WebProNews

Tag: brave

  • Mini-Review: Brave Search Introduces AI-Powered Summarizer

    Mini-Review: Brave Search Introduces AI-Powered Summarizer

    Brave Search has unveiled its latest feature, the AI-powered Summarizer, which is designed to give users quick answers.

    Microsoft Bing may be getting much of the news coverage for AI-powered search, but Brave is a popular, privacy-focused search engine that is also integrating AI capabilities. The company’s Summarizer tool is designed to give users “concise and to-the-point answers at the top of Brave Search results pages.”

    Best known for its Brave web browser, the company acquired the open search engine Tailcat in early 2021 and used it as the basis for its Brave Search. The company’s search engine is unique in that it is one of the few independent search engines that has its own web index. In contrast, many other independent search engines use Google or Bing and strip out those companies’ trackers.

    Read more: Brave Search Enters Public Beta

    I personally am a big fan of Brave Search, using it more times than I can count throughout the day. While it’s not perfect, I find Brave to provide more relevant results than either Google or Bing in many categories.

    The Summarizer began showing up at the top of Brave searches on March 2. In just the last few days, I’ve come to rely on the feature more and more, especially when looking for quick answers.

    For example, searching for “best Linux text editor” produces this answer:

    Brave Summarizer – Best Linux Text Editor

    Asking “what is WebProNews” results in:

    Brave Summarizer – What Is WebProNews

    Just for laughs, I even asked, “who is matt milano tech journalist,” and received this:

    Brave Summarizer – Who Is Matt Milano

    At least Summarizer didn’t confuse me with a certain NFL player…

    As the company points out and is evident in the above screenshots, Brave’s Summarizer is designed to provide authoritative answers, even backing them up with sources. The company emphasizes this advantage in its blog:

    Unlike a purely generative AI model, which is prone to spout unsubstantiated assertions, we trained our large language models (LLMs) to process multiple sources of information present on the Web. This produces a more concise, accurate answer, expressed in coherent language.

    In addition, the provenance of original sources of data is cited at all times via links. This maintains the rightful attribution of information, and helps users assess the trustworthiness of the sources, both of which are needed to mitigate the authority biases of large language models.

    It’s clear from Brave’s approach that the company does not believe in relying solely on AI for answers but believes it should be used responsibly, in combination with “critical thinking.”

    Using Web results enables the Summarizer to provide real-time information that is up to date with today’s events. Given the current advancements in AI, it’s crucial to remind users that one should not believe everything an AI system produces, in much the same way one should not believe everything that is published on the Web. At the risk of stating the obvious, we should not suspend critical thinking for anything we consume, no matter how impressive the results of AI models can be.

    “With 22 million queries per day, Brave Search is the fastest growing search engine since Bing. We provide independent search results from our own index of the Web, and today we’re further improving the relevance of those results with our AI-powered Summarizer,” said Josep M. Pujol, Chief of Search at Brave. “Unlike AI chat tools which can provide fabricated responses, the Summarizer generates a plain-written summary at the top of the search results page, aggregating the latest sources on the Web and providing source attribution for transparency and accountability. This open system is available to all Brave Search users today to help them better navigate search results.”

    Overall, I’m impressed with Brave’s implementation and will continue to rely heavily on it. Hopefully, the company will continue to evolve and improve it even more. In the meantime, all users can try it out without joining a waitlist.

  • Facebook Is Encrypting Links to Bypass Browser Privacy Settings

    Facebook Is Encrypting Links to Bypass Browser Privacy Settings

    Facebook is at it again, encrypting its URLs in an effort to bypass the privacy protections afforded by Brave and Firefox.

    According to Ghacks, the issue stems from changes Firefox and Brave made to strip out tracking parameters from URLs. Tracking parameters are trailing characters in a URL that provide no benefit to the user, designed to help the website track them. To get around Brave and Firefox stripping out the tracking parameters, Facebook is working to encrypt its URLs.

    Facebook is specifically encrypting the URLS rather than simply changing their parameters in an effort to prevent the browser makers from adapting. URL stripping is based on known tracking parameters. Once Facebook changes the parameters, the browser makers would simply adapt and filter out the new ones. Encrypting the URLs makes it exponentially more difficult, if not impossible, for the browser makers to adapt.

    Facebook has a long and well-established reputation for ignoring privacy and going to great lengths to collect any and all information it can on users. Its latest effort completely ignores users’ preferences by bypassing protections they have opted to use. What’s worse, the company has shown the rest of the industry how to bypass this protection.

  • Researcher Discovers DuckDuckGo Allows Some Microsoft Trackers

    Researcher Discovers DuckDuckGo Allows Some Microsoft Trackers

    DuckDuckGo is receiving criticism for the terms of a deal with Microsoft that has resulted in some Microsoft trackers being whitelisted.

    DDG has made a name for itself as a privacy-first company, building a search engine, browser extensions, and web browsers around the premise of protecting user privacy. The company is one of the few that truly makes an effort to protect user privacy and data. Unfortunately, its terms with Microsoft have caused some concern.

