Improve Your Laptops Battery Life With Battery Optimizer

A recent trend in mobile computing is to make devices as slim as possible. We have seen Intel create the Ultrabooks brand for that purpose, and even though it is being used rather loosely, laptops tend to be slimmer on average than years before. One could now think that this would impact the laptop’s battery life, but thanks to improvements in recent years, the opposite is the case. While you won’t find a laptop that runs on battery for a day or more, you find some that come close to the eight to ten hours mark.

If you need to get more out of your laptop’s battery, you may want to check out Battery Optimizer, a program designed for exactly that purpose. You run a diagnostic of your laptop’s battery on first start that will analyze the capabilities and optimization options. You can run an express scanning mode which may take around 10 minutes to complete, or the comprehensive scanning mode which may take longer than an hour total.

Make sure that your laptop’s battery life is sufficient to run the test, as it is required to unplug it from power sources before you hit the begin diagnostic button. Battery Optimizer will then perform a series of tests and diagnostics, including turning WiFi on and off, and changing the brightness of the screen.

A chart is displayed after the diagnostic run which highlights how much battery life you will gain when you run the program’s optimizations. If you have optimized your laptop already for mobile use, you may not gain as much as when you are running the program on a factory default laptop. The more unnecessary features are enabled, the more you will gain from the optimizations.

The application won’t reveal the kind of optimizations that it will do on the other hand before you click on the optimize button which is definitely an issue.

The program on top of the battery optimizations can also monitor the battery life and display alerts when battery life drops or increases.

Battery Optimizer has been a shareware program until recently. The developers have however released it as freeware, which means that you can use it unrestricted right away.

The program may be handy for laptop users who want to improve their laptop’s battery life without having to make improving changes manually on the system. The software basically is a run once and forget about it application, even though you can use it to switch between different profiles, original and optimized for instance, as well.

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Friday May 25, 2012 -
Tags:battery life, battery software, windows software

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Google Analytics Opt-out Add-on for Chrome

Many websites and services make use of Google Analytics, a web statistics service that is tracking web users on websites where the script is installed. Besides the tracking, there is also the aspect of loading times that are affected by the script. Web users who do not want to be tracked, or want sites to load faster, may want to consider blocking the Google Analytics script from running on sites they visit.

Firefox users can use the excellent NoScript add-on for that, which takes care of both issues. Chrome users can install comparable solutions like NotScript or ScriptNo. Some may however feel that they interfere to much with day-to-day web browsing.

The Google Analytics Opt-out Add-on for the Chrome browser may not be the perfect solution, as it only tackles the tracking problem but not the loading of the script itself, but it does not interfere with other scripts running on the site. The Chrome extension has been created by Google, which may be the reason why the script is not blocked outright. According to information posted on the Chrome Web Store, the add-on “communicates with the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js) to indicate that information about the website visit should not be sent to Google Analytics”.

It basically means that the script is loaded, and that the add-on notifies the script that the visit should not be tracked.

Another solution that is working universally on the system would be to block Google Analytics in the hosts file. Simply add the following two lines to your hosts file:

127.0.0.1 www.google-analytics.com127.0.0.1 ssl.google-analytics.com

On Windows, the hosts file is located in the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc directory. Just open it in a plain text editor like Notepad, and add the two rows to the end of it. This basically redirects requests that websites make to Google Analytics servers to the local system where the script can’t be found. Webmasters should keep in mind that this may prevent them from accessing the Google Analytics website.

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Friday May 25, 2012 -
Tags:google analytics, google chrome extensions

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Change Firefox shortcuts with the Customizable Shortcuts add-on

Back when Mozilla introduced the Tab Groups feature I often hit the assigned shortcut accidentally triggering it. This was annoying and back then there were virtually no options to get around it. Mozilla then later on changed the shortcut and everything was good.

If you have a shortcut of your own that you hit by accident, or that you wish would be mapped differently, then you may be interested in the Customizable Shortcuts extension for the Internet browser. The add-on gives you full power over the browser’s keyboard shortcuts. While I have not checked if it is making available all, the list of shortcuts that you can change is long and feels complete.

