Opera 11.50 Introduces Cool New Speed Dial Extensions

Opera has some news! Here's a great comparison Opera threw our way. DYK that almost 1.2 million stormtroopers, droids and janitors can fit into a fully operational Death Star and nearly 11 million people follow Lady Gaga on Twitter?

Opera aims to put those numbers to shame with the number of downloads for its newest browser, Version 11.50 which the Opera team just announced. Follow their numbers on a live download counter.

Below are the details for Version 11.50, which introduces a new and novel type of browser extension: Speed Dial extensions.

Instead of handy thumbnails and links to your top sites, you can embed your Speed Dial with extensions that keep you updated--instantly--on what is happening around the Web. Take weather updates, for example. Why click through to a website when you can get the current conditions live at a glance? Or, why not be the first to know the hot news of the day just by opening a new tab? 

Here's a few examples for you to try out:

Webdoc, a new way to mix media of any kind, developed a Speed Dial extension that allows you to create interactive web posts in just a few clicks. You can try it here. 

See how easy it is to create magic?

Another example is The Hype Machine, a popular music service that tracks emerging artists on blogs. They created a Speed Dial extension that features the most popular tracks of the moment, giving you an easy way to stay on top. 

And, with StockTwits, you can share real-time information and ideas about stocks. Using their Speed Dial extension you'll get instant access to a passionate community to see which stocks are trending right now. You can try it here.

A few other new additions worth mentioning:

• Password synchronization: Now, Opera Link supports passwords, so you can synchronize your website passwords--securely--with other Opera browsers. 
• Sleeker Design: Opera 11.50 sports a new design that's even more streamlined and lightweight than the previous version.
• Tighter Technology: They fixed thousands of bugs and tweaked their software graphics engine with faster CSS and SVG rendering. The result is faster speed and better reliability.