Brave Browser Discussion & Update Thread

Brave Browser v0.60.45 Released (February 21, 2019)
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Spoiler: Changelog v0.60.45

0.60.45

• Added ability to tip Twitch publishers. (#1814)
• Added backup wallet notification under reward panel that notifies users who have not backed up their wallet. (#1164)
• Added notification under reward panel that appears three days before contribution if wallet has insufficient BAT. (#1479)
• Added recurring date within the tip table under Brave Rewards. (#1834)
• Changed rewards publisher list being fetched every 48 hours to 24 hours. (#3171)
• Updated default search engine list. (#3316)
• Updated new tab page background images and refined design. (#2504)
• Updated icons under new tab page. (#1593)
• Fixed summary under rewards panel being cleared when restarting Brave. (#3055)
• Fixed insufficient funds notification being displayed when wallet has more than enough BAT. (#3212)
• Fixed being able to tip even though Brave Rewards is disabled. (#2214)
• Fixed auto-contribution table not working if "Minimum page time before logging visit" is set to one minute. (#3320)
• Fixed HTTPS Everywhere not working correctly on some websites. (#1535)
• Fixed public content settings not being inherited by private window. (#1373)
• Fixed sizing of several action icons that appear in the URL bar. (#2295)
• Fixed tipping option in certain cases not being displayed under rewards panel. (#2089)
• Fixed Twitch icons under rewards panel not being displayed in certain cases. (#1521)
• Fixed whitespace at the beginning or end of the recovery key prevents successful wallet recovery. (#2665)
• Fixed being able to tip YouTube publishers in certain cases even though "Allow contributions to videos" is disabled. (#2463)
• Fixed URL and icons under reward panel mismatching in some cases. (#2073)
• Fixed "add funds" link not working under rewards panel when wallet has insufficient BAT for tip. (#2628)
• Fixed 2FA with Google Accounts when Brave Shields are enabled. (#1356)
• Fixed publisher "Thank you" banner displaying incorrect letter after tipping. (#2718)
• Fixed publisher "Thank you" banner showing generic favicon instead of custom publisher image. (#2668)
• Fixed deleted publishers not always being restored when using "Restore All" under auto-contribution table. (#2551)
• Fixed notification under the rewards panel being displayed when rewards is disabled. (#2957)
• Fixed crash reporting under Windows 7. (#1188)
• Fixed crash reporting under Linux. (#1251)
• Fixed WebTorrent becoming unresponsive when resizing window. (#3034)
• Fixed auto-play issues on rainwa.com and cheddar.com. (#2522)
• Fixed videos not working under sportsnet.ca. (#2843)
• Fixed stats on new tab page overlapping when resizing window. (#341)
• Fixed display issues when hovering over icons on new tab page. (#494)
• Upgraded Chromium to 72.0.3626.109. (#3358)

 

Brave Browser v0.60.47 Released (February 28, 2019)
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Brave Browser v0.60.48 Released (March 5, 2019)
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Crypto-Powered Brave Browser Starts Paying Users BAT to See Ads
March 9, 2019
https://www.cryptoglobe.com/latest/...brave-browser-starts-paying-users-to-see-ads/

 

Brave Browser v0.61.51 Released (March 12, 2019)
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Spoiler: Changes v0.61.51