    Unlike Google, Bing, or Brave, DDG gets its search results from other engines, with the bulk of them coming from Bing. The company has long claimed to strip out trackers from the search results it provides, although clicking an ad from Microsoft in the search results is handled differently. DDG has never made a secret of the fact that clicking on those ads sends a user’s IP address to Microsoft, since the user is leaving DDG and entering Microsoft’s space.

    Unfortunately, DDG had not been able to disclose the terms of the deal that whitelisted some Microsoft trackers, due to a confidentiality clause in the agreement between the two companies. Security researcher Zach Edwards first made the discovery and tweeted about it:

    Sometimes you find something so disturbing during an audit, you’ve gotta check/recheck because you assume that *something* must be broken in the test. But I’m confident now. The new @DuckDuckGo browsers for iOS/Android don’t block Microsoft data flows, for LinkedIn or Bing.

    — Zach Edwards (@thezedwards), May 23, 2022

    Ironically, DDG doesn’t even block Microsoft’s data trackers on Workplace.com, a Facebook-owned domain that it brags about blocking Facebook’s trackers on.

    Needless to say, DDG CEO Gabriel Weinberg is doing his best to put out the fire:

    We’ve been working tirelessly behind the scenes to change these requirements, though our syndication agreement also has a confidentially provision that prevents disclosing details. Again, we expect to have an update soon that will include more third-party Microsoft protection.

    — Gabriel Weinberg (@yegg), May 23, 2022

    Of course, Weinberg might not have to put out so big a fire if his company had disclosed this issue first, rather than waiting until it was uncovered by a security researcher.

    In the meantime, Shivan Kaul Sahib, Privacy Engineer for Brave, highlighted the inherent conflict of interest for a company that relies on the good graces of another company making money off of ad trackers.

    This is shocking. DuckDuckGo has a search deal with Microsoft which prevents them from blocking MS trackers. And they can’t talk about it! This is why privacy products that are beholden to giant corporations can never deliver true privacy; the business model just doesn’t work.

    — Shivan Kaul Sahib (@shivan_kaul), May 23, 2022

    Speaking of Brave, the company is one of the only ones on the market that provides a truly independent alternative to Google and Bing. The company bought Tailcat, allowing it to build its own search engine that relies on a completely independent web index. This keeps Brave from being beholden to Microsoft, Google, or any other company.

    With a privacy-focused browser and a truly independent search engine, Brave is quickly establishing itself as a much better privacy solution than DDG.

    In the meantime, here is a statement from Weinberg that was provided to WPN:

    “We have always been extremely careful to never promise anonymity when browsing, because that frankly isn’t possible given how quickly trackers change how they work to evade protections and the tools we currently offer. When most other browsers on the market talk about tracking protection they are usually referring to 3rd-party cookie protection and fingerprinting protection, and our browsers for iOS, Android, and our new Mac beta, impose these restrictions on third-party tracking scripts, including those from Microsoft. 

    “What we’re talking about here is an above-and-beyond protection that most browsers don’t even attempt to do — that is, blocking third-party tracking scripts before they load on 3rd party websites. Because we’re doing this where we can, users are still getting significantly more privacy protection with DuckDuckGo than they would using Safari, Firefox and other browsers. This blog post we published gets into the real benefits users enjoy from this approach, like faster load times (46% average decrease) and less data transferred (34% average decrease). Our goal has always been to provide the most privacy we can in one download, by default without any complicated settings.” 

    “I understand this is all rather confusing because it is a search syndication contract that is preventing us from doing a non-search thing. That’s because our product is a bundle of multiple privacy protections, and this is a distribution requirement imposed on us as part of the search syndication agreement that helps us privately use some Bing results to provide you with better private search results overall. While a lot of what you see on our results page privately incorporates content from other sources, including our own indexes (e.g., Wikipedia, Local listings, Sports, etc.), we source most of our traditional links and images privately from Bing (though because of other search technology our link and image results still may look different). Really only two companies (Google and Microsoft) have a high-quality global web link index (because I believe it costs upwards of a billion dollars a year to do), and so literally every other global search engine needs to bootstrap with one or both of them to provide a mainstream search product. The same is true for maps btw — only the biggest companies can similarly afford to put satellites up and send ground cars to take streetview pictures of every neighborhood.

    “Anyway, I hope this provides some helpful context. Taking a step back, I know our product is not perfect and will never be. Nothing can provide 100% protection. And we face many constraints: platform constraints (we can’t offer all protections on every platform do to limited APIs or other restrictions), limited contractual constraints (like in this case), breakage constraints (blocking some things totally breaks web experiences), and of course the evolving tracking arms race that we constantly work to keep ahead of. That’s why we have always been extremely careful to never promise anonymity when browsing outside our search engine, because that frankly isn’t possible. We’re also working on updates to our app store descriptions to make this more clear. Holistically though I believe what we offer is the best thing out there for mainstream users who want simple privacy protection without breaking things, and that is our product vision.”

    Updated 5/25/22: Edited for clarity and to add Gabriel Weinberg’s statement.

  • Brave and DuckDuckGo Push Back Against Google AMP

    Brave and DuckDuckGo Push Back Against Google AMP

    Brave and DuckDuckGo are pushing back against Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), bypassing the technology in their browsers and apps.

