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Introduction to the Opera Web Browser
Ask people to name a web browser and most of them will say Internet Explorer or Firefox. Chrome has become quite popular as well and Safari is the most popular on Macs. In distant fifth place is Opera, one of the oldest and most innovative web browsers still being actively developed. In recent years, Opera’s mobile browser has gained popularity on mobile devices including smartphones and tablets as well as other niche markets such as the Wii. However, few people use Opera on their desktop PC or even realize it exists for PC, Mac and Linux.
What sets Opera apart from the other browsers in the Big Five? The most obvious answer is that Opera is more than just a browser, it’s an entire suite of web tools wrapped in one program. Opera also includes a POP/IMAP mail client, torrent client, RSS feeder, download manager, debugging tools, and more. Adblocking, password management and other features offered as extensions for competing browsers are built into Opera. For these reasons, Opera did not offer the ability to use extensions until recently; there was simply no need.
One down side to this was the absence of any ‘coupon extensions’, which tend to be one of the most popular extensions on the other major browsers. If you were an Opera user you had to (at least until recently) google a term like ‘expedia promo codes online’ and then manually add these codes into various online retail sites.
Opera widgets, extensions and Unite… Read the rest
Brave First Wave of Chromebooks are Put To Rest
i.e. No More Support for Old ChromeBooks
We suppose it was only inevitable. 5 years ago Google came out with the first Chromebooks, which were the first real massive attempt at creating consumer laptops that weren’t somehow based on the Windows or Mac operating systems. The Chrome OS certainly had its growing pains, and the first batch of Chromebooks were released to mixed-reviews at best. And yet still, they had a fan following. Google announced that the older Chromebooks have reached their end-of-life and will no longer be supported. Now this doesn’t mean that Chromebooks will no longer work. It’s just that they will continue to function as they are now without any support or new updates. This of course raises security concerns, as Google will no longer give Chromebooks updates if there are major security holes discovered. Of course, with the relative small-market of loyal Chromebook users, hackers may not bother with the Chrome OS. As of right now, the Samsung Series 5 is the first one to lose Google’s support. In a couple of months, the Acer AC700 Chromebook will be the next one to lose support. To give some context, Microsoft supported the Windows XP system for 10 years after its initial release. But we’re in an age of acceleration, and support cycles are growing smaller. Apple’s smartphone support tend to extend to the 3 latest iPhones, with each new iPhone version pushing the next one off the map.… Read the rest