Opera 11 will be the next iteration of the web browser. Probably the most interesting feature addition in Opera 11 is the extension engine which brings extensions to Opera. Extensions work pretty much like they do in the Chrome browser, with extension installations requiring no restart of the browser.

But extensions are just one of the new features of Opera 11. The desktop team has improved the performance and speed of the browser further, making it one of the fastest on the planet. And while we have vowed to look at other values from now on, speed is still an important trait of every web browser. And Opera delivers.

Opera 11 Beta comes with a brand new feature that the developers call tab stacking. It basically allows the user to stack tabs on top of each other.

It basically allows to drag and drop tabs on top of each other. This is then indicated with a small arrow on the right side of the parent tab. Hovering the mouse over the tab displays thumbnails of all tabs of the group.

The main problem for me personally is that it is not possible to see which tabs are stacked together, besides from the parent tab. This means that users need to move the mouse over the tab to see the other tabs stacked there.

The Opera team suggests several uses for tab stacking, including stacking tabs for later usage, for different tasks and for more space on the tabbar.

Oh, and if you close the parent tab the next tab in line will automatically be promoted to parent tab.

Interested users can download Opera 11 Beta directly from the Opera website (via).

Users who are not running the Opera 10.5x branch yet can download the browser directly from the Opera homepage for their operating system.

Opera 10.52 is a recommended stability upgrade according to the changelog posted on the Opera website.

The changelog is dominated by dozens of fixes to various issues in previous builds of Opera 10.5. This includes fixing the freezing problem when importing a large bookmark file and various scrolling and synchronization issues.

There have also been fixes to the Carakan JavaScript engine, networking, Opera Unite and Opera Widgets for Desktop.

The changelog for Windows lists over 100 changes that have been made in Opera 10.52 making it a recommended update for Opera users.

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.

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.

Installation is straightforward. All that needs to be done by the user is to download the zip file containing the extension. A readme with instructions and troubleshooting information will be unpacked next to the setup file. Installation does not take longer than a few seconds usually. An oGet popup will appear after launching Opera that displays all supported download managers. The user has to make his selection here to use the extension.

The instructions are worth a read as they contain information about downloading files from Rapidshare and other file hosts as well as downloading pictures and flash. It also contains information about uninstalling oGet again.

The Opera 9.52 changelog contains information about the security vulnerabilities. Each one of the listed alone would be serious enough to be fixed immediately, all of them make the matter even more pressing. At least one vulnerability is only affecting computers running Windows but most affect all versions of Opera.

The update is deemed a security and stability update. Next to the important security fixes many changes to various aspects of Opera have been made. The changelog lists more than 30 fixes for various problems that could arise while using Opera.

The latest download is available directly on the Opera website.

The release notes list four security fixes and several stability issues that have been fixed, most notably probably a stability issue with Yahoo Mail, menus on Deviantart and the TinyMCE editor.

Opera 9.51 is as usual available for all supported operating systems including Windows, Linux and Apple Mac. Users who already have the RC3 of Opera 9.51 installed do not need to upgrade because both versions, the RC3 and the final version of 9.51, are identical.

The full changelog lists the following changes:

• Setting weight for UI fonts now works again
• Larger search field in speed dial, looked a bit chunky on smaller resolutions
• Added Yahoo Answers to built in search
• A number of crashes fixed and memory leaks plugged
• Proxy PAC files now read from system on Windows and Mac
• Windows media player 11 NP version now works without crashing