More info below

Opera 10.60 in final version, faster and more secure than ever

Oslo, Norway – July 1, 2010 – Today you can experience being the first on the Web in features, speed and innovation. Opera Software releases the final version of the 10.60 browser with several new features, more user security and enhanced stability and is now up to 50 percent faster than the previous version.

Join the movement

With more than 120 million active users surfing the Web on various Opera-powered devices, Opera seeks to provide the latest innovations to all web users. In Opera 10.60, the up and coming technologies forming the Web of tomorrow are already available.

Geolocation eases the work of putting you on the map by determining your position. To ensure your privacy, you have full control over when this feature is used. To showcase geolocation in action, Opera has created an interactive map to show real-time downloads of the Opera browser. Try it out here: http://www.opera.com/livemap/

Opera is first to give you built-in video playback with the open WebM format that gives you optimized video right in the browser on all platforms. Other Opera features such as offline applications let you work using web-based applications, without Internet connectivity.

Go into overdrive

With the final version of Opera 10.60, the browser scores more than 50 percent faster than its predecessor – which was the fastest browser on Earth – in key benchmark tests. This translates into a faster browsing experience for users on modern JavaScript-heavy sites such as Gmail and Facebook.

Combined with its unique Opera Turbo functionality, Opera puts you one step ahead on the Web. Opera Turbo compresses the data going over your connection up to a factor of two or more, for those congested connections at cafés or a mobile connection at the summerhouse.

Other features included in Opera, such as mouse gestures, make you a more efficient user when browsing the Web and cuts down time spent on navigating between different webpages. Extensive built-in search functions give you quick and powerful searches both on the Web and in large webpages.

Stay secure, use Opera

Staying secure on the Web is easier than ever with the unsurpassed AVG-supported anti-fraud systems and phishing protection introduced in Opera 10.60. Live feeds supply fresh information on the latest web threats to the users and keep them in the know about potential malware, harm or scams. In certain regions, Yandex supplies user malware protection.

More improvements

· Appcache: Use in-browser applications such as word processors and spreadsheets even without an Internet connection by storing the necessary files locally.
· More search: Opera 10.60 includes several search engines for the user to choose for themselves. Opera has added the Bing search engine as one of the choices, in addition to the default Google search.
· Search suggestions: With websites such as Wikipedia, get instant search suggestions to complement your search experience.
· Improved design: New design features such as an improved Menu button and icon tabs make day-to-day use of Opera even faster and easier.  With the Speed Dial, another Opera first, get to your favorite websites with just a single click of the mouse.

Try it out today, go to http://www.opera.com/

Video:

IE9 is where same mark-up and performance meet hardware acceleration to shatter the glass ceiling on the Web – creating endless possibilities of rich, powerful Web applications. So here the build up to our dear old friend “www.com” in a brand new avatar, made friendlier, lighter, and very very agile to help its folks get through their tasks more easily. So let’s take a sneak peek into what’s so cool about IE9…

• IE9 uses your whole PC to unlock the next class of experiences for the web. It is one of the fastest browsers today and the new JavaScript engine translates into an even faster IE 9.
• IE9 introduces GPU-powered Canvas & GPU-powered and and moves the browser from running on a crowded, single CPU to the fast, spacious GPU. Our partnership with NVIDIA and AMD/ATI enables a solid understanding of GPU-CPU compatibility.
• Increasing our support for standards is just part of the equation for creating the next version of the world’s most popular browser. Additionally, we’ve added new tools for developers to enable them create rich, standards-compliant, interoperable Web applications while making it easy for them to test and debug their web sites.
• Includes expanded support for HTML5, hardware-accelerated graphics and text, and a new JavaScript engine. Together these allow developers to use the same markup and deliver graphically and functionally rich Web applications that take advantage of modern PC hardware through a modern operating system.
• IE9 + Windows + the power of hardware is like wine…it keeps getting better with time. This powerful combination makes today’s Web better and tomorrow’s Web extraordinary. It is time to tap into your whole PC and re-imagine the Web.

Google has added the send a file option to the web version of  iGoogle and orkut chat and is also working of a similar version for the gmail web application. We can’t wait to get it on gmail cause right now only option is the gtalk desktop client and it’s not too comfortable  to send files . Sometimes even gtalk is blocked behind a firewall. The addition of the File Transfer to Gmail Chat will make Gmail more cool

The new widgets platform takes advantage of Opera’s recently announced cross-platform UI framework. This framework was developed to help operators and manufacturers efficiently distribute a single browser UI across a wide range of devices. Similarly, a singular Opera Widgets experience can now be quickly developed and deployed on nearly any platform. Operators will benefit as widgets drive end-user data consumption and encourage the uptake of content and services throughout their network.

