Opera appear to be hard at work on their desktop browser, with the release of Opera 11 Alpha for Windows, Mac, and Linux – which for the first time includes extensions support.

“The extensions framework is built on existing standards, with W3C Widgets and JavaScript as the basis. This means that if you can write a web application or widget you already have the skills you need to write extensions” writes Opera Developer Andreas Bovens.

Also new in this release is an increase in browsing speed, thanks to the updated Opera Presto engine. The browser also supports disabled plugins on page load, until the user clicks on them to become enabled, which can dramatically help with page loading speeds.

Opera 11 also includes a new mail panel which gives users greater control over how their mail items show up. Additional HTML5 support has also been added, including server sent events and websockets.

Willing testers can get a sneak peak at the next generation browser by heading over to the Opera Next website.

One of the worlds most used mobile web browsers is headed to Android devices. Opera Mobile – the fully featured father of Opera Mini – will be free of charge.

Opera Mobile uses the presto layout engine, coupled with Opera’s Small Screen Rendering technology which dynamically reformats web pages for small screened devices.

There is no release date yet, but users can already download Opera Mini for Android today. Opera Mini is already installed on over 71 million hand held devices.

Below is a video demonstration of Opera Mobile which was shown over at TechCrunch.

Opera 10.61 has been released, fixing three security issues, and a hand full of other bugs.

A full list of changes can be found in the Opera Changelog, while the update affects Windows, Mac, and Linux users.

Opera 10.61 can be downloaded from the Opera website.

Android users prayers have been answered, with the release of Opera Mini 5.1 final for Android devices.

“Since the beta, Opera Mini has improved rendering to make browsing look better on high-resolution devices. Text is legible even when zoomed out. In addition to your favorite features such as tabs, Speed Dial navigation and Opera Link, surfing with Opera Mini is smother with improved kinetic scrolling” wrote Opera’s Aleksander Aas.

The browser can also be set as the default for the device, and full screen will now utilise the whole display.

Opera Mini is available in 92 languages, and can be downloaded from the Android Marketplace or directly from m.opera.com.

Just a day after it’s final release candidate, Opera has released Opera 10.60 final to the public, for Windows, Mac and Linux users.

Opera’s benchmarks show that Opera 10.60 is up to 50% faster than Opera 10.50, and is again faster than Google Chrome 5 builds. With these results, Opera is again claiming to be the worlds fastest web browser.

New in Opera 10.60 is Geolocation, HTML5 AppCache for Offline Applications, HTML5 WebM video support, web workers, and some vendor specific CSS3 styles (which are yet to be ratified by the WC3 organisation). A full list of changes can be found in the changelog.

Opera 10.60 can be downloaded from the Opera website.

Opera is continuing with its fast pace of development, releasing Opera 10.60 RC2, just a day after releasing RC1.

Not much has changed in this release, with only a few bugs having been fixed since the first release candidate. A full list of changes can be seen in the changelog.

With the current pace of development, Opera 10.60 final is no doubt expected within the next week.

Opera 10.60 RC2 is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux users, and can be downloaded from the Opera Desktop Team’s blog.

Oprea has released Opera 10.54, fixing five security flaws, one of which is rated as extremely severe.

The upgrade is highly recommended for all Opera 10.5x users, but the flaws have already been fixed in Opera 10.6 Beta 1, so early adopters are safe.

The nature of most of these security flaws is mostly unknown, with details to be disclosed at a later date. A rather censored changelog is available.

Opera 10.53 users will automatically be upgrading in the coming days, while other users can download Opera from the Opera website.

Opera has just released Opera 10.60 Beta 1, almost two weeks after releasing an alpha.

New in this beta is geolocation services, offline web application support, web workers, and the new WebM video support. The browser is also up to 75% faster than Opera 10.50.

A full list of changes can be read in the changelog, while the beta browser can be downloaded from the Opera Next website.

Opera sure has been busy, releasing Opera 10.60 Alpha to the public for Windows, Mac and Linux, just 2 months after releasing Opera 10.50.

Opera 10.60 Alpha is the first new release of the browser for Linux users, who haven’t had a new version since Opera 10.20 Alpha.

“This alpha will give you noticeable gains in performance, an improved user interface (UI), and lots of bug fixes” wrote Opera’s Desktop QA Haavard.

“You will notice that the O menu button now says “Menu” for easy discovery, and instead of hard to read thumbnails for internal tabs, we have replaced them with icons. The tab hover previews have also received a facelift” continued Haavard.

Windows 7 Aero Peak has been disabled by default, to stop problems with too many open tabs. This can be re-enabled by changing the setting in the Tabs section of the Preferences window.

Performance gains are also noticeable with JavaScript, DOM and CSS.

Opera 10.60 Alpha can be downloaded from the Opera Desktop Team blog.

In response to the recent Chrome browser speed test video from Google, which later proved to have be faked, Opera have made their own browser speed test video spoof.

Watch and enjoy!