A startup offering an enterprise-focused web browser has surpassed a billion-dollar valuation, despite launching only a matter of weeks ago.
Island exited stealth mode in early February, but has already achieved unicorn status courtesy of a $ 115 million Series B funding round that valued the company at $ 1.3 billion. Although the product was under development for two years prior to launch, Island is still among the fastest startups to achieve the milestone.
The funding round was led by venture capital firm Insight Partners, which has previously invested in the likes of Shopify, Qualtrics and DocuSign, all of which have multi-billion-dollar market capitalizations. Other investors include Sequoia Capital, Stripes and Cyberstarts.
Island browser
The core difference between Island’s browser and the likes of Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge is a heightened focus on cybersecurity. According to Island, typical browsers are entirely unsuitable for use in a business context, despite their ubiquity in the professional sphere today.
“The most widely deployed app in the enterprise is the browser, but it’s a consumer-based design,” Island CEO Mike Fey told TechCrunch, when the company emerged from stealth.
“A consumer wants to have infinite freedom; they want to be able to install anything they want, go anywhere they want, and do who knows what with their browser without any issues. The enterprise, however, wants to make sure that their customer data is safe, that their critical information is protected, and that they’re getting a good experience.”
Although Island’s service is built on the same Chromium engine as many popular browsers, and therefore has a familiar interface, it places a number of restrictions on the way in which end users can interact with the web.
For example, the Island browser gives security teams control over simple functionality such as copy-and-paste, screen capture and content downloads. It also places limits on the kinds of extensions that can be installed and the domains that can be visited.
Separately, the service gives IT administrators access to advanced tools to help secure SaaS applications and prevent data leakage, as well as full insight into all deployments to help identify the source of incidents as quickly as possible.
“Island has created a whole new way of thinking about enterprise work. By fundamentally transforming the work environment to be secure-by-design, the Island Enterprise Browser enables organizations to achieve entirely new levels of security, productivity, and IT efficiency,” added Fey.
“New investment from Insight Partners and increased investment from our original funding partners validates our product-market fit, accelerates our momentum, and highlights the huge opportunity in front of us.”
Also check out our list of the best VPN services around
Google is constantly working to improve the speed of its browser and it appears these efforts have paid off as Google Chrome recently achieved the highest score yet on Apple's Speedometer 2.0 benchmark.
Since the launch of Chrome back in 2008, the search giant has set out to build the fastest browser regardless of whether you're using it on a smartphone or laptop.
In order to measure the speed of its browser, Google uses a combination of internal benchmarking infrastructure and public, industry-standard benchmarks. When it comes to comparing JavaScript performance in browsers, Apple's Speedometer 2.0 benchmark is the most broadly used tool today as it provides an accurate depiction of real world testing.
Since 2015, Google has been measuring Chrome's Speedometer scores on a 13-inch MacBook. While the browser's performance improved on Intel-based Macs, the release of Apple's M1 chips in 2020 have led to a huge performance increase.
Improving Chrome's performance
In a new blog post, Google explained that the projects it has worked on over the years have made a significant improvement to Chrome's performance. However, this wasn't the case with all of them.
For instance, with pointer compression the company was willing to take a small performance hit in order for Chrome to use less memory. This was also the case when the Spectre CPU exploit hit and Google had to trade performance to guarantee the safety of its users.
All in all, years of work on projects like fast C++ lookups, thin strings, revamping parser and more have led to an 83 percent improvement in Chrome's Speedometer score. Still though, it was the combination of Apple's introduction of the M1 CPU with Google's Sparkplug and LTO+PGO projects that helped Chrome rocket to the top of the Speedometer scores. Chrome now scores over 300 on Speedometer and this is the highest score any browser has ever achieved.
These scores will likely continue to improve as Google develops its browser further and Apple's new M1 Ultra chip will also give Chrome another big performance boost on macOS.
The transition to working from home during the pandemic drastically changed the way in which we use technology with the browser becoming one of the most important tools for remote work.
