November 22, 2009

Opera Unite: How to get started

Today we released Opera 10.10 with Opera Unite, a powerful technology for personal content sharing directly between all your devices! :yes:

Check out this great instructional video how to get started using Opera's latest groundbreaking technology platform. :yes:

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November 18, 2009

Opera Mobile Reviews

There has been a lot of talk about the upcoming Opera Mobile 10. With the release today of the Windows Mobile version we noticed a few reviews already. Let's have a look at some of the feedback!

Mashable: "The new version brings a better, finger-friendly keyboard, tabbed browsing, a redesigned speed dial, faster operation, and of course, support for Opera’s Turbo mode which speeds up browsing.."

TechCrunch: ".. that means users can benefit from a more enjoyable browsing experience from their handsets than is usually the case with built-in and other third-party web browsing tools."

cnet.uk: "Version 10 beta improves Opera Mobile's user interface with a sharp, modern look and an early Christmas stocking full of new features."

DownloadSquad: "The UI overhaul brings Opera's offering across all of it's platforms in line, as well as providing a great range of features from the desktop platform including Speed Dial, tabbed browsing, a password manager and Opera's server side compression technology, 'Opera Turbo'."

If you haven't downloaded it yet go to www.opera.com/mobile and download now!

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November 16, 2009

Hello Yusef

On the Opera Unite blog you can now read an interesting article called "Hello Yusef, example Opera Unite application" which is about the framework for developers who want to get started devleloping and designing their own Opera Unite applications. :cool:

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November 11, 2009

Africa Com

Opera is in Cape Town, South Africa this week exhibiting at Africa Com. This is the first time Opera has a booth at the show to feature Opera Turbo and Opera Mini. We are showing a variety of handsets running multiple versions of Opera Mini to ideally run in a market with many more basic feature phones used than smartphones.

We are running Opera Mini 3 to Opera Mini 5 beta to showcase the adaptability of Opera Mini. Also part of the booth is a netbook to display the benefits of Opera Turbo for users on a congested network. Opera already has a growing presence in Africa with South Africa consistently in the top ten list on our State of the Mobile Web report.

With our presence at the show we hope to meet new African operators that want to give their customers the best browsing experience available. :)

Here's a photo from our booth:

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November 10, 2009

Opera Talks: Tor Odland

We had a talk with Tor Odland the head of Communications at Opera. Check out how he got to work in Opera, his greatest moments and browser stats.

Choose Opera: Hi there Tor! Could you please introduce yourself to the Opera community?

Tor: First, I belong to a quickly declining and heavily victimized minority here at Opera Software: Norwegians. There seems to be some grand scheme to eradicate us from our own company. That said, the third employee ever to join Opera was partially from Zimbabwe, so I guess it was inevitable. And joke aside, I'm thrilled to work at such an international company with more than 50 different nationalities represented. The world is bigger than Norway after all.

Second, I'm the head of Communications at Opera. So I'm supposed to know everything that's going on in order to tell the world how fantastic our vision is and why people should use our products. Let's just say that my job is fun and extremely challenging. I'm blessed with a fantastic PR team, located worldwide, which gives Opera a local voice in most of our major markets.

Third, I'm married to an American and drive a station wagon. We're in the "Double Income - No Kids" (DINK) category. Which is nice, as long as it lasts...

Choose Opera: You've been in Opera for a while. Why and when did you start using Opera and how did you end up here?

Tor: I joined Opera from a consultancy job in London, where I primarily helped Philips (the electronics company) improve their PR work. Philips is probably the opposite to Opera (extremely large, very diverse product portfolio, conservative business culture, etc), so I've learned a lot from simply observing how these organizations develop. One day back in 2004, I received a call from the previous head of Communications at Opera (Pål Hvistendahl). He said "I'm leaving the company in a week, want to come by for an interview?" A week later, I showed up at the Opera reception and I was quickly ushered to a meeting room. Sushi and cakes were on the table and a crowd gathered... I was wondering what on earth was going on... As it turned out, I was taking part in Pål's leaving party. The CEO and other top executives showed up, too. When someone asked who that pale guy in the corner is, Pål responded "he's interviewing for my job." Later that day I ran through several job interviews and subsequently got a job offer.

That was the kind of reception I don't think any other company would dream about giving a job candidate. But that's exactly how Opera is... we're open, inclusive and not so worried about whatever is the right thing to do.

