The Front Page of the Internet Is Up for Grabs

Last week I opened Edge to test my Internet connection, because that's the only thing I use it for, and noticed something new. Right beneath the address bar was a new bar with a button offering to let the browser launch automatically whenever I start my computer. That was strange. Yes, I open the browser the moment the computer starts, but why would they want to do that for me? And just now, I opened Chrome, and saw the exact same message but for Chrome: It looks innocent enough. We all start browsing the web right away when we turn on our computers, so what's the big deal here? Well, the big deal is that everyone wants to be the front page. Defaults matter. While we all want to believe we have agency, the numbers don't lie. Most of us never change the default settings. Just last year, Google paid Apple close to $20 billion just to remain the default search engine on Apple products. While we're all distracted by the AI race, the one race that actually matters is who remains the front…