A new Web browser from Opera Software ASA this week is the first major browser to incorporate an emerging technology that automatically delivers new blog entries and news articles.
Visitors can subscribe to feeds using Really Simple Syndication, or RSS, and have new items come in regularly as individual messages in Opera's mail client, which is packaged with the browser.
Because RSS is integrated into Opera, visitors can easily e-mail items or open links from the same application.
Support for RSS had been available primarily through standalone applications and as plug-ins for Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer. RSS also comes with smaller browsers like OmniWeb for Macintosh computers.
But the decision by a major browser maker to include RSS is a sign of the technology's rapid adoption.
"In some means or another, it's there to stay," said Christen Krogh, Opera's vice president of engineering.
Opera is the No. 3 browser for Windows computers, behind Internet Explorer and Netscape, and is popular particularly in cell phones and handheld devices because of its small file size.
Version 7.50 was released Wednesday for Windows, Linux and Macintosh computers. A forthcoming version for mobile devices, however, likely will not include RSS support, Krogh said.
