Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 19th Jan 2013 14:22 UTC
This is actually pretty big news - both exciting and tragic at the same time. Opera has revealed Opera Ice, its next mobile browser, to PocketLint. This new browser represent a big shift in both user interface as well as rendering engine, since it has a new, unique interface, as well as a new rendering engine... New to Opera, that is, as it's a WebKit-browser.
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RE: Solution to a non-existent problem
by woegjiub on Sat 19th Jan 2013 15:25
in reply to "Solution to a non-existent problem"
Member since:2008-11-25
Perhaps they felt that the rendering engine was too much effort, and that they could get the same results regardless of engine, especially with weblog being open for them to add to.
That being said, the above doubts as to the validity of this news seem justified; opera have always led the pack with compliance and new rendering features.
RE[2]: Solution to a non-existent problem
by steve_s on Mon 21st Jan 2013 10:22
in reply to "RE: Solution to a non-existent problem"
Member since:2006-01-16
Sadly "Opera leading the pack" with respect to compliance and new rendering features has ceased to be the case.
Opera were very late indeed to implement ECMAscript 5 (the new JavaScript standard), IIRC coming in behind Microsoft. Some modern CSS3 features such as 3d transforms, transitions, and animations which, whilst pioneered by WebKit, were all implemented on Firefox earlier.
It has seemed to me for quite some time that, with a few notable exceptions such as webforms support, Opera have been lagging behind the competition.
RE: Solution to a non-existent problem
by Carewolf on Sat 19th Jan 2013 15:36
in reply to "Solution to a non-existent problem"
Member since:2005-09-08
RE: Solution to a non-existent problem
by PresentIt on Sat 19th Jan 2013 16:14
in reply to "Solution to a non-existent problem"
Member since:2010-02-10
Don't understand this at all. The home made browser engine is fast and portable. Why put effort into a me-too browser when the rest of the competition has deeper pockets to diversify on webkit?
Exactly. The competition has deeper pockets, so why should Opera spend tons of cash making their own engine and constantly struggling with compatibility when they can just grab a free engine that someone else is kind enough to make for them?
What if they could put all those resources they are wasting on constantly dealing with compatibility and staying up to date with the engine, and instead put everyone on making UI and services?
Presto might be fast and portable, but everyone is moving to phones that have multi-core CPUs and run at 1GHz or more. And everything except Android and iOS are basically irrelevant at this point, so who cares about portable?
RE[2]: Solution to a non-existent problem
by Wondercool on Sat 19th Jan 2013 16:25
in reply to "RE: Solution to a non-existent problem"
Member since:2005-07-08
Why would you leave your 20 year investment in your own technology behind and switch to something that will provide no competitive angles to the competition?
It is *not* free to switch, you will have to relearn the technology and reprogram all that you have invented previously, like Opera Mail, Unite.
I still don't see it. Unless they are only switching the rendering engine? Still a lot of work, still a lot of reprogramming...
RE[2]: Solution to a non-existent problem
by zima on Sat 19th Jan 2013 19:58
in reply to "RE: Solution to a non-existent problem"
Member since:2005-07-06
everything except Android and iOS are basically irrelevant at this point, so who cares about portable?
That's probably not really true yet. Things might appear so if you're in one of the most visible, affluent markets.
However, since we're on the topic of Opera, and when talking not about sales but what people actually use...
http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_vendor-ww-monthly-201003-201301 - still plenty of browsing from Nokia devices, none of them "Android and iOS", Opera capable of running on most of them ( http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_os-ww-monthly-201003-201301 & http://www.opera.com/smw/2011/11/ - mostly S40 "feature phones")
RE: Solution to a non-existent problem
by ssokolow on Sat 19th Jan 2013 19:22
in reply to "Solution to a non-existent problem"
Member since:2010-01-21
Don't understand this at all. The home made browser engine is fast and portable. Why put effort into a me-too browser when the rest of the competition has deeper pockets to diversify on webkit?
It does not make any sense, effort should have been put into compelling features, not yet-another-webkit browser.
Totally baffled...
It does not make any sense, effort should have been put into compelling features, not yet-another-webkit browser.
Totally baffled...
It encourages people to unknowingly code for quirks of HOW WebKit implements a standard.
I believe there were some IE6-era Javascript things that would never have worked in V8 because, while they worked in IE6, they weren't part of the standard and were incompatible with V8's approach to JITing.
RE[2]: Solution to a non-existent problem
by lucas_maximus on Sun 20th Jan 2013 14:23
in reply to "RE: Solution to a non-existent problem"
Member since:2009-08-18
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/20/13 6:17 UTC, submitted by MOS6510
"In the first episode of Microsoft's new film series 'On the Whiteboard', Editor Pamela Woon chats with two-time Oscar winner Randy Thom about the (often underestimated) importance of sound in human-technology interactions. Thom, the lead sound designer at Skywalker Ranch who worked on films such as The Incredibles, Castaway and Forrest Gump, says that people rarely consider the significance of those signature sounds that come from their trusty devices, whether it be a cell phone, a computer or a tablet."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 23:02 UTC, submitted by M.Onty
"Microsoft has sensationally abandoned its controversial plans to restrict the sharing of XBox One games, and has also removed daily online authentication requirements for its forthcoming console", reports The Guardian. They had no choice. Still a good move.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 22:28 UTC
"A snippet of code in the Steam digital distribution platform has revealed that Valve may be planning to let users easily share their games with friends in the future. The Verge has verified the code's authenticity, which was originally spotted by a member of the NeoGAF gaming forum; the code references a 'shared game library' and a notification that would alert a user when their games are currently in use by a borrower." This would change the, uh, game.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.More News »
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2005-07-08
Don't understand this at all. The home made browser engine is fast and portable. Why put effort into a me-too browser when the rest of the competition has deeper pockets to diversify on webkit?
It does not make any sense, effort should have been put into compelling features, not yet-another-webkit browser.
Totally baffled...