Adobe wants to spread Flash and AIR to a multitude of computing devices. (Credit: Adobe Systems)

According to an Adobe blog post, new software features include:

• Integration with the browser on Android 3.0.1, aka Honeycomb, so Flash content is treated "as part of the web page instead of as a separate 'overlay'". Pages scroll better and look closer to how web page designers intended.

• The ability to take advantage of better hardware in some devices with graphics chips and dual-core processors - Motorola's Atrix smartphone and Xoom browser and LG's Optimus 2X, for example.

• Better integration with screen-based keyboards, one of the big departures in the new era of mobile devices from the world of personal computers where Flash got its start.

The new features help Adobe make the case that it's adapting Flash to the "post-PC era" of smartphones and tablets with touchscreens and net connections. Flash is nearly universal on laptop and desktop computers, but it's only getting started in the mobile world. Apple's ban of Flash from iOS devices has made it that much harder for Adobe to gain a foothold and made it necessary for developers wanting to reach mobile devices to design applications and websites on the assumption that Flash is not present.

Flash Player 10.2 is a final release for Android 2.2 and 2.3 devices, but it's only in beta for Honeycomb. It's available through the Android Market, but only for Adobe's list of Flash-compatible Android devices, which numbers 33 devices at this stage.

So far between 5 million and 10 million people have downloaded Flash Player for Android, and it gets 4.5 stars out of 5 with 182,309 ratings so far, according to the Flash Player page on the Android Market.

It looks as if web developers have some new decisions to make about what version of their web page to deliver, because some present no-Flash mobile-optimised versions even when Flash and a tablet make browsing something more like what happens on a PC than on a mobile phone.

The Flash compatibility list spotlights the fragmentation that afflicts Android developers. Also the widely varying capabilities of Android devices means programmers have potential compatibility, testing and support headaches to worry about. Apple, lacking the profusion of iOS devices, presents a simpler world, but even there, things are getting more complicated; the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 bring significant differences over their predecessors.

The line Adobe and its ally Google have used to persuade customers that they should want Flash on mobile devices is that it gives them the "full web". Flash-based streaming video, for example, is now an option. And in the world of tablets, the vast array of casual Flash-based games at sites such as Kongregate are particularly interesting given that Android still lags iOS when it comes to native games.

However, the "full web" can be slower - in part because Flash is often used to deliver advertisements. The web page loaded on a Xoom in 11 seconds with Flash ads vs. five seconds, for example.

That complaint has been one reason many people have allied themselves with Apple boss Steve Jobs' effort to move beyond Flash. But it's not quite as simple an equation as ditching Flash and getting a faster web.

As web standards such as Canvas 2D graphics, HTML5 video, SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), animated CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) transformations and transitions, WOFF (Web Open Font Format) mature, they become a viable mechanism to deliver elaborate, processor-pounding content, too.

Via CNET

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Click here to watch Goldilocks Episode 9.
(Screenshot by CBSi)

I first ran into Anna Elizabeth James and Michael Koerbel, the aspiring movie-industry duo of Majek Pictures, through the short film Apple of My Eye recorded and edited last year entirely on an iPhone 4.

Since last June, the team has been busy. They've since produced eight instalments of similarly produced action series called Goldilocks and an app that lets people download new episodes. And starting Friday, they upgraded their editing studio: two iPad 2s running Apple's new tablet version of iMovie were used to produce Goldilocks episode nine.

"The iPad 2 is definitely more fun than editing on an iPhone," James told CNET in an email. Regarding iMovie, "the feature requests we posed to Apple were pretty much all addressed in this version".

Apple's product demonstrations are designed to elevate people's expectations and aspirations, but don't expect average Apple product owners to be able to reproduce what Majek Pictures did easily. But do take it as evidence that the "post-PC era", no matter how much I don't care for that particular term, will extend well beyond playing Angry Birds and posting updates on Facebook.

Majek Pictures bought two iPad 2s within the first hour after they went on sale, one for James and one for Fawaz Al-Matrouk, the team's Goldilocks editor. They had the video imported, edited and posted on Saturday after a 35-hour sleepless rush.

