Most browsers have very ordinary start pages. Sometimes you get a search box; sometimes you have a collection of little pictures of your favorite sites.

In the latest version of the Opera web browser released today you can get social media feeds, immediate stock quotes, the current weather conditions, up-to-the minute news and sports scores, and much more, right in your Speed Dial.

The company calls this new feature Speed Dial extensions. Instead of handy thumbnails and links to your top sites, you can embed your Speed Dial with extensions that keep you updated on what is happening around the Web.

More than 50 Speed Dial extensions already exist. Developers who want to make Speed Dial extensions for themselves can get everything they need from http://dev.opera.com/.

"The good news is, no matter what browser you choose, you'll get something like this--eventually," said Jan Standal, VP of Desktop Products, Opera Software. "The question is how long do you want to wait? With Opera, you can experience Speed Dial extensions along with our other pioneering features today."

Opera also introduced new features in other areas of the web browser. "Link" supports passwords, so you can synchronize your website passwords with other Opera browsers

Under the hood the company fixed thousands of bugs and upgraded to a new core rendering engine.

Download Opera 11.50 from http://www.opera.com. It's free and runs on Windows, Mac and Linux computers.