Opera 10.5 is Released

Opera 10.5 is Released, Claims to be "Fastest Browser on Earth"

The new browser from Opera sports a sleek new Aero look, but is it the fastest? We investigate the claims..
While Norway's Opera Software is the king of the mobile browsing industry, in the PC browser industry it plays the role of the underdog.  Opera currently holds a small chunk of market share -- 2.35 percent -- trailing Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari.  Still, 2.35 percent of the web's 1.7 billion users worldwide (according to Internet Web Statistic's 2009 survey) is still an impressive 40 million customers worldwide -- something not every tech company can claim.
Yesterday Opera released the final version of Opera 10.5 for Windows, a speedy build that brings a host of new features and improvements.  It offers a faster layout engine -- Presto 2.6 -- which also includes a host of bugfixes from the layout engine Presto 2.4 used in Opera 10.  It also offers a brand new Javascript engine Carakan, which should be substantially faster than the old engine, Futhark.
Rounding out the improvements is a new graphics library, Vega.  The browser also offers greater support of HTML5 and CSS3, cutting edge web standards that were partially supported in Opera 10.
The browser is now brought up to speed in Windows 7, as well, sporting a stylish new Aero-glass look and offering full support for Aero peek and jump lists.  Other newly supported Windows 7 features include Speed Dials, tabs and more from the Taskbar.
It also offers full thumbnail previews in the tabs section if you drag down the section's border.
Opera's popular Turbo (page compression for faster loads on slow connections), Unite (content sharing), and Link (synchronization of bookmarks, etc. over the web) make a reappearance in the new release as well.  They have been slightly tweaked and improved.  Users now have the ability to make any new tab a private tab, as well, and use private tabs alongside normal ones.
We took the browser out for a quick spin to evaluate Opera's claim that it was "the fastest browser on Earth."  In the interest of brevity we put it up against the latest test build of Google's Chrome -- Chrome 5 (Chrome is typically regarded as the fastest browser).
In the Peacekeeper browser benchmark, which measures a variety of performance factors including web graphics, database operations, and Javascript, Opera 10.5 managed a score of 3373 points, while Chrome 5 scored 4358 points (more is better).  In Celtic Kane's new JS Benchmark Opera 10.5 scored 211 ± 0, while Chrome 5 scored 498 ± 0 (more is better).  Lastly, in Sun Spider, another script benchmark Opera 10.5 finished in 353.4ms +/- 1.1%, while Chrome 5 took 409.0ms +/- 2.0% (less is better).
As you can see, against Google's top browser candidate, Opera 10.5 seems to trail just slightly in synthetic benchmarks, though Sun Spider did hand Opera a key win, somewhat of a surprise since the test is built on Web Kit and would seemingly give Chrome home court advantage.
We did not have the time or resources to conduct an exhaustive analysis of page load times on the top 20 websites, but from a basic feel approach Chrome 5 and Opera 10.5 feel neck and neck in page load speed on content-heavy pages like SI.com and Facebook.com.
The browser download weighs in at 9.4 MB.  If you want to give it a try, just visit Opera's homepage, here.
All tests were conducted on a MacBook Pro running 64-bit Windows 7 Professional.  The machine had an Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 processor clocked at 2.8 GHz and 4 GB of DDR3 RAM.

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Improving Your Image - flat monitor computers

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine,  June, 1999  by Scott Bernard Nelson

Flat panel monitors are slim and sleek and still pretty pricey.

Once you've seen a flat-panel monitor up close, you're going to want one: "Low profile" liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors free up acres of desktop space, you can even mount them on the wall and are amazingly light. They gobble up far less energy than the oversize cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors most of us have. Screen resolution is superior, and the latest models have cleared up early LCD monitor problems such as ghosting and screen flicker, which means you generally get beautiful, crisp images.

But then there's the price tag. Although prices have tumbled in the past 18 months, LCD monitors still cost significantly more than old style monitors with comparable specs. Whereas you can find 17 inch CRTs selling for about $200, svelte, 15 inch LCD monitors with roughly the same viewing area cost anywhere from $800 to $1,500.

To see if the advantages of the flat panels justify their price tags, I spent the past month swapping between my tried and true Gateway EV700 CRT monitor and two popular entry level LCD monitors that each cost less than $1,000.

Testing the monitors. Of the two flat panels I tested, the Princeton DPP 500 (estimated street price, $799; 800-747-6249; www.prgr.com) has the edge in value. Even though it has only a 14 inch viewing area, this little monitor holds up well next to its pricier brethren.

Like most 14 to 15 inch LCD monitors, the DPP 500's standard resolution is 1,024 x 768 pixels (a noticeable improvement over the 800 x 600 provided by my conventional Gateway). Text and graphics are crisp. At ten pounds, it also weighs about one-third as much as my current monitor, and it comes with two speakers and a microphone built in (though the speakers aren't nearly as good as the external pair I use now). Another bonus is the DPP 500's lull range of motion: You can move it side to side and from completely horizontal to completely vertical (but you can't hang it on the wall without additional equipment that must be purchased separately).

One drawback' In order to plug in the monitor's digital-compatible 20 pin connector, you have to replace the analog video card inside your computer with Princeton's digital version (unless you own a brand-new computer that's already digital-enabled). If you're uneasy with the idea of popping the top of your PC, you might shy away.

