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This new Opera browser is dedicated to crypto
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In addition to its existing browser, Opera has unveiled a new Web3 browser which is now in beta on Windows, Mac and Android as part of its “Crypto Browser Project”.

The company's new browser is based around cryptocurrency and will provide users with an easier way to browse decentralized apps, games and metaverse platforms for a more seamless cross-platform experience. 

Opera's Web3 browser also comes equipped with a news and data aggregator called “Crypto Corner” that will include key information on crypto news, crypto asset prices and gas fees as well as on crypto events, airdrops and even podcasts. Just like with Opera browser, the company's new browser will include a no-long VPN as well as a native ad and tracker blocker for additional privacy and security.

EVP of mobile at Opera, Jorgen Arnesen explained in a press release that the company created its new Crypto Browser Project to give users a simplified Web3 experience, saying:

“The interest in Web3 continues to grow but none of the existing web browsing experiences offered today are built to create a seamless and secure user experience in the decentralized web. Opera's Crypto Browser Project promises a simpler, faster, more private Web3 experience for users. It simplifies a Web3 user experience that is often bewildering for mainstream users. Opera believes Web3 has to be easy to use for the decentralized web to reach its full potential.”

Built-in crypto wallet

Opera's new browser aims to making using the blockchain-based web as simple as accessing Web2 with direct access to decentralized exchanges, Web3-based NFTs and gaming decentralized apps. There is also integrated support for Twitter and Telegram which can both be accessed directly from the browser's sidebar.

What would a crypto-focused browser be without a dedicated crypto wallet? Fortunately, the browser will feature a built-in non-custodial wallet that will initially support Ethereum in beta. However, Opera plans to extend interoperability across all of the major networks and naming systems through partnerships with Polygon, Solana, Nervos, Celo, Unstoppable Domains, Handshake ENS with more to be announced in the future.

The browser's wallet supports both fungible ERC-20 standards as well as non-fungible standards including ERC-721 tokens with ERC-115 support coming in the first quarter of this year. Users will also be able to purchase cryptocurrency via a built-in fiat-to-crypto on-ramp as well as facilitate direct crypto-to-crypto swaps.

Opera's new browser is now in beta to get feedback from the crypto community and interested users can download it here.

We've also highlighted the best browser and best anonymous browser

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The success of web browser Brave is a bad sign for Google – here’s why
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Privacy-centric web browser Brave has surpassed 50 million active monthly users for the first time, the company has announced.

In a blog post, Brave says the milestone represents the fifth time the browser’s user base has doubled in as many years. The service also currently attracts more than 15 million daily active users, another high water mark.

Brave credits a range of new features and products for the continued growth, including an in-built crypto wallet and private search engine. But the company also acknowledged it has benefited from wider consumer trends.

“Users all over the world are looking for a private, safe and faster browsing experience, along with tools that give them independence from Big Tech. This long term and sustainable growth reflects that user desire,” said Brave.

A paradigm shift?

The uptake of privacy-centric browsers, VPNs, proxies, encrypted email and other privacy tools in recent years hints at a shift in attitudes that could have major ramifications for the largest technology companies in the world, whose businesses are predicated on the collection of vast amounts of data.

Since the Snowden leaks and Cambridge Analytica scandal in particular, public awareness of the importance of data privacy has risen steeply. Generally, consumers are more wary about the information they share with Big Tech companies, and more savvy about how their information is used and monetized in the data economy.

We suspect this trend may begin to register more clearly in the web browser market soon. Currently, Google Chrome dominates the space with a 63.8% market share, followed by Apple’s Safari (19.6%) and Microsoft Edge (4%). However, privacy-centric services operated by smaller players are beginning to gather steam.

Although Brave’s 50 million-strong user base represents just 1% of the market, based on data on the total number of web users from Statista, its rate of growth will give the likes of Google pause for thought. And that’s despite the inherent inconveniences; this writer can attest that Brave frequently breaks website functionality as a result of its no-tolerance policy on cookies.

