With Opera Unite, you would not need a third party service to share the photos. You would simply add them to your storage which your friends could access then directly in their web browser.

But Opera Unite is not only about sharing files with your friends. You can for instance use it to run a web server in your browser, a media player to play or stream your music, play games or use applications like a shared whiteboard or photo editor.

You enable or disable Opera Unite from the very same panel that you are using to enable or disable Opera Turbo. The setup takes more time as you need an Opera account to make use of Unite. With the account comes your custom operaunite.com subdomain that you can share with other users.

New services are added as applications to Opera Unite. You find a list of all available applications on the Opera Unite applications homepage.

These applications can be sorted by category, rating, popularity and a handful of other factors.

The most popular Opera Unite applications are:

• Media Player: Access your music collection from the Internet.
• Stream Media: Stream audio and video contents from your own computer. This way friend’s could watch movies that you have stored on your computer, or you could listen to music while on the go.
• File Sharing: Authorized users can access files stored on your PC directly.
• My Webcam: Broadcast your webcam with Opera Unite.
• Messenger: Communicate with friends and contacts.
• Web Proxy: Provides remote access to a local web server.
• Web Server: Host your local websites so that they become accessible on the Internet.
• Photo Sharing: Share photos with contacts without uploading them first.

Configuring Opera Unite

Once you have enabled Opera Unite you can install all available applications.

Configuration depends largely on the application that you have selected. Lets take a closer look at the photo sharing application for Opera Unite.

The Install Opera Unite Application window pops up after you click the Install Application button. Here you need to browse a local drive for a photo folder that you want to make available on the Internet (either publicly or privately)

Visibility settings can be configured under Advanced Settings. You can for instance enable search engine visibility so that the web address of the selected application may end up in search engines. That’s handy if you want to share data publicly, for instance a website that you run via Opera Unite’s web server application.

All Opera Unite applications can be set to be publicly accessible, or only accessible to users who know the correct password to access the page.

Users see the following page when they try to access a password protected Opera Unite application.

They see the following page if they have the right password, or if the application’s page is not password protected.

Even better, it is possible to share a direct url to the application’s page that bypasses the password.

Opera Unite Benefits

The core benefits are the following:

• Opera Unite is easy to setup, you can start sharing or displaying information in less than five minutes.
• You do not have to upload files to make them available. They are uploaded if authorized user’s request them.
• Password protection ensures that private files or data stays private.

Advanced Options

Now that we have established the basics it is time to look at some of the advanced options that Opera Unite provides. One interesting option is the ability to setup a custom domain for Opera Unite. This changes your domain name from home.youraccountname.operaunite.com to something more memorable, for instance a dyndns domain or even a subdomain or name of an existing domain.

All the information needed to setup a custom domain name are provided at the Opera Dev article on the topic.

One interesting option for advanced users is the ability to create their own “file storage” space on the Internet without having to upload files to third party web servers with often problematic terms of service.

With Opera Unite, all your files stay on your local server, and if you do not share the password, you are the only one with the ability to access those files.

A downside is that the computer running Opera Unite needs to be online for you to access those files remotely.

Opera Unite Video

Criticism

There is not really a lot to criticize when it comes to Opera Unite. Sure, it would be nice if the interface would look a bit prettier, that the memory usage would be optimized or that the web server component would support more languages besides HTML and JavaScript.

One option that would surely be interesting is to run Opera Unite remotely on a web server for instance. That way you’d get rid of the “local PC needs to be connected to the Internet for Opera Unite to work” restriction. Then again, this would probably complicate things.

Verdict

Opera Unite can be very handy. It is perfect for privacy conscious users who need to access files remotely, for users who want to share files with friends, and users who would like to access their media collection remotely.

Opera Unite is part of Opera. If you install Opera it is already available, and you can enable it with the click of the mouse button. Additional information are available on Opera’s official Unite website.

All it takes is to write a new email, attach the files that need to be shared and add the contacts that should receive it.

Email does have a disadvantage though, a size limit makes it virtually impossible to send very large files. Most providers reject emails that cross the 20-25 MB line. You might want to consider splitting up the files to stay below that limit but it does mean additional work, and there are better options, especially if files need to be send regularly.

Now that we have established that email is not ideal for sending large files we can take a look at other options.

File hosting services come to mind immediately. Hundreds, if not thousands, of file hosting sites compete with each other on the Internet. They allow Internet users to upload files to their servers. The file urls can then be shared with other users. The process is slightly more complicated than sending files per email, as it requires some sort of communication so that the recipient gets the file hosting url to download the files.

There are also specialized file hosting sites, Flickr for instance for hosting photos comes to mind, or Youtube for videos. Those sites offer privacy features to only share files with specific users.

File Hosting Services to Send Large Files

Media Fire – One of the best file sharing services on the Internet. Free users can upload an unlimited number of files, with each file up to 200 Megabytes in size. Downloads are unlimited as well. File urls can easily be shared by email, Instant Messenger or embedded on websites.

mediafire

Transfer Big Files – File size limit of 100 Megabyte without account, can be downloaded 20 times, urls are send to a recipients email address. Uses HTTPS for website and all transfers.

transfer big files

Drop Send – Has a file size limit of 2 Gigabytes and 5 sends per month, transfers seem to be limited in speed compared to the paid accounts offered.

send large files

Send 6 – Another file hosting service that offers to send up to 250 Megabytes without registration. Has an individual file size limit of 250 Megabytes, maximum of 5 downloads per files.

send 6

File Droper – a very simply uploading site with a maximum file size of 5 Gigabytes. Uploaded file urls need to be shared manually though.

file dropper

Windows Live SkyDrive – requires a Windows Live account but is good for sharing up to 25 Gigabytes of data, individual file size limit is 50 Megabytes.

windows live skydrive

Other options (selection)

• Drop.io
• Rapidshare
• Box.net
• Wikisend
• Driveway

The file hosting sites above are just examples, you can easily find more hosting sites by searching for terms like “send large files”, “file hosting” or “file hosts”.

