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Opera's workspaces keep messy tabs under control
If you're a fan of tabbed web browsers, there's a real chance your tabs can be overwhelming at times. Ever try to find that one article you were hoping to read when you have dozens of tabs to wade through? Opera, at least, thinks it can help you clean up that mess. Its newly released Opera 67 for the desktop (aka R2020) introduces tab workspaces that keep you organized. You could have a set of tabs devoted to your schoolwork while another caters just to your social media updates. You can even send links to different workspaces by right-clicking them.
Opera accused of offering predatory loans through Android apps (updated)
Opera has frequently tried to claim the moral high ground in the web browser world, but it's being accused of using its side projects for far less virtuous behavior. Hindenburg Research has published a report alleging that Opera is running four Android apps aimed at India, Kenya and Nigeria (CashBean, OKash, OPay and OPesa) that appear to be in direct violation of Google Play Store policies forbidding predatory loans and deceptive descriptions. The apps would claim to offer maximum annual percentage rate (APR) of 33 percent or less, but the actual rates were much higher, climbing to 438 percent in the case of OPesa. And while they publicly offered reasonable loan terms of 91 to 365 days, the real length was no more than 29 days (for OKash) and more often 15 days -- well under Google's 60-day minimum.
Opera's gaming-focused GX browser comes to macOS
If you're one of the many people that play games on your Mac, one thing you may not appreciate is a resource-hog browser. The answer might be Opera's GX, unveiled earlier this year on PC, which is finally available on macOS in early access mode. Opera said that it solves resource problems via limiters on CPU, RAM and network bandwidth. "What this means in practice is that everyone's machines are left with more resources for running games," the company said.
Opera's latest version gives any web page a dark mode
Tech companies and device manufacturers have long touted ways to reduce a screen's dreaded blue glare -- the light that disturbs the natural circadian rhythms of the body and affects sleep. Now, Opera is rolling out a revamped night mode function that promises even dimmer night-time scrolling.
Opera's latest browser update will show you how much you're being tracked
With its previous release, Opera unveiled a tracker blocker for its browser that sped it up by up to 20 percent and offered more privacy, to boot. With the latest version, you'll be able to see a list of those trackers to get an idea of just how often advertisers and websites are watching you. "Once you switch it on, a shield icon appears in the address bar where you can easily see the number of trackers being blocked, as well as a list of said trackers," Opera wrote in a press release.
Opera's stricter privacy controls could also speed up your web browsing
Opera doesn't want to miss the browser privacy bandwagon, and it's taking an unusual angle to sell it: it's promising a speed boost. The newly released Opera 64 includes a tracker blocker that prevents sites from tracking you across the web (usually for ads or behavior fingerprinting) and, reportedly, delivering roughly 20 percent faster page load times. That's likely to vary sharply, but it's something to consider if you're hoping to tackle privacy and performance at the same time. You can turn the feature off on entirely or on a per-site basis if there are any hiccups.
LastPass patched a bug that could have exposed your passwords
If you use LastPass to manage your passwords, now would be a good time to make sure you're running the latest version, 4.33.0. As Gizmodo reports, LastPass recently patched a bug that could have been used to compromise users' security credentials. The patch should have arrived automatically, but as a precaution, it's worth making sure you're running the September 12th update.
Vivaldi's browser for power users comes to Android
Opera's former CEO launched the Vivaldi desktop browser in 2016, catering to power users who missed the shortcuts and tweaks of the original Opera. Now, the Vivaldi browser is available for Android too, in a fully-featured beta version.
Opera built a browser just for gamers
With over a billion PC gamers on the planet, it's about time someone launched a gaming-friendly browser -- and that's exactly what Opera has done. The previously hinted at Opera GX goes into early access availability today, and offers a bunch of features and options that will make PC gaming smoother and more customizable.
Opera for Android ships with free VPN
Opera announced that it is offering free VPN protection to all users on Android. The latest version of the company's Android app will include a built-in VPN, expanding a service that it first made available to mobile beta users last month and has offered in its desktop app for years. The VPN will be available starting in Opera for Android 51, which will start rolling out in the Google Play Store today.
