‘Opera Face Gestures' is going to make Web browsing as simple as smiling or flaring your nostrils!

Ever thought of a browser that can function with not only the click of the mouse but also by reading your facial expressions? Opera Software has introduced Face Gestures in Opera 10, which promises to enable anyone with a Web cam to control their browser by moving only their face. Based on the same architecture as Opera's Mouse Gestures, Face Gestures makes surfing the Web as easy as smiling, batting an eyelash or flaring the nostrils.

In a blog post on Opera's website (http://labs.opera.com/news/2009/04/01/), Roberto Mateu, product manager, Opera Software writes, "We introduce Face Gestures, a revolutionary technology designed to make interacting with your browser easier and simpler on computers with cameras. Face Gestures lets you perform frequent browsing operations with natural and easy-to-make face gestures. By using an internal technology dubbed Face Observation Opera Language, we are able to recognise pre-determined facial expressions and match them to commands on the Opera browser."

Opera Face Gestures seems to have grown out of a collaborative project between Opera and the Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS). The company claims it as the world's most advanced facial recognition technology that has been created using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. It took seven years to develop.

Opera Face Gestures include more than 45 controls, from opening new tabs and restoring sessions, to navigating through a Web page. Opera Face Gestures are so advanced you can compose and send an entire e-mail message through Opera's built-in e-mail client. Even Mouse Gestures can be triggered with Opera Face Gestures. To activate Opera Face Gestures, simply press the single-key shortcut F8.