Although Google has made a show of improving its privacy practices and planning for the demise of third-party cookies, proposed alternatives like FLoC have been panned by privacy advocates, who say the solutions create as many problems as they solve.

There is also plenty of evidence Big Tech companies still cannot be trusted to protect the interests of users. This week, for example, both Google and Facebook were slapped with significant fines for cookie-related breaches of EU privacy laws. The patience of consumers is surely wearing thin.

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Browser wars: Apple’s M1 chips help Safari close the gap on Google Chrome
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The success of Apple’s M1 range of silicon could have inadvertently helped drive up the market share of web browser Safari, new data suggests.

The first M1-powered MacBooks were launched in 2020, followed by a series of mobile workstations powered by the M1 Max and M1 Ultra in October, 2021. Both launches were met with critical acclaim.

All Apple devices, of course, come with Safari pre-installed. And according to the latest figures from Statcounter, the company’s browser now accounts for 19.6% of internet activity, up 1.2% in the last three months alone.

While the increase may sound relatively insignificant as a percentage, the raw numbers are much more compelling; data on the total number of web users from Statista suggests Safari has attracted roughly 58 million additional users since the start of October.

A big year for Safari?

The ubiquity of Apple products (iPhones and iPads, as well as Mac devices) means Safari is comfortably the world’s second largest browser, streets ahead of the likes of Microsoft Edge and Firefox.

However, Safari is still nowhere near as widely used as Google Chrome (with 64% market share), which currently has somewhat of a stranglehold on the sector.

That said, the ever-growing popularity of Apple devices and the company’s reputation for high levels of security and data privacy could see Safari begin to close the gap on Chrome this year.

Apple has also been transparent about its efforts to accelerate the adoption of business Macs, which may have a knock-on effect on the size of the Safari user base. Last month, Apple announced it is preparing a device subscription offering whereby businesses will be able to lease MacBooks for as little as $ 30/month.

Although Google executives won’t lose any sleep over the threat posed by Safari just yet, the browser wars appear set to rage on in 2022.

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Vivaldi browser is coming to your car, for some reason
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Picture this: You're driving along and your passenger asks a question you don't know the answer to. Now, most people would pull out a smartphone and Google it, but not Vivaldi: the privacy-focused browser company is putting its software in cars.

Through a partnership with Swedish electric carmaker Polestar, Vivaldi will become the first browser available on Android Automotive OS, starting now in Europe, North America, and the Asia Pacific, beating even Chrome to the punch. 

“We have listened to our owner community, and it’s great that we could answer their desire for a browser with Vivaldi as a nice Christmas present,” says Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar CEO. “Now there is basically no limit to the web content you can explore in Polestar 2 – even some of your favourite streaming platforms.”

Has science gone too far?

This is all well and good until you consider the fundamental strangeness of having a fully capable web browser in your car, a vehicle that is mostly meant to get you from A to B. Vivaldi says the browser can only be used when parked, but it seems like it could be a temptation too far.  

According to Vivaldi CEO Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, the partnership came about due to the synergies between Vivaldi and Polestar making sense. 

“We are really proud to introduce our browser to a car for the first time and specifically with a brand like Polestar. Our technological and sustainability ambitions are well aligned,” he said. 

“We value transparency, privacy, and responsible innovation – including the fact that we have our servers in Iceland, one of Polestar’s newest markets. Like Polestar, we are a challenger brand, and we take a Scandinavian approach to design, that is based on trust and listening to our users.”

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Microsoft is playing dirty in fight to squash Edge browser rivals
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Microsoft has taken aggressive steps to drive users towards its web browser Edge as it looks to close the gap on established rivals.

Last month, we reported that members of the Windows 11 early-access program were finding the operating system would no longer allow links with a custom Microsoft Edge URI scheme to open in any other browser.

As part of the last round of Patch Tuesday updates of 2021, it appears Microsoft has quietly extended this policy to all Windows 10 and Windows 11 installations.

