Planet Opera
02.09.2010
Choose Opera
The Opera Evolution
This is a really cool fan video by Encrio showing how Opera has evolved as a browser. We've been making Web browser for more than 15 years and you can only wonder how modern browsers would look like if Opera had never existed. Do you think the features would be the same? :)
We love videos featuring Opera, so if you have any favorites out there please let us know as a comment. :yes:
So sit back, grab some popcorn and enjoy:
01.09.2010
Tamil
Open page with preferred page zoom in Opera
The font size of Tamil newspaper, Dinamalar is too small. For comfortable reading I have to zoom page to 150% every time. It is annoying to change page zoom every time as there is no setting for it in site preferences but you can load page with preferred page zoom easily.
Dinamalar.com with default page zoom (100%)
- Open site in a new window and change page zoom to required level.
- Save active window as a new session. or
- Add saved session to a Speed Dial slot.
- (Optional) Change Speed Dial thumbnail image.
Similarly, you can open page with fit to width enabled or with no images.
date: 01.09.2010, 12:15, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid ()
Haavard K. Moen
State of the Opera: Q2 2010
Last week, the financial results for the 2nd quarter of 2010 were published.In this quarter, Opera Software turned a solid profit, and the expenses were lower than expected. While the revenue is slightly down compared to Q2 2009, this is due to the currency situation again. The NOK has strengthened compared to the Euro and Dollar, and if we take that into account, we have a clear revenue growth compared to a year ago.
What this basically means is that Opera is not only profitable, but the growth is also continuing. ...
date: 01.09.2010, 10:32, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Haavard)
31.08.2010
Opera India
#OperaMeetUp in Pune
Opera Developer Network
Buffered rendering in SVG
One of the things recently added to Opera is support for the buffered-rendering SVG property. SVG content providers can use this property to provide a hint to the implementation about how often an element is modified so it can make better speed vs. memory trade-offs.
The attribute values for buffered-rendering are auto, dynamic, and static. From the SVG Tiny 1.2 recommendation:
auto: Indicates that the user agent is expected to use a reasonable compromise between speed of update and resource allocation.dynamic: Indicates that the element is expected to be modified often.static: Indicates that the element is not expected to be modified often. This suggests that user agent may be able to allocate resources, such as an offscreen buffer, that would allow increased performance in redraw. It does not mean that the element will never change. If an element is modified when the value is 'static', then redraw might have reduced performance.
This may sound abstract, so let's have a look at an actual example. The first demo, which does not have buffered rendering specified, is an SVG image with an embedded PNG, on top of which a complex filter is applied. When hovering over the image, the filter is disabled in a radius around the pointer. When viewed in Opera 10.6x, you can see the performance is quite slow, and the filter-less circle has trouble catching up with the pointer.
If we now set the buffered-rendering property on the containing <g> to static (see demo 2), you'll notice the performance will be much faster. This is because the static value makes the browser cache the filter rendering as a raster, resulting in a better allocation of resources, and thus better performance.
Now, interestingly enough, the difference between these two demos will be less obvious when viewed in the latest Opera 10.70 snapshots: they both perform very well, and there is only a small performance delay on the first example. The reason for this is because the Opera 10.70 builds come with a number of SVG filter optimizations, which, of course, is even better ;-)
So, to wrap up this post, here's another example of buffered rendering - you'll notice a clear difference in framerate between the two demos. Be sure to try out buffered rendering in your own SVG graphics, and let us know how it goes!
Bridge the World
My time in Tokyo
I came to Tokyo 4 months ago with a big suitcase of question marks and hand luggage of doubts. Although I knew basic Japanese and a bit about Japan, but if you know a place from guidebooks and films they might just as well not exist at all or be on another planet.But how did I end up here?
We have Bridge The World program in Opera which allows you to work for a while from an office in another country. Without much hesitation I’ve chosen the Land of the Rising Sun. It so happened there was a project here I could take part in and my trip was approved. All there was left to do was to finalize some formalities, pack and prepare for the journey of a lifetime.