The Firefox add-on Customizable Shortcuts adds a new entry to the Firefox preferences as you can see on the screenshot above. Please note that it is only compatible with the original preferences menu, and not the new in-content preferences feature. If you have enabled it, you need to disable it to access the Shortcuts tab in the preferences. You can then easily switch back to the new preferences style once you have finished editing the browser shortcuts.

You can either go through the list of shortcuts manually, or use the search at the top to find a specific shortcut or function. The shortcuts are divided into actions that make navigation a tad easier. A double-click on a shortcut lets you change the shortcut right away. Just tap on the new keyboard combination that you want to use and watch how it appears in the field afterwards. The new shortcuts are active right away and I would suggest to test them to make sure that they work as intended.

Modified shortcuts are highlighted with bold text, making them easier to spot, and modify or reset.? The reset option lets you reset individual shortcuts to their default value. It is however not possible to reset all modified shortcuts at once.

The extension handles conflicts by disabling the shortcut for the existing action, so that the new action is triggered exclusively. Disabled shortcuts are marked in the listing, but not brought to the top. It is therefor a good idea to look through the listing after changing shortcuts to make sure that you have not disabled a feature accidentally.

You can however use this to your advantage, for instance if you want a shortcut to be disabled. Just assign the same shortcut to another action to disable the original shortcut. While you may still trigger an action, you may select one that is not interrupting your workflow at all.

No related posts.

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Wednesday May 23, 2012 -
Tags:Firefox, firefox add-ons, firefox shortcuts

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ochDownloader, a JDownloader alternative

When it comes to download files from file hosting sites without all the hassles involved doing that directly on the site’s website, JDownloader is the go-to program for many.? Many things speak for the program; its support for more than 100 different file hosts and over 300 decryption plug-ins, support for premium accounts, that it is open source, and its plug-in system are just some of the features that users have come to like. Probably the only negative is the Java requirement, which some users prefer not to install on a computer system.

We have also looked at MiPony, a viable alternative that is featuring much of what JDownloader is offering but without the Java requirement.

And now there is ochDownloader, a alternative for Windows and Linux. The program is not as sophisticated as JDownloader or MiPony yet, and you will notice that it only supports a handful of file hosts. The list does read like the who is who though, with Mediafire, Rapidshare, Filefactory, Depositfiles and Oron all supported by the program. Another restriction is that support is limited currently to anonymous accounts. If you want to make use of premium accounts, you can’t use the software for that.

Once you start the application you will see a clean interface. The adding of files works exactly like in other programs of its kind. You can copy individual links to the Clipboard from where they are picked up automatically, or paste a list of files that you want to download into the application’s add links window directly. From there you can start the downloads directly and enter the captcha codes if required.

The program lets you configure a download slots limited (to a maximum of 20), and a speed limit. A click on the settings icon displays options to configure IP renewals, the auto extraction of contents and shutdown settings. Other than that there is only the option to configure a proxy that you want the program to use when connecting to and downloading from file hosts.

For now, ochDownloader is mainly limited by its low number of supported hosting sites. This is not an issue for users who only download from supported hosts. If you switch between many different hosts, you may however find the program not suitable for your situation. For now, it is a program to keep an eye on, especially since it is regularly updated by its developer.

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Wednesday May 23, 2012 -
Tags:file host, jdownloader, linux software, mediafire, portable software, rapidhsare, windows software

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Windows 8′s Boot Experience Will Be Different

When there is something wrong with my Windows 7 desktop PC, I tend to hammer on the F8 key during boot to get into the advanced boot options. Here I can then repair or recover from issues that I may experience at that time. With Window s8, that process will be completely different. The main reason for this is the fast boot time of the operating system according to Microsoft. Or, more precisely, the interval that the operating system will recognize the F8 key.

Windows 8 users have 200ms to hit that key during boot. If they miss by one second, Windows 8 will skip the advanced boot menu and boot right into the operating system. To put this into perspective, users who type fast manage to hit four times the F8 key in a second, which results in individual key press intervals of 250ms. If you do not get the timing perfectly right, you will bypass the boot menu.

That’s obviously an issue that Windows 8 users will have to deal with, and Microsoft has decided to change the boot experience to reflect those changes.