I preferred the ViewSonic ViewPanel VP150 ($995; 800-888-8583; www.viewsonic.com), although it didn't outperform the DPP 500 enough to warrant spending the extra $200. You may be able to get it cheaper. I found it at the Necx online store (necxdirect .necx.com) for less than $900, including shipping.

The 15 inch VP150 is an analog monitor, so it plugs directly into the back of most PCs without requiring surgery on the motherboard. Some experts argue that analog monitor images aren't as crisp as those produced by digital viewers, but with the current generation of flat panels, it's tough to tell the difference.

Compared with my Gateway monitor, the images were crisper, in any case. I liked the ViewSonic's smoother images and found the screen easier to look at for extended periods of time (perhaps like an audiophile who prefers the warmth of LPs to cool-sounding compact discs). And the brightness and color displays were as praiseworthy as the DPP 500's.

On the other hand, the VP150 had more distortion when viewed from the side than the Princeton monitor, and it features a plain Jane design. It's also heavier than the DPP 500 (by nearly 16 pounds), even though it doesn't come with built-in speakers.

No relief in sight. LCD monitors have become popular with Wall Street firms, where space constraints justify the high price, and they're often promoted as ideal for medical and scientific uses, where emissions and heat generation can be a problem and where it's desirable to be able to see the screen from oblique angles. Still, the screens accounted for less than 1% of U.S. desktop-monitor sales in 1998. Rhoda Alexander, a senior analyst at market-research firm Stanford Resources, predicts market share won't rise above 5% for a couple more years, mostly because prices will remain stubbornly high (they actually rose a bit this spring).

After weeks of Web surfing, word processing and game playing on the monitors, I have to agree with the market's assessment: You may be able to talk yourself into buying one for your home office if desktop space is at a premium or if you don't mind paying a premium for the latest technology. But it's hard to justify the cost for most of us.

Reporter: James Ramage

COPYRIGHT 1999 The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group

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Flat Monitor

From Wikipedia 3 May 2008, at 21:29. Once you’ve seen flat monitor up close, you’re going to want one : “Low profile” liquid cristal display (LCD) monitors. A liquid crystal display (LCD) is a thin, flat display device made up of any number of color or monochrome pixels arrayed in front of a light source or reflector. It is often utilized in battery-powered electronic devices because it uses very small amounts of electric power. They gobble up far less energy than the oversize cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors. Important factors to consider when evaluating an LCD monitor: • Resolution: The horizontal and vertical size expressed in pixels (e.g., 1024x768). Unlike CRT monitors, LCD monitors have a native-supported resolution for best display effect. • Dot pitch: The distance between the centers of two adjacent pixels. The smaller the dot pitch size, the less granularity is present, resulting in a sharper image. Dot pitch may be the same both vertically and horizontally, or different (less common). • Viewable size: The size of an LCD panel measured on the diagonal (more specifically known as active display area). • Response time: The minimum time necessary to change a pixel's color or brightness. Response time is also divided into rise and fall time. For LCD Monitors, this is measured in btb (black to black) or gtg (gray to gray). These different types of measurements make comparison difficult. • Refresh rate: The number of times per second in which the monitor draws the data it is being given. A refresh rate that is too low can cause flickering and will be more noticeable on larger monitors. Many high-end LCD televisions now have a 120 Hz refresh rate (current and former NTSC countries only). This allows for less distortion when movies filmed at 24 frames per second (fps) are viewed due to the elimination of telecine (3:2 pulldown). The rate of 120 was chosen as the least common multiple of 24 fps (cinema) and 30 fps (TV). • Matrix type: Active or Passive. • Viewing angle: (coll., more specifically known as viewing direction). • Color support: How many types of colors are supported (coll., more specifically known as color gamut). • Brightness: The amount of light emitted from the display (coll., more specifically known as luminance). • Contrast ratio: The ratio of the intensity of the brightest bright to the darkest dark. • Aspect ratio: The ratio of the width to the height (for example, 4:3, 16:9 or 16:10). • Input ports (e.g., DVI, VGA, LVDS, or even S-Video and HDMI). In color LCDs each individual pixel is divided into three cells, or subpixels, which are colored red, green, and blue, respectively, by additional filters (pigment filters, dye filters and metal oxide filters). Each subpixel can be controlled independently to yield thousands or millions of possible colors for each pixel. CRT monitors employ a similar 'subpixel' structures via phosphors, although the analog electron beam employed in CRTs do not hit exact 'subpixels'. Color components may be arrayed in various pixel geometries, depending on the monitor's usage. If software knows which type of geometry is being used in a given LCD, this can be used to increase the apparent resolution of the monitor through subpixel rendering. This technique is especially useful for text anti-aliasing. To reduce smudging in a moving picture when pixels do not respond quickly enough to color changes, so-called pixel overdrive may be used. 2. Review Flat monitor is a kind of monitor. LCD is a kind of flat monitor. There are many advantages and harm from flat monitor. One of advantage from LCD is not needed more energy. But it price is expensive than common monitor. It more practical for the business man and other. From the article we can know abaut factors which influence the LCD. There are many factors such as resolution, dot pitch, vieable size, respone time, refresh rate, matrix type, viewing angle, color support, brightness, contras ratio, aspect ratio and input port. We know that there are many supporting equipment for LCD, for example battery-powered electronic. That divice important to support the energy of LCD. So flat monitor is kind of monitor which very important for our development technology.

 

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