opera – Terence Eden’s Blog https://shkspr.mobi/blog Regular nonsense about tech and its effects 🙃 Wed, 17 Sep 2025 07:38:55 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/cropped-avatar-32x32.jpeg opera – Terence Eden’s Blog https://shkspr.mobi/blog 32 32 <![CDATA[Opera inserts advertising into your bookmarks]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2016/11/opera-inserts-advertising-into-your-bookmarks/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2016/11/opera-inserts-advertising-into-your-bookmarks/#comments Tue, 29 Nov 2016 08:09:57 +0000 https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=23758 I've long been a fan of the Opera Mobile browser. I used it back in my Nokia Symbian and Blackberry days - it was simply the best browser for those limited devices. I've carried on using it on my Android devices due to its superior text handling.

Last week I was scrolling through my bookmarks, when I found a curious addition - "Breaking News".

opera browser with a fake breaking news bookmark

I didn't remember adding that bookmark. I suppose I might have done it by mistake...? Let's take a look at where it goes.

the fake bookmark is an advert

Oh. An advert. Shoved into my bookmarks by Opera.

I use an adblocker, so I couldn't see the content - but other people weren't so lucky:

It goes to a South African based "shock news" site. No news - well, unless you consider "woman wears bikini" to be news.

I complained, but this was the non-apology that I got.

Here's a suggestion - don't put adverts in people's browsers! Seriously. You can't release a browser which blocks obnoxious adverts and then engage in the same scummy behaviour.

Now that Opera has lost its most passionate advocates, I'm deeply concerned that it will continue down this dark path of user hostility.

I'm switching to Firefox for Android. I've found an extension which does text-wrapping properly and I'm happy to be back in the land of Open Source.

Goodbye Opera, I've loved you for so long - but it's clear you don't respect users any more.

Hello you Foxy thing!

]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2016/11/opera-inserts-advertising-into-your-bookmarks/feed/ 2 <![CDATA[Malicious Use of the HTML5 Vibrate API]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2014/01/malicious-use-of-the-html5-vibrate-api/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2014/01/malicious-use-of-the-html5-vibrate-api/#comments Fri, 10 Jan 2014 11:49:08 +0000 http://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=9496 There is a new API in town! HTML5 will (soon) let you make the user's device vibrate. What fun! Obviously, it's useful for triggering alerts, improved immersivness during gameplay, and all sorts of other fun things like sending Morse Code messages via vibration.

At the moment, Chrome (and other Android browsers) ask for permission before accessing features such as geo-location, camera, address book etc. This is a security measure to prevent your private information leaving your hands without your knowledge.

At the moment, accessing the HTML5 Vibrate API doesn't trigger an on-screen warning. Its use is seen as pretty innocuous. Because, realistically, the worst it can do is prematurely drain your battery. Right?

I'm not so sure.

Evil Thoughts

We've all seen those scummy adverts designed to look like Windows pop-ups. They usually pose as a legitimate system request - "Update Java" or similar.

Suppose a malicious web page pops up a fake system notification and vibrates at the same time. How confident would you be of telling the difference between a legitimate pop-up and a .png on the web page you're viewing. After all, the phone buzzed - so it must be genuine.

Fake Airdrop Are you really receiving an "AirDrop" - or is this page trying to trick you?

Autoplaying sound on adverts in annoying - auto-vibration could be just as irritating. Imagine searching through tabs until you found the single advert which was pulsing away trying to get you to buy new insurance.

For now, the intensity of the vibration cannot be controlled - only the duration. It is not impossible to conceive of malicious code being able to exploit an unpatched browser flaw and overdrive the motor to destruction.

Faking Telephone Calls

When combined with HTML5 Audio, it would be possible to create a fairly realistic "Incoming Call" screen which vibrated and played a ringtone. Once "answered", the page could play some audio which says "Hi, can you call me back urgently - my number is [premium rate line]" and then, perhaps, automatically open up the dialer using the tel: URI. Phone call in browser scam Could you tell if the above was a real phone call? If you looked closely, probably, but when the browser is playing your phone's default ringtone and the handset is vibrating, it would be pretty easy to be confused. Combine it with a WebRTC call and you're looking at a very convincing scam.

Video Demo

Source Code

Here's a basic example which you can try on your own phone - demo site.

<body>
   <script type="text/javascript">
      navigator.vibrate = navigator.vibrate || navigator.webkitVibrate || navigator.mozVibrate || navigator.msVibrate;
      navigator.vibrate([1000, 500, 1000, 500, 1000, 500, 1000, 500, 1000, 500, 1000, 500, 1000, 500]);
   </script>
   <img width="100%" src="phone.png" onclick="window.location.href='tel:09098790815';" />
   <audio autoplay="autoplay">
      <source src="ring.mp3" />
   </audio>
</body>

At the moment, the auto-vibrate and auto-ring only work on Firefox for Android. But no doubt other browsers will follow suite soon.

Warnings

Firefox was the only browser I found which supported Vibrate - on Android, neither Samsung's browser, Chrome, or Opera did - iPhone also doesn't yet support it. No one cares about Windows Phone or BlackBerry - so I didn't test them*.

Firefox doesn't currently ask for permission when a page requests access to vibrate.

Do you think browsers should warn before a page vibrates - or is the risk too low? I guess we'll have to see if the scammers take advantage of it - and whether there is a user backlash.

*Update: thanks to the comments on Reddit and on HackerNews it would appear that BB10 does support the vibrate API, Windows Phone doesn't.

