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New ‘Vivaldi’ web browser debuts, does it have a chance?

If you’re struggling to get your old copy of Netscape to do, well, anything at all, then we have good news. There’s a new browser out today called Vivaldi, and it sort of goes in the opposite direction of current browser trends. While web browsers have been trying to simplify things, Vivaldi intentionally allows you to make your browser as complicated as possible.

Opera Software co-founder Jon von Tetzchner is behind Vivaldi, and as you might have guessed, he has some experience with this browser thing. Tetzchner says Vivaldi is for “power users” who want to heavily tweak and customize their online browser, and he says they’ve tried to bake in every feature possible while keeping system demands low. A quick performance comparison here at DT shows he may be on to something and we continue to poke about with it.

Will Vivaldi catch on? Hard to tell, but anything is possible and it is nice to see a fresh face out there in the browser market. Vivaldi 1.0 is available right now for download for Mac, Windows and Unix, and it’s free.

We recently tested the new DJI Phantom 4 and found the new avoidance features pretty handy, but now it looks like drones are about to get even smarter – and soon.

Stanford researchers have upped the avoidance tech on a test drone to the point that it can bob and weave away from a fencing foil – all on it’s on. The drone uses a combination of visual, laser, and ultrasonic sensors to keep from being skewered. In a production drone, this kind of tech could make indoor flying a whole lot safer, and maybe someday, we could use it for lightsaber practice.

Instagram user Sue Moseley is happy to have her account back in operation after it was disabled when she posted a photo of a cake. No joke! Apparently Instagram’s boob-spotting A.I. tagged Sue’s classic simnel cake as a violation of Instagram’s TOS protocols, which apparently include no photos of bare breasts – or nudity in general.

After a huge outcry from the internet – and a few sympathetic Twitter posts – an actual human at Instagram got involved, apologized, and restored Sue’s account.

Bill Roberson
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I focus on producing Digital Trends' 'DT Daily' video news program along with photographing items we get in for review. I…
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