gHacks technology news » opera 10

Opera 10.10 Final

Martin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:06:37 +0000

The Opera desktop developers have released the final version of Opera 10.10 after releasing several beta builds in the past weeks. The final build is exactly the build that was released as a beta on Saturday, users who have installed that build are still encouraged to download and install Opera 10.10 from the Opera website.

Opera users who have already been working with beta versions of the release will not find many (if any) changes to previous builds in this final versions. That’s however different for Opera users who have been waiting for the final version release before making the switch.

Opera 10.10 has Opera Unite build in. Opera Unite is probably the biggest change to previous Opera versions as it makes it possible to use the Opera web browser as a web server to use it for things like file sharing, photo hosting, media streaming, file synchronization or chatting. More than 30 applications for Opera Unite are already available and Opera is getting the community involved by running a competition for the best Opera Unite application where developers can win prices.

Opera 10.10 does make use of Opera Turbo as well, a compression based data transfer option to retrieve websites faster which works quite well for users with slow Internet connection. Opera 10.10 final can be downloaded from the main Opera website where it is available for download for all supported operating systems.

Tags: opera, opera 10, opera turbo, opera unite, opera web browser, web browser

Opera 10.10 RC

Martin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:28:28 +0000

The Opera developers have released the first – and likely – final release candidate for the upcoming Opera 10.10 web browser. The download of the web browser is available for all supported operating system (Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux) and can be used to either upgrade an existing version of Opera or to install as a separate version which is recommended for users who are still running an earlier stable release of Opera.

The changelog of this new version lists several bug fixes in the interface, core, Opera Mail, Opera Unite and some more that are operating system specific. The full changelog is available at the blog post announcing this lucky Friday the 13th edition.

The release candidate comes with Opera Link, Opera Unite and Opera Turbo. All of these features can be activated in the left corner of the status bar of the Opera browser. Opera Link can be used to synchronized bookmarks, notes, speed dial settings and other information. Opera Unite to use the web browser as a web server and Opera Turbo to speed up page loading and connection by using compression.

All available versions can be downloaded from the Opera website. Watch out for Jason, though..

Tags: opera, opera 10, opera link, opera turbo, opera unite, opera update

Opera Halloween Edition

Martin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:41:46 +0000

Halloween, which is celebrated on October 31, has roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian All Saints Day. Much of its symbolism comes from the past including wearing costumes and masks, bonfires or lanterns. If you want to top it up a notch you might want to download the Halloween edition of the Opera web browser which has been just designed for Halloween. Users who are not using Opera currently may download the Halloween edition right away while regular Opera users need to backup some system settings before they can install the custom Halloween edition of the web browser:

If you already have Opera, you need to backup 3 files and rename them in order to get the Halloween experience:

1. Open menu “Help” » “About Opera”.
2. Find the path to the catalog with user data (”Path” » “Preferences”) and copy the address
3. Close Opera
4. Open the catalog with user data found above (for Windows: “Start” » “Run” » paste the address you copied before)
5. Remove or rename the following files:
* bookmarks.adr
* speeddial.ini
* operaprefs.ini
6. Install the customized version (without removing the previous one)

The download basically consists of the latest official version of the Opera web browser (which is Opera 10.01) and the custom Halloween theme which consists of a Halloween themed speed dial background image.

Even better than that single speed dial background that gets shipped with the Opera Halloween edition are additional speed dial backgrounds for Halloween that are available on the Opera website. If you do not like the standard one you simply can download and use another of the speed dial backgrounds. You can download the Opera Halloween edition from the Opera blog post where it was announced in.

Tags: opera, opera 10, opera 10.01, opera halloween, web browser

Opera 10.01

Martin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:11:03 +0000

The Opera developers have released version 10.01 of the Opera web browser. The version comes as a surprise as beta versions of opera 10.10 have already been released in the past by the team. This version of Opera is a security and stability upgrade with no apparent other changes. Since it is a security update it is recommended for all Opera 10 users to update their web browser as soon as possible to protect the browser and the computer system from malicious attacks exploiting these issues.