    AMP is a framework developed and deployed by Google under the guise of helping webpages load faster, especially for mobile devices. When a user clicks on a search result, Google essentially pre-loads the web content, optimizes it, and then presents it to the user, with no visual indication the page is being served from Google’s servers instead of the publisher’s. Both Brave and DuckDuckGo’s web browsers will now work to de-AMP web pages, serving up the publisher’s original site instead of Google’s AMP version.

    Brave outlines their approach in a blog post:

    Brave will protect users from AMP in several ways. Where possible, De-AMP will rewrite links and URLs to prevent users from visiting AMP pages altogether. And in cases where that is not possible, Brave will watch as pages are being fetched and redirect users away from AMP pages before the page is even rendered, preventing AMP/Google code from being loaded and executed.

    DuckDuckGo is taking similar measures with their web browser, as well as all of their apps and browser extensions:

    NEW: our apps & extensions now protect against Google AMP tracking. When you load or share a Google AMP page anywhere from DuckDuckGo apps (iOS/Android/Mac) or extensions (Firefox/Chrome), the original publisher’s webpage will be used in place of the Google AMP version.

    DuckDuckGo (@DuckDuckGo), April 19, 2022

    There are a number of reasons why both companies are pushing back and adopting this approach. First and foremost, privacy is one of the biggest casualties of AMP, as Brave points out:

    AMP gives Google an even broader view of which pages people view on the Web, and how people interact with them. AMP encourages developers to more tightly integrate with Google servers and systems, and penalizes publishers with decreased search rankings and placements if they don’t, further allowing Google to track and profile users.

    AMP is also a security nightmare since users aren’t clearly informed that they are browsing a website from Google’s servers, and not from the site’s publishers. This, in turn, gives Google far more control, increasing their monopolization of the web. As Brave points out, AMP doesn’t even deliver the performance improvements Google touts.

    It’s hard not to see AMP, and its upcoming successor, as an unabashed attempt by Google to further control the future of the web. Thankfully, companies like Brave and DuckDuckGo are continuing to fight back.

  • Brave Search Enters Public Beta

    Brave Search Enters Public Beta

    Brave has opened its search engine beta to the world, following an invite-only early access.

    Brave made headlines in March when the company announced it was working on its own search engine. Brave has made a name for itself as a privacy-focused company, with its namesake browser consistently winning rave reviews for protecting user privacy.

    Needless to say, the company entering the search market could result in a major shakeup of the industry, especially with Brave’s clout and reputation. What makes its entry into the market so interesting is that it purchased Tailcat, an open search engine, to serve as the basis of Brave Search. Most competitors compile results from the top, existing search engines. DuckDuckGo uses this strategy, compiling results from hundreds of sources, in addition to results from its own web crawler.

    By using its own web index, Brave Search’s results are independent of the other, Big Tech companies. This puts Brave in the unique position of having one of the only truly independent search engines on the market.

    The search engine, while still in beta, is now available to anyone who wants to use it. The company sent an email to early testers today, informing them the beta was now open to the public.

    Brave Search Email
    Brave Search Email

    As one of the early beta testers, I have been using Brave for weeks now and the results have been impressive. Compared to Bing or Google, Brave’s results are easily as comprehensive, although it sometimes offers even better prioritization of those results, in terms of relevance.

    Add in a focus on privacy that is second to none, and I plan to continue using the search engine on a regular basis, and probably as my default — and you should too if you value your privacy.

    Give Brave Search at search.brave.com.

  • Another Week, Another Round of Serious Google Chrome Security Flaws

    Another Week, Another Round of Serious Google Chrome Security Flaws

    In what is becoming a regular occurrence, Google has issued another Chrome update to fix a number of issues, including seven serious security flaws.

    Google Chrome is the most popular desktop browser by a wide margin. Unfortunately, it also seems to have its fair share of security issues, with Google issuing a patch every couple to few weeks to fix critical ones.

    Google has now issued another fix, addressing seven serious security issues. Even the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is recommending users and admins update immediately.

    This version addresses vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit to take control of an affected system.

    CISA encourages users and administrators to review the Chrome Release Note and apply the necessary updates.

    A recent report showed Firefox has dropped 50 million users in the last couple of years, and is now hovering around 200 million. Google’s ongoing issues show why it’s important to not only have a variety of browsers on the market, but also ones that use different rendering engines.

    Safari uses Webkit, Firefox uses Gecko and Chrome is based on the Chromium codebase, which uses Blink. Many others, such as Brave, Opera, Vivaldi and Microsoft Edge are also based on Chromium, meaning they all use the same engine.

    As a result, with the popularity of Apple’s Safari on mobile, and Chrome-based browsers on the desktop, Firefox’s future as a private, secure third option is more important than ever.

  • Microsoft Is Going Back to the ‘90s, Using Windows to Push Its Web Browser

    Microsoft Is Going Back to the ‘90s, Using Windows to Push Its Web Browser

    Microsoft is under fire for (once again) abusing its Windows platform to push its own web browser, reminiscent of its actions in the mid-90s.

    Microsoft’s history in the mid-90s was dominated by its browser war with Netscape. The company ultimately bundled Internet Explorer so tightly with Windows, that it was simply too difficult and inconvenient for most users to continue relying on Netscape.

