool. NaN % I'm actively looking for alternatives. NaN % Maybe, I hadn't thought of it before. NaN % No, I'm sticking with American tech. NaN % Switching away from American AI Nathan Drescher / Android Authority I've been feeling uneasy about using ChatGPT for a while now. The leadership drama, opaque corporate structure, its close ties to some people in the US government…these already had me questioning my choice to stick with it. But worse than that was how much ChatGPT 4o feels like it is degrading recently. I don't use this LLM for chatting or writing emails. I use it to manage my day, but it was going off the rails by forgetting things I'd input like my diet, giving me randomly hallucinated events when I asked it what was next on my schedule, and other such shenanigans. LeChat felt different. It is built on Mistral's open models and adheres to Europe's strict privacy laws. It doesn't track me outside of the app like Gemini. Plus, its answers are practically instant. So I closed ChatGPT for a week and made LeChat my go-to assistant for everything I'd normally delegate to an AI. This AI is a breath of fresh air Nathan Drescher / Android Authority The first thing I noticed was how ridiculously fast LeChat is at answering. I'd get a full answer for my prompt the moment I hit enter. I thought at first it must surely be missing context or skipping details, but the responses were accurate and useful. This app is set to Ludicrous Speed all the time. It also didn't try to flatter me. During my test, I asked it to schedule a nighttime vampire hunt on my calendar. LeChat told me vampire hunting wasn't real and moved on. When I recreated the same task with ChatGPT, it played along and scheduled it for a Wednesday night. LeChat wasn't rude, just grounded, and that was refreshing. I didn't have to constantly prompt it to keep it short or just answer the question. Web search, calendar, and deep think LeChat also includes a built-in live web search, making it feel a bit like Perplexity. I didn't need to open a special chat or toggle anything. It just searched the web directly inside the thread when needed. I could also turn this off anytime. LeChat connects to Gmail and Google Calendar too, though I didn't test this since I've moved away from those tools. There are also 'Think' and 'Research' modes. The latter is supposedly aimed at summarizing and analyzing source material, possibly competing with Google's NotebookLM. These features aren't in my usual workflow, but I could see them being incredibly useful for students or researchers who need to quickly summarize and analyze large volumes of text. Here's where it couldn't keep up It wasn't all rainbows and unicorns. The biggest problem was memory. LeChat has none. There's no persistent knowledge of who I am or what I've said in other threads. ChatGPT and Gemini can both retain context, so if I ask them to schedule my son's dentist appointment, they remember who he is and even know the name of his dentist. I need to re-enter the information for each and every chat I start with LeChat. I would love to see LeChat incorporate a memory feature that retains key information across sessions. There's no persistent knowledge of who I am or what I've said in other threads. There are no push notifications either. Maybe that works if you're still using Gmail, but I use Fastmail. I couldn't get LeChat to remind me of anything unless I reopened the app and asked it what I had already told it to remember. It also couldn't create documents the way ChatGPT can. I'm talking about those in-line documents that sit outside the main context window, which are especially useful for quick to-do lists or structured notes. LeChat didn't offer anything like that. I understand these tools aren't designed to manage lives, but I've turned ChatGPT into a decent personal assistant. LeChat couldn't keep up. For one-shot answers, web searches, or brainstorming what to feed my picky daughter, it was great. But it fell short for ongoing support. I'm still glad I tried it Nathan Drescher / Android Authority There's something calming about a tool that doesn't try to be everything. Using LeChat made me realize some of what we've grown used to has grown bloated. LeChat is lean, responsive, and no-nonsense. Its speed is mind-boggling for anyone who has grown used to ChatGPT's laborious answers. It's the kind of AI that might appeal to people who don't want AI running their lives, just helping with their day. I'll probably keep using ChatGPT for the heavy lifting. I still haven't found an LLM that can manage projects like ChatGPT. But LeChat has earned a place in my app drawer. Not every tool needs to be a powerhouse. Sometimes it just needs to answer a question and move on, like LeChat.