Although work took up majority of time I spent here, thanks to great people I met here I enjoyed every minute of it! Tokyo office is a multicultural team. Every day I encountered variety of sense of humor, different approach to life, view on history and culture. And I will miss it a lot! Most of all the Friday night beer, interesting meetings with Opera fans, poker games (hope will have a chance to win back) and lunches and dinners with the most delicious food. Let alone pouring with sweat during our futsal matches. Guys, thanks for that great time (and lending shoes for playing)!Of course I have visited all the „must see” sights in Tokyo. But it’s not the guidebook items that are most important. Tokyo has it’s one of a kind atmosphere, it’s rhythm. It’s the daily pulse, and how it changes every week and month, that is worth experiencing.
I have never been to a place like this before. At the beginning many things surprised me, sometimes amused but with time I got used to it. Instead I began to notice the people around me. Unfortunately 4 months is a bad timeframe. You need to come here for up to a month to avoid getting ‘hypnotized’ or stay for a couple of years to really “feel” Tokyo. Now that my departure time is getting closer I feel really sad, I really became fond of Tokyo, of it’s people and cuisine. I am not sure what I will miss most but I am sure that I am leaving a part of me behind and this part will want me to go back to Japan again. Fortunately I have 2 more weeks left which I plan to spend on traveling around Japan with my wife. We hope to see many interesting places and meet interesting people and will come to love the whole Japan as much as we do Tokyo.
30.08.2010
FavBrowser.com
Weekly Browsers Recap, August 30th
FavBrowser.com
Internet Explorer 9 UI Screenshot, Features
Out of all potential IE9 “leaks” and concepts, this one is definitely the most plausible.
Facebook Chat to Stop Supporting IE6
According to Facebook blog post, company will be dropping Internet Explorer 6 support for its chat application…
Firefox 4 Beta 4 Hits the Streets
By fixing a total of 623 bugs, Mozilla has just released another beta of long awaited, Firefox 4 web browser.
The Joys of Private Browsing Mode
In case you haven’t heard yet, “private web browsing” is a feature that allows users to surf the web…
Opera Software Q2 2010 Financial Results
Today, Opera Software has reported Q2 2010 financial results.
Windows Phone 7 Browser Comparison
Guys at PocketNow.com compared Windows Phone 7, iPhone and Android browsing experience.
Maxthon 3 Released
Maxthon International has recently released the final version of Maxthon 3 web browser that enables
Steam Software Survey
It looks like Steam survey now also tracks software usage.
H.264 Is Now Free, Sort Of
MPEG-LA, the group behind H.264 codec licensing declared Internet Broadcast AVC free from royalties…
SkyFire for iPhone to be Submitted Soon
According to MobileCrunch, a company behind SkyFire will be submitting its mobile web browser to Apple’s…
Bonus
- Download Firefox 3.6.9 Beta and Firefox 3.5.12 Beta
- The Firefox Menu
- Adblock Plus Extension Developer Raises Funding From Mystery Partner
- Google Chrome Will Be Getting GPU-Accelerated Graphics Soon
- Google’s Chrome to Phone Makes Its Way to iOS/iPhone
- Chromium Adds Web Store Placeholder, Labs, And An Awesome Expose-Like Feature
- Opera: The End of an Architecture
- Opera: Women now 35 percent of U.S. mobile web users
- Telenor and Opera to co-operate on mobile Internet growth worldwide
- Fennec 2.0 Alpha for Android Released (Video)
- Google Finance Now Looks Better In Your Mobile Browser
- Camino 2.0.4 Released
- More on SVG
- 300,000 Largest Websites Visualized with Favicons
Anything else? Let us know.
Thanks to Grzesiek, Michael Pürmayr and Nox for the news tips.
