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Opera Unite is an extremely powerful platform that opens up a new category of client-to-client applications. Harnessing this power is as easy as coding a Web page. This dramatically simplifies the complexity of authoring advanced Web applications. To create an Opera Unite application, a Web developer needs only to know the same open Web standards they use every day, such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Additional tutorials on building Opera Unite applications are available at http://dev.opera.com/articles/unite/. Opera Unite applications can be accessed by any modern Web browser on any device.
Unlike peer-to-Peer (P2P) applications which rely on all users of a given application sharing the data to all other users (an example of this is the BitTorrent client that has been built into Opera for several years), Opera Unite is a standard Web server. People connect to applications or content on your Opera Unite server, and communicate, view or download that content directly from your computer without distributing it to others. While Opera Unite currently focuses on sharing data directly with other users, a distributed hosting model is within the possibilities of what developers can do with Opera Unite applications.
For Web developers, Opera Unite services are based on the same open Web standards as Web sites today. This dramatically simplifies the complexity of authoring cutting-edge Web services. With Opera Unite, creating a full Web service is now as easy as coding a Web page.
The new Opera 10.10 beta includes the following Opera Unite applications for you to try:
Photo Sharing
• Create instant Web photo galleries from your PC.
Messenger
• Chat live with your friends in My Opera.
File Sharing
• Share a file from your personal computer without having to upload it.
Web Server
• Turn your Opera browser into an instant Web server that hosts your Web sites directly from your computer.
Media Player
• Stream your entire music catalog from anywhere, instantly, using any Web browser.
Fridge
• Post a note on your friends’ virtual refrigerators.
More applications are available from:
http://unite.opera.com/
See a band use Opera Unite to teach an old media player new tricks, such as streaming their newly recorded songs, instantly and directly, from their computer to a Facebook friend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eak_o_1Kzd0
“We invite developers all over the world to use their creativity and imagination to push the boundaries of what is possible with Opera Unite,” said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera. “We are moving closer to our goal of reinventing the Web and are excited to see Opera Unite continue to evolve in powerful and compelling ways.”
It is easy to use Opera Unite:
Download the Opera 10.10 beta with Opera Unite from:
http://www.opera.com/browser/next/
Using Opera Unite
To start Opera Unite, click the Opera Unite button in the lower left-hand corner of the browser and log in with your existing Opera ID - the same Opera ID used for other Opera services such as My Opera and Opera Link. Opera Unite will prompt you to register an Opera ID if you do not have one. Now you are ready to use Opera Unite.
Simply access your Opera Unite applications from the Opera Unite panel of the browser. New applications can be installed from:
http://unite.opera.com/
Running an application will give you a direct Web address to the Opera Unite application on your device, for example: http://[notebook].[username].operaunite.com/[media_player]/, where [notebook] is the name of the local device serving content, [username] is your username, and [media_player] is the Web application being accessed. This link will also allow others to access the same Web application from your computer through their Web browser.
A Web FAQ answers the most common questions about Opera Unite here:
http://unite.opera.com/support/#general
You can download Opera 10.10 beta from
http://www.opera.com/browser/next/
As for the Opera 10 browser itself, it features many enhancements, tweaks. and upgrades from earlier versions, including translation into 39 languages, an option to have visual tabs to the left or right of the browser window, and a fix for a problem opening PDF files. (see the changelog in the Appendix below for a full list of changes).
Opera has been my favorite Web browser (or at least the one I use the most) for many years, and Version 10's new features make it even better.
One of Opera 10's marquee features is the Turbo server-side optimization and compression technology that speeds up data transfer on low-bandwidth connections by reducing the amount of data that needs to be downloaded in order to view Web pages by up to 80%, providing significant improvement in browsing speeds over dialup or crowded Wi-Fi in a café or browsing through your mobile phone while commuting.
Opera 10 also includes a a fresh look by designer Jon Hicks, a more refined feel, and is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux systems. New skin elements crafted by Hicks have been applied to the Opera 10 user interface. Among them are:
- Etch effects and border inner highlights have been applied giving extra crispness to edges.