Now as we've reached the two-year mark of the start of the pandemic, Mozilla has published a new blog post taking a closer look at which browser extensions were the most downloaded and used during the early days of the lockdown in Firefox.
As meetings went virtual with employees relying on video conferencing software like Zoom to connect with their teams, the browser extension Zoom Scheduler saw a 1,522 percent increase in installs. This is because it integrates Google Calendar with Zoom so that users can scheduler or start their Zoom meetings directly from their calendar.
Since remote workers also spent more time looking at their work from home monitors, the Dark Background and Light Text extension, which flips the colors of webpages to make them more visible, saw a 351 percent increase in installs at the beginning of the pandemic. Likewise, the Tree Style Tab extension also experienced a 126 percent increase in downloads as it can help users deal with tab overload by opening browser tabs in a cascading “tree” format similar to vertical tabs in Microsoft Edge.
Protecting our privacy and staying entertained
Cybercrime ran rampant during the beginning of the pandemic so in addition to using a VPN and antivirus software when working remotely, Firefox users also began installing privacy extensions for their browser.
Cookie AutoDelete, which eliminates unused cookies whenever you close a tab in Firefox, saw its install numbers skyrocket by 386 percent and the browser extension also averaged more than 206k installs per month between March and May of 2020.
As remote workers used Facebook's social media platform to stay connected during lockdown, Mozilla's own Facebook Container was another popular browser extension. This extension isolates your Facebook identity into a separate “container” so that the social media giant can't track your moves around the web.
Blocking trackers was also important to those working from home during the pandemic which is why the Privacy Badger browser extension saw installs jump by 80 percent globally. An interesting thing about this browser extension is that it gets better at blocking trackers the longer you use it since Privacy Badger “learns” more about the hidden trackers you naturally encounter while online.
When it came to staying entertained while in lockdown, Firefox users installed the BetterTTV browser extension to alter the look and feel of Twitch, the Watch2gether extension to have watch parties with friends and colleagues online and YouTube Non-Stop to solve the problem of the video platform's annoying “Video paused. Continue watching?” prompt.
Regardless of which browser you're currently using, browser extensions can help add to your online experience and make the software and services you depend on while working from home even more useful.
The improvements and new features Microsoft has added to its browser over the years are beginning to pay off as figures show Microsoft Edge is on the verge of surpassing Safari on desktop.
According to data from web analytics service StatCounter, Edge is now used on 9.54% of desktops worldwide, ahead of Firefox with 9.18% and just behind Safari at 9.84%.
As you may have guessed, Google Chrome still holds the top spot at 65.38%.
Edge vs Safari
While Edge may be catching up to Safari worldwide, in North America it's a different story, as Apple's browser is used on 16.87% of desktops compared to Edge's 11.93% market share.
In Europe and Asia though, Edge has already leapfrogged Safari at 10.9% and 7.46% respectively with Apple's browser used on 9.95% of desktops in Europe and just 5.41% in Asia.
Since Safari is the default browser on Apple's iPhone and iPad, it has a 26.71% of mobile market share worldwide which still pales in comparison to Chrome's 62.06% market share on both iOS and Android.
Although Microsoft Edge has been downloaded over 10 million times on the Google Play Store and the app has 4.6 stars on Apple's App Store, the browser isn't even listed in StatCounter's mobile market share rankings.
Edge Legacy vs Chromium Edge
While Chromium-based Edge was released in 2020, Microsoft originally created Edge Legacy for Windows 10 and the company's replacement for Internet Explorer was unveiled back in 2015. Before then, it was known by its codename “Spartan” in reference to Halo's Master Chief.
Even though Edge Legacy only lasted a short while, Microsoft did port the browser to both Android and iOS in 2017 and included the ability to sync the browser with Windows 10 desktops. In March of last year though, Microsoft ended support for Edge Legacy before replacing its old browser with Chromium-based Edge as part of a cumulative monthly security update.
Following the release of its brand new Edge browser, the software giant has continued to update it with new features and functionality including Vertical Tabs, Collections, Web Capture and more. These efforts may not have dethroned Chrome but they have certainly taken away market share from Safari at least on desktop.