Probably the biggest change is how the new boot menu is launched. While you can still press the F8 key frantically on boot, you may need multiple times to get the timing right.

When your in Windows 8, you have multiple options to configure the operating system to display the advanced boot menu on startup.

You can click open the Settings charm and load the PC settings here to configure the option. You reach the Settings charm for instance by moving the mouse in the lower right corner of the screen.

You can alternatively hold down the Shift key before you click on the system’s Restart option, or run the command shutdown /r /o for the same effect.

Microsoft furthermore has integrated automatic options to display the boot menu, for instance when errors are noted during boot, or when the operating system is running.

This in itself is a pretty big change, but that’s not all of it. The advanced boot menu has been redesigned completely, to match the Windows 8 theme.

As you can see, the menu looks completely different from the advanced boot menu in previous operating systems. From here you can reach the repair and recovery options, as well as configuration options. The menu is now divided into multiple screens, which veteran Windows users will have to get used to at first.

What’s your take on the new boot menu, and the options to load it? (via Everything Microsoft)

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Tuesday May 22, 2012 -
Tags:bootmenu, windows 8, windows 8 tips

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Lunascape, A Triple-Engine Internet Browser

When you look at the five major web browsers, that is Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Safari, you will notice many similarities, and less differences. Don’t get me wrong, there are differences and features unique to some browsers, like Opera’s Turbo feature, or different ways of handling things in the browser.

While it is quite possible for a new browser to succeed in the market by handling some of the things differently, it is the unique features that may make a bigger difference. Maxthon for instance supports two rendering engines, and excels when it comes to the HTML5 test.

Lunascape on the other hand, a browser that has been around for quite some time, ups that by integrating three browser engines into the program. The web browser supports the rendering engines of Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome / Safari.

When you first start the browser you may feel that it is a bit on the messy side of things interface wise. It starts with lots of icons in the main header, and even a news ticker that is automatically displaying headlines from sites like the New York Times, CNN or the BBC. When you look closer at the interface, you will notice that the developers have taken inspiration from a couple of browsers. The panel on the left for instance resembles that of the Opera browser, while the header itself looks more like that of the Firefox web browser.

Bookmarks, add-ons and settings can be imported at any time from web browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and a handful of lesser known browsers like Maxthon or Sleipnir.

Please note that Firefox imports are only supported for versions 3 or older, and not from newer versions of the browser. The reliance on three engines opens up some interesting options. You can for instance install Firefox add-ons in the browser and use them, provided that you have set it to use the Gecko engine. The add-ons simply become unavailable when you switch to WebKit or Trident instead. Once you switch back, they are available again.

You can customize the interface of the browser, for instance by adding or removing buttons or toolbars in the browser. If you feel the menubar is missing, you can add it right away to have it displayed all the time. Virtually every button or toolbar can be moved or removed from the browser.

The browser handles several actions different from other browsers. It is for instance opening websites that you enter in the browser’s address bar in a new tab automatically, leaving the active page untouched in the process. Another interesting feature are the extensive customizations that it makes available. You can for instance configure mouse actions on tabs extensively in the browser settings.

The very same options are available for links, and clicks in the browser interface. Other interesting features are:

Automatic and manual profile backupsOptions to switch engines automatically based on the page you are visitingShips with myriads of bookmarklets and scriptsDefine tab behavior extensively, for instance when a new tab should be opened, when to show the tab-title bar, or if you want to display multiple rows automatically when the number of tabs exceed the space.

Check out this video for a short introduction:

Three browser engines may feel like overkill, but it makes sense after all. You have got the IE rendering engine for pages that only display properly in that browser, you got Firefox and Chrome which both provide speed and performance, with Firefox’s Gecko engine even supporting the incredible add-on system of that browser. It is definitely a solid browser with some interesting features that other browsers do not offer (yet). It has a few quirks here and there, but nothing that one can’t get used to after a while of working with the browser. All in all an interesting alternative to the established five.