    It seems Microsoft may be reverting back to that behavior and, in the process, is drawing sharp criticism from third-party browser makers, including Mozilla, Brave, Opera and Vivaldi. As The Verge points out, Windows 11 asks the user, when they install a third-party browser and try to open a link for the first time, which browser they want set as their default. However, unless the user selects “always use this app,” the default will remain unchanged. There’s also no fast and easy way to go back and do so if the user doesn’t get it right during that initial dialog.

    To make matters even worse, rather than providing a simple method to change the web browser in settings, Microsoft now forces users to select the browser they want to use for each and every one of the various filetypes that often comprise a website. That means the user has to set the default web browser for HTTP, HTTPS, HTM, HTML, XHT, XHTML, PDF, SHTML, SVG, WEBP and FTP.

    While users obviously may want to use a dedicated FTP or PDF client, every other one of those files should all be lumped together, handled by a single default browser.

    Even if a user goes through the tedious process of changing the default browser for each and every one of the necessary file types, it still won’t stop Windows from defaulting to Edge. A number of browser-based widgets will still open Edge regardless of the default setting.

    Inexplicably, Microsoft says this is what users want.

    “With Windows 11, we are implementing customer feedback to customize and control defaults at a more granular level, eliminating app categories and elevating all apps to the forefront of the defaults experience,” a Microsoft spokesperson told The Verge. “As evidenced by this change, we’re constantly listening and learning, and welcome customer feedback that helps shape Windows. Windows 11 will continue to evolve over time; if we learn from user experience that there are ways to make improvements, we will do so.”

    What Microsoft no doubt meant to say is: “We searched long and hard to find the most technologically masochistic users we could find, ones that love having their own technology fight against them, and based our decisions on their feedback.”

    There were a lot of great things about the ‘90s, but Microsoft’s behavior wasn’t one of them. The company should abandon this nonsense immediately.

  • Google Releases Chrome Update Addressing Zero-Day Exploit

    Google Releases Chrome Update Addressing Zero-Day Exploit

    Google has released a major updated for its Chrome web browser, addressing a number of security issues, including a zero-day exploit.

    Google Chrome is currently the most popular web browser on the market by a wide margin. In addition to the success it enjoys as a standalone product, a number of companies use Chrome’s rendering engine, Chromium, as the basis of their browsers. Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera and Vivaldi are just a few of the browsers built on Chromium.

    The latest update addresses a number of security issues, the most important of which is a zero-day exploit. Google has published details on its blog, and will roll the update out to individuals who don’t apply the patch on their own.

    Users of Chromium-based browsers should likewise check to make sure they’re running the latest version of their browsers.

  • Brave Launching Privacy-Focused Brave Search

    Brave Launching Privacy-Focused Brave Search

    Brave, the privacy-focused web browser made by JavaScript creator Brendan Eich, is throwing its hat in the search engine ring.

    Brave has made a name for itself as one of the best web browsers for an out-of-the-box privacy focus, aggressively blocking trackers and ads. The browser uses Chromium as its rendering engine, ensuring its high performance and compatibility. Brave also includes its own cryptocurrency, which can be used as a way of rewarding content makers, in an effort to reinvent how paid web content works.

    The company’s latest effort is its most ambitious yet, with plans to take on Google with a more privacy-focused alternative — Brave Search.

    Billed as “search without a trace,” Brave Search will respect privacy, not harvesting user data, tracking or profiling users, or being beholden to advertisers. The search engine will offer both ad-free paid search and ad-supported free search options.

    The most critical basis of a search engine is its index of the web. To make Brave Search a reality, the company acquired Tailcat, an open search engine developed by the same team responsible for German search engine Cliqz, a Hubert Burda Media holding. Tailcat will form the basis of the new Brave Search.

    “Brave has grown significantly over the past year, from 11 million monthly active users to over 25 million. We expect to see even greater demand for Brave in 2021 as more and more users demand real privacy solutions to escape Big Tech’s invasive practices,” said Brendan Eich, CEO and co-founder of Brave Software. “Brave’s mission is to put the user first, and integrating privacy-preserving search into our platform is a necessary step to ensure that user privacy is not plundered to fuel the surveillance economy.”

    “We are very happy that our technology is being used at Brave and that, as a result, a genuine, privacy-friendly alternative to Google is being created in the core web functions of browsing and searching,” added Paul-Bernhard Kallen, CEO of Hubert Burda Media. “As a Brave stakeholder we will continue to be involved in this exciting project.”

    “The only way to counter Big Tech with its bad habit of collecting personal data is to develop a robust, independent, and privacy-preserving search engine that delivers the quality users have come to expect. People should not be forced to choose between privacy and quality,” said Dr. Josep M. Pujol, head of the Tailcat project. “The team is excited to be working on the only real private search/browser alternative to Big Tech available on the market.”

    With Google Chrome and Google Search boasting a 70% and 92% share of their respective markets, Brave definitely has an uphill battle ahead of it. Nonetheless, the company has gained significant momentum over the last couple of years. In addition, Google’s antitrust troubles have opened the door to what may be the best opportunity to challenge the once unassailable market leader.

    In the meantime, interested users can sign up to be put on a waiting list for early access to Brave Search.