If you haven't given Edge a try yet or only have experience with Edge Legacy, there's never been a better time to test out Microsoft's browser. For those that managed to snag an Xbox Series X, Edge even runs on Microsoft's console and can be used to stream games with Nvidia GeForce Now.
Following the release of its dedicated crypto browser, Opera is innovating once again by becoming the first browser to enable emoji-only based web addresses.
This marks the first time in the history of the internet that users will be able to navigate to websites by entering a string of emoji into the URL bar instead of letters and words.
The addition of emoji in Opera was made possible through a partnership with Yat which allows users to own personalized strings of emoji. EVP of Mobile at Opera, Jorgen Arnesen provided further details on this new partnership in a press release, saying:
“The partnership marks a major paradigm shift in the way the internet works. It's been almost 30 years since the world wide web launched to the public, and there hasn't been much innovation in the weblink space: people still include .com in their URLs. Through the integration with Yat, Opera users are able to ditch .com or even words in their links and use only emojis to be directed to websites. It's new, it's easier and more fun”
Opera emoji integration
Through its new emoji-centric integration, Opera has now made it easier for all Internet users to find and be directed to Yat pages which are unique domains generated when a Yat is created from a personalized string of emoji.
Users can customize their Yat page or have it redirect to anywhere else on the web. For instance, musicians around the world have already set up their own Yat pages including Lil Wayne whose page directs users to his record label or Steve Aoki who has his redirect to his website. Additionally, G-Easy, Kesha, Young Money, 3Lau and Disclosure are also using Yat as well.
Following this new integration, Yat emoji web addresses on Opera no longer need to be followed by “.y.at”. At the same time, strings of emoji embedded on web pages now link to the corresponding Yat page automatically.
As 90 percent of world's 4.6bn internet users worldwide already use emoji to express themselves according to Brandwatch, Opera's integration of Yats unlocks a new way for people to be present on the web. Interested users can find out even more about using emoji in Opera by checking out this blog post.
The story of Brendan Eich is in many ways the story of the evolution of the internet and the technologies we use to access it. It is also a story of battles won, lost and soon to be played out.
Eich is best known as the creator of programming language JavaScript, which he developed over a sleepless period of ten days in 1995. At the time, he was working for Netscape, whose web browser dominated the market before Internet Explorer spoiled the party.
Recognizing that Netscape had lost its way, Eich spun out another project he had been working on, leading to the formation of the Mozilla Foundation. The organization went on to pioneer the concept of browser extensions with Firefox, which quickly became a household name, before it was crushed under the weight of Google Chrome.
Since departing Mozilla, Eich has focused his attention on a new company called Brave Software, which he believes will help usher in the next landmark period in the history of the internet.
Founded in 2015, Brave is the maker of a privacy-centric web browser by the same name, which blocks both ads and tracking cookies. It is also the proving ground for a novel opt-in advertising model, whereby users are paid for their attention.
With these building blocks, Eich is aiming to bring to fruition an internet characterized not by monopoly and unfettered surveillance, but rather decentralization, disintermediation and individual privacy.
Brendan Eich, creator of JavaScript, Mozilla and Brave Software. (Image credit: Brendan Eich)
JavaScript is born
Today, JavaScript is deployed across practically all websites, as part of a famous trifecta that also includes HTML and CSS. It allows web developers to code in all the rich features and dynamic content users interact with on the web, and can also be deployed server-side and for various other purposes.
Given its ubiquity and the extent of its influence over the web, it’s easy to forget JavaScript is the creation of a single person, who put it together in under a fortnight. “The web was evolving almost in a biological fashion [in the 1990s],” Eich told TechRadar Pro. “My big contribution to the process was JavaScript.”
When Eich joined Netscape in 1995, he says there was a “feeling of doom” hanging over the company, because Microsoft was breathing down its neck. The infamous Microsoft strategy was to “embrace, extend and extinguish”; it would embrace a new type of software, extend it with proprietary facilities that only functioned inside Windows, and harness these new capabilities to extinguish the competition.
