The Good Life... a weblog about life, technology, and the Opera Web browser

It's been almost two months since Tim's Opera Bits v5.0, so let's get into it:

1. Opera Desktop 9.20 was released last week. 9.20 includes Speed Dial, a quick way to access the sites you visit most, and supports a Developer console. See the press release for more details.
2. The final version of the Internet Channel developed by Opera Software for the Nintendo Wii was also released last week. The Wii contains the most advanced rendering engine publicly available from Opera Software. See The Rendering Engine for the Wii for more details.
3. An experimental release of Opera Desktop with video element support is available from the Opera Labs for y'all lucky Windows users. This release has native support for the Ogg Theora video codec, which powers the video element. See the April 13, 2007 post at the Opera Labs for details.
4. Don't like Opera's built-in spelling checker? You've got a few options: OSpell (my pick) and Spell Check for Opera (via Daniel) use Opera's User Javascript feature to implement spelling checks.
5. The Nintendo DS browser developed by Opera Software will be released in the US on June 4, 2007.

That's about it. Got a question you want answered in the next Tim's Opera Bits? Ask away in the comments!

It's time once again for Tim's Opera Bits, the periodic posts that bring together Opera Software news from across the Internet. Without further delay, here's what's happening:

1. Opera Mini 3.1 is out and about. This release mainly contains bug fixes, but also adds support for managing your newsfeeds. Get it while it's hot!

2. You may recall that Opera 9.0 is code-named Merlin. Recently, the Desktop Team announced the code-names for the next two major Desktop releases, Kestrel and Peregrine. Merlin, Kestrel, and Peregrine are all names of falcons, in case you're wondering. There's a few more details about the names in the announcement post.

   Each release since 9.0 (including the forthcoming 9.2) has been based on the same code branch with only very important changes included from our development code branch. See, we stopped taking most bug fixes into Merlin back around June 2006 in an effort to improve stability and meet our deadlines. Meanwhile, we've continued to add features and fix bugs in both the rendering engine and Desktop-specific functions. All of those rendering engine changes will be included in Kestrel, though some of the changes in the user interface will have to wait until Peregrine. Of course, we'll be able to include even more rendering engine changes by then, as the work never ends.

   And just what rendering engine changes am I referring to? David Storey has already provided details about several of the changes in his post, Upcoming CSS3 support in Opera. David lets us know that Kestrel will have support for many more CSS3 Selectors, as well as the text-shadow property. Rijk was good enough to make a screenshot of Opera's forthcoming text-shadow support and include a few more details. Additionally, some more of Opera's bugs have been squashed, including a long-standing rounding problem, various XSLT bugs, SVG problems, and a whole lot more.

   And what of the user interface changes? One of our major initiatives for Kestrel and Peregrine is improving accessibility. As such, Opera will again include screen reader support in Kestrel for the first time since Opera 7.0 was released. Charles McCathieNevile has more details about this support in his recent blog entry, Speaking out.... We have a lot of work to do in this area, but things are progressing nicely. Everything may not be finished in Kestrel, but I hope it will be.

   Let's not forget about our beloved Opera Mail. Opera Mail will finally have a new indexing back-end, which will fix the long-standing problem with index and search corruption. We've also spent some time on our IMAP and POP back-ends, adding in some more user-requested functionality. Opera Mail is now faster and more efficient than ever before. A heap of user interface improvements are planned, but it's not clear if they'll be included in Kestrel, Peregrine, or later.

   Note: I should mention that the exact version these features will be available in is tentative. This is our current plan, but plans change.

