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Am I the only one who uses brave with all bat stuff off? It's a fork of chromium that's up to date, completely open source, ad blocking and fingerprinting defea

Am I the only one who uses brave with all bat stuff off? It's a fork of chromium that's up to date, completely open source, ad blocking and fingerprinting defeating built-in, reader mode, etc. Chrome but just better.

fastball 7y ago
Wait there is a reader mode?
- jsjddbbwj 7y ago
  On mobile there is. Not sure about desktop
- snazz 7y ago
  There’s a flag for a built in reader mode on Chromium. It’s not very good, but it does work.
- jshevek 7y ago
  Here is how to enable reader mode in Brave: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22407265 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22407265
jineshshah36 7y ago
Same
zrobotics 7y ago
I don't use it on desktop, but it's the best android browser I have used. For whatever reason, Firefox is a battery hog on my current phone, so I switched to brave. Although I agree with this article, the crypto model they have is scammy at best. I should really switch browsers on my phone; while brave works OK the fact that their revenue model is broken should signal that they will likely need to do something shady in the future. I never opted in to BAT simply because I figured that maybe 1% of the sites I visit would be opted in to the program. Plus, I'm not going back to watching ads.
- fastball 7y ago
  I'm not sure you understand how the Brave/BAT/Ads dynamic operates. Brave with the BAT features turned on still uses its builtin adblock. From there, I think you need to state a bit more clearly how is their revenue model broken.
- jsjddbbwj 7y ago
  Maybe try Edge.
- EastSmith 7y ago
  Duckduckgo has a browser for android based on Chromium.
skybrian 7y ago
Just be aware that you're placing a lot of trust in them. It is adding a dependency on the Brave developers not to mess up and create security holes, in addition to whatever trust you place in the Chrome project itself. (A browser plugin requires somewhat less trust since it's sandboxed, but the permissions are still pretty scary.) But I guess it's like buying an Android phone from anyone besides Google? Or installing packages from Debian and hoping they fix more security issues than they add, compared to the original developer. It's usually true, but not always.
- jsjddbbwj 7y ago
  I know. I've been burnt before by Mozilla and Google. Brave will also mess up eventually. I'm just praying that there will be another good browser to hop to when that occurs!
  - johnphamous 7y ago
    Have you checked out Microsoft's Chromium Edge?
    - LessDmesg 7y ago
      It doesn't work. As in, can't render some perfectly renderable sites correctly. It seems Microsoft is chronically bad at making browsers, even when using a good ready-made engine.
      - jankiehodgpodge 7y ago
        What site in particular are you having trouble with? I haven't found a single problem in the few months it's been released.
- prepend 7y ago
  That’s a pretty small risk to take since it’s OSS and I can audit it, if so feel like it. I think the risk they add from a security perspective offsets the risk Chrome brings from a privacy perspective.
Marsymars 7y ago
I use Vivaldi as a secondary/tertiary browser. It's a Chromium fork without the weird ad/crypto-stuff that Brave has or the shady Chinese ownership that Opera now has. (And the Android version seems to be the only browser app that's putting effort into good ChromeOS functionality.) I've never really been clear on why Brave is more popular than Vivaldi.
- colordrops 7y ago
  Unlike brave, it wasn't open source last time I checked. Had that changed?
  - Marsymars 7y ago
    No: https://help.vivaldi.com/article/is-vivaldi-open-source/ https://help.vivaldi.com/article/is-vivaldi-open-source/ For me, it's still the most acceptable "major" Chromium-based browser.
jshevek 7y ago
I don't use BAT, but I use Brave. I like that Brave is the best for respecting your privacy: https://www.scss.tcd.ie/Doug.Leith/pubs/browser_privacy.pdf https://www.scss.tcd.ie/Doug.Leith/pubs/browser_privacy.pdf

fastball 7y ago

Wait there is a reader mode?

jsjddbbwj 7y ago
On mobile there is. Not sure about desktop
snazz 7y ago
There’s a flag for a built in reader mode on Chromium. It’s not very good, but it does work.
jshevek 7y ago
Here is how to enable reader mode in Brave: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22407265 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22407265

jineshshah36 7y ago

Same

zrobotics 7y ago

I don't use it on desktop, but it's the best android browser I have used. For whatever reason, Firefox is a battery hog on my current phone, so I switched to brave. Although I agree with this article, the crypto model they have is scammy at best. I should really switch browsers on my phone; while brave works OK the fact that their revenue model is broken should signal that they will likely need to do something shady in the future. I never opted in to BAT simply because I figured that maybe 1% of the sites I visit would be opted in to the program. Plus, I'm not going back to watching ads.

fastball 7y ago
I'm not sure you understand how the Brave/BAT/Ads dynamic operates. Brave with the BAT features turned on still uses its builtin adblock. From there, I think you need to state a bit more clearly how is their revenue model broken.
jsjddbbwj 7y ago
Maybe try Edge.
EastSmith 7y ago
Duckduckgo has a browser for android based on Chromium.

skybrian 7y ago

Just be aware that you're placing a lot of trust in them. It is adding a dependency on the Brave developers not to mess up and create security holes, in addition to whatever trust you place in the Chrome project itself. (A browser plugin requires somewhat less trust since it's sandboxed, but the permissions are still pretty scary.) But I guess it's like buying an Android phone from anyone besides Google? Or installing packages from Debian and hoping they fix more security issues than they add, compared to the original developer. It's usually true, but not always.

jsjddbbwj 7y ago
I know. I've been burnt before by Mozilla and Google. Brave will also mess up eventually. I'm just praying that there will be another good browser to hop to when that occurs!
- johnphamous 7y ago
  Have you checked out Microsoft's Chromium Edge?
  - LessDmesg 7y ago
    It doesn't work. As in, can't render some perfectly renderable sites correctly. It seems Microsoft is chronically bad at making browsers, even when using a good ready-made engine.
    - jankiehodgpodge 7y ago
      What site in particular are you having trouble with? I haven't found a single problem in the few months it's been released.
prepend 7y ago
That’s a pretty small risk to take since it’s OSS and I can audit it, if so feel like it. I think the risk they add from a security perspective offsets the risk Chrome brings from a privacy perspective.

Marsymars 7y ago

I use Vivaldi as a secondary/tertiary browser. It's a Chromium fork without the weird ad/crypto-stuff that Brave has or the shady Chinese ownership that Opera now has. (And the Android version seems to be the only browser app that's putting effort into good ChromeOS functionality.) I've never really been clear on why Brave is more popular than Vivaldi.

colordrops 7y ago
Unlike brave, it wasn't open source last time I checked. Had that changed?
- Marsymars 7y ago
  No: https://help.vivaldi.com/article/is-vivaldi-open-source/ https://help.vivaldi.com/article/is-vivaldi-open-source/ For me, it's still the most acceptable "major" Chromium-based browser.

jshevek 7y ago

I don't use BAT, but I use Brave. I like that Brave is the best for respecting your privacy: https://www.scss.tcd.ie/Doug.Leith/pubs/browser_privacy.pdf https://www.scss.tcd.ie/Doug.Leith/pubs/browser_privacy.pdf