The previous year, Netscape had spurned a low-ball acquisition offer from Microsoft, so the company knew it was next in line for the typical treatment. The plan to shield itself relied heavily on the integration of Java into the browser and the opportunities made possible by JavaScript, which was designed as a dynamic companion language that non-expert developers could use to add interactivity to their websites.
Netscape Navigator 2.0, released in 1995. (Image credit: Wikipedia)
“We knew Microsoft was coming after us and we wanted to get Netscape Navigator 2.0 out the door, with Java as the big programming language and JavaScript as the sidekick that let the average scripter glue things together,” Eich explained.
To some extent, the endeavor was a success. Microsoft, which had previously stated its intentions to make VBScript the go-to language for building web applications, was ultimately forced to build support for JavaScript into Internet Explorer. This meant the company did not have control over the favorite scripting language of the web.
Until 1996, Eich was the sole developer working full-time on the JavaScript engine, which was plagued by technical debt (in other words, messy code) that resulted from the speed with which it was first composed. It was also apparent that a specification needed to be created, to guarantee web pages would function as intended across the multiple browsers that now supported JavaScript.
After rewriting the core, Eich helped build out a vendor-neutral specification in collaboration with Microsoft and other players, which was then left under the stewardship of a standards body called Ecma International.
History shows that Netscape was ultimately unsuccessful in fending off the advances of Microsoft, which eventually captured 95% of the browser market with Internet Explorer. Bill Gates had not only made his browser free, but also packaged it with Windows machines, which left Netscape no room to maneuver.
“A bunch of us started to see the writing was on the wall,” said Eich. “The feeling that we were doomed had been fulfilled, and the question became: what next?”
Under Bill Gates, Microsoft went in pursuit of Netscape with Internet Explorer. (Image credit: Shutterstock / Paolo Bona)
Mozilla breaks free
Knowing itself beaten, Netscape decided to open source its browser code. Eich says the idea was to create a community like the one that surrounded Linux, which would engender new browser innovation.
The company tasked Eich and a group of other developers with setting in motion the project, which came to be called Mozilla. The team worked “inside a fishbowl” at Netscape, at a remove from the rest of the company, Eich explained.
In the coming years, however, the relationship between the Mozilla team and Netscape executives soured. The two groups traded blows over product design, release timelines, the toxic working culture and other topics.
“It was a difficult time,” said Eich. “I stopped using my Netscape email as much as I could and used an ISP email instead. I acted as if I were completely outside the firewall.”
“I also set up a proxy for the developers we were trying to bring in, who didn’t have the advantage of being employees. Meanwhile, Netscape kept regressing to the mean when it came to the strength of its programmers.”
After a series of layoffs in 2003, Eich and the Mozilla team broke out of their fishbowl to form a standalone non-profit called the Mozilla Foundation, which was tasked with carrying the project forward.
Meanwhile, wounded by the famous antitrust ruling over the bundling of Windows and Internet Explorer, Microsoft had grown lazy with its web browser. The strength of the company’s grip on the market meant it no longer had reason to innovate, creating a window of opportunity for a plucky newcomer.
Despite the politicking inside Netscape, the Mozilla team had managed to build a browser capable of rising to this challenge. The first ever to support extensibility, Firefox (as it came to be known after a series of name changes) rose quickly to prominence and reignited competition in the browser space, says Eich.
Firefox was the first ever web browser to support extensibility, paving the way for Google Chrome and other modern browsers. (Image credit: Shutterstock / tanuha2001)
Mozilla reaped the rewards of its tenacity in the years that followed, attracting many millions of users to Firefox and netting a lucrative deal that saw Google become the browser’s default search engine. Ultimately, though, this level of momentum proved unsustainable and Mozilla was caught out by developments elsewhere in the technology world.
The rise of the smartphone in the late aughts transformed the way people engaged with the internet, and Mozilla failed to spot the danger. While the iPhone shipped with Safari pre-installed and Android devices came with Chrome, Firefox was left out in the cold. Once again, Eich found himself on the wrong end of the platform effect.
