Web browsers are so omnipresent that you are installed on a choice, your defect often becomes a dreary part of your computer’s furniture. At one point in the past 20 years (I cannot honestly tell you when), I have gone to Google Chrome and I never took the trouble to look elsewhere.
I tried the strange alternative, including Microsoft’s Edge and Opera, but never with the conviction that I could one day change. I also need Google Chrome for work, so having a separate personal browser has never really felt an option.
It was until Opera unveiled its new opera air browser. It is the first navigator in the world built around mindfulness. Beyond security, safety and speed, the Opera Air is designed to make you feel better while you surf on the web. As a technological writer, I can happy that the Internet can sometimes be a miserable place to live, so when I saw Opera Air was available first, I finally decided that it was worth trying to abandon Chrome one last time. I was not disappointed.
After maybe 10 minutes, I had seen enough to know that Opera Air remains definitively installed on my PC and that I will abandon Chrome as my personal browser. Here are three of the features that convinced me to jump the ship.
Increase
Except in short gusts, I really find it difficult to work in silence, and for years, I have experienced the use of different reading lists and background sounds for white noise my internal monologue and help me concentrate. I tried everything with the music of Synthwave Cyberpunk in medieval Bardcore.
Opera Air puts music focused on productivity at your fingertips in your browser. These “boosts” are pinned in the sidebar. There are 19 different boosts to help improve various mental states. Binaural beats (two slightly different frequency tones played in each ear so that your brain perceives a third frequency) include theta waves for deep meditation and creative inspiration and alpha waves for relaxation. There are also ambient sounds like rain (it will not have much playing time in Scotland), the forest, the ocean and even urban sounds like trains or crowds of cafes.
There are a myriad of parameters, and you can change all aspects, from timing to the frequency and the sound that is played, all controlled by a clever and in-firing mini-player, and my first impressions are extremely positive.
Take a break
When it comes to being sedentary at your office, whether for work or game, standing or sitting for too long can start to have a fairly negative impact on your health. This is why we recommend the best standing offices and undercurrent treadmills. And taking a break gives you regular reminders to do exactly that.
Opera Air offers an integrated set of mindfulness exercises, including respiratory programs, neck exercises, meditation and a complete melody of the body. Think about it like reminders standing on your best Apple Watch, a slight push every hour to refocus your body and your mind.
This Cripe interface
When I installed Google Chrome for the first time all these years ago, I was blown away by its simple and clean. Now it’s full of buttons and icons like all other browsers. Opera Air is the first browser I have seen for years that looks clean and simple, going back to the old Chrome character that Google has lost along the way.
I love the sidebar, which is clean and minimalist. It even hides a ton of large parameters and quick access tools. I love the glassy look that has vista victory nuances, and the quiet wallpapers add to the feeling of Zen.
Enter early
The best thing about Opera Air is that it is still in early access, so there are much more settings, parameters and future features. I cannot recommend it enough if you are a Windows user or Mac which has a change in pace compared to Google Chrome.
In addition, you get all the other major opera features, including its integrated VPN, announcement blocker, tracker blocker and native AI, filled with GPT-4O cat, Gemini 1.4 and Imagen 3 rightly. Good conscious navigation!
