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Opera releases 'Coast' iPad browser
Opera Software today released a new browser for the iPad that re-imagines the way users interact with the web. A press release touting the app's release reads in part: The web has evolved exponentially from drab, grey webpages with blue, linked text to vivid, elegant pages with complex graphics, videos and other interactive information. Yet, so far, the web experience on tablets has been limited to browsers that are either scaled-up versions of mobile browsers or scaled-down desktop browsers. Opera wanted to do something about that. Dubbed Coast, and based on WebKit, Opera employee Huib Kleinhout told The Verge that the new browser is "futuristic" and is an effort to bring the browsing experience up to par with the evolution of content on the web. To that end, Coast is unique insofar as it treats different websites as unique and distinct applications. Translation? Say goodbye to traditional browser mainstays like the back and forward buttons. In Coast, users navigate around the web by using gestures. Despite the grandiose thinking, Coast isn't actually all that unrecognizable. While it eschews almost all interface chrome, its main screen still resembles the smart, new tab pages in modern browsers, which automatically fill in your most visited sites. Perhaps more aptly, it looks and acts just like the home screen of an iPad. Websites appear as app-icon style squares, tapping on an icon opens up a site, pressing and holding on one allows them to be rearranged and swiping side to side switches between additional screens. And like iOS at large, browsing on Coast is a single-pane experience too. One website takes up the entire screen, and you either have to go back to the home screen or navigate to a discrete page switcher in order to jump around to another site. Coast is available as a free download on the App Store and is iPad-only.
Opera unveils Coast, a new web browser purpose-built for iPad and iPad mini
Opera's no stranger to the mobile web, as it's been building browsers for phones and tablets for years. Today, however, it's revealing an all-new window to the web called Coast. Coast's been constructed specifically for the iPad and seeks to make browsing the internet feel the same as using an app. What's that mean? Well, for starters, a series of swipe-able home screens and a tile-based UI that makes all your favorite websites look like icons. Also, Coast wholly does away with browser chrome, instead showing just content, with only small home and history buttons residing beneath whatever page you're viewing. Navigation forward and back's accomplished by swiping, and a customizable search bar sits atop your favorites. Essentially, Coast aims to be simple to use and to deliver web content in an unobtrusive, elegant way. When launched, Coast shows you a tiled grid of favorites, and you can set the number of tiles you see per screen (the default is nine). Adding a new site's as easy as dragging and dropping it onto one of the home screens. Upon returning to home from a site, the icon tile of that last-visited page shows up beneath your favorites, so you can make it stick around permanently by sliding it up to join your other bookmarks. Coast also takes a page from the webOS playbook by providing your browsing history as a series of panes that are tapped for access or swiped upwards to be deleted. And, Opera has, of course, thought to secure the browser, too. Coast is backed by a security engine that constantly consults an online database of unsafe sites -- stray into a nasty corner of the internet, and Coast strings police tape across the page and warns you of the danger. You can also view the security and reputation of any given site by tapping the history button, then swiping down from the bottom of the webpage to reveal such info. Want to know how Coast came to be? Join us after the break to find out.
TiVo adds Opera SDK support to Roamio platform, wants more HTML5 apps
The TiVo Roamio platform is still extremely young, what with it only having been launched earlier this month and all. Still, the DVR maker isn't wasting any time and is now finding ways to bring as many features as possible to its new set-top boxes. With this in mind, TiVo let it be known today that it's adding support for Opera's Devices SDK and TV Store to its lineup of Roamio DVRs, providing developers an opportunity to create a variety of HTML5-based applications. TiVo's hoping the partnership with Opera can introduce a slew of apps in different categories to the platform, including entertainment, fashion, sports, business, gaming news and more. As for Opera, we can imagine it's rather pleased to get its app-creating tools used by yet another company.
Opera for Android scores Chromium 28, snappier startups and video downloads
Opera for Android emerged from a beta phase with its last major release, and now its developers have polished it up further in version 15. With Chromium 28 freshly-placed under the hood, the mobile browser has caught up with its desktop counterparts when it comes to WebKit-based innards. A handful of features have also been added, which include improved start-up times, an "open in private tab" context menu and refined cookie clearing, along with the ability to set download locations and open files from an SD card. Thanks to the upgrade, users will also be able to save videos to their device and play them back, to boot. An assortment of bug fixes, in addition to spruced up tab UI animations, made the cut as well. Check your hardware for the update, or head to the second source link for the download.