Opera Desktop Team
Dialogs and text input
We have fixed the mail panel regression introduced with the previous snapshot, and improved on dialog modality on Mac. Mac users on older system will also find a very pleasant fix for ‘the slow typing issue.’ (Will be available in an upcoming Opera 10.62 update for the PowerPC crowd too.)
Known regressions
- DSK-311905 [Mac] (Text input can be slow with a large number of bookmarks)
- DSK-311564 [Windows] (The MSI installer may fail when upgrading an existing installation)
Download
Note: If you are looking for a PowerPC build, please see our previous blog post.
FavBrowser.com
Maxthon 3 Review
About
Maxthon 3 is a hybrid web browser that combines both, Internet Explorer’s Trident and WebKit rendering engines. Therefore, users can switch between two of them, in case there are compatibility issues. Furthermore, it includes one of the fastest JavaScript engines, which is Google’s V8.
Although Maxthon 3 is one of the most popular web browsers in China, it failed to gain significant ground everywhere else.
Can version 3 change that? Let’s find out.
Upon the launch, browser greets you with a simple, good looking UI, as well as an introductory page that explains the new features of Maxthon 3.
The Good
As you might expect, browser does indeed feel fast. In fact, I went ahead and deleted cache (no change), just because it loaded non-heavy web pages instantly; but then again, you can achieve pretty much same results with most modern web browsers, such as: Google Chrome.
What about features?
Maxthon 3 includes Opera’s Speed Dial with drag & drop support, allowing you to quickly access frequently visited web pages.
Additionally, you can synchronize your favorites across difference computers (registration is required, obviously).
One of the more interesting Maxthon 3 features is “Maxthon Multi Search”. Basically, it allows you to quickly seek for information via different search engines. Can be really useful, especially when it comes to images search or news.
Fortunately for web developers, it also includes WebKit Developer Tools (see the following page for comparison). No additional files or add-ons are required, just hit on the icon and you are all set.
Maxthon Magic Fill
Settings page is where Maxthon 3 truly shines. Have you ever found a setting that was not well explained (if explained at all)? Well, worry no more. Thanks to geniuses behind the idea, Maxthon does a pretty good job explaining some of them.
For those who enjoy mouse gestures, there is such feature as well.
The Bad
Although Maxthon 3 includes an integrated ad hunter, when it comes to more “advanced” use, it’s really not that useful. I couldn’t easily block flash ads and browser crashed when I tried to turn this feature off.
ACID3
As you can see from test results, although Maxthon scored 100/100, it has not passed the test.
What happens when you turn on developer tools on such page?
Anything else?
Yes, sometimes browser feels like a mess, it’s hard to find a specific setting or function you want. For example: I was trying to view page source, pressed Alt button to see the menu but nothing happened. Then went to the menu itself but couldn’t find “View Source” item. Tried “page menu” (where you enable Developer Tools, etc.), still no luck..
All I had to do was simply click right mouse button and vuala. Same with search, you can’t find “multi-search” settings in browser “Options…” menu.
Customization
One of the biggest Maxthon 3 downfalls is UI customization, or lack of it. I am not sure if it’s even possible to remove a single design element or button.
It’s like developers saying: here, use it as we tell you to, and don’t you dare to change anything.
Here’s my preferred browser UI: clean and junk free
Also, it looks like RSS Reader is no longer a part of Maxthon, at least we couldn’t find any easy way for subscribing to RSS Feeds. Their landing page does not seem to acknowledge such feature as well.
Conclusion
Maxthon 3 is a well thought out web browser that not only offers great performance and has intuitive user interface, but also, something, what every other browser lacks: exceptionally friendly configuration page for its new users.
Of course, Maxthon 3 still has stability issues and some flaws that require attention, especially when it comes to UI customization. So, if you are not a clean UI junkie, have no need for a RSS reader and just like new things, give it a spin, it’s a browser worth trying.
