The increasingly popular privacy-focused browser Brave is officially saying goodbye to Google as its default search engine, replacing the world's most popular search engine in favor of "Brave Search," the company announced in a blog post.
Brave Search is Brave's answer to customers wanting a "privacy-preserving" search engine, and it's built using Brave's own "independent index, and doesn't track users, their searches, or their clicks." Brave users in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada will automatically have Brave Search set as their default search engine in the address bar instead of Google. Brave Search is also replacing other default browsers, such as Qwant in France and DuckDuckGo in Germany.
Today's Brave desktop browser update (version 1.31), as well as the Brave Android app (version 1.31)* and the Brave iOS app (version 1.32) all automatically offer Brave Search as the default for new users in these five countries, with fully localized versions in non-English geographies. Brave users can easily choose a different search option if they prefer by managing their search engine settings. Brave Search is also available in any other browser at search.brave.com.
Users in all countries will still be able to revert their default search engine back to Google or DuckDuckGo, but Brave is hoping the majority won't. Brave Search does not display any ads in its current form, but the company announced plans this week to change that. Brave says that the free version of its search engine will "soon be ad-supported," with the company planning to offer a premium ad-free plan later down the line. Brave launched Brave Search in beta earlier this summer.
They'll market themselves as "privacy focused" by blocking ads, then they will release their own ads to make money.
Anyone who actually falls for this is an idiot.
"privacy focussed" doesn't mean blocking ads, it means keeping your details private and not exposing and sharing them with anyone, so I suspect you won't get targeted ads you'll just get generic ads. They've got to pay for their servers, developers, electricity somehow you know, they can't do it off of good will and unicorn wishes.
I sometime get tired of the self-entitled "I expect you to give me stuff for free" mentality.
I've tried Duckduckgo and all the other alternatives. They all suck compared to Google in terms of search results.
Do I like Google? Not at all. Do I want the best search results? Absolutely.
An interesting feature of DuckDuckGo is if you type a “g!” before your search term, DDG uses Google search thru their own server, as a layer of search privacy contraceptive.
You can also specify other search engines, like “y!” for the true renegades who still use Yahoo!
I wonder why Amazon hasn’t dabbled with a search engine? They seem to have all the infrastructure in place, and already deploy one for their own webshop. It would be the perfect vehicle for placing ads for their own retail operation.
If I was a shark like Amazon exec with an eye towards a fat promotion, I’d be waiting for any Google stumble to launch that proposal.
Friday August 27, 2021 1:34 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
It's no secret that Apple and Google have a considerable monetary agreement that ensures Google's position as the default search engine on Apple's devices. In a new investor note by financial advisor Bernstein's Toni Sacconaghi, the analyst claims Google's payment to Apple to maintain the status quo could reach $15 billion in 2021, up from $10 billion last year.
First reported by Ped30,...
Twitter on iOS is now rolling out the ability for users to more easily search for tweets from a specific account, using a new search field that appears on an account's page.
The feature, which was first spotted on Twitter, offers users a much easier way to search for tweets from a specific user. While the ability was previously possible using the standard Twitter search field, the new search ...
Wednesday October 6, 2021 2:55 pm PDT by Juli Clover
A bug in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 is preventing Safari from loading AMP links for Google search results, but the issue is not intentional and Google is preparing a fix that's set to be released in the near future.
Developer Jeff Johnson today published a blog post speculating on whether Google had intentionally disabled AMP links for Google search results in Safari on devices running iOS 15 (via ...
An iPad has been credited with facilitating the rescue of a man and his daughter after they went missing following a plane crash in Pennsylvania, CNN reports.
On Sunday, November 14, a small, single-engine plane crashed in Pennsylvania, according to local State Police. A five hour search ensued, desperately attempting to find the two passengers, a 58-year-old man and his 13-year-old...
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission watchdog is eyeing a potential probe into pre-installed software and pre-defined "default" choices on mobile devices, including Google being set as the default search engine on Apple devices. In a press release (via ZDNet), the agency is asking for consumer and industry feedback on the state of default settings, pre-installed web browsers,...
With the App Store now home to nearly two million apps, Apple appears to be testing a new feature to make search results more contextual.
As noted in the MacRumors forums and on Twitter, some iPhone users in recent weeks have started to see tags in the App Store after searching for a popular term like "photos" or "wallpaper." After searching for "photos," for example, some of the tags that...
Thursday April 29, 2021 1:43 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today announced that the App Store is now offering search suggestions, a new feature that's designed to make it easy to locate exactly what you're looking for when seeking out a new app or game.
You'll see search suggestions when you start typing in a new search term. So, for example, if you type in "Game," you'll see specific categories you can add such as "puzzle," "multiplayer,"...
Wednesday November 10, 2021 2:23 am PST by Sami Fathi
The United Kingdom's Supreme Court today sided with Google in restoring its appeal against a lawsuit that accused it of wrongly tracking users within the iPhone's Safari browser without their consent.
According to the ruling, the judge believed that the lawsuit, which sought to ask for compensation from Google for millions of users allegedly affected by its tracking practices, is "officious" ...
Tuesday November 23, 2021 10:09 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Israeli firm NSO Group and its parent company with the aim of holding it accountable for targeting Apple users with spyware used for surveillance purposes.
In the lawsuit, Apple offers up information on how NSO Group infiltrated the devices of iPhone owners and how it utilized the Pegasus spyware to do so. Apple is asking for a...
Tuesday November 9, 2021 10:07 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple over the summer announced new Child Safety features that are aimed at keeping children safer online. Apple has confirmed that one of those features, Communication Safety in Messages, has been enabled in the second beta of iOS 15.2 that was released today, after hints of it appeared in the first beta. Note that Communication Safety is not the same as the controversial anti-CSAM feature that...
Top Rated Comments
I sometime get tired of the self-entitled "I expect you to give me stuff for free" mentality.
You can also specify other search engines, like “y!” for the true renegades who still use Yahoo!
I wonder why Amazon hasn’t dabbled with a search engine? They seem to have all the infrastructure in place, and already deploy one for their own webshop. It would be the perfect vehicle for placing ads for their own retail operation.
If I was a shark like Amazon exec with an eye towards a fat promotion, I’d be waiting for any Google stumble to launch that proposal.
Do I like Google? Not at all.
Do I want the best search results? Absolutely.