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Wednesday May 23, 2012 -
Tags:Firefox, google chrome, internet-explorer, web browser

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Visual Studio 11: Only For Windows 7 or higher

Visual Studio 11: Only For Windows 7 or higher .download-info .download-button {background-image: url(http://cdn.ghacks.net/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/page-addon/downloadbutton.gif);}.download-info .more-button {background-image: url(http://cdn.ghacks.net/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/page-addon/morebutton.gif);}HomeWindowsLinuxSoftwareInternet ExplorerFirefoxChromeOperaEmailContactAdvertiseVisual Studio 11: Only For Windows 7 or higher

Windows 8 is not the only product that Microsoft is currently working on.? The company is also working on a refresh of their popular Visual Studio product lineup, and boy, there will be changes that will certainly irritate part of the user base that is currently working with the product.

Microsoft notes that Visual Studio 11 will only be available for Windows 7 or higher (which at the time of writing means Windows 8), and not for Vista, XP or other Windows operating systems.? According to the official announcement, this is due to the leveraging of core capabilities that only those operating systems offer. Microsoft unfortunately fails to mention what these core capabilities are.

The company notes further that the default target for applications will be set to .Net Framework 4.5 when it comes to managed apps, which means that those will run on Windows Vista or higher, and not on Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. If compatibility is an issue, developers can target new or existing applications to the .NET Framework 4.0 to ensure compatibility with those operating systems. I guess that is also official confirmation that the next iteration of the .Net Framework will not be compatible with Windows XP or Windows Server 2003.

But that is far from the only changes that will affect lots of Visual Studio users. Microsoft is a bit ambiguous in the blog post when it comes to Visual Studio 11 Express, and its support for desktop app development.

For example, the Express edition for Windows 8 allows developers to use C#, Visual Basic, C++ and JavaScript. It also provides best-in-class tools for creating Metro style apps for Windows 8, including tools such as Blend, app profiling, unit testing and more.

The Visual Studio 11 Express website on the other hand offers the following information that make it a lot clearer:

Visual Studio 11 Express for Windows 8 provides tools for Metro style app development. To create desktop apps, you need to use Visual Studio 11 Professional, or higher. In addition, Visual Studio 2010 Express products – Visual Basic 2010 Express, Visual C++ 2010 Express, and Visual C# 2010 Express – will remain available for free download.

This basically means that Windows 8 users who install Visual Studio 11 Express will only be able to develop Metro apps with it. And Windows 7 users? It is likely that they can continue developing desktop applications with the programming environment, as it would not really make much sense to only give them the option to create Metro apps – which they can’t test or use on the system – in Visual Studio Express 11.

Update: It seems that Windows 7 users won’t be able to use Visual Studio 11 Express at all, only Express for Web and Team Foundation Server Express.

Users who want to stick with Visual Studio when it comes to developing applications need to download and use the previous versions of the program which have been available for a while.

What’s your take on this?

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand.You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Wednesday May 23, 2012 -
Tags:development, microsoft, visual studio

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Responses so far:Roman ShaRP says: May 23, 2012 at 3:43 pm

) It’s not bad that VS 11 will be available for Windows 7 and not only for 8
) All are moving to Windows 7, because Vista was just a flop and XP support, alas, is going to be stopped
) Metro sucks and Win 8 sucks too
) So there is no point to upgrade to Win 8 to develop apps for sucker Metro, if you are not well paid for it.
) Once more, it proves that there is no point in upgrading to Win 8 at all (again, if you are not well paid for it).

ReplyReX says: May 23, 2012 at 3:51 pm

I understand why they won’t support XP, but Vista?
From a technical standpoint, it makes no sense. But I understand why they want to see it dead.

And please don’t refer to Windows 8 as an “upgrade”.

ReplySwapnil says: May 23, 2012 at 4:17 pm

“And Windows 7 users? It is likely that they can continue developing desktop applications with the programming environment, as it would not really make much sense to only give them the option to create Metro apps – which they can’t test or use on the system – in Visual Studio Express 11.”

NO, INFACT VISUAL STUDIO 11 EXPRESS ISN’T GOING TO BE AVAILABLE FOR WINDOWS 7 (EXCEPT FOR VISUAL STUDIO 11 EXPRESS FOR WEB).
Visual Studio 11 Express will only support Metro app development.