Opera 15 now available for Mac
For almost 20 years, the Opera web browser has provided an alternative for web surfers who don't want to use the browser packaged with their computer. Its latest incarnation, Opera 15, has been released for OS X, and it's the first version that was built using the open-source Chromium engine. While it shares an engine with Google's Chrome, the newest version of Opera has some exclusive features that help it stand out. Off-Road mode compresses pages to speed up browsing when your connection slows down to help you stay online, and then automatically turns itself off when your connection improves. Speed Dial groups the sites you visit most often into a custom start page and now allows you to group multiple links into folders. Opera Discover presents search results based on your expressed interests, allowing it to pinpoint your favorite sports teams or news categories. There is also a new Stash feature that allows you to collect screenshots of web pages for future reference. When in use, you're shown smaller versions of the pages you've snapped, which can then be enlarged for future reference. Best of all, you can tag your snapshots with a keyword to easily find them later. You can download Opera 15 for free over at its website.
Opera 15 Chromium-based browser officially launched for PC and Mac
While the non-final build of Opera's new browser for PC and Mac was simply called "Next," today it's chosen the more formal title of Opera 15 for its official release. There aren't any features of note that we hadn't seen in the desktop preview of the WebKit-based software (or should we call it Blink-based?), but to jog your memory, it sports a fresh design, a Discover feature for catching up on the latest news and a tweaked Speed Dial menu for quick access to your favorite corners of the internet. Also, the web-clipping Stash feature, predictive address-cum-search bar, new download manager and "Off-Road mode" for extra compression on lousy connections are all included in the final version. We ran a quick SunSpider benchmark on the Mac build of Opera 15, in which it scored 167ms, compared with 171ms in Chrome. If you're not already allied to one of the many competing browsers and feel like giving Opera 15 a try, head to the source below for the download links.
Blood Pact: Karazhan and its abyssal depths of fun
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill . Karazhan: the most beloved of retro raids. Players may put on the rose-colored glasses when they talk of how limited raiding was back in the Vanilla days, but Karazhan is often talked of with fondness. Going back is a pleasure, not a painful memory. It's with good reason -- the place is built like a castle tower, going up and up forever, and it's full of memorable mobs and scenery. Karazhan also has some of the tier 4 Voidheart Raiment for warlocks, as well as a mount and now pets for everyone, so it's a weekly favorite of mine to visit.
Opera desktop preview brings web clipping and other tools, splits from Opera Mail
Opera for desktops may be a couple of steps behind the recently finalized Android version, but it's coming along nicely. A preview build of the now WebKit-based browser (or, technically, Blink-based) is available to try on Windows and Mac with a bunch of features which in some ways look similar to other browsers and add-ons, but which also do things a bit differently: Speed Dial -- a home tab that brings large tiles and folders for quick access to favorite sites Stash -- a web clipping tool that follows a similar big-tile aesthetic (shown above) Smartbox -- a search box that not only predicts what you're looking for but also offers to hunt for it on different search engines, such as Google or Twitter. One thing you won't find is an integrated Opera Mail client, since that's been split from the desktop browser (due to "popular demand") and is now available as a release candidate for a forthcoming standalone product. You'll find full download linkage below.
Opera for Android out of beta, available on the Play store now
If your ears perked up when you heard about Opera for Android going WebKit, but were holding out for the final, non-beta version, then that wait is over. More recent features of the browser include the option to toggle the nav-bar location, text-wrapping when zooming and a full screen view of active tabs, but beyond that, the "what's new" section on the download page isn't saying much. So, while it's mostly the Opera we saw back at MWC, tools such as off-road mode (for data compressing) and a discovery mode are finally set for primetime. Ready to let Opera take the stage on your Android? Get your tickets at the source.
HTC Myst approved by the FCC with AT&T-compatible LTE
HTC's next "Facebook Phone" has been in the rumor mill for much too long, but this morning's approval by the FCC may speed along its journey to a launch date. The PM33100, which has been long associated with the Myst (or Opera, going even further back in time), just received the go-ahead by the Feds -- and it's carrying the same four LTE frequencies that we normally see accompanying AT&T smartphones. Naturally, HTC is keeping as much to itself as it possibly can, as we were able to glean few other details from the documents, but we know it has dual-band WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. However, if the leaked specs provided by @evleaks are correct, we should also expect to see it come with a 4.3-inch 720p display, a 1.5GHz dual-core MSM8960, a 5MP rear camera and Android 4.1.2.