Software License: Freeware
Operating Systems Support: Microsoft Windows
Download Link: Maxthon 3
Homepage: Maxthon Browser
Rowan Mulder
Chrome 7 graphics overhaul
Most of us have a GPU these days, a powerful one that is. GPUs from AMD (previously ATI) and NVIDIA are work horses which offer unparalleled performance in graphical and (specific) computational tasks. Efforts like OpenCL or Direct Compute exist to lend the GPU for normal applications, but it seems that web browsers specifically are taking the lead.
DVD and Blu-ray players from like PowerDVD or WinDVD, but also the recent Adobe Flash Player 10.1 use the GPU to accelerate video playback (MPEG 2, MPEG 4 with H.264). Not only does CPU usage drop, it can also help in battery usage, as GPUs are more optimized for such tasks (and swallow less due to their efficiency).
Web browsers are actually also graphics intensive applications, especially with technologies being added like direct video playback with the video-tag, scalable vector graphics, intense use of the canvas (2D/3D) element, CSS transformations (demo-ed in Safari 5) and of course WebGL (an OpenGL ES stack using JavaScript). Internet Explorer 9 was one of the first to have hardware acceleration (although Opera already made plans with their Vega library, which now is the fastest software renderer), but isn't in beta phase yet. The developers of Firefox are also working on it, but it's disabled by default in Firefox 4 betas due to its immaturity at this time.
But there is also a new contender, Google Chrome 7 is entering the arena, while Chrome 6 is still in beta. Chrome 7 (and probably successors) aim to add more and more GPU support where possible, and the current development build has some parts included already. Continuing the multi-process architecture, the GPU accelerations lives in its own process, which is good for security measurements. As it's quite a big overhaul for the graphics sub-system, it will not be completely accelerated just yet. Some parts are, some parts aren't, but with Google's intentions and quick development, it's exciting to see who'll be king of GPU accelerated browsing this year!
Slashdot
Shakespeare In Klingon?
stevegee58 writes "As if the Klingon opera described recently here at Slashdot weren't enough, here's an interesting offering for Shakespeare buffs. The Washington Shakespeare Company (based in Arlington VA) will soon be performing selections from Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing in Klingon."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Opera Desktop Team
The End of an Architecture
Starting with the Next version of Opera, as of the next snapshot release (due sometime later today), we are discontinuing the PowerPC architecture on Mac and Linux. Opera 10.6x will be the last release with support for this architecture. This is unfortunate, but with third party vendor support dwindling away, we can no longer keep developing Opera for this architecture.
After ending support for PowerPC, we will be able to focus more on our high quality browser to make sure that it meets the need of the modern web browser user on the popular architectures.
ExtendOpera
SVG Zoom and Pan
Auto zoom and pan SVG, either opened directly in browser or embedded Tested with Opera version(s): 10.60Choose Opera
An Opera skin with some old school buttons
Now here's a skin for those of you with a passion for real buttons and want something else than the glossy look and feel of today's web applications. If you were a Windows 3.11 user, this skin is definitely for you! :up:
"Multitorg Opera" by Cyro is an Opera skin adapted from "Opera 1.0" by Disco Stu. We're thankful for all the hard work done by both skin authors, and we hope you like starting off the week with a new browser skin. :yes:
By the way, does anyone of you know what Multitorg Opera was? ;)
27.08.2010
Opera Community News
Member of the Week
Meet one of the most active bloggers and commentators on My Opera! :)
With more than 570 posts and a massive photo section, this is one blog worth checking out. We can in particular recommend his collection of desktop wallpapers and albums with the best shots by The Big Picture. This is a great and a very useful resource on My Opera! :up:
Congratulations dirk, you are this week's member of the week. Thanks for supporting Opera! :cheers:
26.08.2010
Ars Technica
MPEG LA counters Google WebM with permanent royalty moratorium
The MPEG Licensing Association—the group responsible for handling the necessary patent licensing for use of MPEG video codec standards—has announced that it will not charge royalties for AVC/H.264 encoded video that is made available to view via the Internet for free. The group earlier this year had extended its limited moratorium on licensing fees for free Internet video until the end of 2015.