  • Brave Becomes First Web Browser to Support IPFS

    Brave Becomes First Web Browser to Support IPFS

    Brave has crossed a major milestone, becoming the first browser to support the new IPFS protocol.

    Brave is an independent, open source browser co-founded by CEO Brendan Eich, former CEO of Mozilla, and Brian Bondy. The browser uses the open source Chromium rendering engine, giving it the same speed and compatibility advantages as Google Chrome. From the beginning, however, Brave has placed a major emphasis on privacy and security, consistently being recognized as one of the most private out-of-the-box browsers.

    The indie browser has now become the first to support IPFS, beating its larger rivals. IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) emphasizes a decentralized web, providing additional speed and security. In essence, IPFS works similar to BitTorrent, allowing users to download data from multiple sources, rather than from a single location. It also provides a level of resiliency not present with traditional HTTP.

    “We’re thrilled to be the first browser to offer a native IPFS integration with today’s Brave desktop browser release,” said Brian Bondy, CTO and co-founder of Brave. “Providing Brave’s 1 million+ verified content creators with the power to seamlessly serve content to millions of new users across the globe via a new and secure protocol, IPFS gives users a solution to the problem of centralized servers creating a central point of failure for content access. IPFS’ innovative content addressing uses Content Identifiers (CIDs) to form an address based on the content itself as opposed to locating data based on the address of a server. Integrating the IPFS open-source network is a key milestone in making the Web more transparent, decentralized, and resilient.”

    Brave’s adoption of IPFS is a step in the right direction, hopefully a step other browser makers quickly follow.

  • Brave Web Browser Passes 20 Million Monthly Users, 7 Million Daily

    Brave Web Browser Passes 20 Million Monthly Users, 7 Million Daily

    Brave web browser is making inroads in the market, announcing it now has 20 million monthly active users and 7 million daily active users.

    Brave is distinguishing itself as a browser that focuses on privacy and security. By default, the browser is considered to be more secure than Firefox. At the same time, thanks to its Chromium engine—the same engine that powers Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge— Brave generally offers top-tier performance, often beating rivals.

    When it comes to monetization, Brave uses a somewhat unique method. The browser aggressively blocks ads, but gives users the option of seeing ads from Brave’s own network that, again, emphasizes privacy. This model seems to be a hit for all parties, as Brave boasts a click-through rate of 9%, well above the industry average of 2%.

    In addition, Brave allows individuals to become verified content creators. Other users can then use Brave’s own cryptocurrency, Basic Attention Tokens, to tip their favorite content creators.

    Brave’s features and performance seem to be gaining traction. The browser’s current 20 million monthly active users is up from 8.7 million a year ago. Similarly, the 7 million daily active users is up from 3 million a year ago. Since Apple began allowing users to set their default iOS browser in iOS 14, Brave’s daily active iOS users has grown 34%.

    At a time when Mozilla is still struggling to break free from its dependance on Google subsidies, and other major browsers are bundled with operating systems, it’s good to see an independent browser succeeding with an innovative approach to monetization and sustainability.

  • Google Chrome Will Get Error Codes To Help With Troubleshooting

    Google Chrome Will Get Error Codes To Help With Troubleshooting

    According to ZDNet, Google’s Chrome web browser will soon receive error codes similar to those shown on the Windows blue screen of death (BSOD) display.

    The feature was proposed by Eric Lawrence, a software engineer working on the Chromium-based version of Microsoft Edge. The goal is to provide users with a convenient way to diagnose issues by giving them an error code they can research and learn about.

    The feature is currently being tested in Chrome v81, but there has been no confirmation that it will make the final build of v81, or be included in the next release. Either way, all indications are this is a permanent addition to the browser.

    As ZDNet highlights, since it was an engineer working on Microsoft’s browser that suggested the feature, it will likely make its way to other Chromium-based browsers, such as Opera, Vivaldi and Brave.

  • New Google Chrome Feature May Drive Users to Firefox

    New Google Chrome Feature May Drive Users to Firefox

    The Register is reporting on a new feature in an upcoming version of Google Chrome that has privacy-conscious users worried. A recent API called getInstalledRelatedApps may allow websites to determine what apps are installed on a user’s device.

    At first glance, the API seems to have an admirable purpose. If users have both web and native applications installed, they could be bombarded by duplicate sets of notifications. If a website can determine that its native app is installed, it would then prioritize notifications for the native app. Unfortunately, the API doesn’t really seem to be aimed at improving the experience—not for the user at least.

    In response to a question from Opera developer Daniel Bratell, expressing concern about how this API would help users, Google engineer Rayan Kanso wrote:

    “Although this isn’t an API that would directly benefit users, it indirectly benefits them through improved web experiences,” Kanso wrote. “We received very positive OT [off-topic] feedback from partners using this API, and the alternative is them using hacks to figure whether their native app is installed.”

    In other words, this API is more about making it easier for web and app developers’ marketing needs than it is truly making users’ lives easier.

    The privacy implications are clear: If websites can determine what apps are installed on a person’s phone or tablet, it can provide a relatively complete picture, otherwise known as a fingerprint, about that person’s habits.