See: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/11/en-us/products/express

Scroll down to:

“Desktop application development

Visual Studio 11 Express for Windows 8 provides tools for Metro style app development. To create desktop apps, you need to use Visual Studio 11 Professional, or higher. In addition, Visual Studio 2010 Express products – Visual Basic 2010 Express, Visual C++ 2010 Express, and Visual C# 2010 Express – will remain available for free download.”

Clearly mentioned.

ReplyMartin Brinkmann says: May 23, 2012 at 5:07 pm

Now that is serious.

ReplySwapnil says: May 23, 2012 at 5:17 pm

Yes, it is serious. Made me write a blogpost on my blog.

So when are you fixing that “It is likely that they can continue developing desktop applications with the programming environment, as it would not really make much sense to only give them the option to create Metro apps – which they can’t test or use on the system – in Visual Studio Express 11.” part of the article ????

Martin Brinkmann says: May 23, 2012 at 6:00 pm

Done :)

Swapnil says: May 23, 2012 at 5:27 pm

Also, to backup “INFACT VISUAL STUDIO 11 EXPRESS ISN’T GOING TO BE AVAILABLE FOR WINDOWS 7 (EXCEPT FOR VISUAL STUDIO 11 EXPRESS FOR WEB).” in my comment-

Go to http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/11/en-us/downloads#express

You will see:
Express for Web
Express for Windows 8
Team Foundation Server Express

So, there is no Visual Studio Express for Windows 7 – except for Express for Web, which supports Windows 7 ( system requirements:

http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/11/en-us/downloads#express-web )

So only Team Foundation Server Express and Express for Web editions are Windows 7 compatible.

Morely the IT Guy says: May 23, 2012 at 4:53 pm

Yet another excellent reason to avoid Visual Studio like the plague it is, and stick to industry-standard development packages.

ReplyDan says: May 23, 2012 at 5:22 pm

VS 2010 is bloated and buggy (esp. on Win 7 64-bit systems). If I wasn’t forced to use it for SQL Server SSIS and SSRS development, I’d avoid it.

Microsoft continues to be clueless.

Replyxpclient says: May 24, 2012 at 9:40 am

They are really desperate and clueless. Visual Studio 11 not running on XP or Vista was okay, but the C++/MFC programs you compile with it also won’t run on XP or Vista, nor will .NET 4.5. And the Express edition can no longer compile desktop apps which means it can’t target Windows 7 or the desktop apps in Windows 8. You can only build Metro apps with it. Microsoft is going to go DOWN with this lifecycle of products – Windows 8, Visual Studio 11, Office 15 – it’s all going to be Metro and it’s JUST CRAP. Just avoid it.

ReplySwapnil says: May 24, 2012 at 10:07 am

“but the C++/MFC programs you compile with it also won’t run on XP or Vista”

Maybe or maybe not. They said in the announcement that they are evaluating a post-RTM update to allow VS 11 developers to target Windows XP and Server 2003 without having to use VS 2010 compilers in multi-targeting.
Currently they support Vista SP2 as targeted platform for C++ applications made in Visual Studio 11.

Replykalmly says: May 24, 2012 at 3:23 pm

MS just gets better and better at pi_ _ing off customers – uh, ex-customers.

Replywhino says: May 24, 2012 at 10:23 pm

Is SharpDevelop going to be able to take advantage of the full framework features? If so, I’m not ‘upgrading’ to VS2011Express

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Yahoo Axis Launched, Changes how you Search on the Internet

The basic search concept has not really evolved in the past decade or so. People visit a search engine like Google, Bing or DuckDuckGo, enter? a search term there, and wait for the results listing to be displayed to them. This is usually displayed in a table-like vertical format, with every search engine throwing in some extra features at the top or sides of the results.

The very same process is imitated when you use the browser’s search bar instead, with the difference that you do not have to open the search engine’s web page manually to use the form there.

Yahoo Axis is a search experiment that tries to redefine web search. It is available for a number of platforms, including Apple’s iOS operating system, but also for the desktop in form of add-ons and plugins for popular browsers such as Firefox, Google Chrome or Internet Explorer.