The new release appeared on Opera’s ftp server yesterday and has since then been moved to the homepage where the update can be seen and downloaded by everyone.

The security and stability update is available for all supported operating systems (Windows, Linux and Mac). Interested users can visit the changelogs for further release information. Opera 10.01 does not include Opera Unite which is still slated for a release in the final version of Opera 10.10.

Opera 10.01 is available at the Opera website and through the web browser’s auto-update functionality.

Tags: opera, opera 10, opera security, opera unite, opera update

Opera Widgets For Desktop

Martin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:36:36 +0000

The Opera developers have taken a different road than most web browser manufacturers when it comes to add-ons for their web browser. The main difference is that Opera Widgets are running in their own window which often made them more complicated to use especially on user systems with low screen estate. Today, the Opera developers have announced an interesting new option concerning Opera Widgets. The new feature makes it possible to run Opera Widgets on the computer desktop without Opera running.

The Opera web browser still needs to be installed on the computer system but that is the only requirement. Widgets will work even if it is closed (and never opened again).

Opera users who want to test the new functionality need to download the latest Opera labs build (which is the latest Opera 10.10 build) to do so. The download links are provided in the post announcing the new feature over at the Opera website.

Opera Widgets and the SDK to create widgets are available at the Opera Widgets website. Widgets are available for many web services and uses.

Already installed widgets need to be imported to a location on the local hard drive. Opera will open the Widget Import Wizard automatically if it finds installed Opera Widgets. The wizard is later available under File > Import > Import Widgets if the necessity arrives.

New widgets are installed from the Opera Widgets website. The Opera web browser needs to be used to do that. A click on the launch button next to each widget will display the widget installation dialog. Here it is possible to customize the installation by selecting an installation folder and the shortcuts that should be created.

The widgets can then be started by double-clicking their shortcuts or from the installation directory where an .exe should be available that can be started.

Tags: opera, opera 10, opera widgets, opera widgets for desktop

Opera 10.10 Beta

Martin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:21:51 +0000

The Opera developers have released a beta version of the upcoming Opera 10.10 web browser. The biggest change in the beta is the inclusion of Opera Unite which provides web server features. Since web browsers usually act as clients it is now possible to have direct server client communications between Opera users.

The Opera Unite version that is integrated in the Opera 10.10 beta comes with several pre-installed applications including phoot sharing, messenger, file sharing, web server, media player capabilities and note posting with additional applications available from the official Opera Unite website at the Opera website.

Here are a few examples of what Opera users can do with Opera Unite:

Create photo galleries and make them available without uploading them to a photo hosting website.
File sharing without uploading the files to a file host
Accessing the media collection from anywhere with the Media Player application
Document Upload to your home computer from anywhere
Creating chat rooms on a computer running Opera Unite.
Hosting web sites with the web server application

The inclusion of Opera Unite in the beta release could be what developers have been waiting for to start developing applications for Opera Unite. About a dozen additional applications are already available at the Opera Unite website with everything set to take off now.

You can give the Opera 10.10 Beta with Opera Unite included a try by downloading it from the Opera website. Additional applications are available at the Opera Unite site.

Tags: opera, opera 10, opera beta, opera unite

Opera 10 Portable

Martin — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:15:15 +0000

Recent coverage and news of the Opera 10 web browser might have sparked interest in some users to give this web browser a try. The Opera web browser is still an underdog compared to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or Mozilla’s Firefox but was able to stand its ground in the last years. You can read up on the Opera 10 final release in our review of that version. The portable version of Opera 10 is basically the same version but without the need to install the web browser before it is ready for use.

A few additional benefits are offered by the portable version of Opera 10. The most important aspects are that the portable version will not have unwanted effects on other installed web browsers including other versions of the Opera web browser.

Other benefits include that the portable version can be run from a portable device like an USB stick leaving no data traces on the local computer system. Opera 10 portable is provided by a third party developer who is not associated with the Opera company. Portable versions are available as English and German language versions but only for the Windows operating systems. Downloads are provided by the third party developer at the website Opera USB.

