Brave extensions

I am enjoying using Brave as my primary browser. In fact, I have four browsers installed (in order of usage from highest to lowest):

  1. Brave - Recently began using it. I like the fact it is based off of Chromium so it has a wide range of compatibility with existing extensions and websites 
  2. Firefox - My previous main browser but I found that a handful of websites would break. Perhaps it's because of conflicts with my extensions, but I like using many of the privacy enhancing extensions that are available. Not being owned by a giant tech company gives it extra points
  3. Chrome - I mainly use this when reading news articles because of this extension which bypasses paywalls
  4. Internet Explorer - Mainly used to confirm a broken website. In very rare cases my Brave extensions break a website and I use IE to validate that the website is indeed not working and that it's not on my end

The extensions that I use in Brave are (in no particular order):

  • Bitwarden - Password manager. I migrated from LassPass when they raised their price and reduced features for the free tier. I pay Bitwarden $10 / year to support app development but they also offer a very feature rich free option that I highly encourage everyone to use
  • ClearURLs - Cuts the tracker clutter in URLs
  • Google Dictionary 
  • Google Translate
  • Imagus - As a Redditor, this is a must have. Enlarges images so you don't need to click links, just hover over links
  • OneTab - I love opening lots of tabs. This is a life saver. You can also share a group of tabs via a link to others
  • PixelBlock - Supposedly blocks "read receipts" in Gmail
  • Privacy Badger - Created by EFF to reduce online trackers
  • Pocket - Great to save websites for later and read either on your phone, tablet or Kobo
  • uBlock Origin - I think everyone needs this. Very effective ad blocker
  • Ugly Email - Also blocks read receipts in Gmail, but catches trackers that PixelBlock doesn't

Basic Attention Token

I've been using the Brave browser for over two months now. I like its speed and compatibility with websites. Previously, Firefox was my main browser but I found it incompatible with a handful of websites. Brave uses the same engine as Google's Chrome but has built-in ad blocker. On top of this, Brave also has a unique incentive of giving users the option of opting into their native Brave ads, which are essentially Windows Notifications, that allow users to earn Basic Attention Tokens each time an ad is presented. 

I turned on Brave ads for three days now and have earned 0.6 BAT, which is equivalent to about $0.60 today. I'm not doing it for the monetary reward (though, I've read some people making ~$150+ last year), instead I'm excited to see what Brave can do with BAT. Supposedly there's a search engine in the works. Maybe they can compete with Google someday.