Norway-based Opera has announced a new browser, Opera Air, with a focus on mindfulness and mental wellbeing.
It includes break reminders, breathing exercises, and a suite of relaxing soundscapes to help users both focus and de-stress.
“The web is beautiful but it can be chaotic and overwhelming,” says Mohamed Salah, Opera’s senior director of product.
Air can help at that point too, with breathing exercises, neck stretches, “full body scans,” and guided meditations, which last up to 15 minutes.
Air joins the default Opera browser and its gaming-focused Opera GX in the lineup.
Opera, a company based in Norway, has created a new browser called Opera Air that emphasizes mental health and mindfulness. In order to help users focus and de-stress, it offers breathing techniques, break reminders, and a variety of calming soundscapes.
“The web is beautiful, but it can be overwhelming and chaotic,” says Mohamed Salah, senior director of product at Opera. We made the decision to investigate scientifically supported strategies for guiding our users through it in a way that improves their mood and functionality. “.”.
The design of Air is semi-transparent, and its mindfulness features include a floating sidebar. By playing slightly different frequencies in each ear, the Boosts feature creates a perceived third frequency in the brain, which is thought to help with focus or relaxation. It also offers music and ambient sounds for when you need to work. Soundscapes can be paused from the sidebar at any moment and can be programmed to play for anywhere from 15 minutes to infinity.
An icon consisting of three lines in the sidebar that grays out while you work (you can adjust how long it lasts) serves as a reminder to take a break. When the icon is completely faded, it will alert you to do so. For up to fifteen minutes, guided meditations, breathing techniques, neck stretches, and “full body scans” can all be beneficial at that point.
The default Opera browser and its gaming-focused Opera GX are now part of the lineup, along with Air. Similar to those, it comes with a free VPN and an integrated ad blocker, as well as access to the Aria AI assistant, which is powered by ChatGPT. You can now download Air for free on both Mac and Windows.