Version 8 of the popular Opera web browser has been released, and now sports support for voice commands, although you’ll need to download an extra 10MB package the first time you use it.

I make no bones about the fact that I am a Firefox fanboy, but thought I’d try out Opera anyway, as it’s free to use if you can put up with the ads. The voice feature isn’t bad, although it took a few attempts to get it to recognise me – possibly as I’m British. It’s nothing more than a gimmick to me though, and as I found it easier to navigate conventionally using my mouse, it won’t convince me to switch browsers.

If you think you have a need for a voice-controlled web browser or would simply like to see it in action, give it a try. And if you switch to Opera as a result, I don’t mind. Honest. At least it’s not IE… ;)

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