Posts Tagged ‘Opera’
Stacey Higginbotham
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Tuesday, June 16, 2009 |
11:34 AM PT |
Opera Software today is trumpeting its new technology offering called Opera Unite that uses the Opera browser to turn your PC into a server that can host photos, files, music, and even act as a Facebook-style wall for exchanging notes and chats. The idea is similar to services such as FolderShare that allow you to share the contents of your PC with another computer, only this time Opera is doing it via the browser instead of a separate client. It works on Windows, Linux and Mac machines, and will likely work with Opera Mini and Opera Mobile at a later date.
Opera users can access Opera Unite through a drop-down menu and then log into their Opera account. From there, they can let the browser know which files to share and what privacy settings to use. The program also offers up a URL that friends and family who don’t use Opera can paste into their browsers to see the shared files. It’s handy, but for it to work, the browser needs to be on and the computer has to be awake. That limits the sharing somewhat, much like it did on previous efforts with this type of file sharing. Continue »
Opera Software today said it has a deal with location data provider Skyhook Wireless to bring geolocation to its browser. Users can choose to share their location with any web site and get information about related products and services in their vicinity. Web site developers use a newly launched API to build location awareness into their sites. Opera’s singing a familiar tune with this deal as Mozilla has a similar pact with Skyhook and Yahoo is doing the same thing with its Fire Eagle efforts.
Om Malik
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Wednesday, March 18, 2009 |
7:09 PM PT |
In exactly 14 hours, at 9 am PST, you will be able to download the Internet Explorer 8.0 browser, Microsoft’s response to Firefox, Chrome and Safari, from the company’s web site. The release is a tactical acknowledgment by Redmond, Wash.-based software giant that it’s locked in a bitter battle for market share with Mozilla’s Firefox, Opera, Google’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari browsers.
So far it’s been on the losing side of the equation, ceding market share to its upstart rivals, all of whom are touting ease of use, simplicity, security and speed. Microsoft’s browser chief, Mike Nash, thinks the new IE 8.0 has got all that and more. While many of the new features in this browser are available to users of Safari and Firefox (via plugins), Microsoft is offering a comprehensive package — sans download — for a majority of the people that continue to patronize IE. Continue »
Om Malik
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Monday, March 2, 2009 |
7:28 PM PT |
Economic malaise aside, consumers increasingly want to surf the Net on phones, according to Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO of the Opera Software. “There is a mega-trend of increased Internet usage,” he told me over breakfast this morning, “and we are in the middle of it, regardless of the economic downturn.” Continue »
Stacey Higginbotham
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Wednesday, October 22, 2008 |
4:30 PM PT |
Newly christened HipLogic, which was formerly known as Numobiq, launched its software development kit to bring its virtualization platform to cell phones. The goal is to bring the same level of functionality to millions of other phones as the iPhone has and Android will. Continue »
Stacey Higginbotham
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Wednesday, October 15, 2008 |
10:15 AM PT |
Mobile browser maker Opera today is announcing MAMA, a research project designed to show people the insides of web pages. MAMA began as a research project aimed at tracking more URLs than previous web page categorization efforts, and will eventually open to the public as a search engine. Continue »
Stacey Higginbotham
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Thursday, July 10, 2008 |
10:30 AM PT |
MySpace launched a social networking experience designed for the iPhone (available free at the App Store) today that will take advantage of the touch interface. As part of the launch, they sent out a fact sheet detailing some mobile stats that I found pretty compelling, notably that of MySpace’s 115 million members, up to 5 million are expected to use the mobile site by the end of the year, with 3.1 million using it now. And most of those users come through MySpace’s mobile web site rather than through an on-deck, carrier-supplied link.
This highlights two trends for mobile: One, the waning influence of carriers and the subsequent need for an on-deck application; and two, the rise of social networking on mobile phones. Continue »
Om Malik
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008 |
3:00 AM PT |
The New York Times, earlier this week pointed out that browser wars had erupted again with Mozilla Corp’s Firefox, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Apple’s Safari looking to one-up each other. While that certainly is true, the browser wars on the desktop are not as interesting as the sudden explosion of interest in the browsers on mobile devices. With billions of devices sold every year there is a big demand for mobile browsers. The market is an emergent one, with no real winners.
WebKit-based browsers on S60 and Apple’s iPhone are strong contenders. In addition, Mozilla is looking to develop mobile browser for phones that are based on Linux OS, as CEO John Lilly said in a chat with us earlier this month. They are all fighting it out with Opera of Norway. I have Opera Mini on my Blackberry Curve and I love it.
However, all these players should watch out for Skyfire, a Mountain View, Calif.-based company that went into private beta earlier this year. The company is about to announce that it has raised $13 million in Series B funding from Lightspeed Ventures previously investors, Trinity Ventures and Matrix Partners. The company has raised $17.8 million thus far.
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Stacey Higginbotham
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008 |
6:47 AM PT |
Mobile browsing has clearly moved beyond 9-to-5 users and made inroads among the happy hour set. A recent survey by Opera showed about 40 percent (and about 60 percent in the United States, South Africa and Indonesia) of Opera Mini users visit social networking sites when surfing on a mobile. For those unfamiliar with the Opera Mini browser, it allows a user to see an entire web page and zoom in on desired content as long as they have Java on the phone.
The survey also shows which top 10 sites surfers visited in each country. The U.S. list begins with MySpace and ends with eBay. In between socializing and shopping is more socializing through Hi5 and Facebook, as well as search via Google, Microsoft Live and Yahoo. It looks like even if we aren’t using our phones for talking, we’re still using them to connect — and to settle bar bets. Wikipedia is the No. 8 slot in the United States. As the chart below shows, if users have an easy way to access the web on their mobiles they will. Carriers and device makers take note!
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Stacey Higginbotham
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Thursday, April 17, 2008 |
7:34 AM PT |
More smartphones means more mobile browsers, and Web Worker Daily has a rundown on several, including the latest effort from Mozilla, the guys behind the wildly popular Firefox browser. So check it out, and see if Opera Mini or Apple’s Safari browser is for you. It’s like its 1995 all over again.