It's not perfect, but it's got what it takes for serious use, James said.

"I think one of the drawbacks could be you can't separate audio from clips, so [there's] no way to put B-roll over other video footage," Al-Matrouk said. "But I can definitely see someone finding a story, shooting it on their iPhone 4 or iPad 2, and editing it, [then] uploading it for the nightly breaking news."

And the project is helping Majek.

"Even though we haven't made any huge monetary leaps yet, it seems like every door is opening," James said. Among other things, the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences invited Majek to its annual retreat to speak about "this new revolution", she said.

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The software, which Google chief Eric Schmidt announced during a speech at Mobile World Congress, is designed to expand on a phone's abilities to capture imagery.

With it, people can combine still images and videos to create broader video that can be shared online. People will be able to add musical soundtracks, fade to black at the end of the video, and add effects like the Ken Burns-style panning so common on Apple video software.

The software requires Android 3.0, the tablet-optimised version of Android set to debut soon with Motorola's Xoom tablet.

"When you play with Honeycomb, you'll get the sense of beauty and power we have with the new interface," Schmidt said. "I just really love it."

Android releases proceed alphabetically, with Gingerbread being the present version for phones and Honeycomb soon to come for tablets. The "I" version of Android will marry elements of both, Schmidt said.

He also said that Google likes a six-month development cycle for Android. With Gingerbread released in late 2010, that suggests the sequel should arrive in the second quarter of this year.

Google's biggest Android rival is Apple, which makes not only the iOS mobile operating system but also the iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches on which it runs. Google has outflanked the iPhone with Android on cheaper phones that, though not always up to the full potential of Android, still are a big improvement over earlier-era smartphones.

Perhaps not coincidentally, however, rumours surfaced this week of a smaller, cheaper iPhone.

"Beyond helping address a potential saturation challenge, we believe that the possible introduction of a lower-priced iPhone is strategically important for Apple, and we are surprised the company hasn't introduced a lower-priced offering previously," Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi said in a research note today. "We believe that Apple's ultimate intention is to be the dominant smartphone vendor globally, and that the company has market share aspirations that are akin to its iPod business (rather that its Mac business, where it faces a sticky Wintel platform)."

Google faces another rival in the newly paired Microsoft and Nokia, trying to create a third ecosystem to rival iOS and Android. With Windows Phone 7, Microsoft is trying to steer a middle course between the locked-down control of Apple with iOS and the free-for-all near-chaos that is the Android realm.

Indeed, in the big picture, Schmidt listed Microsoft as the company's top competitor.

"No question, our strongest competitor is Microsoft," Schmidt said. "They have a strong advertising model. They have the cash, the scale, the brand and the reach to do good and amazing things."

Facebook, on the other hand, is not a problem at present, Schmidt said.

"Facebook appears to be additive," Schmdit said. "Facebook users use Google more. There's no evidence they're hurting our ad business. At this point we think Facebook is zero to net positive."

He left unsaid other aspects of the competitive reality, though: Google has been trying furiously for years now with little success to come up with services that match Facebook as a place where people congregate and share information online.

Regarding Nokia, Schmidt said the door is still open for the Finnish phone maker to join the Android realm. "We would have loved it if they'd chosen Android," he said.

Google has another operating system effort under way besides Android: Chrome OS. This is a browser-based project that runs web apps rather than the native apps found on personal computers and Android.

It's possible someday it will merge with Android, Schmidt said.

"Don't force technology to merge when it's not ready," he said. "Wait for them to be ready."

Answering audience questions, Schmidt acknowledged fragmentation is something of an issue for Android programmers who want their apps to run well on multiple phones. But, he said, an anti-fragmentation clause and the Android Market dynamics will keep companies from straying too far.

The anti-fragmentation clause requires members of the Open Handset Alliance to include mandatory Android interfaces that software needs. And straying too far also will mean that apps aren't available in the Android Market - and no carriers want to miss out on the Android ecosystem, he said.