0.61.51

• Added new setting that allows Brave Rewards icon in the URL to be hidden if Rewards is inactive. (#2975)
• Added new confirmation banner after first establishing a monthly tip that indicates amount and date of first tip. (#3023)
• Added support for specifying custom enable/disable feature switches when launching Brave using terminal/command line interface. (#3209)
• Updated design for Rewards onboarding when enabling Rewards for the first time. (#3123)
• Improved user interface performance for Rewards when reconciliation (tipping/auto-contribution) is in progress. (#3393)
• Improved tab separator thickness. (#3081)
• Fixed two-factor authentication using Yubikey not working with Brave. (#3558)
• Fixed Tor .onion domain leaks (Windows only). (#3249)
• Fixed instances of Tor not working after a clean install. (#3058)
• Fixed instances of Tor not being used while using Tor. (#3349)
• Fixed "Brave is out of date" dialog using incorrect URL. (#2942)
• Fixed incorrect attention percentage being displayed in the auto-contribution table when excluding websites. (#3341)
• Fixed YouTube publishers with custom URLs not being displayed correctly under Rewards panel. (#1886)
• Fixed "Minimum visits for publisher relevancy" under Rewards setting not being respected. (#2110)
• Fixed auto-contribute table not being visually updated after reactivating Rewards. (#2892)
• Fixed incorrect attention value in auto-contribute table when "Allow contribution to non-verified sites" is changed under Rewards setting. (#3015)
• Fixed Rewards panel showing "Include in Auto-Contribute" as enabled when auto-contribution has been disabled globally. (#3103)
• Fixed several issues when using two Rewards banners at the same time. (#3125)
• Fixed zombie devices being left behind after sync chain is deleted. (#3225)
• Fixed media publishers being displayed as YouTube if you have visited the publisher in a previous contribution cycle. (#3244)
• Fixed "No internet connection" dialog appearing while syncing even though there is a connection. (#3278)
• Fixed publisher verification inconsistencies between YouTube channel page and on video page. (#3312)
• Fixed removal notification not being dismissed automatically when removing top sites from new tab page. (#2772)
• Fixed opening new tabs flashing white when using the dark theme. (#3362)
• Fixed chrome://sync autocompletes to chrome://sync-internals. (#2603)
• Fixed videos not playing under cbsnews.com. (#3562)
• Upgraded Chromium to 73.0.3683.75. (#3669)

 

Brave Browser v0.61.52 Released (March 21, 2019)
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Brave Browser v0.62.50 Released (April 3, 2019)
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Spoiler: Changes v0.62.50

0.62.50

• Added Widevine support for Linux. (#413)
• Added social media blocking for Google, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. (#3489)
• Added ability for Brave to use system theme on macOS. (#1189)
• Reduced retry timer when publisher list fails to download. (#3639)
• Changed auto-contribution remove icons from X to trash icons under Rewards. (#3178)
• Updated the manual page under Linux. (#392)
• Updated resource blocking to return HTTP 200 instead of redirect. (#2554)
• Fixed issue where users couldn't create Brave wallet. (#3046)
• Fixed users not being able to create wallets due to "Wallet creation failed" error. (#2997)
• Fixed "insufficient funds" and "unable to contribute" notifications being displayed despite having enough BAT. (#3640)
• Fixed monthly tips not being displayed in summary when accessing from tip panel. (#3177)
• Fixed "Try again" button not working if wallet creation fails. (#3440)
• Fixed "Backup Wallet" notification not directing users to the backup page under Rewards. (#2739)
• Fixed download toolbar not always respecting current theme. (#3708)
• Fixed macOS system UI within Brave not matching Brave theme colour. (#1289)
• Fixed sync not propagating changes to other devices in certain situations. (#3515)
• Fixed bookmarks not being synced in correct order in certain situations. (#3216)
• Fixed crash when trying to open brave://sync in private window. (#2852)
• Fixed different behaviour when loading chrome:// vs brave:// in private windows. (#2853)
• Fixed chrome:// being displayed instead of brave:// when editing the URL. (#1616)
• Fixed internal brave:// pages being added into new tab page. (#3710)
• Fixed http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb automatically being added to sources.list on Linux. (#1084))
• Fixed not being enable to disable Brave Shield when URL includes a port number. (#1896)

 

Brave Browser v0.62.51 Released (April 5, 2019)
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Brave rolls out its own ads that pay users a 70% cut
April 24, 2019
https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/24/brave-rolls-out-its-own-ads-that-pay-users-a-70-cut/

Blog entry: Brave Launches the First Advertising Platform Built on Privacy

 

Brave Browser v0.63.48 Released (April 23, 2019)
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Spoiler: Changes v0.63.48