    As The Register points out, Peter Snyder, a privacy researcher at browser maker Brave, voiced his own concerns:

    “I don’t follow the claim about non-fingerprint-ability. If I’m a company with a large number of apps (e.g. google), with 16-32 apps registered in app stores, the subset of which apps any user has installed is likely to be a very strong semi-identifier, no, and so be extremely risky for the user / valuable for the fingerprinter, no?

    “Apologies if I’m misunderstanding, but this seems like a very clear privacy risk.

    Put differently, if this isn’t a privacy risk, whats the rational behind disallowing this in private browsing mode?”

    With browsers like Firefox and Safari placing an emphasis on privacy and security, it’s a safe bet this is yet another move that will drive users away from Chrome.

  • Sara Bareilles, Carole King Sing ‘Brave’ at Grammys

    Sara Bareilles was joined on an adjacent piano for a stellar performance of part of her hit song Brave by the legendary Carole King at Sunday’s Grammy Awards. In a medley that began with King singing Beautiful, the ladies went seamlessly into the chorus of Brave. If it wasn’t clear to everyone (it should have been) that Bareilles was simply glowing as she sang opposite one of her long time idols, it became clear during a quick interview after their performance.

    “What a thrill to perform with the woman who has been such an inspiration to me,” Sara Bareilles said.

    “And what a thrill to see the future of music in such good hands,” Carole King added.

    Following their duet, Carole King and Sara Bareilles jointly announced Lorde as the winner of the Grammy Award Song of the Year for her hit tune Royals.

    Carole King received an award the night before the Grammys–having been named 2014’s MusiCares Person of the Year at a star-studded event Friday night in L.A. Sara Bareilles attended that celebration as well.

    Nominated for two Grammy Awards herself, Bareilles didn’t win, but certainly didn’t appear to be any less excited about all the event entailed.

    Sara Bareilles broke on to the music scene back in 2007 for her hit song Love Song. She served as a celebrity judge during the third season of NBC’s singing competition, The Sing Off, alongside Boyz II Men’s Shawn Stockman and Ben Folds of Ben Folds Five.. In 2012 she placed 80th in the Top 100 Greatest Women in Music.

    Did you see her performance Sunday evening with Carole King? What an excellent source of promotion that will no doubt turn out to be for Brave.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Sara Bareilles Wants Katy Perry Beef To Stop

    In music, melodies, lyrical themes and good ideas get recycled all of the time, and sometimes it comes from one artist inspiring another, and other times it’s done on purpose.

    And it’s safe to assume that many of Sara Bareilles’ fans thought Katy Perry was stealing from her song “Brave,” when she created “Roar,” as both share the same melodies and song concept.

    But despite Bareilles’ fans tweeting all kinds of nasty things to Perry, she said she never wanted things to unfold like that, simply because that isn’t her style. “I was surprised and to be honest, disappointed at how vicious people were,” said Bareilles in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “It’s not my nature, and it’s not reflective of what I feel I hope to incite in people. People really felt like Katy was ripping me off, and I disagree.”

    Earlier this month, we covered Bareilles’ interview with “CBS Sunday Morning,” where she admitted that her and Perry’s song sounded similar. But she also admitted there were no hard feelings or rivalry, because the two have been friends for quite some time.

    But that didn’t stop her fans from going at the “Prism” singer, and Bareilles said the backlash had more to do with people wanting a squabble than it had to do about music.

    In addition, Bareilles says there’s enough music and fans to go around, and nobody should want to see two friends fight or bicker. “Katy and I have known each other a really long time, she’s a friend of mine,” said the singer. “And it seemed like there was this infusion of people wanting to create conflict and drama. I find that to be really fatiguing.”

    “It’s an old paradigm of pitting people against each other based on the idea that there’s not enough–not enough fans–not enough music lovers, not enough space for both of you, so you have to hate each other.”

    Bareilles said the manufactured beef really upset her, and she felt like she was pulled into it without say. “I don’t believe in that,” she said. “I was disappointed. I feel it was misguided. There’s better s— to do than worry about that stuff.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Sara Bareilles Says Katy Perry Controversy Was Good For Her Song

    When Katy Perry released her hit single Roar back in August, fans immediately noticed a resemblance to Sara Bareilles’ single Brave. While many artists may have been upset by the similarities, Bareilles says that the comparison to Perry was “good for her song.”

    “I mean, I can’t say that I think that they don’t sound similar,” Bareilles told CBS Sunday Morning. “I’ve known Katy a really long time and we’re friends. And at the end of the day, it was really only good for my song. So, thank you, Katy Perry for that!”

    During an interview on Chelsea Lately , Bareilles described the uproar about the similar songs as “misguided energy.” She said she felt that “people were trying to create conflict and rivalry and anger where there really wasn’t.”

    Bareilles revealed that Brave was inspired by one of her close gay friends that was afraid to come out. “It just felt like I was watching the song take flight and take on a life of its own,” she explained. “It was becoming something bigger than it had even been intended to be. And that’s always – oh my gosh, what an amazing hope for something you create.”

    Brave is off of Bareilles’ newest album The Blessed Unrest, which received a nomination at the Grammy Awards for Album of the Year.