]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2014/01/malicious-use-of-the-html5-vibrate-api/feed/ 43 <![CDATA[Restaurant Review: Le Bel Canto]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2011/01/restaurant-review-le-bel-canto/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2011/01/restaurant-review-le-bel-canto/#respond Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:30:06 +0000 http://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=3520 For our third wedding anniversary, Liz and I went to an amazing restaurant - Le Bel Canto (warning: Flash site with auto-playing music).

The waiting staff are all professional opera singers - they serve the food and they sing to you. And, wow they can sing. Take a listen to this AudioBoo.

🔊 More of le Bel Canto
🎤 edent

The highlight of the evening was the communal sing-a-long - The Drinking Song from La Traviata. Thoughtfully, it included a complimentary glass of prosecco. Here's a recording of the outstanding opera singers - and our less tuneful caterwauling.

🔊 Le Bel Canto Boo
🎤 edent

The atmosphere is incredible - and highly romantic. The music is joyful and intimate. There's nothing quite like hearing a opera singer who is stood at your table. So what about the food?

The food was well prepared. There were a range of vegetarian starters - I took the carrot and pumpkin soup which was slightly under seasoned for my tastes. For the main course, vegetarians are relegated to the ubiquitous mushroom risotto. However, it was so well flavoured that, for once, I didn't mind. The tiramisu with blackcurrant coulis was the perfect end to the meal. The menu can be viewed here.

Total cost was £113 for the two of us. That included 3 course meal, two side dishes, a glass of champagne each, half a bottle of wine, and a 12.5% tip. Food was half-price thanks to the Taste Card.

Overall, possibly the most romantic restaurant I've been to in London. The food and wine were divine and reasonably priced - although another vegetarian option wouldn't have gone amiss. The quality of the singers was superb.

Take that special someone on a date there - you won't regret it.

]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2011/01/restaurant-review-le-bel-canto/feed/ 0 <![CDATA[Review: Opera Mini 5 Beta - BlackBerry]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2009/09/review-opera-mini-5-beta-blackberry/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2009/09/review-opera-mini-5-beta-blackberry/#respond Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:14:24 +0000 http://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=515 (Disclaimer, I work for Vodafone Group who do a lot of work with Opera. These are my personal views.)

The regular BlackBerry browser is... how can I put this politely... sub-optimal. For reading mobile-friendly sites it's perfectly adequate - but for anything more complex it tends to choke.

Don't get me wrong, it's "good enough" for most basic browsing needs, but a lack of tabs, half-arsed JavaScript implementation and idiosyncratic rendering choices make for a somewhat frustrating browsing experience.

Enter Opera Mini 5 (beta).  Opera has been knocking around for ages. Their desktop browser is solid and their mobile browser has always been rated highly. But how does it compare to the BlackBerry's native browser? Let's find out!

The Good

Opera Mini 5 beta

Opera Mini 5 beta

From the first launch you can tell that a lot of care an attention has gone in to Opera Mini. The startup screen has visual bookmarks - AKA speed-dials.

Start Page

Start Page

There's an impressive amount of animation - similar to App World - and the user interface is fairly snappy.

The new menu bar gives quick access to all the functions Opera has to offer.

New Menu Bar

New Menu Bar

Extended Menu Bar

Extended Menu Bar

Pages start in "Zoomed Out" mode so you can get an overview of the page.

BBC News - Zoomed Out

BBC News - Zoomed Out

A click of the track ball zooms in. Here you can see how well the text and images are rendered.

Zoomed In

Zoomed In

Tabbed Browsing

Opera Mini handles tabs wonderfully. Because Opera sets itself as the default browser - any link you click on in an email is opened in a new tab in Opera.

Lots of tabs

Lots of tabs

Closing Tabs

Closing Tabs

Text Selection

The native browser is very good at text selection - so is Opera.

Text Selection

Text Selection

Text Selection Instructions

Text Selection Instructions

Highlighted Text

Highlighted Text

Copy and Search

Copy and Search

The Bad

Missing Letters

As you can see, there is a missing letter on this page.

Spot The Missing Letters

Spot The Missing Letters

This happens across websites with no seeming pattern other than the last letter on a line.

No YouTube

The native BlackBerry browser passes YouTube links to the media player.

YouTube? What's That?

YouTube? What's That?

Opera doesn't do anything with the links. I didn't expect it to have a fully-fledge flash player - but the least it could do is pass streaming media to the in built application that will handle it.

Poor Text Entry

The text boxes look nice, but have serious flaws.

Poor Text Entry

Poor Text Entry

They don't respect the normal BlackBery conventions. There's no auto-correction, holding down a letter doesn't capitalise it. Sometimes hitting delete removes all the text. This is infuriating.

Miscellaneous

There are a collection of things which prevent me loving Opera Mini 5 (Beta).

  • Lack of standard BlackBerry keyboard shortcuts.  I can't press K for Bookmarks, P for Page Address, nor T to jump to the Top of the page.
  • Inability to send links.  If I'm reading an interesting page on the BlackBerry browser, I can send it via email or SMS - no way to do that with Opera.
  • Can't open links in a new tab. I know it's a bit churlish to complain when tabs are a new feature.
  • Clicking "Back" returns you to the top of the previous page - not your last position on the previous page.

Conclusion

There are some annoying faults in Opera Mini 5 (beta) - but the clue is in the name - it's a beta.  The browsing experience is so good, I can gloss over the missing letters and the poor text entry.

The fast rendering and tabbed browsing are enough to keep me using it for now.   Looks like RIM purchased Torch Mobile just in time!

]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2009/09/review-opera-mini-5-beta-blackberry/feed/ 0