The Most Interesting Thing I Learned This Week: Brave Web Browser

Knowledge is a core value at SCG. This weekly column highlights something interesting learned recently by one of our team members. We hope you find it intriguing, relevant and informative:

What web browser are you using to read this blog article? Chances are it’s Chrome if you’re on a non-mobile device or an Android phone – and, let me guess, Safari if you’re an iPhone user? Google Chrome reigns supreme in browser market share in the U.S. at nearly 50 percent followed by Safari at around 30 percent (primarily due to iPhone popularity), and Firefox pushing 6 percent. This is for good reason though: They are great browsers. But there is a new kid on the block that has some interesting features you’ll want to check out.

Let’s Get Brave

Chrome is great. Firefox is great. Safari is great. Hash browns are great. But perhaps it’s time to try something new – even if it’s just for the sake of trying something new. I’ve recently discovered a new web browser named Brave, and it’s pretty cool. Why? Let’s let Wikipedia do the talking for a hot second:

“Brave is a free and open-source web browser based on the Chromium web browser and its Blink engine, announced by the co-founder of the Mozilla project and creator of JavaScript, Brendan Eich. It claims to block website trackers and remove intrusive Internet advertisements. The browser also claims to improve online privacy by sharing less data with advertising customers.”

So there you go. The Brave web browser is all about privacy. But my attraction to Brave so far has been speed – the fringe benefit of blocking web page ads and tracking scripts. According to their home page, “Brave loads major news sites 2 to 8 times faster than Chrome and Safari on mobile, and nearly 2 times faster than Chrome on desktop.” If you read TIME and CNN or just about any other news site or blog with ads galore, then do yourself a favor and check out Brave next time you need your headlines fix. If privacy is more your concern, learn more about Brave’s privacy and security features here. It’s easy to put its “shield” up and down willy nilly, which I dig.