    “I was trying to text my family and my hands were shaking,” she said of her reaction to the nomination. “It was just this moment of sheer joy. It made me look back at the record itself, which was such a labor of love and a lot of pain as well. It was a really hard record to make. And it was the product of a tough year in my life.”

    Check out both videos below. What do you think about the comparison? Leave your comments below.

    Image via Twitter

  • Sara Bareilles Sings “Roar” with Katy Perry

    Sara Bareilles Sings “Roar” with Katy Perry

    On September 5, 2013, Katy Perry released her newest hit song, “Roar,” to the radio. Unsurprisingly, “Roar” debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard Top 100, becoming Perry’s eighth number 1 Billboard release. While the success of “Roar” was not surprising, the song itself was. Upon hearing Perry’s newest radio hit, many fans began alluding it to another popular song released months earlier – “Brave,” by Sarah Bareilles.

    Both songs are similar in their overall messages – essentially, that one must rise above and conquer all their life’s struggles. However, that is not the complaint from the fans. To many, it appears as if the underlying beat and general “tone” of the two songs sound too much alike, leaving many wondering if Katy Perry simply copied the success of Bareilles’s “Brave.” Luckily, the internet has been kind enough to provide a mash-up of the two so that one can decide for oneself:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIUP7MnrN2c

    If it is true that “Roar” is a copy of “Brave,” one can only blame Perry’s producers – Dr. Luke and Max Martin. Claiming that Dr. Luke had copied a song would not be too far of a stretch. While working for Avril Lavigne, Dr. Luke was sued for plagiarism, and Dr. Luke also drew much criticism when people stated that Perry’s “California Gurls” and Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” sounded too similar. Katy Perry has even drawn ire for copying musicians, with many claiming that her song, “I Kissed a Girl,” was too similar in concept to Jill Sobule’s “I Kissed a Girl.”

    Whatever the issue was, though, the proverbial hatchet has been buried. This past Wednesday at Perry’s cancer benefit concert, “We Can Survive: Music For Life,” Bareilles joined Perry on-stage to sing Perry’s “Roar.” This act of union was representative of Bareilles’s attitude about the controversy the entire time: “Katy’s a friend of mine and we’ve known each other a really long time, so she even texted me about it and we went back and forth. The shame that I feel that’s happened is that it’s become a drama. It’s putting this negative spin on two artists that are choosing to share positive messages,” Bareilles stated.

    The positive message of Bareilles’s “Brave” has been heard and recognized. Recently, patients and doctors at Amplatz Children’s Hospital at the University of Minnesota were inspired to create their own music video for Bareilles’s hit song. Even though inspiration for the song came from the struggles Bareilles’s friends faced with the decision to come out, the message has spread to be championed by any group facing adversity: “The staff put together this video that was very similar to the music video of ‘Brave’ and it’s heart wrenching and gorgeous and beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time…It’s a message I’m so happy to be the voice for,” said Bareilles.

    Despite the months of controversy and fan bickering, both Perry and Bareilles have been able to practice what they preach and rise above their own adversity with the song controversy. Bareilles even left a message for those who felt bitter towards the issue: “If I’m not mad I don’t know why anybody else is upset. I’m like, ‘Relax, let’s just celebrate that we can be out there and encouraging people to, like, feel strong and empowered.’”

    Image via Twitter

  • Sara Bareilles Reacts To Katy Perry’s Roar

    Sara Bareilles Reacts To Katy Perry’s Roar

    Sara Bareilles says that she is okay with Katy Perry’s new song “Roar” giving her success, despite the song showing great similarities to her own song, “Brave.” Bareilles does not feel that “Roar” steals from her song enough to feel that Perry had copied her, but a large portion of her fan base felt otherwise. Luckily for her, the great buzz swirling around the two songs helped Bareilles and her song has become more popular as a result.

    A number of her fans reacted strongly last month, thinking that “Roar” had stolen the melody from Bareilles’ “Brave,” which was released in April. “Roar” is currently No.1 on the charts, but “Brave,” a song that was not as popular has jumped into the top 40, peaking at No. 31, due to the drama over the songs that occurred over the internet, according to Billboard. Bareilles does not want to let it bother her, and is even friends with Katy Perry. They spoke after the incident happened and were friendly with each other, with Bareilles feeling that she did not take anything specific from the song. She is welcoming the success that Perry’s song has brought to her and is thankful that supposedly being copied has caused people to buy her music.

    Both songs deal with empowerment, and being strong in what you want to do. She was not affected in a negative way when the song was released, and as a result of the way that her fans reacted so strongly, she even felt upset with them. In response to how the fans reacted afterward she said, “To be totally honest, I was sort of disappointed in how aggressive fans were being about it.” They are both singers making music independently of one another and sometimes sounding similar is unavoidable. That seems to be the way Bareilles sees it anyway.

    She described the story behind “Brave” when saying, “I had a good friend who was struggling with coming out as an adult, so this is sort of my message to that person.” Time Magazine says that “Brave” was co-written with Jack Antonoff, the guitarist for FUN. and it is the first single from her latest album, “The Blessed Unrest.” The Grammy nominated singer is well-known for her song “Love Song,” from her album “Little Voice,” and will begin a tour on October 6th in Boston.

