A growing number of major players in the tech industry are now in support for blocking ads. Apple offers this kind of feature in
Safari on iOS, ASUS
bundles AdBlock Plus on its mobile devices, while Three, a major UK carrier,
blocks ads at the network level. And, as of today, Opera Software is also a member of this group.
Opera Software just announced that its desktop browser -- which is available on Windows, OS X and Linux -- will come with a built-in ad-blocker, which is a first for a major browser. The feature can be tested now in the Developer channel version of Opera and, once it is deemed ready for prime time, it will make its way to the public version of the browser.
Opera Software says that by integrating an ad-blocker into the browser it can offer a "40 percent faster browsing experience compared to third-party ad-blocking extension", on average. Based on its testing, Opera with the built-in ad-blocker is 21 percent faster than Firefox and 45 percent faster than Chrome, with the AdBlock Plus extension installed.