Today's announcement by the MPEG LA extends the time period of the moratorium for the life of its "AVC Patent Portfolio License," effectively making free-to-view H.264 encoded video royalty-free indefinitely. The MPEG LA noted that licensing fees will still be in effect for video that consumers pay for, such as AVC-encoded Blu-ray discs, on demand services like Hulu+, and pay-to-download services like iTunes.
The move to effectively eliminate licensing fees for free Internet video is likely an effort to prevent Google's new WebM standard, built with technology it gained from acquiring On2 last year, from gaining any serious traction as a de facto Web standard for video. Despite Google's backing and support planned for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera browsers, the MPEG LA has suggested that the VP8 codec used by WebM is likely covered by patents held by its member companies. If WebM does prove to be encumbered by the same patents as H.264, which is already widely used for online video, there would be little reason to switch away from H.264 in its favor.
Read the comments on this post
date: 26.08.2010, 17:44, author: chris.foresman@arstechnica.com (Chris Foresman)
Choose Opera
Back to school with the Opera Campus Crew
Heading back to school or university after a long summer break, and want to get more out of your semester than just classes? If you are a student or educator who is passionate about Opera and web standards, you can become a volunteer member of the Opera Campus Crew! Join Opera Software's student street team of more than 700 Opera representatives at 400 schools and universities in 40 countries around the world!
As a member of the Opera Campus Crew you can organize events about Opera and the Web (whether a contest, presentation, demo or 'dorm invasion'), approach computer labs and internet cafes about installing Opera, lobby your school or university to adopt web standards, interview people about their experience with web browsers, and work with campus media. The kick-off of the new semester is a great time to join the team!
Joining the Campus Crew is an opportunity to gain new skills, learn more about Opera and the Web, receive gifts and a reference letter from Opera Software for your efforts, and interact with new people from all over your campus, country and the world.
Read more information and apply today to become a member! Once you are accepted we will send you a 'Get Started Guide' and introduce you to existing members at your campus. We look forward to welcoming you to the team! :knight:
date: 26.08.2010, 10:02, author: Zara
Ever met any of your online friends in real life?
We conducted an anonymous survey of Opera Mini users to find out more about browsing trends. It turned out to be what we feel is one of the most robust surveys ever conducted into mobile Web usage. More than 300,000 people answered the survey, and we present some of the findings in this month's state of the mobile report.
One of the questions asked were “Do you have online friends you’ve never met in real life?”. In general, “yes” responses for this question were relatively common, indicating that mobile Internet users tend toward having online friends they have not met in person.
Have you met any of your online friends in real life? I've been fortunate enough to meet a few Opera users over the years, and every meet up have been great! Tell us a bit your experience as a comment below.
25.08.2010
Opera Unite
Widgetise any web site
1. Install widgetise
2. Click, drag and drop the button onto your toolbar
3. Visit any website and click the widget button to install the widget
4. ???
5. Profit!
Choose Opera
Facebook @mentions fix
The Opera sitepatch team just released a new update to browser.js, and guess what? Facebook @mentions is included in the list of issues patched!
PATCH-264 Enable @mentions on Facebook. Not going to mention anything about it other than that it will be removed as soon as they fix it.
This is not a final solution to the problem, it's a small hack to make sure that all Opera users are allowed to use @mentions until Facebook decides to implement a proper solution. Please follow these simple instructions to get it working.
Opera downloads browser.js automatically once a week, but if you want to get the latest update follow these steps:
- Go to the Browser JavaScript setting and change the value to 1.
- Click the "Save" button below the setting.
- Use Help > Check for updates in Opera's menu bar.
Opera may tell you no new Opera version is available, but it will still check for a new version of the browser.js file.
