Many of us are upset about the level of tracking that Amazon, Google and Facebook engage in as we use their websites. They follow our every move and beyond changing some settings, there's not enough we can do to stop them.

If you're as concerned as I am, here's a fun weekend project for you — switch internet browsers. And potentially make a few dollars for your efforts.

Most of us use Google's Chrome, which as the Washington Post's Geoffrey Fowler recently reported, is such a data hungry browser, he found 11,000 trackers from his Chrome surfing in just a week.

I downloaded the alternative Brave browser Friday, which is aimed at those of us who aren't cool with having our privacy invaded. In just three hours of using it, Brave told me that 10 trackers had been blocked, along with 887 ads.

Now that's service!

Apple's Safari and Mozilla's Firefox also claim to be vigilant in terms of blocking trackers and ads, but they're not as vocal as Brave is in showing you the results. And they won't pay you to watch what Brave hopes are less evasive ads.

Chrome is the windows to the Internet from Google, which makes its money by selling targeted ads. (Google reaped some $136 billion in revenue in 2018.) The browser connects you to the Google search engine, YouTube, Maps and other cash machines from the Google empire.

Brave has a different idea. "You are not a product. Why use a browser that treats you like one?" it asks consumers.

So it blocks "third party" ads, the ones that come from ad exchanges and follow you around the Web, say, from Amazon to Facebook to CNET, but will allow "first party" ads. If Amazon is advertising something on its website, Brave lets that through.

Brave will reward you and I for looking at one to five ads per hour via its browser. The idea is that you agree to look at ads from sites you like and thus get rewarded. The advertisers send 70% of the revenues to us, and Brave holds onto 30%.

On Twitter, users have posted about bringing in as little as 37 cents to as much as $15.

"We're not talking thousands of dollars," says Brave's Catherine Corre. "It's a brand new program, and it's early days."

The odds of Brave succeeding with this is are low. This tiny Silicon Valley startup is competing with giants like Google, Microsoft and Apple in the Browser Wars. But let's applaud the company for trying something radically different. Instead of having ad companies track our every move and drive us batty, Brave is simply paying us for your time.

And what's that worth to you?

Brave is available as a desktop and mobile browser, on Google Play and the iOS App Store.

In other tech news this week

How hackers are making your cars safer — USA TODAY's Dalvin Brown showed how companies like Tesla and General Motors have been pushed to extreme measures to fight off would be hackers from breaking into smart cars.

The Sony Walkman turned 40 this week. Kids, if you don't remember, the Walkman was the first portable music player, using the ancient technology of cassette tape. Edward C. Baig takes a nostalgic look back.

Vacation tips for all of you. This week we offered several of them, including making room on your smartphone while traveling, how to hack free your vacation and how to get great 4th of July fireworks shots on your smartphone. That last one you can file away for next year.

This week's Talking Tech podcasts

Depalo to help find Instagram worth photo spots. Rebecca Aneloski tells us all about her new app.

July 4th Fireworks tips

Smartphone Storage Woes

Food tips for July 4th or anytime. Instagram food blogger Mike Chau offers tips for getting better food shots for the 4th of July on #Talking Tech.

How to hack free a vacation. Security expert Ted Harrington of Independent Security Evaluators says you should change your passwords before leaving for vacation and then once again when you get back, to keep the hackers away. He explains why, on Talking Tech.

Speaking of vacations, we just returned from a week in Oregon. Relive some time-lapse magic with us below.

That's a wrap for this week's Talking Tech news wrap.

Subscribe at http://technewsletter.usatoday.com, listen to the daily Talking Tech podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to online audio, and follow me (@jeffersongraham) on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

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