Speaking of which: Back in the 1990s many people wondered if making a browser was the right thing to do, too, given the stiff competition from Mosaic and Netscape. 800 people and nearly a 100 million monthly users later, we can say that it was the right thing to do.

Choose Opera: What's the coolest thing you've experienced working for Opera?

Tor: The coolest thing I've experienced is Opera Mini. It embodies everything that's good about Opera: it's fast, it's small, it runs on any device, it helps the have-nots get online, it's cost-effective and it brings the mobile Web to the masses. Essentially, it democratizes the Web. When we first launched the trial version of Opera back in the fall of 2005, we had no idea how far it could go. Today, it is the most popular mobile Web browser on the planet.

The second coolest thing I've experienced is the implementation of my original vision for how you can enable a truly effective social media strategy in a company like Opera. When we decided to take the My Opera Community site from a basic forum page to a full-fledge networking platform (in 2005), we also realized that we needed to staff this channel with full-time employees. So we went out there to recruit our first Community Manager. His name was Brian Johnson (an American) and he quickly established some things we still believe in today: You need to speak to the community on their terms, you need to involve the rest of the Opera employees and you can't let the lawyers get their way all the time. He was later replaced by Espen Øverdahl, a brilliant young man with just the right attitude and skill set. Today, we have a broad social media team, covering multiple geographies and languages. The team is the embodiment of that early vision of how you can't let any regular PR or marketing person handle social media. You need people who are truly passionate and knowledgable about social media and who have the guts to go out there and represent a public company without losing any sleep over it. Well, they may lose their sleep, but that's because they keep chatting and responding online to community members at any hour of the day.

Choose Opera: Opera's market share is a heated topic for discussion. What's your take on it?

Tor: Market share is always fun to talk about because anyone can have an opinion on it. What makes it even more fun is that stats can be interpreted in so many ways. And on the Web, we're seeing all kinds of opionions and interpretations of the available data.

The primary challenge (one we know that Mozilla shares our perspective on) is that the available data is never 100% representative of the realities out there. The most complicated varieties are the "global browser market share statistics" because they try to represent the behavior of all Internet users, worldwide. Two of the most quoted providers of global market shares are NetApplications and StatCounter. While they have slightly different methodologies, they both lean towards server data from the Western hemispheres of the world.

From a purely educational perspective, it's important to understand that the traffic stats these companies provide are based on the usage of their own analytical software. Most sites out there use analytical tools to understand how many visitors they have, where they come from and more. In other words, if only two Web sites in the world used for example NetApplication's analytical tools, then NetApplication's browser rankings would be based on traffic to these two sites. Luckily, the opposite is true: both companies serve millions of page views every day. However, their stats can only be as good as the distribution - in terms of geography as well as content categories - of their customer base.

What we believe more strongly in at Opera is the data that is limited to one country at a time. While it can be statistically challenging to produce data to represent an entire online population (in for example a large country such as Germany), you're still much better off in your accuracy compared to the global stats.

Choose Opera: How much market share does Opera really have? Does anyone really know?

Tor: Nobody can truly know the exact market share of Opera or any other browser. What we know is that we have more than 40 million monthly unique users of our desktop browser. We estimate that we have approximately 3% of the worldwide market for Internet browsers.

Beyond that, you need to consult the local statistics providers in each country to establish our market share. In some countries, it is above 20% (e.g. Russia), in some around 10% (e.g. Poland) and in others around 2% (for example the United States).

Choose Opera: What are your favorite Opera features?

Tor: My favorite Opera feature has always been Mouse Gestures. Can't live without it. My second favorite feature is Opera Link. Wherever I use Opera, and on whatever device, I always have my bookmarks available. That's fantastic. I am also a heavy user of Opera Dragonfly. I use it to to debug and inspect my JavaScript, CSS and DOM code. I love how I can do remote debugging, for example.

Ok, that last one was a joke. There's a limit to what a PR guy can do.

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November 10, 2009

Security: Opera number one!

California based web security company Cenzic just released their report on browser security.

In their report Opera ranks as the most secure browser out there just as Secunia and many others have concluded before. This once again proves Opera's commitment and proven trackrecord when it comes to browser security.

Check out the coverage in Computerworld and InformationWeek!