Android Authority
31-05-2025
- Business
- Android Authority
I've been using Arc browser for a year and am not switching back to Chrome
Andy Walker / Android Authority Arc browser was all the rage a year ago, and it made me curious enough to give it a try. After an early test run, I gave it a few months before switching to it full-time. If you ask me today whether I regret the decision, the answer is a resounding no. In fact, it's been one of the most refreshing tech switches I've made since moving from Windows to Mac many years ago. At a time when every browser started to look and feel exactly like the other — with most running Chromium under the hood — Arc felt like a breath of fresh air. While it was the visual upgrades that drew me in, the various smart features have kept me hooked for more than a year. And at this point, I don't even want to consider going back to Google Chrome — or any other web browser, for that matter. Would you ever consider switching from Chrome to Arc (or another browser)? 0 votes Yes NaN % No NaN % I've already ditched Google-ville NaN % The tab gods have blessed Arc with ingenuity Andy Walker / Android Authority I hate to admit it, but I've always struggled with managing browser tabs. I know a lot of users are in the same boat, but that reassurance never helped, as my situation was embarrassingly out of control. I had tabs open for months with no clue why I needed them, mixed in with temporary tabs like login pages that just piled on the clutter. I had accepted my fate — until I fully switched to Arc. To be honest, Arc was a big shift from what I was used to with Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. But maybe that massive leap was exactly what I needed to finally change my habits for good. And I'm happy to report that it did. The most consequential change for me was Arc's default setting to automatically close all unsaved tabs after a day (you can customize this; I've set mine to a week). It flipped the script: instead of tabs being saved by default and piling up endlessly, they now disappear unless I deliberately save them. This alone has drastically reduced clutter on my most-used desktop app. This simple ingenuity is what won me over. Karandeep Singh / Android Authority Arc complements this approach with something called Little Arc, which is a mini window that pops up to open websites you only need temporarily and don't want clogging up your tab bar (think login pages and such). It's a huge part of my workflow now, even though it stays out of sight. Thinking about this as I write, I wonder how I ever worked without it and why more browsers haven't copied the idea yet. Arc vs Chrome: One makes the other seem dull Andy Walker / Android Authority Sure, most mainstream browsers, including Chrome, are now on the AI hype train, typically adding a chatbot into the sidebar like some patchwork. That saves you one step of visiting an AI tool's website, but not much else. Arc, on the other hand, has been offering genuinely useful and smart features for longer, and they're much better integrated. For example, you can hover over inline links to get a quick summary of the page before deciding whether to open it. Plus, the Cmd/Ctrl + F shortcut doubles as an AI-powered search bar that lets you ask questions about the page in your natural language. After all, what are tabs if not digital laundry that is back again the second you finish folding the last pile? The two things I use most are both related to tab management — which, if you haven't already guessed, is a huge deal for me. After all, what are tabs if not digital laundry that is back again the second you finish folding the last pile? To start with, Arc automatically renames tab titles and downloaded files with readable, contextual names, instead of the usual mess of gibberish filenames. And when I'm working on a big story with dozens of tabs open for research with no clear order or structure, I use the Tidy Tabs feature. One click from the sidebar, and Arc neatly groups similar tabs with appropriate titles, without me lifting a finger. For what it's worth, even Google Chrome has started catching up here, recently adding a similar feature with Gemini. Oh, and Arc also includes mini apps with built-in integrations for popular services like Gmail and Google Calendar — two things I use all the time. If I've got a meeting coming up, a join button appears right in the sidebar minutes before, letting me jump straight in without having to dig around my emails or calendar entries for the link. Similarly, I can see recent emails in a small pop-up window without needing to open a full tab. As the fruit company likes to say — it just works! I wish it was all rosy with Arc Andy Walker / Android Authority As much as I love Arc and plan to stick with it for the foreseeable future, it's not without flaws. The biggest issue for me, by far, is battery life. Arc eats up my MacBook Air's battery faster than I'd like. Chrome is just as bad, if not worse, while Microsoft Edge has been noticeably more battery-efficient — despite also running on Chromium. Arc's maker is now focusing on a new browser, with no new features coming to Arc, making the future of Arc look bleak. Then there was that major vulnerability that could potentially expose the entire browser to bad actors. Arc thankfully patched it before it became a widespread issue, but it still left many questioning its reliability. Add to that the recent news that the company is now focusing on a new browser, with no new features coming to Arc, and the future of Arc starts looking bleak. That last bit stings the most. But I've grown fond of Arc enough to keep using it until it becomes truly unreliable for daily work. Until then, Chrome can cry on Gemini's shoulder.
