Opera

Opera 12's first beta also swan song for quirky features

Opera has released the first beta of its next-generation browser, code-named Wahoo. Opera 12 beta 1 for Windows, Mac, and Linux, contains many improvements that modernize the browser. It also abandons several quirky features that die-hard fans are likely to miss.

Much of the browser simply brings it in line with its competition, but there is one stand-out new feature. Formerly known as Opera Reader, it takes a few lines of CSS code to allow you to lay out a Web page like a book. It also allows for page resizing without losing the formatting. Opera has decided to open … Read more

Opera Mini 7 stretches to Android

Opera ports its WebGL hardware acceleration from Opera Mobile to the Android version of Opera Mini 7, which first debuted last month at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

Opera Mini 7 for Android (download) improves the lightweight browser's compressed browsing feature called Turbo with hardware acceleration, and expands the Speed Dial landing page beyond nine Web sites.

It does not include the new home screen that is coming to Opera Mini 7 for feature phones, which will bring interactive social-networking to people who have those lower-powered phones.

Phillip Gronvold, Opera's product manager for mobile, told CNET before … Read more

Social goes big on Opera Mini

BARCELONA, Spain--The maker of the second-most popular mobile browser in the world has given its feature-phone fans something to tweet about, as Opera Mini Next debuted and brought several smartphone features to "dumb" phones.

The big new feature that's kicking off the inaugural build of Opera Mini Next, the developer's preview of the browser, is "smart" page called Home. Home will live next to Opera's Speed Dial, its customizable collection of regularly visited Web sites that occupies top billing across all Opera browsers, and it serves a similar function. It will let you … Read more

Bad data connection could explain too-fast neutrinos

A relatively mundane data-link problem could explain last year's surprising finding that subatomic particles called neutrinos appeared to violate physics laws by traveling faster than the speed of light.

Problems with a fiber-optic link in the Opera experiment "could have led to an underestimate of the time of flight of the neutrinos," CERN, the European nuclear physics center that generated the neutrinos for the experiment, said in a statement today. The fiber fed GPS location data into the experiment's master clock.

Too short a travel time to the destination--Italy's National Institute of Nuclear Physics lab … Read more

Does your browser feed the cookie monster--or starve it?

Google's latest public display of cookie addiction revealed that while the ad side of Google enthusiastically embraces third-party cookies, the browser division is more hesitant. Here's how the five major browsers--Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera--protect you from those third-party tracking cookies.

But first: what's a tracking cookie? And why are they so important as a component of your online privacy?

A tracking cookie can be used to follow people around the Web as they jump from site to site. Though your IP address or your HTTP request header's referral field can also be used … Read more

Browser maker Opera acquires two mobile ad networks

Taking another step to diversify its revenue sources and extend into the mobile market, browser maker Opera Software said it's acquired two mobile ad companies, Mobile Theory and 4th Screen Advertising.

The Norwegian company announced the deals today in conjunction with reporting fourth-quarter financial results. In that quarter, revenue rose from $33.4 million the year earlier to $43.6 million in 2011, while net income of $0.9 million rose to $7.4 million.

The two companies Opera acquired offer demand-side ad networks, Mobile Theory focused on U.S. advertising and 4th Screen focused on Europe. Demand-side ad … Read more

How to add keyboard shortcuts to Netflix

Keyboard shortcuts make browsing Netflix and rating movies quick and easy.

Instead of clicking on menus and navigating to the areas of your interest, why not press one key? That's the functionality that a userscript written by Dustin Luck adds to your browser. The script states it will definitely work in Firefox, but also seems to work Chrome, Opera, and Safari without much of a hitch. Here's how to get it for yourself:

Step 1: Open your Web browser of choice. The notes for the script suggest that you use Firefox, … Read more

Live from Norway, it's the Opera TV Store

LAS VEGAS--Opera Software may be known for making a solid desktop and mobile Web browser, but the company is also taking steps to blur the line between television and the Web as it debuts a TV-based app store.

The new Opera TV Store is an HTML5-powered Web app store for televisions that works with HD-ready screens, set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, and standard remote controls. It does pretty much what we've come to expect from app stores, which is provide you with Web-like experiences outside of the traditional browsing experience. Ready-to-use apps include Facebook and Vimeo, as well as games … Read more

New Opera tweaks its threads, mail client

The new Opera might be a minor-point update, but along with the interface changes, better HTML5 support, and faster handling of secure sites, Opera humorously has noted that it's a good thing that tween pop star Justin Bieber prefers Google Chrome. Debuting today, Opera 11.60 for Windows (download), Mac (download), and Linux (download) brings Opera a step closer to version 12 and its planned hardware acceleration update.

Hardware acceleration is currently one of the major features missing from Opera that its competitors offer. It allows the browser to leverage a computer's graphics processor to cut down on … Read more