Opera browser beta for Android hits Play store with WebKit horsepower
Opera browser made a seismic shift when it dropped its long-in-the-tooth Presto engine in favor of WebKit, and now you can see the changes for yourself. It's up for grabs in beta on Google Play, packing the same rendering engine as its Chrome and Safari counterparts along with a handful of extra features. Those include an updated speed dial page for easier launching of favorite sites, off-road mode to conserve data, a discover tab and HTML5 support. We haven't seen it yet on iOS and there's no date for a final release, so keep in mind you'll be test-piloting the still-beta app -- check the source to grab it.
Opera WebKit-based browser hands-on
Think Opera is content at 300 million? That would be a rather silly notion for any company, of course, and naturally the browser is bumping up its efforts by making the jump to WebKit. This move will make Opera even more tempting for Android (phone and tablet) users who would never have given the browser even a sideways glance previously. The newer, fancier Opera throws in a few extra features. First, there's a launch page called speed dial that looks an awful lot like what we've seen in older versions; you can customize a bunch of shortcuts and links based on your overall usage and personal preferences, and toss all of them in folders. There's also an off-road mode, which essentially gives you the option to switch over to Opera Mini for extra data compression for those times you need it -- this obviously comes in handy when you're reaching your data threshold or just in a low-reception area. Lastly, HTML5 support is built in, as we would come to expect with a new browser these days. Though we were originally told in January that we could expect Android and iOS versions of the browser sometime this month, representatives at the company's booth at MWC noted that what we're seeing is actually a pre-beta version and the final product is "coming soon" with no specific timetable given. This doesn't surprise us, as the demonstration had its fair share of bugs, but we will reserve judgment until we see it in its final form. As we patiently wait for the browser to make its public appearance, you can pine for it by drooling over the images in our gallery below. Sean Cooper contributed to this hands-on.
Opera confirms downsizing of developer team as it readies for newly adopted WebKit era
Opera's been making quite a few notable changes lately, and now we're finding out it won't be without any repercussions to some of its staff. Earlier today, Opera CEO Lars Boilsen's confirmed to our friends over at TechCrunch that the browser's developer team is indeed downsizing, confirming previous reports about the company having to make changes as part of its recently announced WebKit adoption. Just how many Core positions will be lost in the process is still unclear, however, with Mr. Boilsen only going as far as telling TechCrunch the number of developers working on the overall project is now at "around 600." What's more, Opera's CEO says it's all part of a belief that "WebKit's good enough, to switch, and by doing that we free up a lot of resources," adding that Opera "will still have a Core team but it will be less people going forward."
Opera buys Skyfire, wants its video and smartphone optimization expertise
In a sudden joining of former leaders in the mobile browser arena that have seen their fortunes turn, Opera announced tonight that it has acquired Skyfire for about $155 million in cash and stock. According to the press release, Opera believes one of the things the two can help each other with is its WebPass program that provides short-term mobile data, by further optimizing user's data requirements. Skyfire CEO Jeffrey Glueck will become an executive vice president at Opera and oversee joint offerings for the two, as well as remain CEO of Skyfire as an independent but wholly-owned subsidiary of Opera. If you're still using Skyfire don't expect it to go away anytime soon, as the two indicate its browser will continue to be developed and supported. The company says three large US mobile operators are already customers for its Rocket Optimizer tech, meant to speed up all manner of data even as mobile connections have gone from dial-up to broadband speeds. Opera claims its advertising chops can help the Skyfire Horizon mobile browser and toolbar applications as well. The deal is expected to close before mid-March, and the two will be taking meetings at MWC 2013 later this month to show mobile operators how much better they are together.