Although the firm has not gone as far as to force all web links to launch in Edge (only those housed within its own services, like the Start menu), the move is unlikely to prove popular with Windows users, the majority of whom use a third-party browser as their daily driver.

Microsoft Edge backlash

Until now, Windows users have been able to rely on a free service called EdgeDeflector to counteract the Edge URI scheme, and rival browsers Firefox and Brave feature similar in-built workarounds. However, following the latest update, none of these solutions remain viable.

When hints of a crackdown first emerged, the creator of EdgeDeflector was openly critical of Microsoft, which he believes has strayed the wrong side of antitrust law.

“These aren’t the actions of an attentive company that cares about its products any more,” he wrote in a blog post. “Microsoft isn’t a good steward of the Windows operating system. [It’s] prioritizing ads, bundleware, and service subscriptions over their own productivity.”

“For users, the best action is to complain to their local antitrust regulator or switch to Linux. Your web browser is probably the most important – if not the only – app you regularly use. Microsoft has made it clear that its priorities for Windows don’t align with its users’.”

Mozilla, the company behind Firefox, also voiced its concerns about the forcefulness with which Microsoft is pushing its service on Windows users.

“People deserve choice. They should have the ability to and easily set defaults, and their choice of default browser should be respected,” said a Mozilla spokesperson.

“We have worked on code that launches Firefox when the microsoft-edge protocol is used for those users that have already chosen Firefox as their default browser. Following the recent change to Windows 11, this planned implementation will no longer be possible.”

However, as reported by ghacks, there remains one viable workaround in the form of an open source tool called MSEdgeRedirect, which gets around the Edge URI scheme in a different fashion to EdgeDeflector and Firefox. 

It remains to be seen whether Microsoft will move to block this bypass as well.

Via Neowin

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This Microsoft Edge update will help you spot why your browser is running so slowly
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Spotting potential browser slowdowns in Microsoft Edge could soon be a lot easier thanks to a new tool that will allow users to debug memory leaks.

Memory leaks occur when an application's JavaScript code retains more and more objects in memory that it no longer needs instead of releasing them for garbage collect (GC).

For apps that run for a long time without being closed, small memory leaks of only a few kilobytes can add up to noticeably degrade performance over time according to a new blog post from Microsoft.

Detached

React, the open source JavaScript library for building front end user interfaces, maintains a virtualized copy of the DOM (Document Object Model). However, failing to properly unmount components can lead to an application leaking large parts of the virtual DOM.

For this reason, the Microsoft Edge team worked together with Microsoft Teams to build the browser's new Detached Elements tool that allows users to investigate and resolve DOM memory leaks.

Although there are valid reasons for detaching elements, DOM memory leaks occur when an application keeps references to more and more detached elements without actually reusing them later. As the code used in applications grows in size and complexity, it becomes easier to make mistakes and forget to clean things up which could unknowingly lead to keeping DOM elements in memory. 

This is particularly a problem for long running applications. For instance, if an email client detaches DOM elements every time an email is opened and closed and a user keeps the app running for a whole week, it could amount to really high memory usage and slow down a user's business laptop or workstation over time.

While Microsoft's new Detached Elements tool has been available in Edge Canary since version 93, it will roll out to the stable channel of Microsoft Edge when version 97 of the browser launches this month.

To access this new tool early though, you'll first need to open DevTools in Edge by pressing F12 and click on the gear icon to open the DevTools Settings. From here, navigate to Experiments on the left side of the Settings pane, type in Detached Elements and click on the tool to enable it.

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Vivaldi CEO accuses Microsoft of being ‘blatantly anti-competitive’ in pushing Edge browser
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Vivaldi’s CEO has fired a copious amount of flak at Microsoft in a fresh move in the browser wars, accusing the software giant of going “back to its old tricks” with promoting the Edge browser in Windows.

Jon von Tetzchner, chief executive of the rival Vivaldi browser, wrote a lengthy blog post which complains about how it’s “frustrating in 2021 to find Microsoft blatantly engaging in anti-competitive practices once again”.