3. Johan Borg, the Desktop team project manager, let us know that the next weekly build will include a new feature never before seen in a Desktop browser. Many have tried to guess the new feature in the comments to the blog post, but no one has even come close.
4. This Thursday, Jon von Tetzchner, the CEO of Opera Software, will be chatting live via IRC at 5pm CET. That's 11am on the East Coast of the USA. Stop by #webapp on irc.opera.com for a chat.
5. Opera on the Wii ain't just for browsing. Daniel Goldman posted a letter from a father whose children were using Opera on the Wii to play educational games. It's great to see our products helping children get interested in learning.
6. Lawrence Eng, a Market Researcher for Opera Software, wants to know Why is it important that more people know about and use Opera? There are a lot of great responses in the comments to his post, so check them out. As for me, Opera makes my life easier because I can browser faster (not just load web pages faster, but accomplish my task more quickly) and easier. I want everyone to have that convenience.

7. Daniel Goldman let us know about WiiMinder, a web site that adds tabbed browsing to Opera on the Wii. It's a very interesting concept and the user interface is pretty nice. However, it caused a number of glitches when I tested it for a bit, including zooming out randomly (usually while scrolling) and going back in history for no apparent reason. I do applaud them for their efforts, as their UI integrates seamlessly with the browser.

   While testing, I quite enjoyed playing Missile 3D over at WiiCade. Opera brings a whole 'nother level of gaming to the Wii by allowing Flash-based games. Plus, you can watch Homestar Runner on your TV. Strong Bad e-mail!

8. Last but not least, the next DC Metro area meet-up is next Wednesday, February 28th. We'll meet from 7pm to 9pm at the Panera Bread in Silver Spring. More details are in the original blog post. If you're able to join us, you'll get to see me demo that new feature Johan talked about on the Desktop Team blog! I hope to see you Wednesday!

That's about it. I'm interested in answering some more of your questions again in the next Tim's Opera Bits, so please leave them in the comments. Until next time, take care and happy browsing!

PS: This is my first post written while using MarsEdit, a blogging client for Mac OS X. It's pretty nice, but doesn't really enhance by blogging experience. Plus, it can't handle Drupal's input formats or categories. Back to using Opera's notes feature for backups....

Welcome to the fourth edition of Tim's Opera Bits! A lot has happened since the last update, so let's get right to the news:

1. We released Opera Desktop 9.1 with fraud protection/anti-phishing. This release includes fixes for a couple security issues, so please update. There're a lot of other changes and fixes in there too.

2. We released Opera Mini 3.0, 3.01, 3.02, and 3.03! That's a whole lotta Opera Mini. New in 3.0 is RSS/Atom support, photo uploads, and secure browsing. But don't take my word for it, try it out yourself! Or, check out the Opera Mini simulator and Daniel's video demos of Opera Mini.

   I tried out Opera Mini for the first time back in April when I had free data access with my new mobile phone plan, but since I work at home and don't get mobile service in the house, I decided to stop the data access. I ended up realizing how much I could have used it this Thanksgiving while travelling throughout New England, so I recently signed up for a new data plan for my moblie. Since, I've used Opera Mini while standing in line, while waiting for a movie to start, and to search Amazon.com while shopping for movies at Borders. It's been a great help.

   Here are some usage tips:

   • Don't browse and drive. It's very naughty. Not to mention dangerous and illegal. And distracting.
   • Turn off images. Pages load significantly faster and you usually don't need them. You'll also save a bundle if your data plan has usage restrictions (like mine).
   • Share your browser.

   Anyway....

3. We released a trial version of Opera Wii. Of course, you'll need a Wii to use it. You should totally get one, too, since they rock! They're still pretty scarce, though.

   Fortunately, Opera Wii is free through the end of June. That should give you plenty of time to pick one up. Oh, and the final should be released toward the end of March.

   PS: Opera Wii passes the Acid2 test. Sweet!

4. We released a preview of forthcoming developer tools. These tools will find their way into a future Opera release in some form, so we'd appreciate your feedback. Thank you and happy developing!
5. We released... a whole lot recently. We're glad that's over. Opera 9 got a great review over at MacWorld and Opera's CEO, the venerable Jon von Tetzchner, was interviewed by the Tech blog at SciFi.com about the silliness that is .mobi. There should only be one Web, people. Opera Mini, Opera Mobile, and Opera Wii all work with the existing Web. There's no reason things shouldn't continue that way.

