Brave Browser 1.46 launches with Brave News improvements

Brave Software released a new version of its desktop browser, Brave 1.46 on December 1, 2022. The new version of Brave browser includes a number of changes, many of them improving Brave News.

Brave 1.46 is available already and the browser should be updated on most desktop devices automatically. Users of the browser may verify the version that they run by loading brave://settings/help or by selecting Menu > Help > About Brave.

The browser runs an update scan when the page is opened and will download and install any new update that is found.

Brave News improvements

Brave Software calls the improvements that it made to the news component Brave News 2.0. The company highlighted the main improvements in a blog post on the official website.

Besides being available in different regions, including Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Spain and the UK, Brave News may now make personal suggestions to the user. The algorithm runs locally on the device and no data leaves the browser at any point, according to Brave

Brave News uses the browsing history to personalize content. It bases these recommendations on the visited sites and sites that users follow already. New users of Brave News follow "top content" automatically, which they may disable using the customize option.

Brave News ranks content you follow highest in your feed, and helps you discover new sources to Follow based on your browsing history and sources you already Follow. Brave identifies sources that are similar to each other and recommends suggestions privately in Settings, where you can choose to Follow and add them to your feed.

Other new News-related features include improved source management and a new follow button that makes it easier for users to subscribe to channels. This follow button will be released later this month. It is shown on websites that have an RSS feed to make the following in Brave News easier.

Brave added new content channels to the browser, including a gaming channel that accumulates gaming news from a variety of sources. Note that advertisement may be displayed in the news feed and that there does not appear to be an option to disable those.

While Brave News does support RSS, it is not an alternative for RSS news readers at this point. The browser lacks display options of any kind, import or export functionality, support for folders, and many other features that most RSS readers, including QuiteRSS or RSS Guard support.

Other changes in Brave 1.46

Brave Software lists all changes in the official release notes. Apart from plenty of crypto-related changes, the following improvements stand out:

• Support for multiple custom background images added to the New Tab Page.
• Windows users may pin the browser to the Task, and Mac users may enable the "keep in Dock" option.
• Brave Shields settings are accessible under brave://settings/content.
• Right-side display support for the sidebar added.
• HTTPS-only mode for private windows with TOR enabled.
• Font appearance of non-English characters improved.
• Debouncing updated to apply only to cross-site navigations.
• Adblock components updated to use plaintext lists.
• Side-panel display settings enabled again under brave://settings/appearance.
• Upgraded to Chromium 108.0.5359.71.

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