Adobe has announced that, from here on out, they will no longer be supporting Flash for mobile devices. After the release of Flash Player 11.1 for Blackberry and Android, there won't be any new revisions to support future OS verisons or browsers or anything. Mobile Flash is dead in the water. Adobe will hop back in there to release some "critical bug fixes and security updates," but other than that, Adobe is leaving mobile Flash to focus on -- you guessed -- it HTML5, which is more universally supported on mobile devices. PC Flash is still totally a thing though, of course, and Adobe is already at work on Flash 12. For your mobile devices, however, you can wave goodbye as Flash rides off into the sunset.

Read More

Today, during the Adobe Max 2011 event, Epic Game's Tim Sweeney made an interesting announcement pretty much out of left field. No, he doesn't have the iPhone 5, but Unreal Engine 3 can run in Flash. By extension, games like Gears of War 3, Unreal Tournament 3, Batman: Arkham City, and even Saw II: Flesh & Blood, can theoretically run in a browser. Granted, when running in Flash, Unreal Engine 3 won't look as good as it might in more traditional scenarios, but just take a moment to think about the sort of graphics you usually see in browser-based games. With any luck, you will soon be able to watch your FarmVille grass grow in 3D.

Read More

Yesterday, the MSDN Blog on Windows 8 development stated outright that Windows 8's Metro UI style will feature no plug-ins of any kind; that includes no Flash. Instead, the Metro browser is pushing towards HTML5 adoption because, as the blog states, plug-ins are inefficient and archaic. They are right on both counts. The main reason for the lack of plug-in support probably has to do with the operating system's tablet aspirations. While the inefficiency of plug-ins on a device connected to a power source is managable, on a mobile device it is less so.

Now, this doesn't mean Windows 8 won't support plug-ins at all. Only the new Metro UI will not support them. It seems that the traditional desktop mode will function as you might assume a traditional desktop might, plug-ins galore. Still, Microsoft seems to be leaning pretty heavily on Metro and that, in combination with the way the iPad handles itself, could mean that two of the largest players in the game are eschewing plug-ins. What more effective way is there to limit their use? It might be time to say goodbye to Flash. I have a feeling it's not long for this HTML5 world.

(MSDN Blog)

Read More

Overshadowed by yesterday's announcement of Google's next attempt at a social network, Google+, was another, albeit smaller, tool released by Google: Swiffy. The handy tool converts Flash files to HTML5 so users can run Flash files on devices that do not support Flash, or on devices on which users do not allow Flash's tendrils to reach. Considering this is an early version of the tool, Swiffy doesn't convert all Flash animations, but according to the press release, it works great on ads and animations.

The converted HTML5 files run on web browsers with high SVG support, such as Chrome and Safari, and Swiffy uses a compact JSON representation of an animation, which is rendered using a combination of HTML5, CSS3, and some Actionscript 2.0, which is interpreted in JavaScript in the browser. The method supposedly makes the conversions nearly as compact as the original SWF files. Google provides a few examples of the conversion over here, and one can give Swiffy a go over at its Google Labs page.

(via Google Code Blog)

Read More

With Flash looking more decrepit than ever in the face of HTML 5, Adobe has released a tool allowing developers to convert their Flash files into HTML 5. Codenamed "Wallaby," the tool is aimed at converting Flash-based content and returning them to iOS platforms. From the International Business Times:

The focus for this initial version of Wallaby is to do the best job possible of converting typical banner ads to HTML5 and supported Webkit browsers include Chrome and Safari on OSX, Windows, and iOS.

Though limited in its capabilities, Wallaby will likely bring bring Flash content to the iOS, where it has never existed before. The tool is currently available and runs natively on both current Mac and Windows environments. (International Business Times via Slashdot)

Read More

As those of you following the new MacBook Air may know, Apple decided to ship the wafer-thin laptop without Adobe Flash, yet another log into the Apple-hates-Flash fire. However, instead of excluding Flash for no other reason than keeping with the anti-Flash trend, reviews of the MacBook Air over at Ars Technica indicate that having Flash installed can cut the battery life by a third, providing a possible practical reason as to why Flash didn't make the cut.