“Our new Widgets platform releases operators and manufacturers from the native application box and gives them the tools needed to develop Web-based content that is fun, useful and available to everyone,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software. “By rebuilding our Opera Mobile Widgets Manager with our cross-platform UI framework, we are able to help our customers deliver a better, more unified user experience on nearly any mobile phone.”

Opera’s Mini-based Widgets platform includes the same UI and feature set as the Opera Mobile Widgets Manager. Opera Mini’s server-side rendering allows nearly any mobile phone to run a Web browser and now, widgets.

Widgets check list:

- Based on open Web standards
- Provides instant access to content and services
- Rapid development and time-to-market
- Cross-device, cross-platform deployment
- Drives data consumption
- Creates new revenue stream through sale of content and services
- Now available for nearly any phone on your network

For more information on how to bring Opera Widgets to your customers, visit http://www.opera.com/business/.

This solution combines the Opera Devices SDK for Linux, Opera’s fully compliant HbbTV framework and Ocean Blue’s proven advanced DVB middleware, which incorporates HbbTV extensions. The resulting package gives full flexibility to OEMs, enabling them to give TV-viewers a premium and feature-rich experience with full support for next-generation Broadcast portals and services, such as ARD/ ZDF Mediathek, Tagesschau and ARTE.

The HbbTV initiative was announced in August 2009, and it aims to combine the richness of broadcast interactive services with broadband content. HbbTV technology is available for connected TVs and STBs, and delivers interactive hybrid services such as video-on-demand, catch-up TV, interactive advertising, personalization, digital text, games and social networking. Opera is a long-time leader in bringing the Web as a multi-usage platform to STBs and connected TVs, and by launching this HbbTV solution with Ocean Blue, Opera will make a significant impact in this market.

“At the moment there are different broadcast/broadband initiatives on the European market, including HbbTV in Germany and France, and Canvas in the United Kingdom, so there will be different market scenarios. However, Opera Software and Ocean Blue plan to offer a common technology platform to all of these developments, based on open Web standards,” said Christen Krogh, Chief Development Officer, Opera Software. “Our strategic technology and business partnership with Ocean Blue Software will help our customers bring the best of over-the-top (OTT) content and services directly to the living room on hybrid devices.”

“We are delighted to extend our partnership with Opera,” said Ken Helps, CEO of Ocean Blue Software. “TV and STB manufacturers want a feature-rich, low-risk solution; the collaboration between Ocean Blue and Opera provides a robust HbbTV solution that reduces time to market and therefore overall cost.”

The first public demonstration of Opera and Ocean Blue’s HbbTV solution will be at the IPTV World Forum 2010. Opera will host this demo from its meeting room (Meeting Room 7) and showcase the solution running on the popular STi7105 platform from STMicroelectronics, a long-time partner of both Opera Software and Ocean Blue.

“ST is proactively supporting key software vendors such as Ocean Blue and Opera who are delivering the key building blocks that will provide the consumer with the next generation, rich entertainment experience on television via broadcast and the Internet,” said Philippe Lambinet, Vice President, Home Video Division, STMicroelectronics.

The next milestone for Opera is to extend this joint HbbTV solution with pre-packaged broadband services, in collaboration with GooMe, Opera’s over-the-top (OTT) partner. By doing so, Opera will help further enrich the media experience for TV viewers.

The Twitter Search API will see this change first

“This confirms that when users are given a real choice on how they choose the most important piece of software on their computer, the browser, they will try out alternatives,” said Håkon Wium Lie, CTO of Opera Software. “A multitude of browsers will make the Web more standardized and easier to browse.”

The increase represents more than a doubling from the normal download numbers, even only after a short period with the Choice Screen. According to plan, the rollout of the Choice Screen will continue well into May for existing Windows computers and for five more years on new installations.

The following numbers are the percentages of country downloads of Opera’s latest desktop browser that originate from the Choice Screen, as part of the total Opera 10.50 numbers for desktop.

The increase percentage due to Choice Screen was found by comparing downloads from Choice Screen to all other downloads for each country. Other downloads includes downloads of new installations outside Choice Screen and manual upgrades of the 10.50 browser. Numbers were collected from Opera download statistics, over three days, March 12 – 14.

Press Release

Notice the horz scroll buttons in the 728×90 ad unit below

 notice the vertical scroll buttons on the 300×250 ad unit below

There’s some cool fading effect when you scroll through the ads by using the buttons.

Net Results ?

 You might end up making more money from adsense as users might see more than 4 adlinks  but in the same place.

Its not showing up on all sites.

Its seems to be under testing.

 It applies only to text ads

sIFR is a cool way rendering text using flash and javascript. If javascript is not supported by the browser then it beatifully degrades as plain html text

Mike Davidson,founder and CEO of Newsvine.com is co-inventor of Scalable Inman Flash Replacement (sIFR)

Since sIFR is similar to cloaking , Search engines such as google might penalize your website for cloaking.

But in Best uses of flash Google openly recommends usage of sIFR.

sIFR homepage Sample page