In Firefox, Yahoo Axis places a small search bar at the bottom left corner of the screen, right above the browser’s status bar if you have enabled it. When you enter a search term there, you will notice that results are automatically displayed as thumbnails in the lower screen area.

You see a list of suggestions on the far left that let you refine the search term, and then the actual search results that you have to scroll horizontally. You can use the mouse wheel for that comfortably, or click on the left and right buttons to scroll to the results instead.

Each result represents a website, which is displayed with a thumbnail screenshot, the title of the page, and part of the url. When you hover over the thumbnail, you will see the full url being displayed in the browser’s lower left corner. A left-click opens the result’s page in the same browser tab, a middle-click in a new tab, at least in Firefox.

When you look at how Axis has been designed, you will probably notice that it is seems optimized for touch. You can flip right through the results on your Apple devices with a flick of the finger, and selections are improved as it is easier to hit a thumbnail link than a standard text link.

For desktop users, the add-on may be a bit on the annoying side of things, considering that it is displayed in the lower left screen corner all the time. I’d expect Yahoo to implement at least an on and off switch for each supported browser to turn it on or off easily. I’d also like to see customization options, for instance to increase the size of the thumbnail area, or even have the add-on display two rows of thumbnail results at once.

Users who log into their Yahoo account get automatic synchronization of history and settings, so that the data is available on all supported devices, so that you can continue your browsing session on another device.

The image search that Axis provides is actually pretty good. You need to click on Search Web in the lower left corner of the screen, and switch to Images there to do that. You will now see two rows of image search results that is scrolling endlessly. That in itself is a nice representation, when you click on an image, it is displayed in an image browser on screen. Once you have the image browser displayed, you can use it as well to go through all the results one by one.Yahoo Axis is available at Apple’s Appstore, and for desktop browsers at the official Axis website.I personally think it needs some work done to it on the desktop, whereas it might really be a solid alternative for tablets and smartphones, provided that you won’t mind using Yahoo Search for your web searches. According to Yahoo, an Android version is currently in development.Yahoo Search Assist
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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Thursday May 24, 2012 -
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Rumor: Facebook To Buy Opera Software To Join Browser Wars

Rumor: Facebook To Buy Opera Software To Join Browser Wars .download-info .download-button {background-image: url(http://cdn.ghacks.net/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/page-addon/downloadbutton.gif);}.download-info .more-button {background-image: url(http://cdn.ghacks.net/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/page-addon/morebutton.gif);}HomeWindowsLinuxSoftwareInternet ExplorerFirefoxChromeOperaEmailContactAdvertiseRumor: Facebook To Buy Opera Software To Join Browser Wars

Okay take this with some skepticism as there is no official confirmation about this yet, and the only source for the article is an unnamed one. According to web magazine Pocket-Lint, Facebook is considering buying the Norwegian company Opera Software, which developers the Opera web browser for various platforms.

Opera Software, which had a very strong q1 financially is known for the Opera desktop browser, one the two major browsers that is not backed by a multi-billion Dollar company (the other is Mozilla), the mobile versions of the browser. Recently, the company has also made further investments in the advertisement space, improving the impressions served to 86 billion in the first quarter of 2012.

A Facebook owned Opera browser would provide Facebook with additional revenue possibilities, and save it from creating a browser of their own. And Opera’s experience in the mobile market could improve Facebook’s presence here, both app-wise but also advertising-wise.

For Opera it could mean additional manpower and development funds to develop the browsers in a faster pace.

It is the users that may have issues with the acquisition, if the rumor should turn out to be true, considering that a Facebook browser would certainly make some changes that the devoted community may not be pleased with at all. One change could be the tight integration with Facebook, another that certain features of the browser may be modified or retired completely to streamline it further.

So how realistic is the rumor? Opera Software is a public company with a revenue of about 160 million in the last four quarters. It is definitely a possibility that Facebook would make an offer for the company if it is really interested in getting into the browser market. It is actually the only company with a market share of more than 1% that is available at all, as the top 4 remaining companies are owned by Microsoft, Apple, Google and Mozilla, who all would not even think of selling their browser to Facebook.

