Opera 10.60 Beta has been released for Windows, Linux/FreeBSD and MacOS X. This is the first Linux beta ever since Opera started working on Opera 10.5x and 10.6x (so there were only alpha Opera 10.5x and 10.6x builds for Linux up until now).
This new builds add WebM, Geolocation, Web Workers, HTML5 offline Web Applications, Cross-Document Messaging update and many more. In addition to these new/improved features there are quite a few bug fixes for Linux/FreeBSD as well as performance and core updates.
This build is official (not just a daily snapshot) which means you can download Opera 10.60 beta from the Opera website (Ubuntu .deb included).
Gizmodo’s leak of the iPhone 4 already made Monday’s Apple keynote slightly awkward. But the most uncomfortable moment was when part of Steve Jobs’ iPhone 4 demo failed due to Wi-Fi issues.
Watching the video below (shot by IDG), you can almost feel the increasing frustration of the CEO, and you can only imagine what was going on backstage to resolve the problem.
After about a minute of troubleshooting — and a failed attempt to connect to AT&T’s 3G network instead — Jobs explained that over 500 Wi-Fi devices were being used in the crowd, likely causing interference with his demo unit. He even asked bloggers to stop doing their jobs for the sake of the demo.
“All you bloggers need to turn off your base stations,” Jobs said. “If you want to see the demos, shut off your laptops, turn off all these MiFi base stations and put them on the floor, please.”
At one point Jobs asked Scott Forstall, vice president of iPhone (now “iOS”) software, if he had any suggestions, and someone in the crowd shouted “Verizon!”
Google also ran into similar network problems that stalled its demonstration of Google TV last month. In Apple’s case, Jobs was referring to users of Verizon’s MiFi, a device that creates a portable hot spot that can be shared by up to 5 users. Some smartphones, such as the Palm Pre and some modified Android phones, are also capable of serving as a hot spot. The iPhone currently permits tethering (a one-to-one connection with a laptop) but AT&T has not permitted that service for its customers, and the iPhone can only act as a hot spot if it has been jailbroken.
With over 500 Wi-Fi hot spots in a room of 5,000 people, it’s a sign of how popular hot-spot–sharing devices or features have become.
To be fair, if Verizon were the iPhone’s carrier, it would likely suffer from the same issues as AT&T. But the problem of an overloaded cellular network would be mitigated if the iPhone were available on multiple carriers as opposed to just one. During his glitchy keynote, Jobs was probably feeling our wireless woesmore than any other day.
Yahoo has laid off part of its search team as part of a new restructuring move, we’ve learned. Yahoo declined to comment on the number of people who were affected, but did confirm that there were layoffs in its Search group and gave us the following statement:
“Yahoo! remains focused on innovating the overall Search experience over the long-term, and the Yahoo! Search group is hard at work on some new experiences that we believe will convert Yahoo! users to Yahoo! searchers. To accomplish our new product objectives, we have decided that we need a different combination of talent and are making changes within the search group in order to more deeply invest in other areas of the group. “
Yahoo is, of course, outsourcing its search engine to Bing as part of a deal that was forged between Yahoo and Microsoft last year. It’s unclear if the layoffs are directly related to the deal, but it seems likely. Soon after the search deal was announced, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartzalluded to future layoffs as a result of the integration.
Yahoo previously held a major round of layoffs last spring, when it cut 5% of its staff, or around 700 people.