Opera for Android gives you an option to quickly turn off ad blocking
Ad blocking on mobile web browsers is relatively commonplace, but it's also annoying when you want to turn it off to support a favorite site (or, let's be honest, to get past a "turn off your ad blocker" warning). Opera thinks it can win you over by making that process as easy as possible. It's releasing Opera 50 for Android with an ad blocker you can toggle on a per-site basis. You just have to flick a slider on or off -- you don't have to think about a whitelist or turning off ad blocking entirely.
Opera's free VPN is now built into its Android browser
Opera is adding a free, unlimited VPN to its Android browser. It's rolling out the VPN gradually to beta users first before making it more widely available. You'll be able to set your location as America, Europe or Asia, or use a setting to automatically pick the optimal connection. There are also options to turn off the VPN while searching so you get more localized results and to only activate it on private tabs.
Opera for Android will get rid of annoying cookie prompts
If you're frustrated at having to constantly close "we use cookies" dialog boxes on websites in the GDPR era, relief might be in sight. Opera has released an updated Android browser with an option to block cookie dialogs. Flip it on through the ad blocking settings and Opera will close as many of those intrusive prompts as it can. There's no guarantee it will work (Opera is relying on a mix of CSS and JavaScript detection), but the company said it had tested the feature with 15,000 sites and was accepting feedback on its success rate through the beta version.
Apple Music's latest visual album is a full-length opera
Apple Music has added a new visual album, and it's one classical music fans would love. Cupertino has teamed up with Deutsche Grammophon, one of the biggest classical music labels, to launch a curated channel that highlights the company's best recordings. One of the portal's first offerings is the 2008 Salzburg Festival staging of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette featuring star tenor Rolando Villazón -- and, yes, the service is making the full-length performance available as a 32-track visual album. You can watch them all at once or just choose parts to play if you can only stomach specific arias. Apple Music has other visual albums you can stream, most notably, Frank Ocean's Endless, but this is the first time the platform is offering a full-length opera in the format.
Opera tests an in-browser cryptocurrency wallet on Android
Opera is embracing the cryptocurrency movement by testing an Ethereum wallet in its Android mobile browser. It makes Opera the first major browser to add a built-in crypto wallet. You can import an existing wallet or create a new one, and it allows you to send and receive money directly in the browser, as well as make online purchases where merchants support crypto transactions.
Opera discontinues its mobile VPN app (updated)
Opera's free mobile VPN app wasn't long for this world, unfortunately. The browser maker has discontinued both its Android and iOS VPN clients after SurfEasy, the developer Opera had acquired in 2015, parted ways with the company. We've asked about the fate of desktop support, but it's safe to say this reduces your choices when you're accessing content from other countries or adding a degree of secrecy to your surfing. You're not out of luck if you want to use Opera VPN's underlying technology, though.
Opera's 'Flow' keeps its new mobile and desktop browsers synced
Opera continues to lag behind Chrome and its other rivals, but it's not out of the browser game just yet. The company has launched a brand new mobile browser, an updated one for desktop and a way to keep them synced and connected even without logging in. Its new mobile browser called Opera Touch was specifically designed to be used with one hand, so you can do searches and browse websites even if you're holding onto a subway strap or carrying a baby with the other.
Web standard brings password-free sign-ins to virtually any site
Tech companies have been trying to do away with web passwords for years, but now it looks like they've reached a key milestone. The FIDO Alliance and W3C have launched a Web Authentication standard that makes it easier to offer truly unique encryption credentials for each site. That, in turn, lets you access virtually any online service in a PC browser through password-free FIDO Authentication, not just specific services. You can continue to use familiar methods like fingerprint readers, cameras and USB keys, and it can serve both in place of and in addition to passwords.
Hubble provides the cosmic background to a dark French opera
Grandiose space images from NASA's Hubble telescope might be the last thing you'd expect see in an early 20th century French opera. However, Marco Brambilla, the artist behind epic video art installations and Kanye West's "moving painting" music video for Power, has done just that. He created the video backdrop for a new production of Claude Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, currently running at the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Antwerp, Belgium.
Opera update keeps sites from hijacking your browser to mine bitcoin
Did you know that your browser can be tricked into mining cryptocurrency like BitCoin without your knowledge? Apparently, there are scripts floating around out there on various servers and website plugins that can hijack your web browser and use its CPU for mining purposes, even after the browser window is closed. Yikes. Opera version 50 releases tomorrow at 10 AM CET, and it includes with cryptocurrency mining protection built right into its ad blocker software.