Desktop Clients for big file transfers

File hosting sites offer an uncomplicated way of sending files to other people. Most do however limit the maximum file size, download speeds or number of transfers to upsell premium accounts.

Desktop file sending clients are a great alternative.

Opera Unite – The Opera web browser comes with a feature called Opera Unite. It basically provides web server capabilities directly in the browser. Several applications are available that can be installed including a file sharing app.

Here is how it works. Visit the Opera Unite website above in Opera and install the File Sharing application in Opera. You need to create an account at Opera if this is your first time.

A folder can be picked that is then shared on the Internet whenever Opera Unite is running. The url of the folder can be send to friends via email or other means. Friends open the url in the web browser and see the directory structure and files of the selected folders. Folders are password protected for extra security. Available for Mac, Windows and Linux.

opera unite file sharing

Dropbox – A free Dropbox account has a 2 Gigabyte space limit, which should be fine for most file sending operations. A Dropbox client is installed on the computer system. Files that need to be send to other users can be put into a Dropbox folder to make them available online. Folders can be shared easily by sending invitations to email addresses.

Dropbox is also available for Linux, Mac and Windows. An account is required to share files.

dropbox

HTTP File Server – this program offers a similar approach as Opera Unite. It installs a file server on the system that can be used to share files with other users. Highly configurable.

http file server

Other options

• Gigatribe
• CC File Transfer
• Pando

A third option are Instant Messengers and other communication programs like Skype which often come with basic file sharing options. They are a good option to send medium sized files directly to other users, probably the best choice if both users already have an account.

We did not mention ftp servers which are an option as well. The problem with ftp servers is that they are not that easy to configure and setup. Users who want to delve deeper into this can take a look at the excellent Filezilla Server, which is available for Windows only.

Users who live close to each other have the option to burn the files to DVD or copy them on a USB drive or stick to hand them over in person to the other user.

How do you share and send large files? Let us know in the comments.

The Opera Unite application Stream Media seemed to offer a better solution, especially from a usability point of view.

It turned out that it worked much like previously reviewed Orb but without the need to run additional software (but Opera).

All that is needed to stream video contents is to have a portable or installed version of Opera at hand that supports Opera Unite (all the latest releases do).

Stream Media can then be installed by visiting the application’s page at the Opera Unite website and clicking on the install application button. The registration of an Opera Unite account is required. The process is however very user friendly as it can be created directly after clicking the install application button and without verifications of any kind.

A single folder can be selected to be offered for video streaming. Stream Media supports many different media formats:

flv, mp3, swf, aif, aiff, aac, au, bmp, gsm, mov, mid, midi, mpg, mpeg, mp4, m4a, psd, qt, qtif, qif, qti, snd, tif, tiff, wav, 3g2, 3gp, ra, ram, rm, rpm, rv, smi, smil, asx, asf, avi, wma, wmv

All supported video and audio files are then available for streaming and download. The user who wants to access the media can open the url of the Opera Unite application in a web browser to access the contents. The administrator can change the visibility of the contents and add a password protection so that only trusted users can access the contents.

Stream Media is one of the easiest ways to stream video and audio files to friends and other users. It takes approximately two minutes to setup and there is no additional firewall or router configuration to be made to get it running properly.

Stream Media can be downloaded from the Opera Unite website.

Configuration of Stream Media is actually pretty simple. All that it takes is to define a home or root directory for the streaming media server that points to a path on the local hard drive of the computer. Every supported media file will be automatically displayed in the client access area with the possibility to add files easily by simply moving them into the root folder or a subfolder.

A wide variety of media formats are supported by the media server. This includes video formats like flv, avi, rm or mp4 and audio formats like mp3 or aac. The server can be accessed over the start page of the Opera Unite user which can be accessed from the operaunite.com page. The administrator can password protect the media server so that only authorized users can access it. It is also possible to change the visibility of the service.

Media files that are provided at the media server can be viewed directly in the web browser or downloaded to the local computer system. It is interesting that clients can access Opera Unite applications from within any modern web browser.

Opera users who want to provide media streaming need to make sure that they have the capabilities to do so. It usually is not a problem to offer access to a handful of users but someone with a 128Kbit upload stream will not be able to stream it simultaneously to lots of connected users.

Stream Media is an interesting Opera Unite application which can be used to quickly showcase videos and audio files to a selected user group. It can only be installed in versions of Opera that support Opera Unite. Opera users with Opera Unite enabled can visit the application’s profile page at the Opera website to install it directly in the web browser. First time Opera Unite users need an Opera user account before they can install the application.

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.

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..

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.

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.

The changelog lists many fixes to the Opera interface, to Opera Unite, Opera Mail and Chat, the build in Bittorrent client and to operating specific versions of the web browser. All in all a few dozens fixes which comes surprisingly that short after the release of Opera 10. Several of the fixes fix crashes and optimize computer memory usage.

Users who are interested in additional information can visit the Opera Desktop team blog to do so. It has to be noted again that this is a development release which should not be installed in productive environments (unless the user knows the impact this can have).

Opera 10.10 is available for the Microsoft Windows (msi or classic), Apple Macintosh (universal or Intel) and Linux operating system.

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.