Locked out of the mobile market and unable to compete with Google’s marketing spend, Mozilla could do little to stop the numbers tumbling. Once responsible for roughly 30% of web activity, Firefox now holds just a 4% market share, the latest figures suggest.
Although there were efforts to limit the damage with Firefox OS and other projects, Mozilla never managed to regain a proper foothold and has now pivoted towards other products, including a new VPN.
Eich eventually left the organization under a cloud of controversy in 2015. After less than two weeks as CEO, it emerged he had made a donation in support of a ban on same-sex marriage, and the backlash was fierce. We were told an NDA signed between Eich and Mozilla precluded discussions of this chapter of his life.
Brave new world
While no rational person would dispute the importance of Eich’s contribution to the web, it is also true that he has been on the losing side of both so-called browser wars; first at Netscape, then at Mozilla.
This is a pattern he is hoping to break with Brave, which is pitched as the antidote to the threats posed by Google and its stranglehold on the browser and search markets.
Brave’s browser blocks all advertising by default and has a no-tolerance policy towards third-party cookies, which track users across the web to help inform highly-targeted advertising efforts.
Although there are now plenty of browsers that block invasive tracking techniques, Brave stands apart for its ambitions to rewire the economics that underpin the digital advertising industry.
“The plan was that Brave would be faster, easier on the battery and more private,” said Eich. “And with the help of blockchain technology, we also wanted to replumb the economic engine [of the web].”
The company’s unusual model is built around its Basic Attention Token (BAT), which was launched in 2017 via an initial coin offering (ICO). When an advertiser signs up for a campaign, Brave uses 70% of the fee to purchase BAT from the open market, and these tokens are then distributed to users who have opted-in to the ads program.
The Brave Software logo. (Image credit: Brave)
Once in the user’s possession, BAT tokens can either be donated to favorite content creators, used for microtransactions with Brave partners, or flipped into regular currency via an exchange.
Which specific ads are served to which specific users is determined by browsing data that is stored on-device and run through a machine learning (ML) model. Apparently, this approach actually yields markedly higher clickthrough rates than the 2% industry average.
Unlike the Google system, which is based on tracking users indiscriminately across the web, the Brave model is opt-in only, compensates the user for their participation and does not involve the transport of browsing data to the cloud.
The signs suggest this strategy is paying off for Brave, which has benefited from increasing awareness of the importance of privacy among consumers. The latest figures show the browser now attracts 50 million monthly users, which is double the figure from a year ago, and quadruple the year before that.
While these numbers are modest in the context of the total volume of web users, Eich predicts that enthusiasm for the service among developers, crypto fans and privacy evangelists is bound to spill over.
“There are privacy nihilists out there that we’ll never convince, but people have generally become more conscious about their privacy as a result of security breaches and events like the Cambridge Analytica scandal,” he said.
“But to breach the chasm to mass market, reaching people who are aware of these kinds of problems matters, because they convert their friends and family, and this creates rolling thunder.”
Brave’s browser on mobile. (Image credit: Brave)
Empire building
Over the last couple of years, Brave has quietly set about expanding its empire with new privacy-centric products. Orbiting its browser, there is now a Brave VPN, firewall, encrypted video conferencing service, crypto wallet, news aggregator and search engine.
Asked which areas Brave will look to expand into next, Eich declined to provide any concrete information, but did concede the company is “looking at the larger space”. We wouldn’t be surprised to see an encrypted email service from Brave in the near future, for example.
All of these technologies will be foundational to Web 3.0, a new generation of the internet defined by decentralization, disintermediation and greater user privacy. Among those attempting to bring Web 3.0 into being, many believe blockchain and cryptocurrency will play a fundamental role in the transition.
Naturally, Brave has attracted a large number of cryptocurrency enthusiasts, whose ambitions with regards to economic freedom align closely with the company’s attempts to create a more equitable and private web.
The long-term success of the project, however, will be determined by how effectively Brave is able to sell itself to a wider and less technical audience. It has a lot of ground to make up before it can hope to challenge the dominance of Google and other incumbents.
