New browsers launched
2010-03-02 21:16
London - Google launched a new beta version of its Chrome browser, and Opera has launched the latest version of its Opera browser.
Chrome includes a number of innovations including additional privacy controls for users and integration of translation functionality.
The beta release gives users even greater choice and control over their privacy as they browse the web and in addition to the incognito mode, users can now also have more control over the handling of privacy settings in the new "Content Settings" section.
Users can also set rules for the handling of cookies from individual websites and clear cookies when a browser is closed.
When the language of the webpage you're viewing is different from your preferred language setting, Chrome will display a prompt asking if you'd like the page to be translated for you. Users can also set an option to automatically translate all pages they encounter in a particular language.
Private browsing
Google Chrome's option dialogues also provide a link to the Adobe Flash Player Settings Manager, where users can view and control the local objects that Adobe Flash stores on their computer.
The new Chrome can be downloaded at the Google website where there is also a link to report crashes.
"With the new release, we also give users even more choice and control over their own privacy while surfing the web," said Wieland Holfelder, Google's Engineering Director in Munich.
The internet browser market is getting more crowded as Opera Software released Opera 10.50, claiming it to be the "fastest web browser thus-far produced for Windows computers".
Synonymous with mobile applications, Opera has been quietly creeping into the desktop platform.
Similar to Google's Chrome, the Opera browser also allows private browsing, and they claim a new JavaScript engine and a graphics library should speed up the browsing experience.
With Aero Glass, Opera claims that users can access Speed Dials directly from the taskbar in Windows 7 or Vista.
A neat trick that Opera employs is to compress web pages on servers to increase speed whenever bandwidth is slow. South Africans might find this feature useful, given the country's lack of high speed broadband.
Users need not post content to a third party social network to share files. According to Opera, that is built into the browser with a tool called Opera Unite.
Opera is a free download from the website.