Read More

Ever since Apple began taking over the world, Adobe's Flash has been under a lot more scrutiny, considering Apple overlord Steve Jobs has openly decried it in favor of HTML5. There's been a lot of buzz surrounding the Flash vs. HTML5 debate, so the team over at Code Computerlove decided to put it to a more practical test: Flash vs HTML5 in the form of Pong, with the left side being Flash and the right side being HTML5.

Read More

This is genius. (Although you probably won't finish it.) Chilean tech and design firm Root33 has made a playable Flash game called Los 33 in which you rescue the Chilean miners trapped underground. They've been kind enough to let us embed it here. Rotate the wheel to get the rescue vehicle underground to pick up miners one-by-one, then rotate it again to bring it back up to the surface and drop them off amid the cheering crowds. Programming credit goes to Felipe "Peluche" León. Read More

A statement released on Apple's website today explains that they'll be easing up on all iOS developmental tool restrictions.

Read More

All Rubik's Cubes solvable in 20 moves (Cube20)

Skype files for IPO (WSJ)

Gorilla plays Nintendo DSi XL (Escapist)

MTV hires $100k/year Twitter jockey (Runnin' Scared)

Real Life Meeting Between Obama And Saints Startlingly Similar To Video Game Version (SportsGrid)

Vintage Tokyo subway manners posters (Pink Tentacle)

Install Flash on your iPhone the easy way (RWW)

Bonus video: Lando Calrissian Blaxploitation film:

Read More

Adobe Flash Player 10.1 has just been finalized, and is available for download from Adobe. Previously, it's been available as a spiffy prerelease since June, but this is the real, final thing.

It doesn't yet provide H.264 graphics acceleration for Mac or Linux, only for Windows -- we'll have to wait for Mac/Linux support -- but it's a welcome upgrade nevertheless, promising an uptick in performance across OSes. It also has the benefit of patching a major security hole in previous versions of Flash that allowed hackers to take control of computers via crashed Flash players.

Download Adobe Flash Player 10.1

Read More

Apple's restrictive development policy for iPad and iPhone 4.0 apps may have broader effects than simply pissing off software developers and the Slashdotters who love them. According to a New York Post report this morning, the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission are both considering slapping Apple with an antitrust inquiry -- which is not a full-scale antitrust investigation, but which typically precedes such investigations -- and the only thing "lock[ing] up negotiations" is which of the two agencies should take the lead.

Read More

A lot has been said, raged, and ranted about the iPhone and iPad's incompatibility with Flash. On Friday, the movement away from Flash grew significantly larger when Microsoft announced that Internet Explorer 9 will also leave Flash video by the wayside. While Microsoft's Dean Hachamovitch cited Flash's problems with reliability, security, and performance, Steve Jobs took a more militant approach: statistics.

Of the 75% of internet video that is in Flash, he said "almost all this video is also available in a more modern format, H.264, and viewable on iPhones, iPods and iPads."

Well, you know what Mark Twain would say. So how much truth is there to Jobs' numbers? Techcrunch has done some digging.

Read More

For all of the tension in Steve Jobs' dissertation on his antipathy to Flash, the nut, I believe, is this:

Since that golden era, the companies have grown apart. Apple went through its near death experience, and Adobe was drawn to the corporate market with their Acrobat products.

Each of the two companies has known multiple iterations. Apple has had three: the Jobs (and Wozniak) era ('76 - '85), the non-Jobs era ('85 - '97) and the re-Jobs era ('97 - now). Adobe, two: the John Warnock/Chuck Geschke era ('82 - '00), and the post-Warnock/Geschke era ('00 - now). The "golden era" Jobs refers to above encapsulates a large part of that 1982 - 1985 overlap (and somewhat beyond), with the development of PostScript, the Macintosh, and the Apple LaserWriter. The companies built desktop publishing in concert: Apple, the hardware side, Adobe, the software. The critique Jobs makes in the quote above is acidic.

Read More

So: if you have just awoken from a coma and/or discovered the Internet, Apple rolled out their tablet today. It's called the iPad. After the wave of iTampon/Max-iPad/other feminine hygiene product-related jokes died down, folks came to this realization: there are some good things about the iPad, and some bad things about it.

It's fair to say that the reaction to the iPad has been mixed. This can be explained away, in part, by the absurd buildup to the thing. But what substantive features define it? The good and the bad:

Read More