Please note that this is not the "final" solution to this issue, but it's a working solution!
date: 25.08.2010, 14:28, author: Aleksander Aas
Opera and the .net magazine awards
We're jolly pleased that .net magazine (or Practical Web Design outside the UK) has nominated an Opera product and two Opera Developer Relations team members in their annual awards, all nominated by the magazine's readers.
Read more in the ODIN blog:
Opera and the .net magazine awards
Opera Developer Network
Opera and the .net magazine awards
We're jolly pleased that .net magazine (or Practical Web Design outside the UK) has nominated Opera product for four of their annual awards, all nominated by the magazine's readers.
Innovation of the Year
Opera Mobile Emulator is up for this gong.
Testing mobile browsers usually requires Web developers to buy one or more devices on which they then can investigate how their Web sites perform. The Opera Mobile emulator is designed to make the whole testing effort a bit easier: you install a small, native application on the desktop platform of your choice, and load Web pages from the comfort of your desktop. You can even debug them using Opera Dragonfly. (More about Opera Mobile Emulator)
Viral Campaign of the Year
Odd and Even's Opera Speed Test video is nominated. Were there a Vegetable of the Year category, I'm sure Norwegian potatoes would be in there too.
Web Personality of the Year
With more personality that there is snow in Norway, Opera's very own Molly Holzschlag is up for this award.
Standards Champion of the Year
Molly's also nominated for this, as is Bruce Lawson (that's me!). Having been beaten twice before for this award (by some nobodies named Cederholm and Zeldman) I'm resigned to being always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
In addition, the HTML5 Doctor resource site that Bruce co-curates is up for Blog of the Year. Our very own Patrick H Lauke is a judge, but he's promised to abstain from the categories where we have an interest.
Anyway, voting closes on 12 October. So go and vote for your favourites (hint hint!).
Choose Opera
Opera and Telenor to co-operate
In 1994, Opera started out as a research project in Telenor, the largest telecommunications company in Norway. The founders of Opera, Jon S. von Tetzchner and Geir Ivarsøy, worked in Telenor back then. A year later, Jon and Geir left Telenor and founded Opera. There are many strong ties between Opera and Telenor. Some of the first engineers and employees in Opera were developers form Telenor.
The picture above shows Jon and Geir hard at work in the Telenor Research Labs. Who knew that fifteen years later Opera and Telenor would sign a huge deal: Providing Opera Mini to over 184 million Telenor customers!
FavBrowser.com
Opera Software Q2 2010 Financial Results
Today, Opera Software has reported Q2 2010 financial results. As you will see, results are mixed up, with total revenues down 2% (Q on Q) and 4% when comparing 1H vs 2H. On the other hand, desktop browser revenue has increased by 20-30%.
Want more details? See the following page.
Opera Community News
Get ready to be Geared up by SteelSeries
The hunt for the worst keyboard and mouse setup in the world has come to an end. Our good friends at SteelSeries sent us mouse pads as runner up prizes! :yes:
Keyboard and mouse setup winner
We feel the winner posses a setup like no other. It's old, but has been taken good care. We're sure his new setup will be put to good use and last for a decade (or more!).
Congratulations Žan Pevec - you are our contest winner. We are suprised you managed to upload your contribution. :lol: The more you look at this setup, the more you realize how customized and optimized it is for his needs. Complete madness and we love it! :yes:
Mouse pad winners
As an added bonus we're giving away Limited Edition StarCraft 2 SteelSeries mouse pads to the runner-ups!
My Opera user Lilmoder is in much need of a new mouse pad. Where will he now store all his important papers?
DeaGonOne is all about hygiene, so he decided to wash his mouse pad for the competition. He has a nice battle scar, so we are giving you a new mouse pad. Treat it nicely! :doh:
Ch4ndra may have a scruffy setup, but what he really needs is a replacement for his Winnie the Pooh mouse pad!
