Modern Vitamix benders (roughly within the last 8 years) have the same declining quality issues.
Newer models are typically much lighter. This means they now have far less internal material to reduce noise. I can't use mine without ear protection since it's about chainsaw level of noise. The reduced weight means I also need to hold onto it during use otherwise it will vibrate itself off the counter.
The company seems to be most interested in selling smoothie recipe subscriptions for their blender companion phone app. Aside from subscription selling the app is pretty much useless -- who wants a phone app to remotely control a blender?
Unfortunately it seems like I was one of "small percentage of Firefox users" this feature is being tested on.
Contrary to what the article claims, there was no way to disable this feature from the menu: it wasn't possible to uncheck the 'Sponsored Top Sites' button.
I had search for 'sponsor' settings in 'about:config' to disable it. Sadly, I don't think most users will be able to figure this out.
I'm seriously reconsidering moving away from Firefox, or at the very least no longer recommending it to non-technical users
The lead singer died decades ago, but I think it is still very clear what the band would think: the lyrics of one of their songs are about very similar issues:
I would highly recommended reading "A Fine Mess: A Global Quest for a Simpler, Fairer, and More Efficient Tax System." It compares tax systems around the world, unpacks common issues and suggests a fix (in short a "broad base low rate" strategy).