Something to Sing About?

Since the advent of the digital age, society has become obsessed with being connected. Connected to information. To music. To media. To the thoughts ideas and opinions of other users. Basically, we all want to be plugged in and actively contributing to the colossal forum of activity that is the world wide web. Moreover, not only do we want to be connected, we want to be connected to what we want when we want it, with no unnecessary steps between our screens and precious information or entertainment we seek. However, with increased information sharing comes increased anxiety. If you are connected to information from countless strangers, who is connected to information from you? Moreover, what happens to that information once you send it out into the www forest? We all know the feeling: Should I enter my birthday this site? Is this credit card payment page really secure? Who else might see the content of this email? Opera has displayed a keen understanding of the world’s insatiable desire for customized connectivity, as well as the paranoia that such a luxury generates, with what may be the next “reinvention of the web: pre-launch web browser Opera Unite. What makes this browser different then other web browsers? Essentially, everything. In short, Opera Unite is designed to directly link the personal computers of users operating on browser, regardless of what operating system is being run on each individual PC. Such a dynamic would mean users could share files and information directly with one another, without the need for a third party or any kind of additional and common software. Moreover, Opera is encouraging developers to create their own applications on top of the browser, thereby facilitating a the ability to customize individual user experiences to a much higher degree. Another interesting outcome of directly linking users computers comes in the promise of increased control. Currently, individual’s personal computers are merely gateways. Information is sent out of our gateways to server that acts as the “hosts” of the Internet. Therefore, our word, photos, emails, etc. are not actually delivered to the “fabric” of the Internet, but rather to these servers. Opera Unite claims to change all that. By directly linking the computers of individual users, Opera Unite promises a much higher standard of privacy and the ability to control the sets of eyes and ears plugged into your most sensitive information. Check out the full story here:http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/16/that-reinvention-of-the-web-thing-opera-was-talking-about-its-called-opera-unite/