Opera hits 300M users, will transition to WebKit this year
Opera, the web browser available for Mac, iOS, PC and Andriod, has reached 300 million monthly users, the company has announced in a press release. Opera Software ASA also notes that the Opera web browser will be transitioning to the WebKit engine in future versions, taking advantage of the performance and standards WebKit has to offer. CTO of Opera Software, Håkon Wium Lie, said, "It makes more sense to have our experts working with the open-source communities to further improve WebKit and Chromium, rather than developing our own rendering engine further. Opera will contribute to the WebKit and Chromium projects, and we have already submitted our first set of patches: to improve multi-column layout." Wium Lie continued, "The shift to WebKit means more of our resources can be dedicated to developing new features and the user-friendly solutions that can be expected from a company that invented so many of the features that are today being used by everyone in the browser industry." He also briefly addressed Opera Ice -- an unreleased, gesture-based Opera browser -- as a research and development project, and that more will information will be provided in the future. Transitioning to WebKit will bring noticeable performance and speed enhancements to the Opera browser, which has been sidelined by the likes of Safari and Chrome, which both utilize WebKit, and Mozilla Firefox, which utilizes Gecko.
Opera hits 300 million users, promptly moves to WebKit
Opera is celebrating the news that it's hit the 300 million monthly user milestone with a big announcement. It's going to dump Presto, the current Opera rendering engine, in favor of WebKit. The company gave the impression that it's exhausted after swimming against the tide of an internet designed to work for Chrome and Safari for so long. Instead, the firm will devote its considerable resources toward "innovation and polish" on its browser products. Opera's already hinted at its future by demonstrating Ice, its WebKit-based experiment for iOS and Android devices, which it'll be showing off in more detail at MWC later this month.
WebKit-based Opera Ice browser heading to iOS
Another new browser is about to make its debut on iOS, but its name is at least partly familiar. Pocket-lint is reporting that Opera Software is planning to launch a new mobile browser called Ice sometime in February that's specifically designed for phones and tablets -- and jettisons the company's engine, Presto, replacing it with the Safari- and Chrome-powering WebKit. The announcement was made (and software shown) during a closed company meeting last December, but video (below) has surfaced showing it in action. Opera Ice -- which, if you ask us, sounds a bit like a malt liquor-based adult beverage -- is built entirely around gestures, replacing tabs with a grid of site icons and common navigation with swipes. Its main menu has a unified search and URL field front-and-center, while a single menu button is the only bit of user interface visible when actually browsing. According to Opera, Ice won't be replacing the existing Opera Mini browser, which will continue to be developed. The company is also planning a new desktop browser for launch sometime in March of this year. We'll have more on both when they hit. [Via Engadget]
Opera's WebKit-based Ice web browser coming to Android and iOS in February
Opera has been in the mobile web browser game for some time now, but it looks like it's set to soon shake things up considerably. As detailed in an internal video obtained by Pocket-lint, the company has been working on an all-new mobile browser dubbed "Ice," which ditches the company's own Presto engine in favor of WebKit (bringing it in line with the likes of Safari and Chrome). What's more, Ice looks to fully embrace a touch interface optimized for smartphones and tablets, with gestures replacing buttons and icons on a central home screen replacing tabs. You can apparently look for it to land on both Android and iOS sometime in February, with a new desktop version of Opera set to follow in March (details on it are comparatively light). Head on past the break for some highlights from the video.
Opera confirms its Devices SDK is behind Boxee TV's HTML5 apps
It's been available since last month, but browser-maker Opera has only today confirmed that it's Opera Devices Software Development Kit is providing the backend for the Boxee TV's HTML5 apps. Those already include the likes of YouTube, Spotify and Vimeo, but Opera says one of the big advantages of Boxee using the SDK is that future apps built with it will be able to be easily ported to the Boxee TV -- no word on any big additions just yet, though. Boxee's COO Tom Sella also notes that using the SDK "enabled us to add a lot of apps to Boxee TV without a lot of effort on our part." If that sounds a bit familiar, it's because it largely echoes Opera's promise from last year to provide smart TV and set-top box makers with an easy-to-deploy solution filled with cross-platform apps. You can find the full announcement after the break.
Opera Mini for BlackBerry and feature phones catches up with download manager update
A mere six months since its last update to feature phones and Blackberrys, Opera Mini has refreshed itself again, this time offering up an improved download experience, both in regards to speed and file management. The new web browser is available to download now, with users able to pause and resume their downloads, customize exactly where files are saved and -- would you believe it -- download multiple files at the same time. But in all seriousness, it's hard to complain as Opera continues to roll out additional functionality for its data-savvy browser even on humbler hardware. Those looking for a quick install should point their phone's browser to m.opera.com.