We have, of course, made plenty of comments in recent times about how Microsoft is walking a thin line in terms of pushing too hard with promotion for Edge within its desktop operating system Windows.

Most recently, that has included pop-ups that attack Chrome specifically (‘that browser is so 2008!’) and pushing ads for other Microsoft services within Edge, as well as making it more difficult to change your default browser away from Edge within Windows 11 (the latter is a course Microsoft is apparently now reversing, fortunately, at least in preview builds for now).

As Tetzchner points out, when he got a new Windows laptop, the first thing he did was to use Edge (which is the default choice of browser, of course) to search for Vivaldi in order to install that, but the OS warned him that ‘there’s no need to download a new web browser’ because, basically, Edge is the best around.

Tetzchner further points out that Microsoft asks for confirmation of a switch away from Edge to a new browser as the default, and even after that, when you next use Edge, it’ll pop-up a panel to try to reclaim the position of default browser.

He further observes: “Microsoft’s moves seem desperate. And familiar. It is clear they don’t want you to use other browsers. They even offer to pay you to use the browser via their Microsoft Rewards program.

“This is not the behavior of a confident company developing a superior browser. It’s the behavior of a company openly abusing its powerful position to push people to use its inferior product, simply because it can.”

He urges folks to ask for Microsoft to be investigated for these “obvious anti-competitive practices”.

Analysis: Overzealous pushing of Edge is arguably unnecessary anyway

We’ll leave any arguments of Edge being an ‘inferior product’ aside, because we don’t agree on that score. It’s actually a pretty good browser in many ways, and that kind of makes Microsoft’s actions and pushing it in an overzealous manner all the more mystifying (and frustrating). Edge should really sell itself, given time, so hey Microsoft, why not do just that: play the waiting game, keeping improving the browser, and watch the adoption level tick up as time rolls on.

We do agree that Microsoft needs to steer clear of all this Edge promotion within Windows 10 and 11, as if anything, it’s likely to backfire and push people away from the browser, anyway. And certainly any underhandedness when it comes to trying to change default browsers must absolutely be stopped.

The path of popups and countermeasures trying to stop you switching away from Edge as the default browser will be nothing new to experienced Windows users, of course. But these kind of dialog boxes could confuse the less tech-savvy, and even cause them to switch back to Edge by accident, potentially, which really isn’t on.

Windows – or any operating system – should be built around user-friendliness, and that friendliness extends to allowing the user their choice of browser without any catches or ‘reminders’ that they could get confused about or stumble over.

Via Neowin

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Browser wars: Microsoft Edge is beginning to steal users from Google Chrome
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New data suggests Microsoft Edge is slowly beginning to lure users away from Google Chrome, which has had a stranglehold on the web browser market for years now.

According to the latest figures from Statcounter, the Microsoft Edge market share exceeded 4% for the first time ever in November, cementing the browser’s place as the world’s third most popular service (behind only Safari and Chrome).

The only major browser to lose market share last month, meanwhile, was Google Chrome, which is now responsible for 64.04% of web activity, down from a peak of 65.27% in the summer.

Microsoft Edge vs. Google Chrome

Of course, the gap between Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome remains massive, and the latter won’t fall from the top spot any time soon.

However,  Microsoft will nonetheless be encouraged by the performance of its new flagship browser, with which it hopes to regain a foothold in the browser market after the infamous decline of Internet Explorer (which was once used by 95% of netizens).

Since the new Chromium-based Edge went live last year, its growth has been fueled in large part by the retirement of Edge Legacy and Internet Explorer, whose users Microsoft carefully funnelled towards its new service. To maintain this rate of growth, however, the company is tasked with figuring out how to lure people away from the likes of Firefox, Safari and Chrome.

In recent months, Microsoft has been aggressive in its attempts to push Edge, both leveraging the large Windows 10 and 11 install base to boost its user numbers and making it more difficult to switch default browsers (although it has since retreated a little on its position).

The company has also delivered a consistent stream of new features for the browser, ranging from new Microsoft 365 integrations to tools designed to help users save money in the run-up to Christmas.

