Opera 9, Preview 1

I mentioned just a couple of posts ago how I found Opera 9 in my logs. I didn’t expect anything to be released in a good while yet, but once again I’m pleasantly surprised. Today (or yesterday, considering it’s past midnight already) a preview ofOpera 9 was released. It’s still in the early stages of development, but there are some nice things the developers just ached to show us so far: 😉

  • support for XSLT, Canvas 2D, and Web Forms 2.0
  • rich-text editing on Web pages
  • site-specific preferences
  • a new IMAP back-end
  • access to Opera’s preferences via opera:config

For a full overview, see the changelog and download links for Windows, Unix and Mac

Of course, by releasing this preview Opera invites users to discuss it in the forums – they are particularly interested in feedback about:

  • speed and stability
  • IDing as Opera by default
  • rendering regressions since Opera 8.5
  • problems connecting to secure sites using TLS 1.1

One thing any have looked forward to, are the site specific preferences. Who’s better to tell us about those and more than the Opera guys themselves, in their blogs? Such as HÃ¥vard, Peter Karlsson, Rijk, Tim Altman, …

I could go on, but I’m sure you want to go test it yourself, as soon as possible. I will, at least. So go ahead! 😉

You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.

You are on a page which tells about the IF-Competition 2005.
> Read blog entry
You read the blog entry. You feel compelled to try the games.
> Click download link
You are instantly taken to the download page.

The era of text adventures, or interactive fiction, is not yet over. Not completely. I wrota a little while ago about playing Hamlet, as an interactive fiction story.

Interested in more? Well – there is a competition each year, to write the best interactive fiction. If you want to download and play this year’s competition games, go here! You can of course also read more about the competition, and give your vote.

If you want to see a more “adventurous take” on the competition, and links for last years games, have a look in this blog post.

Merlin: Opera 9

Opera is continually being updated and improved. While Opera 8.5 was released just a few weeks ago, work is well underway withthe next incarnation, codenamed Merlin. And I expect it to work its magic as the name implies – if only in the sense “Any science advanced enough will seem like magic” (who was it that said that, by the way?)

From time to time we read some small snippets by the developers about this browser – but when can we expect it to be released? I have no idea – but someone is obviously testing the internal build, because in my web log today I found that someone have paid me a (short) visit with a browser that identified itself as Opera 9! 🙂

Of course, that someone is testing an internal build doesn’t mean that it is anywhere near a public release, but it’s a nice little reminder – should we ever need it – that Opera ASA is constantly improving its browser so that we get the best possible experience out of it. And it is a bit titillating to see the entry, teasing me with a promise of what is to come. 😉

Danger on bittorrent?

Harvey Danger album coverHave you heard of Harvey Danger? I hadn’t, until half an hour ago or so. Had it not been for one specific thing, Harvey Danger would be nothing more that at most a name to me, in all probability. The one thing that changed the situation for me, is bittorrent.

Harvey Danger is a group, which recently released their third album: “Little by Little”. Being independent, they’re not bound by RIAA and their demonising of the p2p file sharing model – and so they wanted to do an experiment. They put out their album for download. It’s their complete album, DRM-free, in ogg vorbis and mp3 formats – and it’s free. We’re even encouraged to share it with friends. Not quite the view of the RIAA juggernaut, eh?

Of course, they don’t give it away just to be nice – they do sell the album, too, and would like to make money on it. The result they’re hoping for is to get some contribution for the downloads, and/or to sell the physical album (which includes a bonus CD) and more. History has shown us (those of us that don’t close our eyes) that people find new artists via file sharing, get curious and search out previous albums to buy. Other artists have noticed higher sales as they’re being shared – let’s hope the same is true for Harvey Danger, and that this experiment turns out to be a viable model.

Me? I’m listening to the album as I’m writing. I like it – how much I like it remains to be seen. 🙂

Feeling a bit crazy lately?

Napoleon Complex Cover“They’re coming to take me away, ha-haaa!” — and if you’re not happy with the way you’re taken away, try another one. You have 21 different ways to choose from.

This is of course about the Napolean XIV‘s 1966 hit single – and various international… eh… variations of that hit, making a total of 21. But there’s no use in me telling you this if you can’t enjoy it yourself, right? So strap into your straight jackets, and go to be taken away, ha-haa!

Enjoy! 😉

Opera 8.5 – both free and banner free!

A while ago, we were told by Opera that they would have some big news for us at a later time. Speculations were rife if this meant a free version of Opera without advertising banner – but we didn’t know, and Opera wouldn’t tell.

Then there was a party, and to celebrate its 10 years, Opera gave away free registration codes. This were of course big news, and millions got their code for free. So in a way, it seemed that the big news we were promised were a free browser, without advertising – if not the way it was expected.

However, don’t forget: This is Opera, a company with a great taste for PR. Today Opera 8.5 was released – and it’s free! The advertising banners are gone! If the banners were turning you off earlier, now there’s no excuse anymore. Go to Opera, download it. And if there’s too much traffic, download with bittorrent.

“Murder, he wrote”

Authors have tried experimenting with publishing their books in different ways on the web. Some put their old book(s) on the web, some put their new book out. Some serialise the book, some put it out all at once. Here’s a new way: The blook!

Tom Evslin is trying a new twist with his work, the murder story hackoff.com: He’s blooging his book! The web site is complete wit a faus company site (the company in he story) a wiki, forum and the unfolding story, so that readers can take part in it. I think this is an exciting experiment – it will be interesting to see how it develops.

The updates here are going straight into my feed reader! 😉

Hamlet as Interactive Fiction

Interactive Fiction – or old fashioned adventure games if you want – may not be particularly visible these days with the commercial interests mostly being in other genres, but it’s still thriving. Also on the web.

I have no intention of writing a lot about IF this time, but the classic Hamlet by Shakespeare caught my eyes just recently. Not the book as such, but a little reworked into an IF story. So instead of encouraging you to read the book, I propose that you try to play Hamlet.

Firefox users like unicorns

UnicornIt happened first in July, and it’s happening again now: The majority of Firefox users that visit my site, are drawn to my page with unicorn poetry. That means that Firefox users are attracted to unicorns, right?

Of course, I can read my statistics a different way, too: There was a surge in Firefox users in July, and again now. They’re referred to my site – or that unicorn poetry page in particular – from a blog that is a bit popular: boingboing.net. Yep – I’ve been boingboinged for the second time. To the same page, from the same page. 🙂

Steve Ballmer: Im going to kill Google

Bad habits are hard to change, and with MS accused of killing off competitors before, recent news at Jogn Battele’s site are interesting to read. Former Microsoft employee Mark Lucovsky started to work for Google in 2004, and in legal documents in the current lawsuit between Google and Microsoft over Google’s hiring of Kai-Fu Lee, Mark has the following statement from a meeting he had with Steve Ballmer to discuss his departure:

At some point in the conversation Mr. Ballmer said: “Just tell me it’s not Google.” I told him it was Google.

At that point, Mr. Ballmer picked up a chair and threw it across the room hitting a table in his office. Mr. Ballmer then said: “Fucking Eric Schmidt is a fucking pussy. I’m going to fucking bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I’m going to fucking kill Google.”

Ballmer calls this a gross exaggeration of what took place

Read more about it in the news.