Take a deep breath. Good. Now, the fun stuff. In the last issue, I asked y'all if you had any questions about Opera Software. I got some great questions, so here come the responses. Keep in mind that opinions expressed are my own and don't necessarily represent my employer, Opera Software.

Ahoy, maties! Time for another edition of Tim's Opera Bits. There's not a whole lot of news this time, but the stuff I do have to write about is pretty significant. So, here we go:

1. Last week, Daniel Goldman, the man behind Opera Watch, joined Opera Software as a Technical Evangelist. This is a great win for Opera users! Daniel has a lot of enthusiasm for Opera and telling everyone he meets why Opera's great. He already has quite an audience for his site and contacts throughout the industry, so he's the perfect person for the job.

   Over the past couple of months, Daniel and I have worked together to host the DC-area Opera User group, so I have had the opportunity to get to know him in person. He's a great guy and I'm glad to have him not only as a friend, but as a co-worker.

2. Today, Opera Software launched Dev.Opera, a site geared toward web developers. The site features articles about creating content for the Web and is accepting your contributions. This is a great opportunity for web developers to get their name out to the community and teach others how to build sites the correct way.
3. Also today, Opera Software launched Opera Mini 3.0 beta. This release features secure browsing, feed (RSS/Atom) preview and aggregration, and some other great advances. If you haven't tried Opera Mini for your mobile phone, now's a great time to give it a spin.
4. As I mentioned in the last Tim's Opera Bits, Opera Software is co-sponsoring the WebmasterWorld Pubcon in Las Vegas on November 14 - 17. Jon (Opera Software's CEO) will be giving a keynote address on November 14th. I'll be at the Opera Software booth, talking with anyone that stops by. Daniel Goldman and Lawrence Eng will also be attending, though I don't know if they'll be in the booth. I hope to see you there!
5. And now for something completely different: I'd like to answer some of your questions about Opera Software and Opera for Desktop in the next Tim's Opera Bits. Please leave your questions in the comments to this post. I will not be able to answer all questions, but I'll do my best.

Thank you for sticking around!

It's time for another version of Tim's Opera Bits. It's been almost three months since the last (and first) version, so let's take a trip around Opera-land. Here's the scoop:

1. Today, the Desktop Team announced that Opera 9.1 will include Fraud protection (also referred to as anti-phishing). Hopefully, this Friday there will be a weekly build enabling users to test this functionality.

   I've had the opportunity to test this functionality over the past couple of weeks and must say that it is dead simple. The user interface is straight-forward and does what it should. I hope you'll like it.

2. Daniel Goldman and I recently hosted the second DC-area Opera User Group meeting in Silver Spring, MD. We had a great time discussing widgets, the future of Opera User Groups, and bug reports. Pictures from the event are up in my photo gallery.
3. Opera's CEO, Jon von Tetzchner, will be giving a keynote address at this year's WebmasterWorld PubCon in Las Vegas, NV. David Storey, Opera's Chief Web Opener, will also be giving a talk. There's a chance that I might be headed out there to help out, too. It should be fun!
4. On September 21st, Opera Software released Opera 9.02 for Desktop platforms. This is a security and maintenance release. If you're already using Opera, you should have received an automatic notice that a new release is available. If you don't use Opera, there's never been a better time to start.

5. It's just over a month until the Nintendo Wii is released in the United States. A recent press release gives details about the Opera browser available for the Wii. Opera will be a free download until June 2007, after which it can be purchased using a point system. Additionally, Opera will take advantage of the "Wiimote" and include Flash support.

   In other Opera and Nintendo news, Opera for the Nintendo DS recently went on sale in Europe. I don't think there's a release date for the US version yet, but hopefully it'll be here soon.

6. Did you ever notice that eight out of nine of Opera Software's executives were born in the mid-1960s? There's only four years' difference between the eight of them. Young'uns. The only exception is Roger Carlhammar, who was born in 1958. He's not even fifty!

Thus concludes this version of Tim's Opera Bits. See you next time.