After overtaking Mozilla’s browser in the rankings for the first time in July, Edge now appears to be successfully padding out its user base with converts from Chrome. Admittedly, progress is slow, but the signs are positive for Microsoft.

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Microsoft vs Google browser fight gets ugly with Edge pop-up Chrome diss
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Microsoft has fired more flak at the Chrome browser, trying to persuade those who are attempting to download Google’s web browser that Edge is a superior piece of software.

As Neowin spotted, in the scenario that you are using Microsoft Edge, and you head over to download Google Chrome, Edge will serve a pop-up promoting itself – there are actually several messages which have been spotted on both Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems.

One of them insists: “Microsoft Edge runs on the same technology as Chrome, with the added trust of Microsoft.”

And another pop-up really goes for the throat, stating: “That browser is so 2008! Do you know what’s new? Microsoft Edge.”

Do you know what isn’t new? Microsoft badgering users who are already using one of its products (Windows) to use its other products like Edge and OneDrive – and this practice was getting old some time ago.

Analysis: The heavy hand of Microsoft

As we’ve said before, this kind of promotional activity inevitably puts us in mind of the nag-fest days when Windows 10 was first launched, and Microsoft set about trying to convince Windows 7 and 8 users to take the free upgrade. It felt unnecessarily heavy-handed back then, and it still does now.

I suppose one thing we can be thankful for – sort of – is at least the pop-ups are gaining something of a sense of humor. Calling Chrome ‘so 2008’ did elicit a chuckle from us, but we guess you could argue this perhaps serves to remind people that Google has been working to refine and hone its browser for 13 years now. And just because something is ‘new’ does not equate to it being good (that said, we do think Edge is a good browser, in fairness).

As for: “Microsoft Edge runs on the same technology as Chrome, with the added trust of Microsoft.” Well, it does indeed use Chromium – along with a number of other browsers – but as to the ‘trust’ of Microsoft, that’s a pretty bizarre angle to throw in. What is Microsoft trying to suggest? That Google is anything less than unimpeachable in the browser world? Tsk, tsk, whatever next…

To be honest, we are wondering what on earth Microsoft will do to promote Edge next, as the gloves are seemingly coming off. But the real shame here is that Edge promotes itself quite well on its own merits, and any perception of verging towards desperation to drive adoption will surely backfire.

Via Windows Central

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Free VPN might be coming to a Chrome-based browser soon but it is not Edge
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Vivaldi has brought a new stack of features to its eponymous challenger browser, Vivaldi browser. The fifth iteration of the browser brings theme sharing to the fore as well as Vivaldi Translate, one that doesn’t use Microsoft or Google technologies and will live in a dedicated Translate panel on the desktop browser.

Vivaldi on Android will get two-level tab stacks for extreme browser users, while Chromebooks/tablet users will get a side panel to optimize screen space better. The browser has historically shunned many of the tracking and data collections techniques used by rivals as it aspires to be one of the  best browsers for privacy and anonymity. 

Is Vivaldi VPN next?

Speaking of which, a source close to Vivaldi has confirmed to TechRadar Pro that they are actively looking for the right partners to launch their own VPN service, one which is likely to cost nothing given that Opera, which was founded by Vivaldi’s CEO Jon von Tetzchner, has integrated a free VPN in its browser for several years.

Our source cheekily added: “You never say never, we may come up with our own solution, just the way we've got Mail, Calendar, Feeds (in beta currently). Having our own VPN is not trivial so it would be premature to make a headline of sorts. But yes, we are looking at potential partners.”

Mozilla went the other way by having Mozilla VPN that sits alongside its popular Firefox browser as a paid for service. Safari developer Apple, on the other hand, offers a Privacy Relay, which is similar to a VPN Lite service as part of iCloud+ subscription. 

Google Chrome doesn’t have any VPN attached to it although Google has started to roll one as part of its Google One subscription. That leaves Microsoft as the only big browser outfit without a consumer facing VPN or privacy product but for how long.

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