0.63.48

• Added the ability to opt-in to user private Brave ads. (#4209) [Edit: more about Brave ads, see previous post: #234)
• Added ability to clear browsing data when exiting Brave. (#492)
• Added prompt when websites request Widevine permissions. (#1940)
• Added global navigation bar under brave://settings. (#956)
• Added brave://rewards-internals to assist with rewards support. (#1174)
• Updated buttons throughout Brave to match product branding. (#3378)
• Updated checkboxes throughout Brave to match Brave color palette. (#3377)
• Fixed characters being removed from URL when typing into omnibox. (#3756)
• Fixed intermittent hang on mobile.twitter.com when right clicking the page. (#2410)
• Fixed not being able to auto-contribute even though the required BAT is available. (#3897)
• Fixed auto-contribution table remains corrupted after upgrading Brave in certain cases. (#3510)
• Fixed YouTube publisher information not being displayed under the rewards panel in certain cases. (#3335)
• Fixed favicon for verified publishers not being displayed correctly under the rewards panel. (#3783)
• Fixed special characters in YouTube channel names not being displayed correctly under the rewards panel.(#2028)
• Fixed attention percentage not immediately being updated under the rewards panel. (#3497)
• Fixed auto-contribution table not being updated under brave://rewards in certain cases. (#2911)
• Fixed not being able to exclude sites from auto-contribution table under brave://rewards. (#2943)
• Fixed translations on the rewards panel for various locales. (#3426)
• Fixed restored publishers being removed from auto-contribution table when brave://rewards is opened in multiple windows. (#3264)
• Fixed publishers that are excluded being toggled back to included in certain cases. (#3551)
• Fixed bookmarks not propagating to other devices in certain cases. (#3777)
• Fixed sync process initiating before the sync chain can be fully created. (#2687)
• Fixed bookmarks being synced when there's no devices associated with sync chain. (#3509)
• Fixed crash when opening brave://sync in Tor window. (#3003)
• Fixed crash when opening brave://sync in Guest window. (#3522)
• Fixed being able to access brave://rewards and brave://sync using the settings menu under Tor window. (#3410)
• Fixed brave:// pages being added into browsing history. (#3493)
• Fixed not being able to install Brave under Ubuntu 19.04 "Disco Dingo". (#4157)
• Fixed several UI issues on the rewards panel for Manjaro/Arch Linux distros. (#1555)
• Fixed loss of "clickable area" under the New Tab Page for top site tiles. (#3487)
• Fixed bookmark and pin buttons under the New Tab Page for top site tiles. (#3347)
• Fixed not being able to print under wsj.com. (#2286)
• Fixed videos not playing under videoportal.joj.sk. (#2931)
• Upgraded Chromium to 74.0.3729.108. (#4192)

 

Wow, how cheesy.

 

Why?

 

It's BAT, the 20748'th attempt of throwing some cryptic 'crypto-currency' at you which in the end is worth $0.0000
On top of it, ads only available in the US for what it's worth.

 

In my opinion Brave is the best Chromium alternative for Google Chrome; it has fast auto updates (just hours after the Chromium update) and has everything right out of the box (adblock/https everywhere/anti fingerprint/beautiful and clean interface).

Brave rewards (totally optional) is a interesting Ads model and I hope it gets some traction.

 

Sadly enough I couldn't install it via Sandboxie. But yes, the ads model is interesting, but if there is something I hate it's notifications. And BTW, browsers like Chrome and Firefox now display what they call "acceptable ads", how is Brave different?

 

Brave ads are optional, while by default in Chrome and Firefox you will get all kind of ads, not only "acceptable ads" and you get rewards by viewing them.

Personally I block all ads, but it doesnt mean that Brave model is bad, just not good enough for me to allow ads.

Brave is much more privacy oriented compared to Chrome and arguably Firefox, it even blocks coin miners and uses HTTPS everywhere by default.

Ps: I like desktop Brave and I love mobile Brave.

 

https://twitter.com/bravesampson/status/1121471815572959232?s=21

"Brave Ads are optional, don't leak data, use local machine learning on your device, and pay you 70% of the ad revenue.