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November 9, 2009

First look on Opera Mobile 10 beta (video)

Check out this first look video on Opera Mobile 10 beta by CNET. Bottom line: They like it, and they like how similar it is to Opera Mini 5 beta. :cool:

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November 6, 2009

User experience guidelines for Opera Unite

Meet Anders Sjögren, an Interaction Designer working with Opera Unite, and one of the judges in the weekly competitions! :cool:

He has recently posted some really useful UX guidelines in the Opera Unite blog, so have a look if you are a developer and want to increase your chances to win our weekly competition!

P.S.: On Monday we will announce a new Opera Unite application of the week! :yes:

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November 5, 2009

Opera Tweetup with Håkon Wium Lie in NYC

Here is your opportunity to mingle with Opera CTO Håkon Wium Lie, Opera evangelists and other Opera enthusiasts for the first time in New York. Join us for a tweetup at "Disiac Lounge" on Wednesday, November 18 from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm.

Some great drinks will be served free of charge on a first come first serve basis so the earlier you are the more free stuff you will get! Also, there will be appetizers and some free Opera stuff given away! :yes:

Please see details about the location and how to get there on Eventbrite.

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November 4, 2009

Opera Mobile 10 and its remote debugging party trick

On the Opera Developer Network blog there's an article by Daniel Davis we recommend reading for anyone interested in Mobile Web development and debugging:

Read the "Opera Mobile 10 and its remote debugging party trick" article. :yes:

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October 30, 2009

Opera is the best Browser you have never heard of

At least according to Associated Content who writes:

Good to hear that Opera's getting more and more acknowledged. :up:

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October 28, 2009

Promote Opera on Facebok

My Opera user Vasu has made a tutorial on how to you can promote Opera using the affiliate program on Facebook:

Step 1

First, add the HTML Profile Box application.

Step 2

Add the code you want to have inside the box. You can either use our premade buttons or create your own HTML!

Step 3

Now for the tricky part. To add it to your profile you need to go to "Edit Applications"

Step 4

Find the HTML profile Box application and click "Edit Settings". Now click "add" in the popup box!

Step 5

Go to Boxes, then click "Edit Box" and select the "Move to Wall" tab!

Remember to join us on Facebook too!

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October 28, 2009

Jon's Power Lunch

CNBC producers Jim Goldman and Michael Bloom responded to our State of the Mobile Web report to insert a segment on "Mobile Web Usage Surges" during their Power Lunch program. Jon went to their London studio to video into this piece that clearly positioned Opera as the leading mobile browser!

View the segment (takes a moment to load - note the format is Shockwave plugin):

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October 27, 2009

Opera at the Symbian Exchange and Exposition show in London

Here we are again, now at the Symbian Exchange and Exposition show on Earls Court Two in London!

These are some of the demos we are showcasing at the event:

Our show hours today and tomorrow are:

• October 27th: 09 a.m. -5 p.m.
• October 28th: 09 a.m. -5 p.m.

If you're in the area, please stop by, and we'll be happy to give you a demo! And if you're not, you can always download the latest version of Opera Mini from http://www.opera.com/mini/next/

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October 27, 2009

Consumers save 8 billion dollars per year with Opera Mini

In our latest State of the Mobile Web report, you can read that Opera Mini crosses 35 million users, has more than 500 million page views per day on average and processes 2 petabytes of data per month.

Read the latest report

Commonwealth of Independent States (9/09)

The report, published monthly, provides information on the top global trends affecting the mobile Web. The full report is available from http://www.opera.com/smw/ (English only). In addition to the data-pricing trends and country snapshots, the report highlights trends, both globally and in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

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October 26, 2009

Amazing 'Opera Week' in India

Opera Software would like to send a huge thank you to the members of the Opera Campus Crew at Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad. In early October the team there - Varun, Yogesh and Tarun - ran an 'Opera Week' to coincide with their college’s technical festival, Effervescence MM’09. Their efforts were amazing and their activities hugely successful. :yes:

• Organised three presentations about Opera, which were attended by 1039 students in total.
• Hosted a daily information stand or ‘Demo Day’ with just under 3500 visitors by the end of week! The stand was so successful that on the final day of the festival they set up three different stands in different areas.
• Held a quiz about Opera and the Web for 10 teams.
• Interviewed 90 students about their usage of Opera and other browsers.
• Installed Opera 10 on 240 computers across four computer labs.
• Installed Opera on 375 computers and mobile phones of visitors to their events!

Check out their full report and pictures. What an outstanding contribution, and what an inspiration to other Campus Crew members and Opera fans in the community. Well done!

