Opera Software has released the latest version of its powerful, cross-platform web browser, Opera. Adding fresh new thumbnail tabs, a Turbo feature that “cures the bandwidth blues,” more speed dials, and an updated Presto engine, Opera 10 Beta 1 for Mac is immediately available for free download.

“Opera today released the first beta of Opera 10, the newest version of the company’s industry-defining Web browser,” says the team of developers behind the web browser. “Opera 10 beta sports a surprising array of new features, a fresh look and feel, and enhanced speed and performance. Discover a better way to enjoy the Web by trying Opera 10 beta,” Opera Software states.

Speaking about the new Opera Turbo feature in particular, the development team reveals that those still stuck on dial-up, or using crowded Wi-Fi hot spots, can benefit form Opera Turbo's state-of-the-art compression technology, which “unclogs your connection so you can get to your content.” According to the official report, “Opera Turbo easily delivers 3x to 4x the speed of slower connections and can offer broadband-like speeds on dial-up.”

Opera Software also mentions that a “world-renowned” designer going by the name of Jon Hicks has joined Opera “to spice up” the software's UI. The guy slapped a new skin on the browser (something to make Opera fans fall in love with it again). While still a work in progress, the skin will continue to evolve before the final release of Opera 10, Opera Software claims.

“Initially, we were just going to clean-up some elements and focus on the interface for new features,” said Jon Hicks. “But, over time, the new user interface elements became so different that we decided to update everything. Mac users in particular should enjoy this update to the default Opera skin.”

A list of key changes included with Opera 10. Beta 1 is available below:

· Updated engine: more than 40% faster Opera Presto 2.2 engine with cutting-edge Web Standards support
· Opera Turbo: for fast browsing on slow connections
· New visual tabs: with support for thumbnails of your current open tabs
· New skin: by Opera’s lead designer Jon Hicks
· New Speed Dial: with support for 2x2 to 5x5 Speed Dials and configurable background image
· New spell checker: with support for 51 languages for typing in Web pages and in the integrated e-mail client Opera Mail
· Support for external Webfeed, Web mail and BitTorrent clients
· Resizable search field
· Automatic updating of Opera
· Report tool for browser crashes

Using the link below, you can download the latest version of Opera available, as well as the latest stable version of the web browser.

Download Opera for Mac OS X (Free)