    Her and Perry are still on good terms with each other and even joked about mixing their songs together, just to make sure all of their fans know that they are not mad at each other about what happened. If the singers are fine with it, the fans should be too, right?

    Image via Youtube

  • Brave Movie: Disney-Pixar’s Latest Rises to the Top

    Brave Movie: Disney-Pixar’s Latest Rises to the Top

    “Brave”, the latest movie from cinematic behemoth Disney-Pixar, found its way to the top of the box office this weekend, scoring an estimated $66 million in ticket sales. Following close behind was “Madagascar 3”, the second sequel to director Eric Darnell Tom McGrath hit animated film. Debuting further down the road was Timur Bekmambetov’s action/horror hybrid “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”, which opened in the third spot with $16.5. Not bad for a film that casts the former president as an ax-wielding vampire slayer.

    Disney-Pixar’s “Brave”, which was directed by Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, and “Sam & Max” creator Steve Purcell, follows the adventures of a young princess (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) who embarks on an epic quest to end a curse that has plagued her kingdom. Presently, the film is enjoying a “fresh” rating over at Rotten Tomatoes with a combined rating of 75%. Audience approval rating, meanwhile, is 85%.

    Hanging out further down the cinematic totem pole is Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus”, which has slipped down to fourth place with $10 million in ticket sales. “Rock of Ages” and “That’s My Boy” continue to leave audiences uninterested, generating admittedly pathetic sums of $8 million and $7.9 million, respectively. This has to come as a particularly hard blow for the likes of Tom Cruise and Adam Sandler, two Hollywood powerhouses that aren’t accustomed to having their films flounder in such a manner.

    Rounding out the top ten were “Snow White and the Huntsman” (sixth place, $8 million), Joss Whedon’s “The Avengers” (seventh place, $7 million), “Men in Black III” (ninth place, $5.6 million), and the Steve Carell dramedy “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” (tenth place, $3.8 million).

    Next weekend should prove interesting, as a number of high-profile summer comedies are tossed into the mix. In addition to the Mark Wahlberg flick “Ted”, which was co-written and directed by Seth MacFarlane, audience will have an opportunity to take in “Madea’s Witness Protection”, and “Magic Mike”, as well as the drama “People Like Us”.

  • Pixar’s “Brave” Wins The Box Office

    Pixar’s “Brave” Wins The Box Office

    The box office has been fairly quiet this summer after the colossus known as the “Avengers” has come and gone. “Men in Black 3” underperformed, as did “Prometheus”, and “Battleship.” Because all of these movies have not really lived up to their billing, we have had a revolving door of box office winners since the Avengers lost its crown. This week was no difference with Disney Pixar’s “Brave” earning the top spot bringing in $66.7 million. The movie needs another $120 million to become only the 4th movie this summer to recoup its cost of being made.

    Coming in a second was third week offering “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” which made $20.2 million to bring it’s total to an impressive $157.5 million. 3rd place featured the slightly disappointing “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” The (awesome idea for a vampire movie) movie brought in a disappointing $16.5 million in its first week. The alien prequel titled “Prometheus” comes in at 4th. The sci-fi movie featuring Charlize Theron pulled in $10 million in its 3rd week to bring its total to $108.5 million. Rounding out the top 5 is Tom Cruise’s Rock Opera titled “Rock of Ages.” The movie made $8 million bringing its total to $28.7 million which probably doesn’t even cover Cruise’s payday for making the movie.

    Here is a synopsis of the movie “Brave” from Rotten Tomatoes:

    “Merida is a skilled archer and impetuous daughter of King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane). Merida’s actions inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns to an eccentric old Witch (Julie Walters) for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to discover the meaning of true bravery in order to undo a beastly curse before it’s too late.”

    Here is the trailer for Disney Pixar’s “Brave” :

  • Pixar’s Brave – Every Hair is Numbered

    “Brave” opens to a worldwide audience tommorow, and like every Pixar film, not very many people will see it. Or, everyone and their brother will see it. It’s one of those two…

    We all know that 3D animation can be a trying task for all of the digital artists involved. Luckily, they make the big bucks for their efforts, but how difficult can it really be. If the production notes and DVD commentary are a good indicator, they are nearly impossible. Every little detail must be accounted for to insure the audience stays in the moment and continues to suspend disbelief.

    The bushy, fiery red hair of the films protagonist, Scottish princess Merida, is one of those instances where everything had to be perfect, even if that meant rendering 1,500 individual curls of hair to make it look believable. That’s what The Wall Street Journal is reporting. We also found some interesting tid-bits (courtesy of Holy Kaw!) about some of the other obstacles that had to be overcome in past Pixar films. Here’s a hint – Hair can be really tricky.

    3,473,271
    Individual animated hairs on the Lots-o-Huggin Bear from Toy Story 3

    2,320,413
    Individually animated hairs on Sully in Monsters, Inc. It took 11 to 12 hours to animate a single frame featuring Sully.

    270
    Types of food created for Ratatouille.

    1,150,000
    Individual hairs rendered on Ratatouille’s hero, Remy

    From the looks of Brave, all that extra effort and attention to detail was well worth it. These trailers are gorgeous to behold.