Tags: opera, opera 10, opera 10 portable, opera portable, portable software, web browser, windows software

Opera 10 Final

Martin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:01:48 +0000

The Opera development team is currently in the process of making Opera 10 final available to its worldwide audience. The final version of Opera 10 is already available on the Opera ftp site from where it can be downloaded by user’s. User’s who prefer to wait for an official announcement can expect that to happen later this day.

The Opera web browser is the first major web browser to hit a two-digit version (even before Google Chrome, who would have thought that..) and it is well deserved as it was source for a series of web browsing enhancements and improvements that were copied by other Internet browsers throughout its existence.

Opera 10 final is apparently the same build (except for a few minor changes to standard files and a few new folders) as the Opera 10 Release Candidate 2 that was released last week. It is still recommended to upgrade to the final version of Opera 10. Downloads are available for Windows, Linux and Mac at the Opera ftp server.

The Windows version of Opera 10 is currently the only one that is being offered in additional languages next to English. The Linux and Mac version are currently only available in English.

Update: The official announcement is up at the Opera Desktop Team blog.

Tags: opera 10, opera 10 download, opera 10 final, opera update, web browser

Opera 10 Release Candidate 2

Martin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:13:32 +0000

The Opera desktop team has released the second release candidate of Opera 10. The latest version of the Opera web browser is still on track for a Tuesday release. This second release candidate is not available as an automatic update and can only be downloaded directly from the Opera website.

Opera 10 Release Candidate 2 includes a variety of fixes. The most noteworthy are stability, icon and native skin fixes as well as import of widgets when upgrading from Opera 9.64. The full changelog is available on the blog post of the Opera desktop team that is announcing the new release candidate.

The stability fixes are largely fixes that prevent browser crashes in various usage situations. Opera 10 Release Candidate 2 is available for all supported operating systems (Linux, Mac, Windows). Download links and changelogs are available at the Opera website.

Tags: opera, opera 10, opera 10 final, opera 10 release candidate 2, web browser

Opera 10 Beta 3

Martin — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:41:42 +0000

The Opera development team has released a new beta version of the Opera 10 Internet browser. Opera 10 beta 3 is now available for all supported operating systems. The new version comes with several improvements and fixes, most noteworthy improvements to the stability of the web browser and a multitude of bug fixes which can mainly be attributed to Opera’s automated crash reporting tool. This beta version has also been translated into 38 different languages including English, German, French and Chinese.

Other changes have been made to the visual tabs which can now be displayed on the right or left side of the web browser window. Some improvements have also been made to the tabs in the Opera web browser which now feature a better attention state design. The Opera skin has received further facelifts

Several problems in previous versions have been fixed in this new beta version including problems when trying to open pdf files, saving sessions and viewing pages using webfonts in Windows 98. Interested users can download the new beta version of the Opera web browser from the Opera website. Direct links are available for Windows, Linux and Macintosh.

Tags: opera, opera 10, opera 10 beta 3, opera download, opera update, web browser

Opera 10 Beta 2 Released

Martin — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:22:11 +0000

Opera 10 Beta 2 was released earlier today by the Opera development team. Users who are already using a version of Opera 10 should consider upgrading to this new release which brings it one step closer to the first release candidate. The changelog lists many changes for this release especially for the Opera user interface, mail, chat and news, display and scripting, security and network. The Windows changelog alone lists more than 100 items that have been added, changed or fixed in Opera 10 Beta 2.

Many users in the Opera forum are reporting problems with the new beta release. ~~The developers are actually warning users stating that it “may have severe known issues, including crashes and data loss situations”.~~ That’s not very encouraging and it is therefor suggested to try the web browser in a test environment and not in a productive environment to ensure that it is working without problems.

Opera 10 Beta 2 can be downloaded directly from the Opera homepage for all supported operating systems. The changelogs are available for Windows, Linux and Mac.

