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Brave Search beta

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Re: Brave Search beta

#91

Post by jonathansampson »

mrpf1ster wrote: post #63
zzyzxd wrote: post #46

Previous related discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26328758 If things go as planned, this may become a paid, ad-free, zero-tracking search engine. I can't express how exciting this is to me. Over the past few years, I have made several attempts to replace Google Search with DuckDuckGo. But they have all failed and I always ended up changing the default search engine back to Google. I mean, DDG worked f…

DuckDuckGo allows you to do a Google search by prepending "!g" to any query. So usually I do that for the last 5% of queries that DDG fails on.

You can use !g on Brave Search too, or turn on Fallback Mixing in Brave Search Settings, which will anonymously call out to Google and pull in results as needed. This helps to train the nascent engine more rapidly. I hope this helps!

Re: Brave Search beta

#92

Post by the-pigeon »

zzyzxd wrote: post #87
mrpf1ster wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DuckDuckGo allows you to do a Google search by prepending "!g" to any query. So usually I do that for the last 5% of queries that DDG fails on.

The frustration I am talking about is: Check query result -> realize the result is bad -> scroll back to the search bar -> place cursor at the beginning of the query -> enter "!g" -> redirect to Google.com It is not too bad on desktop, but doing it once on a smartphone is more than enough to push me to switch back to Google.

Personally I find it pretty predictable which queries duck duck go will fail on. Basically very niche ones.

So I just prepend based on what I'm searching for to begin with instead of after a failure. But I've also been using duckduckgo as my default for over a decade so I've gotten used to it.

Re: Brave Search beta

#93

Post by timvisee »

Why does this footer hide after the first page view?

> Brave Search uses private usage metrics to estimate overall activity and performance. You can turn off this option in Settings.

Re: Brave Search beta

#94

Post by schmorptron »

pineconewarrior wrote: post #17
tomcooks wrote: post #3

Very curious on how this is going to work, especially advertisement-wise

I imagine they will utilize the Basic Attention Token for search ads, in a similar fashion to the rest of their advertising. From the page: --- > Will I see Brave ads in Brave Search beta? What about Brave Rewards? > We’re currently thinking through different search experiences to offer our users. Some want a premium, ad-free search experience. Others want a free, ad-supported model. We think choice is best. Brave Ad…

Right, their current browser ads seem to promise privacy by doing some floc-like thing on-device and preloading a bunch of ads to potentially show so the server doesn't know which ones were shown. Doing that for a website seems a bit different, but I don't see an issue with the DDG model of doing some very basic targeting based only on the current search term.

Re: Brave Search beta

#96

Post by jonathansampson »

andai wrote: post #57
jonathansampson wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're referring to Fallback Mixing , which is off by default. You have to enable it in https://search.brave.com/settings . When enabled, this feature will (at times) pull in results from Google via an anonymous query, routed through the browser. Read more about it here: https://search.brave.com/help/google-fallback

> Note that choosing this option has no effect on your privacy. If you happen to have a Google account, Google will not be able to associate your query with this account. I'm confused about "routed through the browser" -- is the browser talking to Google directly, but without sending the login cookies, and then hoping Google doesn't associate searches from your IP with your identity?

Correct, a query is issued from your browser but without any cookies. While it's true your IP address tags along for the ride, the IP address isn't typically how users are tracked on Google-scale properties. Due to NAT and more, your IP address is not exclusively yours. It can represent many people at once, and over time. That said, if you are not comfortable with the idea of Fallback Mixing, you do not need to enable the feature.

Re: Brave Search beta

#97

Post by Karunamon »

scoopertrooper wrote: post #90
x4e wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny how their posts show such a different approach to their browser than Braves. E.g. forking Firefox not Chromium, implementing functionality as extension instead of in browser where possible...

> If all browsers end up using Blink (Google), the Web will suffer as developers will only optimize and test for the Blink rendering engine. Am I the only one that thinks that this would be a good thing? Like the entire industry sharing the same core open source technology? Write a website once and it works perfectly across all platforms?

Problem is, this means ceding what amounts to control of the browser, and so, the internet experience, to a privacy invasive megacorp.

Were it a nonprofit trust, I'd be right there with you. But not a for-profit company, and sure as HELL not Google.

Re: Brave Search beta

#98

Post by counternotions »

vlunkr wrote: post #81

I really don't understand Brave. What special thing do they offer that people actually want? The main concrete selling point seems to built-in ad blockers, but we've had that for ages in every other browser. They have some crypto stuff going on, I'll be honest, I don't understand it, because I don't care, I just want to browse the web. That should be possible without a blockchain. They claim performance is better, bu…

"Three times faster than Chrome. Better privacy by default than Firefox. Uses 35% less battery on mobile."

Re: Brave Search beta

#99

Post by jonathansampson »

counternotions wrote: post #80
jonathansampson wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're referring to Fallback Mixing , which is off by default. You have to enable it in https://search.brave.com/settings . When enabled, this feature will (at times) pull in results from Google via an anonymous query, routed through the browser. Read more about it here: https://search.brave.com/help/google-fallback

What incentive do Google and Bing have to share free SERP data to Brave in an anonymous channel?

They aren't sharing it with Brave directly, but rather with users. The query is issued via the participating user's Brave instance. This data then supplements what Brave Search has found, and assists Brave Search in presenting better results to that user, and others, in the future.

Re: Brave Search beta

#100

Post by scoopertrooper »

bart__ wrote: post #75
zanethomas wrote: post #69

compare search results for "lab leak" https://search.brave.com/search?q=lab+leak https://www.google.com/search?q=lab+leak https://duckduckgo.com/?q=lab+leak https://www.bing.com/search?q=lab+leak

What am I supposed to see? All engines give the same or very similar results for me

Probably some conspiracy nonsense.
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