For now I’d say it is unlikely that Facebook will buy Opera Software, and the main reason for that is that the source has not been mentioned. For all I know, this could be some form of link-baiting. What is your take?

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand.You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Friday May 25, 2012 -
Tags:facebook, Opera

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Responses so far:Transcontinental says: May 25, 2012 at 6:08 pm

I’ve said my word, does not appear …

ReplySid says: May 25, 2012 at 6:10 pm

I will definitely stop using Opera. I never liked Facebook & in the past also, they acquired & killed an app I loved to use (Snaptu).

Opera will not suffer from killed features, but more than that. Of course, Facebook may not be able to kill it completely due to the user community.
And on top of this, Facebook having access to my bookmarks, passwords, browsing history (Opera Link)! Sorry for the strong language, but let Facebook go to hell!

ReplyKen Saunders says: May 25, 2012 at 6:22 pm

If Facebook were to do anything like this, even on their own, right now is the time. You know, strike while the iron is hot.
It would be a good way for them to stick it to Google.

Blake Ross works for Fb. Anything is possible.

ReplyJohnMWhite says: May 25, 2012 at 6:40 pm

If Facebook get involved, I’d definitely ditch Opera. Hopefully it is just a rumour, but I have enough trouble avoiding Facebook’s tentacles without my browser trying to integrate every little thing I do with a Facebook account.

It would be a shame to see Opera fall by the wayside. Chrome is naturally tied to Google, IE is improving but still hopelessly lagging compared to the other browsers, Safari is very Apple, leaving Firefox as the only real ‘independent’ browser that would still be a major player. And even Mozilla seem to be making missteps and losing some favour among their user base. Perhaps a time like this would be a golden opportunity for a lesser known browser to break through. Anybody care to make any guesses as to what browsers might fit the bill?

ReplyMartin Brinkmann says: May 25, 2012 at 6:51 pm

The majority of browsers that I know of, use the browser engines of the top 3, and not their own. I’d say you only have a decent chance if you get the backing of a large company.

ReplyFX says: May 25, 2012 at 6:46 pm

Facebook will spy on Opera users and will want to monetize them.

Thankfully I use Firefox, the only browser that doesn’t serve greedy corporate and shareholders interest.

Replynaveed says: May 25, 2012 at 7:10 pm

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I love Opera, but hate facebook. I really hope this doesn’t happen. They’ll kill all that’s good with Opera and introduce vile hateful things.

ReplyKaushik says: May 25, 2012 at 7:27 pm

This will be a nightmare. I hope this is a not true but I can’t help but wonder how Opera Software will react if indeed such an offer is made.

On one hand they can continue to a remain a great independent browser that less than 2% people use, and on the other hand there is this big opportunity to increase their web presence.

ReplyMike Manger says: May 25, 2012 at 7:28 pm

The only way I could see this working is if Facebook just bought the use of the rendering engine (which you can already do for hardware) then made their own botched UI. Opera just doesn’t strike me as the sort of company to put ‘share this’ toolbars everywhere.

I think it would be much better if they instead tried to resurrect the Flock browser – it already had pretty good Facebook integration. In fact, if you look at the old Flock site (http://flock.com) there is a suggestion that it will be back (just not necessarily under Facebook)!

ReplyMountainKing says: May 25, 2012 at 9:00 pm

Opera would lose my trust…I’ve been using opera since version 3.50…..They are unique and facebook will surely distort that company horridly.

Replyódio says: May 25, 2012 at 10:15 pm

i use opera ever since before firefox exists.

if red turns blue i will probably dont use it anymore..

i dont even had a facebook acount… but i think it gonna work like chrome with a google account.

Replyberttie says: May 25, 2012 at 11:28 pm

I hope this is not true. Like previous commentators, I try and avoid FB, and certainly don’t want them all over my browser.

But money talks, and shareholders are in it for the money. However, the shareprice has been falling over recent days which suggests this might be a beatup. See: http://www.opera.com/company/investors/stock/

ReplyDamirora says: May 26, 2012 at 12:27 am

There is….Maxthon. Users should switch to that if failbook get their claws into Opera. Here’s another idea, why don’t we make our own browser? For the other people, by the annoyed people.