We are reforming digital advertising."

 

OK cool, so these ads won't track you I suppose. But how do they look, are they static, with that I mean non-animated? I don't mind seeing ads at all if they are not annoying.

 

Brave Browser v0.63.55 Released (May 6, 2019)
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Brave Browser v0.64.75 Released (May 12, 2019)
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Spoiler: Changes v0.64.75

0.64.75

• Added a manual refresh button to fetch new version of the verified publishers list. (#3339)
• Added new proxy endpoint for Safe Browsing. (#4328)
• Added switch under brave://settings for IPFS companion extension. (#3918)
• Added notification for monthly tip contribution. (#3637)
• Added horizontal scrolling under Brave Shields on read-only detailed views. (#1892)
• Added regional filters in brave://adblock. (#1931)
• Added custom filter selection in brave://adblock. (#403)
• Enabled certificate revocation. (#518)
• Disabled Safe Browsing in Tor. (#4335)
• Updated Brave Shields colors and label UI. (#2565)
• Fixed theme under Brave Shields not being changed when switching themes. (#3870)
• Fixed "Reset settings" feature under brave://settings. (#2708)
• Fixed notifications not being dismissible under reward panel in certain cases causing performance issues. (#4344)
• Fixed updating from older versions of Brave fails to enable Brave ads. (#4224)
• Fixed "Brave Ads has arrived!" notification not being displayed when updating on Linux. (#4202)
• Fixed blank drop down menu under Brave Shields in certain cases. (#2488)
• Fixed not being able to enable Brave Rewards in certain cases. (#3851)
• Fixed incorrect attention percentage being displayed under auto-contribution table in certain cases. (#3668)
• Fixed attention data for publishers not being removed when removing publishers from auto-contribution table. (#3459)
• Fixed several resizing issues by making rewards panel height dynamic based on content. (#2874)
• Fixed IPFS companion options page not being displayed. (#4218)
• Fixed "This is a secondary installation of Brave" error when attempting to set Brave as default. (#3817)
• Fixed autofill popup for credentials unexpectedly being displayed in odd locations upon page load. (#1713)
• Fixed brave://crash not crashing brave:// tabs. (#4111)
• Fixed visiting http://www.bbcnews.com and several other websites triggering warning due to the lookalike url navigation feature. (#4304)
• Fixed huffpost.com not loading due to default Brave Shields settings. (#4149)
• Limited JavaScript set cookie lifetime to seven days. (#3443)

 

Brave Browser v0.64.76 Released (May 16, 2019)
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Brave Browser v0.64.77 Released (May 22, 2019)
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Opening the door to paying for privacy? Not gonna happen here. I will just NOT BUY ANYTHING from an unsolicited advert on the internet. If you are a website I visit voluntarily, fine, I expect you to tout your product, that's why I went there. I do NOT expect a raft of third party ads for other stuff, especially not tailored for my past purchase history. I expect someone selling and/or distributing stuff to pay the ISP for the privilege, not me.

If you are a Newspaper do NOT plaster dozens of distracting flashy ads all over every news article then also have a classified ads section. And do not top it all off with a nasty intrusive popover unblockable demand we read all your ads AND pay for a subscription to do so. Our local district paper is one such and has a left wing and 'green' bias like many papers here. You get permanently banned for disagreeing with their politics. Freedom of speech is only for the left of centre. They even post ads for illegal TV devices to break copyrights. As I found out, you get banned for pointing that out & telling them they should keep their ads in the classified section. They still send me unsolicited emails tho, with ads! Thunderbird sends them straight into my spam folder for deletion on exiting.

p.s.- Tried Brave, kept crashing/freezing, uninstalled after a few attempts.

 

Another attempt at trying to lure users with another cryptic "crypto-currency" which ends up being nothing more than hot air.
Nice attempt at keeping users for some time though but it will end like the endless amount of times it has been tried before. It will only last as long as the users aren't able to see the emptiness behind the bubble.

 

At least it's fast!