Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Opera Looks to Reinvent the Web with Integrated Services

Geoff Duncan
By
Opera Looks to Reinvent the Web with Integrated Services

Norway’s Opera software has been working to push the Web browser envelope for years, and while they haven’t captures massive market share among desktop browsers they have made significant inroads in mobile browsers and other arenas—who do you think made the Web browser in the Nintendo Wii? Now, Opera Software is looking to “reinvent the Web” via Opera Unite, a new collection of free services that lets users share files, music, pictures, and more—plus run their own chat and Web servers—all without requiring data storage from upstream servers. Communication all happens between individual users’ personal computers, with no middle man.

“Today, we are opening the full potential of the Web for everyone,” said Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner, in a statement. “Opera Unite now decentralizes and democratizes the cloud. With server capability in the browser, Web developers can create Web applications with profound ease. Consumers have the flexibility to choose private and efficient ways of sharing information. We believe Opera Unite is one of our most significant innovations yet, because it changes forever the fundamental fabric of the Web.”

Recommended Videos

Opera Unite is designed to run with the Opera Web browser, although other users can access shared files and media with any modern Web browser. Services included in Opera Unit include Photo and File Sharing, a Media Player that lets users tap into their personal music collections remotely, a self-contained chat service called The Lounge, a “Fridge” where friends can post notes, and an integrated Web server that can be accessed worldwide via a custom Opera Unite URL. Opera Unite operates using the same Opera ID used by other services like Opera Link and My Opera.

Related

Opera Unite is certainly unlike any other services offered by mainstream Web browsers, and although the individual technologies aren’t new, so far industry watchers are favorably impressed with how Opera has been able to bring them together and make them accessible to everyday users. The question now is whether Opera Unite will generate enough interest among developers—or give birth to a “killer app”—that will truly change the dynamic of the Web. In the meantime, Opera will continue to enhance Opera Unite (which is currently in alpha form and a little sharp on the corners), possibly by adding new features and functionality.

Editors' Recommendations

Geoff Duncan
Geoff Duncan
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…
Chrome is still a RAM killer, but this new feature would be a huge help
Google Chrome icon in mac dock.

Google’s Chrome browser is infamous for consuming a lot of RAM. While recent updates have attempted to solve this problem from a technical side, a new feature may put more of the management in the hands of the user.
With the latest beta version of Chrome Canary, users can now simply hover their mouse cursor over a tab to gain access to real-time memory usage of that specific tab.
Up until now, you had to dig into the Chrome Task Manager to see how much memory each tab is consuming. But as reported by Windows Central, the new feature would give you quick and direct access to this important information. The prototype feature was first posted on X (formerly Twitter) by user Leopeva64 and showed the tab RAM usage.

Of course, it only gives a small overview and doesn’t offer the same detailed information (such as running processes, tabs, and extensions0 as the built-in task manager.
Practically speaking, having a small indicator on the top is going to make the process of clearing unwanted tabs a lot easier. The new feature is also said to inform users about whether Chrome's Memory saver feature has actively frozen a tab to save memory similar to Microsoft Edge's Sleeping tabs feature. Of course, this feature only works when a certain tab is inactive for a long period of time. 
Google is said to be testing this feature, but if you are using version 117 on the Stable Channel, you may get access to it. To enable the memory usage feature, head to Chrome://flags and search for Show memory usage in hovercards. Select the dropdown and enable it. A quick restart may also be required.
Recently, we saw Google testing on a feature that helps organize tabs in a more efficient way. Using the Organize Tabs features, the browser attempts to reorder your tabs into groups of similar pages. It even lets you rename these groups, and create tab groups automatically once it has categorized your tabs.

Read more
Google has a great idea to fix your tab chaos in Chrome
Google Drive in Chrome on a MacBook.

If you use Google Chrome and are sick of managing an unruly mass of tabs in your web browser, help may soon be at hand. That’s because Google is testing a new feature that could bring order to your tab chaos.

As spotted by Leopeva64 on X (formerly Twitter), a new edition of Google Chrome Canary (a version of Chrome that lets users test out experimental features) contains a new tool called Organize Tabs nestled in the top-left corner of the browser.

Read more
I write about tech for a living — these are the browser extensions I install on every PC
A person using a laptop on a desk with a web browser showing the HubSpot marketplace on their screen.

I write about tech for a living, so you probably won’t be surprised to learn that I spend an unreasonable amount of time browsing the internet (those dog videos aren’t going to watch themselves). Over my many years of surfing the web, I’ve used a huge number of browser extensions to tune up my online experience.

Some have been better than others, but I've carefully curated a list that can elevate your internet experience and help take it to the next level. If you’re after some new extensions for Chrome, Safari, Firefox and all the other best web browsers, these are my own personal recommendations.
1Password

Read more