Moreover, he added, Android 2.3 will smooth over differences.

"We've released Gingerbread, which in a month or two everybody will upgrade to. At that point everybody will be on a common platform, which should address a lot of your concerns," he said, perhaps optimistically presuming that older phones will get the upgrade.

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As expected, Nokia plans to use Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system as part of a plan to recover from competitive failings detailed in Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop's "burning platform" memo, but it's deeper than just an agreement to install the OS on Nokia's phones.

Instead, the companies will cooperate tightly under an agreement the companies currently describe as proposed, not final. Under this agreement Windows Phone 7 will become Nokia's "principal" operating system, and Nokia will help Microsoft develop it and ensure a broad range of phones using it are available globally.

Nokia will also use Microsoft's online services, many of which trail its Google counterparts, such as Bing for search and maps, and AdCenter for advertisements.

Nokia, once the dominant power of the mobile phone industry, has ceded the smartphone initiative to Apple's iPhone and Google's Android, and Elop believes Nokia's own Symbian and MeeGo operating systems aren't competitive. Microsoft has tried for years to penetrate the mobile phone market and although it now has a credible option with Windows Phone 7, it trails Android when it comes to developer interest and the breadth of phones available.

The two companies hope their combined might will be more convincing for software authors debating whether they need to bring their apps to yet another ecosystem. It's not yet clear how the alliance will extend to another hot new market, tablets, where Microsoft prefers Windows to its Windows Phone operating system. In contrast, iOS and Android developers enjoy the same operating system on phones and tablets.

Elop is set to detail the proposal later today at an analyst meeting in London.

The announcement was accompanied by a YouTube video featuring Microsoft and Nokia's chief executives praising the deal.

"Today, Nokia and Microsoft intend to enter into a strategic alliance," Elop said in the video, a precursor of a turnaround plan he's set to detail later today at an analyst conference in London. "Together, we will bring consumers a new mobile experience, with stellar hardware, innovative software and great services. We will create opportunities beyond anything that currently exists."

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the partnership "brings the brands mobile consumers want, like Bing, Office and, of course, Xbox Live".

Via CNET News

(Credit: Four Thirds Consortium)

Panasonic and Olympus got the camera industry fixated on a new range of compact ILC (interchangeable-lens camera) models that dispense with the bulk of SLRs by leaving behind the internal reflex mirror and viewfinder. To go with their cameras, the companies came up with a new lens standard, Micro Four Thirds, a cousin to the Four Thirds family that came before for SLRs.

The three lens makers pledged to support Micro Four Thirds with their own products. They didn't share specifics. But given the companies' work in cinema markets and premium-priced products, it seems likely to expect it's the video possibilities of the cameras that are drawing interest. Panasonic, for example, is trying to shake up the professional video market with its Micro Four Thirds-based AG-AF100.

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And more importantly for others who fear the same might happen to them, it's working to restore it and update its system to prevent such a mistake from happening again.

Mirco Wilhelm described his dismay yesterday to find five years of activity and about 4000 photos wiped out when his account vanished. Perplexed, he realised it might be connected to an abuse report he made, and sure enough, a Flickr representative told Wilhelm his account, not the abuser's, was inadvertently deleted:

Mirco Wilhelm's photo account is back on Flickr after it was inadvertently deleted. (Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Four years of a free Pro account costs US$100, but that wasn't Wilhelm's concern. On top of the time it would take to try to reconstitute his account, there was the issue of why it was deleted in the first place.

Added photographer Thomas Hawk, who's often been critical of Flickr, "It would be very easy for Yahoo to simply code accounts as private for one week prior to permanent deletion in order to avoid these sorts of unfortunate mistakes."

Well, it turns out that Flickr can do something more, because Wilhelm's Flickr account isn't empty anymore. It's not clear how fully restored it is thus far - there are certainly hundreds of photos, organised in sets, collections and groups, and including comments and favourites. But it is clear that the Yahoo photo-sharing site is making some progress in building in a less draconian method of deleting accounts.