Probably the most important changes (besides the interface changes) are a fix for the high memory use of the web browser related to the disk cache on huge torrents, improved anti-spoof checking, fixes for several scripts and services at Facebook, Wikipedia and Yahoo, enabled torrent downloading with Opera Turbo enabled and fixing the problem that sessions where not saved correctly on some systems when closing the web browser.

Tags: opera, opera 10, opera 10 beta 2, opera beta, opera update, web browser

Opera Unite

Martin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:51:42 +0000

Opera has finally lift the veil and introduced the “thing” that would reinvent the Internet. It goes by the name Opera Unit and will be a part of the upcoming Opera 10 web browser. Opera Unite basically offers web server capabilities right in the web browser which allows users to share data and files on the Internet but also to host chat rooms, online applications and even complete web projects. The main difference between Opera’s approach and the standard approach is that Opera establishes direct client to client connections without data being hosted in the cloud on third party servers.

Opera Unite is modularized and comes with so called services that can be installed to extend the functionality. This may remind many users of Firefox add-ons but it is actually a completely different technology that requires more than just clicking on an install link. Currently seven services are offered, they are:

Media Player – Accessing the music collection from anywhere on the Internet.
File Sharing – A way of sharing files directly between users.
Fridge – A note leaving application that other people can use to leave notes on a computer system.
Web Server – Hosting a web server from the local computer system.
Photo Sharing – Share photos without uploading them first.
The Lounge – A chat interface hosted on a computer system.

The Opera team has created a user guide to get users started with Opera Unite. Opera Unite is available as a separate preview release which can be downloaded for all supported operating systems from the Opera Labs website. The download will actually replace the current version of Opera 10 if the user decides to install it in the same installation directory.

Opera Unite is then available in the left panel after installation. Starting the actual home server requires an Opera account. A homeaddress is assigned to every user signing up for Opera Unite in the from “http://computername.username.operaunite.com/” with the user selecting the computer name. The username will be the Opera username.

Once that has been setup the service that has been selected by the user gets setup. Setup of the file sharing module for example requires the selection of a directory on the local computer that will be used for that purpose. Each service that has been activated can then be accessed from the created homepage if the user accessing it has sufficient rights to do so.

The file sharing page on the server is for example protected by a password by default which can be changed in the root home directory. It offers three different access rights which make it possible to allow public access (everyone can access them), private access (only the root user can access the files) or password protected access.

Verdict:

Opera Unite offers something that web browsers do not offer out of the box. The usefulness of the service on the other hand depends largely on the user’s system configuration. If the user runs an home server then it might not be needed to run Opera Unite as well. Users who prefer to access everything from one program might find Opera Unite helpful especially if the developers and users begin to add new modules to the service. Not really a reinvention of the Internet but a nice service nevertheless.

Tags: data, internet browser, opera, opera 10, opera server, opera unite, server, web server

Opera 10 Beta

Martin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:05:55 +0000

The developers of the Opera web browser have just released the first beta of the upcoming Opera 10 Internet browser. The beta was available on Opera’s ftp site for a day and got finally announced by the Opera team officially in a blog post. One of the main improvements is the addition of the Presto 2.2 rendering engine which scores a 100/100 score in the Acid 3 test and adds support for several new web standards to the web browser including web fonts, transparency through opacity and SVG improvements.

The changelog lists many improvements and additions that have been implemented into Opera 10 including a new auto update mechanism that allows Opera to automatically update itself. This feature has to be enabled in the opera configuration. Easiest way to do is to enter opera:config#snapshots into the browser’s address bar and hit enter. The parameter needs to be enabled for the automatic update mechanism to kick in.

Opera 10 comes with a new user interface and several enhancements and customizability options. This includes Speed Dial customizations including the addition of background images, different speed dial layouts or hiding speed dial completely.

Other additions include:

HTML 5 Support
Opera Tab Bar thumbnails (displays website thumbnails when hovering over the site’s tab)
Opera inline spelling checker
Opera crashlogging tool

It is probably best to check the changelog mentioned above to get a full overview with descriptions of the changes.

