Casey's Blog

What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of technology? Would it be a computer? iPod? Cell phone? Electric can opener? Other than the can opener (and that's not even a sure bet), the rest are undoubtedly what most everyone thinks of when asked that question. As with anything though, people tend to want to add to or improve upon older versions, hoping to make them better and easier to use. One of my favorite innovations around is internet or web access.

Most of the tech I own can connect to the internet. I love having web access available to me. Who doesn't like being able to do a quick search of the name of that actor in "In Plain Sight" that you can't ever seem to remember, or how to get to Target in a city you've never been to before? How about checking out the release of that new video game that you wanted? Or better yet, you just got in bed, it's thundering outside and the sky is bright with lightening. Don't you want to check the weather and see how much rain you're supposed to get, the size of the hail, if any, that might dent your car, and avoid frying you're computer at the same time? With web access on all your "toys" you can do just that.

OK, so you have web access on your toys. So, what browser will you use? You could use Internet Explorer since IE is pretty much the web standard browser. You could use Safari, after all Macs, iPhone, and iPod Touch have that as a standard browser. You could use Firefox with all its little extensions and themes. What about the "underdog" Opera? Opera browser is incredibly versatile in that you can put in on your computer, your mobile, and your Wii or Nintendo DSi. You have a desktop version for your computer, a mini version for your mobile, and a mobile version for your PDA or smartphone, and a Devices version for your DSi.

I use Opera the majority of the time. Why? With this one browser, I can do all I want and more and use it on a number of devices. Opera Link allows me to synchronize the bookmarks, notes, Speed Dial, etc. on my mobile with the ones on my computer and vice versa. I don't spend forever ranting, "Crap! I don't have that bookmarked on my phone!" I can look and see what note I made while I was waiting in the waiting room. I love the tab trash (I have a bad habit of closing the tab I want don't want to close, and doing it several times in a row), the user interface (sleek and easy on the eyes), and the speed as well. The mobile and desktop versions have Opera Turbo for when your network decides to slow down (my work connection is horrible about that). Given all of that, why would I want to use something else?