This setup was a strong contender for the main prize. This keyboard by LexMark (1984) still works and vhanla loves it. We hope he will be happy with a brand new mouse pad. :up:
Leo Lbc posted a keyboard with descriptions on all the stuff that doesn't work. It's still usable, barely. :lol:
Opera goodie bags
And last, but not least, we are giving away some nice Opera goodie bags for our honorable mentions:
Audrius Noreika shared this setup on the Opera facebook page.
Grinsekatze's keyboard looks like it has been to war! Is that "thing" even usable? :)
Looks like ZweisteinX recently had an encounter with the Zerg!
Jurgi shows of his homemade laptop keyboard.
Our very own Tamil seems to have a few buttons causing general mayhem.
Sunny155 cleaned up the keyboard. It looks respectable now! :)
You would assume that Hellsig knew the buttons if the button text was worn out.
Wimmel24 added a special greeting to Opera in one of his pictures. :love:
Congratulations to the winners. And thanks for all your scruffy pictures. Most importantly - Thanks SteelSeries for your awesome prizes!
Opera Desktop Team
Bug fixing Wednesday on a unified build number
We are now using the same build number on all platforms. This should make it easier to coordinate your bug reports and comments (hint, hint) as we’ll know for sure you are all talking about the same build.
Known regressions
- DSK-311417 (Crash on expanding items in the mail panel)
- DSK-307161 [Windows] (Mouse navigation buttons not working)
- DSK-311545 [Windows] (HTML5 video element doesn't work because of missing GStreamer files)
Reminder: Please keep the comments relevant to changes in this snapshot. File other issues in the BTS and requests in the wish-list forum.
Download
Opera Security Group
How secure is the secure web? SSL/TLS-server stats, part 3
Hopefully we will see more jumps in the coming months, since Ubuntu is scheduled to implement a patched version of OpenSSL as part of the Maverick Meerkat (AKA 10.10) release in October. We also hope Debian will soon update their stable releases with the patch, even though we know the Debian maintainers are careful about what they include in their stable branches. If we're lucky, we might "celebrate" the one-year anniversary of the publication of this security vulnerability with at least 50% of servers patched. We're certainly crossing our fingers!
For some reason, the release of Microsoft's patch has not seemed to reduce the rate of noncompliance (see Yngve's post about this). In our tests on Windows 7, the Microsoft patch seems to have been correctly implemented and compliant, but our statistics show that most of the noncompliant MS-servers are IIS 6.0, so there could be some problems with the patch for this specific version. It could also simply be due to our tests running into front-ends rather than the actual TLS servers. We need to do some further digging to figure out the source of the noncompliance.
Since the last report, we have also discovered we are not the only ones interested in the status of TLS servers across the world. Ivan Ristic, the person behind SSL Labs, presented an extensive survey of servers in July at Black Hat USA 2010. Slides from his presentation can be found at his blog . Similar to our survey, he scanned a wide range of servers in order to locate a representative selection of TLS servers, and he ended up with 850,000 entries. In his presentation, he mentioned that 20.53% of the found domains were patched, which we assume was near the date when the presentation was held (July 29). This is, in fact, a 5% higher percentage than our surveys from the same time indicate. We suspect that we may be testing slightly different things, but we are investigating the cause of the differences in measured patch rates and have contacted Ristic about comparing our data with his. Anyhow, we warmly welcome his research, since more eyes on the status of TLS can only help keep the Web more secure and speed up the patching.
Just to sum up the issues for those readers who have not followed our recent articles:
- Last November a hole in the TLS security protocol was publicized. The TLS protocol is the protocol behind all secure communication on the Web, most commonly used in HTTPS connections with for instance banks. To fix this hole, both clients and servers need to implement patches. Most browsers have now implemented patches and we are waiting for all server vendors to release patches and for server owners to install them.
- Since March this year, we have been probing around 400 000 TLS servers worldwide regularly, to find how many of these are patched. This sample is estimated to be around 1/8th of all TLS servers. When most servers are patched, we will disable and/or warn about insecure communication via unpatched servers.
