Andrew Nimick - Technology consultant Andrew is an independent technology consultant whose focus is what technology can do for business and finding the best tools for the job.

Today I downloaded the new Opera browser for the Mac. The windows version has been out for a while. It has a new java engine (the bit which renders the java content of a website) which should makes it very fast.

You may not have heard of Opera before. But this european has been doing things first for many years, things which have then ended up in other browsers. So why does Opera not have more users? Because being the first is not always the best place to be. But one place where opera does rule is the mobile browser. They have been making one of the best browsers for mobile devices for years and is now available for the iphone as well as many other makes. Although truth be told you may prefer mobile safari on the Iphone. But on other devices, if you can install Opera mobile I suggest you do. What is really neat about using Opera Mini is that it allows you a great view of the web site as you would see it in your desktop browser and lets you zoom into the sections you would like to read, making links easy to see. I took it for a run today on sunlive rather than viewing the mobile version of the site. The viewing experience was far superior on the main site this way. Not that there is anything wrong with the mobile version but, it is a mobile version and not quite what the crew envisaged as its constrained. Opera has always been on my machines, but then I do different things via different browsers. It is not actually always the fastest but, it has some neat features for dial up users and to sync between your desk top and your mobile. So now Opera and Opera mobile will both have a place on any desktop and mobile device I use. http://www.opera.com/ for more info.