However, as Eich’s story demonstrates, the internet is littered with the corpses of fallen giants. The cry for greater privacy on the web is growing louder and louder, and Brave has put itself in a position to ride the zeitgeist.
Mozilla has revealed it is shutting down its virtual reality (VR) browser, Firefox Reality, after four years.
Launched in 2018 as “an open source browser that respects your privacy”, Firefox Reality had been available for Oculus, Vive and HoloLens headsets, offering a mixture of consumer-based and business-focused VR apps and experiences.
The browser allowed users to get onto the internet using a VR headset, with tasks such as typing URLs, performing searches and browsing both the 2D and 3D internet carried out with VR hand controllers instead of a mouse.
Firefox Reality closure
However it seems that the browser didn't quite have the impact Mozilla had hoped for, and will be withdrawn from service.
“Mozilla’s mission is to make sure the internet remains open and accessible to all,” the company wrote in a blog post.
“We’ve been at the forefront of developing new technologies, like WebVR and WebAR, and in some instances, Mozilla continues to remain the host and incubator of those new technologies, as with Hubs. With other technologies, we find communities and organizations where our projects can continue to grow and contribute to the web like WebAssembly, Rust and Servo.”
The technology behind the browser will still live on, however, with the platform being handed over to Igalia, which will use the Firefox Reality source code to build its own browser, Wolvic.
“On mobile or desktop, the web is woven into everything. It’s how we communicate, get information, entertain ourselves, and so much more. In the last few years, XR has really matured. The increase of devices shipping with an immersive OS is incredible. As such, now is an especially critical time to ensure that we establish the web on them in a healthy way,” said Brian Kardell, Developer Advocate at Igalia.
“The Firefox Reality project was created with similar aims, to give users some choice and ensure that open and unlimited access to the web remains strong on these devices. These ideas are core to what we do at Igalia, so we’re thrilled to be able to carry the torch forward in leveraging that work to create a new browser, Wolvic. Together, we will help to ensure that the web ecosystem remains healthy.”
Firefox Reality will be removed from stores in the coming weeks, with Wolvic available in its place.
“Since its launch, Firefox Reality offered users a unique browser in the mixed reality space,” Mozilla added. “It was the first cross-platform browser built by a trusted company, Mozilla, and quickly adopted by companies for use in their hardware devices.”
If you're still longing for the days of the Nintendo Wii's Shop Channel, or you have the iconic tune stored in your music app as you walk through a shopping mall, you can experience the same track and others in your web browser thanks to a web extension.
Found on GitHub and compatible with the Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox web browsers, the extension plays one of the iconic tracks whenever you're on a shopping site such as Amazon.
The extension, which adds a little shopping bag icon in the address bar, doesn't stop with Wii shop music – themes from Wii Home, Wii U eShop, DSi Shop, and 3DS eShop can all be selected instead.
However, Nintendo will most likely be looking to take this down soon, as the music is the property of the company. If you want these music tracks to play as you browse Amazon, be quick.
How to get the best out of the extension
Even though the developer states that the extension will start playing music when you're on a shopping website, you can still enable a track to play on virtually any website.
Go to the extension's shopping bag icon, and after a few seconds, the selected track will play as you're browsing Facebook or solving the latest Wordle puzzle.
(Image credit: Future)
We should mention that the extension works in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, as they run from certain web engines that help to display websites and play media content.
For Chrome it's Blink, while Firefox runs in a Gecko web engine.
But other browsers such as Microsoft Edge and Opera run on the same engine as Google Chrome, which means the Wii Shop extension will be able to work on these web browsers, even if its' not officially supported by the developer.
Cryptocurrency is a field that’s only grown since its inception, and Opera wants in. The company is making headway by developing another variant of its web browser: the Crypto Browser Project.
This app enables users to store their crypto wallets within the new browser. Users can also follow and manage different types of electronic coin, as well as the controversial NFT content that’s being offered by various companies. These capabilities are all grouped into what’s called Web3, a collection of activities that some predict will be heavily used across the web in the coming years.