Do you think we'll make 50% patched servers by November 5th? And, how long do you think it will take for 95% of servers to be patched? If you have other questions, please ask in the comments below.
24.08.2010
Opera Community News
Looking for volunteer translators
We are looking for volunteer translators for our websites. We are especially looking for the following languages to work on My Opera:
- French
- Russian
- Bahasa Indonesian
- Brazilian Portuguese
- Spanish
- German
In order to participate, you will have to fulfill these criteria:
- Over 18
- Be of legal age in your country in order to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with Opera
- Not currently involved with competing browser vendors
- Strong interest in maintaining the translations for your language
If you are interested, please send an email in English to loc-requests at opera.com with the following information:
- Full name
- Address
- Phone number
- Previous experience
All applications will be vetted before approval, so make sure there are as few errors as possible before you apply.
23.08.2010
Tamil
Linux shell script to remove Opera bookmarks description
Last year, I posted Opera Bookmarks Description Remover for Windows to reduce bookmarks file size by removing bookmarks description. You can do it in Linux using shell script or Terminal command.
Shell script
- Create a file with name opera-bookmarks-description-remover.sh with the following code inside ~/.opera directory.
#! /bin/bash # # A script to remove Opera bookmarks description # # Place inside ~/.opera and make it executable (chmod a+x) # mv bookmarks.adr bookmarks.adr.bak awk '!/DESCRIPTION=/' bookmarks.adr.bak > bookmarks.adr
opera-bookmarks-description-remover.sh file inside ~/.opera directory -
Enable 'Allow executing file as program' - Close Opera.
-
Click 'Run in Terminal' or 'Run' button
Terminal command
Close Opera and run the following code in Terminal.
cd ~/.opera && mv bookmarks.adr bookmarks.adr.bak && awk '!/DESCRIPTION=/' bookmarks.adr.bak > bookmarks.adr
Terminal command to remove Opera bookmarks description
[lamarca]
date: 23.08.2010, 22:43, author: address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid ()
FavBrowser.com
Weekly Browsers Recap, August 23rd
FavBrowser.com
• The History of Internet Explorer
As Microsoft celebrates the 15th birthday of Internet Explorer, lets dive into the past and see how it all started…
• Is Internet Explorer the Modern Times Jesus?
Before we begin… If you are easily offended Christian, just skip this post.
• TabCandy Comes to Firefox 4 Final
It looks like the final version of Firefox 4 will have TabCandy already installed into the browser itself.
• Firefox 4 Beta 4 to Include Sync, Hardware Acceleration
It looks like the upcoming Firefox 4 Beta 4 release is set to include Firefox Sync…
• Firefox to Android
If you have already heard about the “Chrome to Phone” extension that allows…
• Opera 10.70 Expands Sync Capabilities
The latest weekly build of Opera 10.70 web browser now includes ability to synchronize content…
• Enable Google Search Suggestions in Opera
As you might know, Opera 10.60 brings support for search suggestions.
• Why Should You Use Opera Mini? (Pic)
Really, why should you?
• 6 of the Worst Web Browser Features
There comes a time when browser developers decide to implement a specific feature or do things in…
• Even Google Knows It (Pic)
What’s the worst web browser?
Bonus
- Firefox: Reopen Tabs from Last Time
- 7 Cool Chrome Extensions for Twitter
- Get the weather in your Speed Dial
- iLunascape: Free iPad Browser Combines Tab Browsing With iPad-Specific UI
- How To Enable Flash In Firefox Portable
- Fennec: Firefox for Android Coming Soon, MeeGo too
- Google fixes 11 Chrome Security Holes
- Google Launches Chrome’s ‘App Store For The Web’ In Developer Preview
- A History of The Internet: From Concept To Napster and Facebook
- HTML5 Raises New Security Issues
Anything else? Let us know.
Thanks to Ichann for the news tips.