- Text Shadow has a new parameter. This was added to reproduce the etched text effect that is standard on OS X and many Windows applications.
- Horizontal and vertical splitters can now be skinned.
Perhaps the most obvious change is the new application icon, designed by Oleg Melnychuk. The red O will continue to represent Opera, but it has received a major facelift. It is also available in bigger sizes that before for Windows and Mac, so that you can view it in all its glory on your desktop. Actually, I haven't noticed much visual difference from the beta 3 release, which incorporated most of the interface tweaks.
New in Opera 10 is a resizable tab bar. Just drag the handle underneath the tabs to reveal thumbnails of your open Web pages. You can now also customize Opera's Speed Dial feature to suit your taste by using the Configure button to choose from 4 to 25 favorite Web sites for quick access every time you open a new tab. You can also add a custom background so you feel right at home (some downloadable alternate Opera skins also include Speed Dial backgrounds).
Web integration
If you use a Webmail service as your default mail client, you can tell Opera 10 to do the same. Clicking on email addresses or the Send by Mail in Opera will open the compose page from your Web mail service provider. The same is true with the Feed reader you can now also add any RSS/atom feed into your favorite online feed reader from within Opera 10.
Resizable search field
Get a clearer view of what you are about to search by simply expanding the size of the search field to accommodate more than two words of space.
40% Faster Engine And Cutting-edge Web Standards Support
Opera's developers have optimized the new Opera Presto 2.2 engine in Opera 10 to be much faster on resource intensive pages such as Gmail and Facebook. In addition, with an Acid3 100/100 score (reportedly the only browser besides Safari 4 to achieve that distinction), Web Fonts support, RGBA/HSLA color and SVG improvements, Opera 10 beta is ready for the next generation of Web applications.
Inline spell-check
Write freely in your Facebook wall, blog or Webmail. Opera 10 beta underlines any misspelled words. By using the Hunspell dictionary format, you can be sure you'll always have the most complete and updated list of all languages.
Auto-update
Opera 10 beta makes it easy to stay up to date with the latest version. With Auto-Update you will be able to choose completely automatic updates or have the option of being notified when an update is ready to install.
Email Client Built In
Opera Mail can now send rich text messages including inline images, styled text, links, and/or custom HTML. You can also choose to have messages deleted from your POP server after a preset number of days, to help you keep control of your hosted server space.
Automated Crash Reporting
Opera is designed to restart and recover all your tabs if a crash occurs. But, now you can easily send us a crash report to help us continue to make Opera the most stable browser around.
Opera Dragonfly evolved
Opera's Web developer debugging tool is now even better, allowing you to edit the DOM and inspect HTTP headers.
And of course, all the traditional Opera good stuff is still there, such as Opera's already excellent Download Manager which deserves special mention since it's IMHO so much better than any other browser's handling of downloads, with excellent progress monitoring and full control, including resumable downloads after a pause or shutdown, and no-hassle multiple downloads
Opera's Zoom controls are among the best if not THE best, with a handy pull-down menu and button in the lower right corner to resize Web pages. If the page is too wide for your screen, simply hit Fit to Width and Opera will resize the Web page so you avoid horizontal scrolling. I also like Opera's implementation of the sidebar, which stays out of your way until bidden to appear with a button-click, and hiding again efficiently.
If you're a regular reader, then you may be aware that I'm a big fan of Opera, and Opera 10 is the best iteration of this fast, stable, and deeply featured alternate browser. If you haven't checked it out it's worth doing so. You may become as hooked as I am.
For more information, visit:
http://www.opera.com/
Download:
http://www.opera.com/download/
Learn more about the features that make Opera unique:
http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/
Connect with Opera's development team:
http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/
Find Opera on the Web
Follow Opera on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/opera/
Help share Opera with the world:
http://www.chooseopera.com
Become an Opera fan on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Opera-Browser/
Watch Opera's videos on YouTube:
gtwww.youtube.com/user/operasoftware/
Charles W. Moore
Tags: Hot Topics ï Reviews ï Internet Reviews ï