Opera is breaking into new frontiers, creating specialized browsers like the gaming-focused GX. The Crypto Browser Project is Opera’s attempt to target users that have a crypto wallet.
TechRadar spoke with Jan Standal, VP of Product Marketing at Opera, to understand the need for a cryptocurrency-focused web browser.
The crypto-elephant in the room
If you’ve used an Opera product before, the Crypto browser will feel familiar to you. The layout is similar, but with a blue and green color scheme.
We asked Standal what Opera’s browser could offer to the crypto market:
“Browsers have always provided a trusted gateway through which consumers experience and engage with the internet – and all the new digital trends and technologies on it,” Standal explains. “With the Crypto Browser Project, we set out to build the first truly custom experience for people who want to experience blockchain and Web3 technologies, channeling almost three decades of experience we have in creating user-friendly browsers.
“Our Crypto Browser lowers the barriers to entry to the Web3 world by providing our users with easy access to blockchain news and tutorials, seamless browsing of Web3 Services and apps, and our trusted non-custodial wallet built directly into the browser.”
Why go all-in with a browser, rather than a plugin?
We wondered why the aim was a browser from Opera focusing on cryptocurrency, rather than a browser extension.
“By controlling the browser, we are able to solve experiences that can’t be solved with just extensions. Take, for example, the secure clipboard feature in the Crypto Browser beta: it protects your wallet address from being manipulated by other apps. Solving such cases makes Opera the most secure option for cryptocurrency and Web3 enthusiasts – something that wouldn't be possible to do with traditional browsers.
“While the shift to Web3 is underway, most of the apps are being created by small software companies, and we hope they can benefit from our technologies, experience, and user base.”
Since cryptocurrency is still in its infancy, we asked Standal how the browser could cater to different types of crypto.
“Partnerships are a priority for Opera – we are pursuing an inclusive multi-chain strategy. By creating a solution respectful of all ecosystems, and encouraging the development of common standards and practices amongst developer communities, we hope to help this incredible and diverse new field of creators achieve the fullest potential for their technologies.”
(Image credit: Future)
We pressed Standal on Opera’s decision to create a separate browser that focuses on cryptocurrency rather than incorporating crypto features into Opera or Opera GX.
“With the Crypto Browser Project, we are trying an all-in approach, providing people with a specific experience they need in order to interact with Web3,” Standal explains. “As the technologies of Web3 become more advanced, we will see a strong divergence in the way the browser will interact with the world – and it was important that we prepared for that.
“We believe that if you’re interested in cryptocurrencies, blockchain technologies, even funny coins, you should have a dedicated space for that. If you’re starting and simply want to understand the space better, the Crypto Browser Project will be the perfect starting point.”
Standal continued: “With Opera GX, we learned the power of community, and how we could craft a browser built just for the needs of our awesome gaming users. With the Crypto Browser project, we are showing the same care and attention to the crypto community focused on safe, easy, and intuitive access to crypto services and tools in a way even a novice can understand.”
Feeling safe with crypto
There’s still the ongoing issue of security and authenticity when it comes to bitcoins. There’s also this persistent idea that crypto goes hand in hand with gambling, especially considering Bitcoin’s rise and fall in value is always making news. We asked Standal what steps Opera has taken with this browser to keep users safe.
“While it's true that crypto is not for everyone yet, we see that millions of our browser users are already onboarding to crypto and Web3 is happening. We strongly believe that it's better for serious companies to participate in the space, help the users and shape the industry rather than avoid it,” Standal explains. “Helping our users avoid scams is a natural part of this. The Crypto Browser provides you with the Crypto Corner, which is a source of tutorials, access to influential publications, and key information about the space. There’s also a whole set of security and privacy features such as the built-in VPN, ad blocker, the secure clipboard, and others.”
NFT
Another side to cryptocurrency is the NFT, or Non-fungible Token. These are digital assets, like images or videos, that are allegedly uniquely yours. Opera’s crypto browser will allow you to use your wallet to purchase these. We wanted to know where the company stood on this process.