Tags: internet browser, opera, opera 10, opera 10 beta, opera browser, web browser

Web Browser: Opera Face Gestures

Martin — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:03:35 +0000

The Opera team is never shy when it comes to introducing new features in their Opera web browser that are then copied by other browser developers and added to those web browsers as well. Their newest feature is called Face Gestures and as the name implies it allows Opera users to control web browser functions with their face. A webcam is obviously required to use the face gestures as is the latest alpha release of the upcoming Opera 10 web browser which can be downloaded from the announcement page.

The face gestures feature can be enabled in the web browser by pressing F8. Opera will automatically calibrate the passive facial expressions of the user sitting in front of the webcam. It is important to stay calm and passive during that phase so that the calibration will be successfully.

A set of facial gestures stand at the user’s proposal after the calibration phase. It is possible to go back and forward in the browsing history, zoom in and out of pages, reload, open the homepage or speed dial page, open tabs and bookmark pages using nothing but facial expressions. The Opera team created a video that is showcasing the feature in detail

The release announcement contains a section at the bottom that is addressing known problems with the facial gesture feature. This includes beard and hairstyle problems as well as adult and financial site related ones. The latest Opera 10 Alpha snapshot containing Facial Gestures can be downloaded from the Opera website.

Tags: afd, face gestures, opera, opera 10, opera 10 alpha, opera face gestures, opera gestures, web browser

Web Browser: Opera Turbo Preview

Martin — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:51:10 +0000

Opera Software has made available a preview version of their much acclaimed Opera Turbo technology. Windows, Linux and Mac OS X users can download a preview version of Opera 10 containing Opera Turbo, a new function that is using proxy servers to compress the traffic before it reaches the Opera browser on the client’s computer system.

Opera Turbo has been designed for computer systems with limited bandwith. Users with fast connections will see no huge differences in the speed that the websites are displayed but will notice a traffic reduction thanks to the compression. Users with limited bandwidth on the other hand will notice both a website loading improvement and traffic reductions.

The layouts of websites that are accessed with Opera Turbo will look exactly like they did before. The major difference is that image resolutions may appear lower which can be attributed to the compression. Please note that text and other elements are also compressed.

Encrypted traffic will not be routed through the Opera compression servers. This means that accessing your bank’s website, PayPal or any other website that is using the SSL protocol will make use of direct connections.

Please note that Opera 10 with Turbo is still in alpha stage. Opera Turbo will display an icon in the Opera status bar that is giving the user indications whether it is enabled or disabled. It will also display the average compression ratio as an icon and the saved Megabytes when hovering over the Opera Turbo status bar icon.

Tags: opera, opera 10, opera 10 alpha, opera browser, opera download, opera mini, opera turbo, web browser

Opera 10 Alpha Passes Acid 3 Test

Martin — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:56:29 +0000

A first alpha preview of the upcoming web browser Opera 10 has been released by the Opera development team. Among the most notable difference to previous versions is that the browser is passing the Acid 3 test with a score of 100/100. Opera 10 makes use of the new Presto 2.2 rendering engine which improves speed, performance and security significantly.

The Opera team speaks of a 30% speed increase over the previous version of the rendering engine. A test of the JavaScript performance of Opera 10 revealed astonishing results. Opera 10 completed the
Web Browser Javascript Benchmark in 188ms which is very fast compared to Firefox 3.0.4 which needed 349ms, Safari 3.1.2 with 344ms or Opera 9.52 with 420ms. It’s obviously not fair to compare a development release with web browsers who have already been released but it should give anyone an understanding about the performance increase in this new Opera version.

What else is new in Opera 10? Opera 10 adds a long requested inline spellchecker and an interesting auto-update function which can update Opera automatically whenever a new version has been released.

Web developers will like the support of web fonts, SVG and opacity through RGBA and HSLA. The current release schedule aims for a beta in early 2009 and a final release of Opera 10 later that year.

Interested users can download the Opera 10 alpha release for Windows, Linux or Mac.

Tags: acid 3 test, JavaScript performance, javascript test, opera, opera 10, opera 10 alpha, opera browser, web browser

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