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October 22, 2009

Opera Turbo is a success

Over the first month following the release of Opera 10 approximately three million users escalated their surfing speeds with Opera Turbo. Those three million consumers viewed almost 668 million compressed Web pages. :eyes:

What do the statistics mean?

The numbers tell us that Opera Turbo solves critical bandwidth issues. People everywhere experience either slow, congested networks or must pay as they go for Web access. It is an issue that affects everyone, from the business traveler to the Internet café user. Opera Turbo has become universally useful. :)

Read the press release...

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October 22, 2009

Open Web Awards

The Open Web Awards is mashable's international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology and achievements in Social Media. You can vote on any product or person you want and shameless self-promotion is encouraged.

There's one category in particular we feel is relevant for Opera and that's "Best Mobile App". :)

Opera Nominations

• Best Mobile App: Opera Mini
• Best Blogger to Follow: You choose :)
• Best Corporate Blog: Choose Opera?

These are just a few of many categories, so feel free to check them out.

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October 16, 2009

Opera Talks: David Storey

This week we grabbed David Storey for a talk about SVG, HTML5 and Opera

Choose Opera: Hi, David! Thanks for letting us grab you for a few minutes. Who is David Storey, and what does he do at Opera?

David: Hi there. I have a number of roles at Opera. I head up the Open the Web project, which is tasked with improving Web site and application compatibility for standards based browsers, with a particular focus on Opera of course. This means I go out talking to Web developers and companies, helping them fix issues that we are seeing. This can involve visiting the big brand names such as Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo!, to chatting with the local fishmongers in Plaquemine, Louisiana. There is a lot of travel involved going to conferences and the like, which is a great way to see the world – when I'm not stuck in a airport, hotel or conference hall.

Other than Open the Web, I'm in the Opera Developer Relations team. This is a team of Web Evangelists that promote Web standards and developer education. As part of this, I'm the Product Manager of Opera Dragonfly, our flagship developer tool, and I'm involved in two W3C Working Groups; the SVG Interest Group and the Mobile Web Best Practices.

Choose Opera: What sparked your interest in computers and the Web?

David: I guess my interest in computers came from the same place as many kids of my generation. I received a Commodore 64 one Christmas, and was totally absorbed by it, saving up my pocket money to buy the latest games cassettes. Unlike the consoles, there were only about 3 pounds a go, which was about affordable on 1 pound a week pocket money. It evolved from there and I went to college and University to study Computer Science.

Through that I was invited to apply for a internship at CERN (home of the World Wide Web), and managed to get the position. Before that I'd not done any web development; it was all C, C++, AI, Databases and the like. Being at CERN, I got to regularly talk and have lunch with the likes of Robert Cailliau, who was the co-founder of the Web itself. As well as helping me get the Web bug, Robert was the person that got me interested in the Mac. OS X was just coming out in beta at that time, and seeing a UNIX OS, that had a first class Object Orientated framework in Cocoa (based off NeXTStep - the OS that the first Web Browser was made for at Cern), and not only that but actually looked good and was useable by mere mortals , was like a light bulb going off in my head. Sure, there was not as many apps, but at Cern we made all our apps as Web apps due to the prevalence of Windows, Solaris, Linux and Mac. That was a glimpse of the future direction of computing, where native apps availability would become less important.

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October 15, 2009

Run Opera Widgets without Opera

Before, you had to have Opera open to download and run Widgets (even if the applications did not require live access to the Internet), but now we have something different (and experimental) in store for you: Opera Widgets for desktop!

With the launch of Opera Widgets for desktop, Opera must be installed to power the applications, but it no longer must be running to download or use them. The applications now have the ability to be standalone programs with their own installers, shortcuts, and file system access. They even run as their own processes — separate from the browser itself. In other words, Opera Widgets are now much more like regular applications that users are familiar with.

Opera Widgets for desktop promises to gives developers the options they need to create the optimal experience for the users of their applications, combined with the aforementioned benefits of Web applications that are based on open standards.

This initial release of Opera Widgets for desktop is a technology preview and will likely include some bugs and incomplete features. Your feedback will help us improve the quality of the final version and is much appreciated!

For more information on Opera Widgets, please visit widgets.opera.com.

If you are a developer and want to know more about using Opera Widgets for desktop to power your Web applications, please visit dev.opera.com.

If you just want to try it out, you can download the latest Labs build here:

• Windows MSI
• Windows Classic
• Macintosh (Intel-only)
• Unix/Linux

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