gHacks technology news » opera update http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:31:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Opera 10.10 RC http://www.ghacks.net/2009/11/13/opera-10-10-rc/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/11/13/opera-10-10-rc/#comments Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:28:28 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=18478 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..

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/11/13/opera-10-10-rc/feed/ 0 Opera 10.01 http://www.ghacks.net/2009/10/28/opera-10-01/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/10/28/opera-10-01/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:11:03 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=17818 operaThe 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.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/10/28/opera-10-01/feed/ 1 Opera 10.10 Dev Build With Opera Unite http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/04/opera-10-10-dev-build-with-opera-unite/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/04/opera-10-10-dev-build-with-opera-unite/#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:16:31 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=16036 operaThe Opera Desktop Team has released a development release of Opera 10 with the version number 10.10. This release includes Opera Unite which offers web server functionality in the web browser. The final version of Opera 10 which was released not long ago did not include Opera Unite. While Opera Unite is definitely the most prominent addition in Opera 10.10 other additions have been made that are worth a closer look. These additions are mostly stability fixes and minor improvements to the Opera web browser.

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.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/04/opera-10-10-dev-build-with-opera-unite/feed/ 1 Opera 10 Final http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/01/opera-10-final/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/01/opera-10-final/#comments Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:01:48 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=15898 operaThe 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

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.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/01/opera-10-final/feed/ 5 Opera 10 Beta 3 http://www.ghacks.net/2009/08/13/opera-10-beta-3/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/08/13/opera-10-beta-3/#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:41:42 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=15337 operaThe 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

opera10 beta3

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.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/08/13/opera-10-beta-3/feed/ 2 Opera 10 Beta 2 Released http://www.ghacks.net/2009/07/16/opera-10-beta-2-released/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/07/16/opera-10-beta-2-released/#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:22:11 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=14452 operaOpera 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.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/07/16/opera-10-beta-2-released/feed/ 13 Web Browser: Opera 9.64 http://www.ghacks.net/2009/03/03/web-browser-opera-964/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/03/03/web-browser-opera-964/#comments Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:42:59 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=10868 A new version of the Opera web browser has been released today which raises the version of the web browser to 9.64 on all supported operating systems. The official changelog describes the update as a security and stability upgrade which means it is recommended to update the web browser as soon as possible. The download is available at the official Opera website, the web browser’s have not caught up with it yet which means that the Check For Update option under Help will not tell the user about the update (yet).

The security issues that are fixed in the latest version could be used to execute arbitrary code and allow cross domain scripting. Besides those fixes several additional updates have been implemented, many of which relate to certificates. This includes untrusted rootstore capabilities, preventing security information documents from being written to disk or fixing a problem that could cause the incorrect calculation of Certificate IDs.

This version of the Opera web browser added support for platform specific features, namely Data Execution Prevention in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 and Address Space Layout Randomization in Windows Vista. There have also been several miscellaneous updates like fixing a problem with a blank inline search or adding an external source viewer to the Opera web browser.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/03/03/web-browser-opera-964/feed/ 2 Opera 9.63 Released http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/01/opera-963-released/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/01/opera-963-released/#comments Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:00:17 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=9500 A new version of the Opera web browser has been released on the last day of 2008. Opera 9.63 is an update to the current official release version of Opera. The update is a recommended security and stability upgrade. The new version can be downloaded directly from the official Opera website where it is available for all supported operating systems.

Existing Opera users can alternatively use the Check For Updates option in the Help menu to download Opera 9.63. The only other changes are one addition to the opera:config menu which can be set to close tabs by double-clicking on them. There are also four additions to the mail, news and chat functions of Opera.

List of security changes and improvements:

  • Manipulating text input contents can allow execution of arbitrary code
  • HTML parsing flaw can cause Opera to execute arbitrary code
  • Long hostnames in file: URLs can cause execution of arbitrary code
  • Script injection in feed preview can reveal contents of unrelated news feeds
  • Built-in XSLT templates can allow cross-site scripting
  • Fixed an issue that could reveal random data
  • SVG images embedded using tags can no longer execute Java or plugin content
  • Opera now imports .p12 private certificates
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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/01/opera-963-released/feed/ 2 Opera 9.63 Update Released http://www.ghacks.net/2008/12/16/opera-963-update-released/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/12/16/opera-963-update-released/#comments Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:48:06 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=9078 The Opera development team has been busy the last weeks releasing the first public alpha version of Opera 10 and only a week later an update for the latest official version of Opera which raises the version to 9.63. The new update which became available earlier today is a recommended security update and every user with Opera installed should update the web browser immediately.