“Those steps are outlined on NFT platforms,” Standal clarifies. “From our side, we make sure no one meddles with your wallet address by providing you with a built-in wallet and a secure clipboard to copy and paste your wallet address and other sensitive data.”
(Image credit: Opera)
The company also announced in a blog post that the crypto browser is in development for Apple devices, and will be submitted to the App Store. But with features allowing users to manage their crypto wallet within a web browser, we asked Standal if Apple’s most likely response will be to reject the app, especially if there's explicit ways to buy and sell crypto.
“The Opera browser for iOS already comes with an array of crypto features. The Crypto Browser Project isn’t that different in terms of features; rather [it] builds them into a unified experience,” Standal continues. “It’s your entry point into Web3, with its apps and other solutions – as well as providing information about blockchain technologies. And [it’s] a safe and trusted source for where to explore next.”
Analysis: is this web browser a sign of things to come?
It was surprising to see Opera announce a web browser solely focused on cryptocurrency. Considering some of the negative connotations of the field, it’s currently a slippery slope for any company to include any features that involve crypto and NFT content.
But Opera has gone all-in with this venture by presenting an entirely new browser, as opposed to a feature or a browser extension. While Standal maintains that the Opera Crypto Browser can guide users in crypto wallet management, while helping them to keep track of any other trend within the world of electronic currencies, users might do well to use dedicated apps instead.
Companies like Coinbase offer apps that give you a direct overview of your wallet, and only your wallet. Having a web browser that lets you watch YouTube videos, while allowing you to keep track of Bitcoin, may be too much for most users.
Time will tell if other browsers, such as Firefox and Microsoft Edge among others, will introduce features focused on cryptocurrency. We’d be surprised if any other company went the extra mile and created a whole crypto-browser, in the same way that Opera has.
Crypto could still be a fad that ends, a story that’s remembered at the end of the decade in some Netflix documentary. But then again, if companies don’t push some boundaries, we’ll know how far technology can go – or how convenient new ideas might be for us.
Opera has announced that the gaming variant of its web browser, Opera GX, will also be available to download directly from the Epic Games Store, from today (January 27).
You can download the browser through this link, with this being the first web browser that's available to download on Epic's storefront.
Opera GX is similar to how the regular Opera browser works, but with exclusive features that are tailored to gamers. GX Control can limit the amount of RAM that the browser can use, alongside similar features for Wi-FI or CPU speeds.
Downloading the web browser from Epic Games will be useful if you have a PC that's just for gaming and nothing else, but it also raises the question of whether other gaming browsers are coming to help fill this need as well.
Analysis: it was always heading to this
Having Opera GX and your previously-purchased games, ready to download in one will be a great help for many, especially if you have had to wipe your Gaming PC, and you want to quickly re-download what you had installed before.
It was inevitable that we'd eventually see Opera's gaming browser on a gaming storefront, and it could lead to features from Epic appearing on Opera GX in time, such as downloading games or chatting to your friends through an Epic Games messenger client.
Annette de Freitas, Head of Business Development at Opera Gaming, explained, “At Opera, our mission is to create superior products that people choose to use and install.” Freitas continues. “This mission has led to the development of Opera GX, the browser of choice for gamers, who decide to make it default for its superior features, look and feel. Opera GX is the perfect fit for the Epic Games Store because of this shared passion to create choice and enable a community of gamers.”
(Image credit: Opera)
There's the possibility that other vendors in this space, such as Apple, Mozilla, and Microsoft may be looking into a gaming variant of Safari, Firefox, and Edge, but we suspect this is a space that Opera will have on its own for the foreseeable.
When you factor in the other apps that are built into Opera GX such as Twitch and Discord, alongside being able to sync up your RGB to the web browser, it makes sense in the grand scheme of your gaming.
You may feel as though other web browsers, such as Microsoft Edge and Firefox will do the job for browsing sites and downloading files.
But if you either have a hard drive partition that's focused solely on gaming, or a Gaming PC, it makes sense to have a web browser that tries to solve the same need.
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