Replyrop says: May 26, 2012 at 12:45 am

Maxthon is made by a bunch of Chinese guys who have been lying consistently for a long time. No thanks.

ReplyDan says: May 26, 2012 at 12:43 am

I’ve used Opera for about a decade now, but I will probably ditch it if it becomes a Facebook portal. But if they also provide a non-Facebook browser, then I can live with it. Opera may need more money to fix some of its longstanding annoyances that has forced me to use other browsers in recent years.

Replyrop says: May 26, 2012 at 1:01 am

Opera has tons of money. Not only do they have loads in the bank, but their profits are rising as well.

Replyomg says: May 26, 2012 at 4:10 am

OMFG !! now this… why even make it cynical, everything for the advertises’ money… now with an ‘f’ logo all over the browser…

I’ve been a user of Opera for a long time and if this is true, I’ll join an -I’m sure there will be- improved developers community of firefox to make a Opera-feature-like version.

ReplyGlen says: May 26, 2012 at 5:54 am

Facebook can burn in Hell. My opinion of Facebook is: if you want friends, go find some real ones, not pretend friends that you wouldn’t know if you met them in the street. Seriously, how can someone have 1000 friends on Facebook? What a crock.

If Facebook acquired Opera, it would occur about two seconds before I removed it from my phone.

ReplyDean says: May 26, 2012 at 9:15 am

Wow, do I really want to admit to having a FB account here?

Can I just say a few things here: FB is a company… it’s not evil, no more so than Microsoft, Apple, Google, IBM or any other tech company of that size; they are there to make a profit, and while you don’t pay for it directly, the only way to make profit is to advertise. To advertise you need to do something better than just mass adverts to everyone; you need to target.

As for this “Get some real fiends”… please; that’s BS. Yes, there are lots of people that do have 1000′s of friends, what I’d call acquaintances, at best. But, please, do not tar everyone with the same brush… I have 53 friends on there. And yes they are very much real.

Some people use FB to keep in touch with people they otherwise couldn’t. Winds me up when people are happy to generalise so easily.

Anyway, onto the browser; I can see why FB would want their own browser; much easier to track and advertise to people, hence increase revenue… you can’t slate them for wanting to do this. It’s not like they don’t tell you they’re doing it; everyone signs up to FB knowing how they make money.

Do I want them to do it? No. I think it’ll ruin Opera. I’d quite happily uninstall if they bought it out. That doesn’t make it a bad idea though. I don’t think FB are going for the desktop community… they want the mobile side I think.

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MP3 Toolkit offers all the MP3 Tools you will ever need

When it comes to mp3 files, you sometimes may need a set of tools to edit, convert or even rip them in first place. While you can use specialized tools for that which provide you with some of the functionality that you may need, a set of tools that Mp3 Toolkit offers may come in handy as well.

It is basically a collection of free tools that let you work with and create mp3 files on your system. When you start the program after installation, you will see all tools listed on the first screen. Here you can make the following selections:

MP3 Converter – Convert various audio formats into mp3, or another selected audio format. You can add single audio files or convert all files inside a folder at once.? Conversion options include selecting the bitrate, rate and audio channel settings for the output files.CD to MP3 Ripper – Insert an audio CD into the computer’s optical drive to have it converted to mp3 audio files.MP3 Tag Editor – A convenient tag editor that offers a lot when it comes to mp3 tags. You can use it to edit tags manually, remove non-ID3 tags, synchronize tags, copy information between ID3 tag formats, or clean tags. What it does not offer however is an option to retrieve tag information from an Internet music database.MP3 Merger – You can use this module to join multiple mp3 files.MP3 Cutter – Cut parts of an mp3 file. Comes with options to save as a ringtone.MP3 Recorder – Will record system sounds. There is unfortunately no option to select an audio source here.

The program can be quite useful, even though you may find that specialized tools like CDex, The Crab or Audacity have more to offer in terms of functionality. Still, for basic tasks this may be all that you need after all. All modules MP3 Toolkit ships with are easy to use, which is definitely the biggest advantage besides the fact that it is a tools collection and not a single-purpose program.

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Saturday May 26, 2012 -
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