The update is already available when checking the Help > Check For Updates option from within Opera. It can also be downloaded directly from the official Opera ftp website for all supported operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh, Linux and mobile devices.

Here is the list of security issues that have been fixed in Opera 9.63:

  • Manipulating text input contents can allow execution of arbitrary code
  • HTML parsing flaw can cause Opera to execute arbitrary code
  • Long hostnames in file: URLs can cause execution of arbitrary code
  • Script injection in feed preview can reveal contents of unrelated news feeds
  • Built-in XSLT templates can allow cross-site scripting
  • Fixed an issue that could reveal random data
  • SVG images embedded using tags can no longer execute Java or plugin content

Make sure to update the Opera web browser as soon as possible to eliminate the vulnerabilities.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/12/16/opera-963-update-released/feed/ 6 Opera 9.61 security update http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/21/opera-961-security-update/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/21/opera-961-security-update/#comments Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:53:14 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=7779 The Opera development team just released the second beta of Opera 9.5 Mobile yesterday and a new final version of Opera for desktop PCs just a day afterwards. Opera 9.61 is a recommended security update which is already distributed by Opera’s internal update checker which alerts user if new versions of Opera get released.

A total of three security issues have been fixed in this version of Opera. The first issue fixed a security bug where the History Search function could be used to reveal browsing history. The second fix prevents Fast Forward from allowing Cross-Site scripting while the third prevents news feed previews from revealing contents of unrelated news feeds.

In addition to those three security fixes two user interface changes have been implemented in the latest version of Opera. The image toggle button on the status bar was changed to a normal button instead of a menu. Finally a issue with Opera Link was corrected which could generate duplicate bookmarks during synchronization.

The Opera changelogs can be accessed at the official Opera website. The download can be initiated from within Opera or by visiting the Opera website.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/21/opera-961-security-update/feed/ 1 New Opera 9.6 Features http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/09/new-opera-96-features/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/09/new-opera-96-features/#comments Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:41:51 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=7531 Opera 9.6 has been released just a day ago and the Opera team did a fine job of integrating some interesting new features in the new version of the web browser. The release is a security and stability update that did introduce several new features. Since it is a security update it is a recommended update for all Opera users.

Many of the new features have been introduced to Opera Mail which now features a low bandwidth mode for Pop3 and IMAP which is great when using Opera on the road. Another new addition is the feed preview mode that displays RSS news feeds in magazine style preview mode which is extremely convenient for widescreen monitors.

The screenshot below outlines the mode using the Ghacks feed. The mode places feed in magazine style next to each other. The feed preview is unfortunately not available after subscribing to the news feed which is something that the Opera team should think about delivering.

opera feed preview

Another interesting addition are scroll markers. Scroll markers show the user where the last page ended after scrolling down to give a better indicator where to continue reading. That option is turned off by default and needs to activated.

opera scroll marker

The best option to enable the feature is to open the Opera config pasting opera:config#UserPrefs|EnableScrollMarker into the Opera address bar. The parameters are 0 for off, 1 for showing the scroll marker when reaching the bottom or top of the page and 2 for always showing the scroll marker when scrolling.

The release notes contain a list of all changes made since the release of Opera 9.52. Will probably only a matter of time until the other browsers will add the features as well.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/09/new-opera-96-features/feed/ 2 Update To Opera 9.52 Now http://www.ghacks.net/2008/08/20/update-to-opera-952-now/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/08/20/update-to-opera-952-now/#comments Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:25:35 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=6322 Several security vulnerabilities have been lately discovered in versions of Opera prior to Opera 9.52. The security vulnerabilities are classified as highly critical and include possibilities to bypass security, spoof, expose sensitive information, DoS and provide system access to an attacker.

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.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/08/20/update-to-opera-952-now/feed/ 4 Opera 9.51 is out http://www.ghacks.net/2008/07/03/opera-951-is-out/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/07/03/opera-951-is-out/#comments Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:07:17 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=5190 The latest version of Opera has been released today and is available for download at the official Opera website. The new version introduces several changes to the user interface that has been introduced in Opera 9.5 as well as several security and stability fixes that makes the new version an urgent download for everyone running Opera 9.5.

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.

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