Here's what Flickr had to say about the incident:

The resurrected account came as a surprise to some who'd seen Flickr disappearances in the past. "Your reincarnation is a helluva interesting development in the world of Flickr nukings," remarked Flickr user Almond Butterscotch in a comment on one of Wilhem's photos.

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The IQ180 is a digital back, which consists of an image sensor, viewing screen and associated electronics housed in a removable module that fits on the back of a medium-format camera body such as those from Phase One-controlled Mamiya. The medium-format market, which consists largely of photographers shooting expensive subjects such as fashion models and jewellery, is a demanding one willing to pay a premium for the very detailed images made possible with medium-format gear. Phase One's digital camera backs cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Phase One's IQ180 digital back on a 645DF camera body. (Credit: Phase One)

The medium format market was slower to move from film to digital than the compact or SLR markets, but when it did, the change proved disruptive. Phase One came to power with the digital transition. But it's by no means assured an easy future in a premium segment. For one thing, product sales volume here is measured in the hundreds or thousands of units, not millions, and for another, there are still competitors.

Along with long-time rival medium-format specialist Hasselblad, which is becoming newly aggressive with a relatively low-priced 40-megapixel HD4 model, Phase One has faced steadily more powerful SLR competition from Nikon and Canon. Their top-end models today have resolutions of 24-megapixels and 21-megapixels, respectively. Those cameras' sensors are smaller, but Canon and Nikon benefit from research and development spread across a vastly larger customer base and from plenty of loyal users moving up through the ranks.

And a new arrival is Pentax, which has just re-entered the medium-format with its first digital model. It, too, has abundant mainstream experience and technology such as autofocus and metering it can translate directly to the medium-format line.

Phase One is staying on the technology curve that comes with the digital realm, though. Here's what's coming along to unseat update products like Phase One's previous high-end back, the 60-megapixel P65+, and the 40-megapixel P45+:

Phase One's IQ180, with 80-megapixel resolution and 12.5 f-stop dynamic range, has a high-resolution touchscreen on the back and a USB 3.0 data connection. (Credit: Phase One)

First, it's got three new digital backs, the 80-megapixel IQ180, the 60-megapixel IQ160 and the 40-megapixel IQ140. All three use new CCD (charge-coupled device) sensors. They're built by Dalsa, which has become a favoured supplier in the medium-format realm, but Phase One said they're different models from the 80-megapixel models announced in September for Leaf Aptus-II backs from Phase One's Leaf subsidiary.

The IQ180 and IQ140 measure a whopping 53.9x43.4mm; the 40-megapixel IQ140 measures 44x33mm. Because of the economics of chipmaking, larger sensors are much more expensive to build than smaller ones - a big reason that mainstream SLRs have smaller image sensors than "full-frame" models with sensors measuring the 36x24mm size of a frame of 35mm film.

As important as megapixels but often overlooked is dynamic range, which measures the spread of light and dark the sensor can capture. All three new backs have a dynamic range of 12.5 f-stops, Phase One said. Dynamic range in general is often in opposition with high megapixel counts, so it's a challenge to maintain this attribute as sensor resolutions increase.

As with predecessors, the sensors capture 16 bits of colour data per pixel. Competing SLRs today capture 14 bits per pixel, and lower-end models only 12 bits per pixel. The larger number means finer tonal gradations, at least in theory.

Also as with the earlier models, the new IQ line can be used in a Sensor Plus mode, which combines pixel data to produce images at a quarter the resolution but at double the light sensitivity. At full resolution, the sensors cover a sensitivity range of ISO 50 to 800, but in Sensor Plus, they go from ISO 200 to 3200.

It's not just about sensors, though. The new line comes with a new, high-resolution LCD with a 1.15-megapixel resolution Phase One calls "retina type", presumably in an effort to ride on the coattails of enthusiasm for the similarly named display on Apple's iPhone 4. And for the first time, it's now a touchscreen, with the ability to pan and zoom images - a welcome addition if implemented well, since controlling the sensor can be awkward otherwise using just its four buttons.

The new products also have a faster memory interface; the cameras can keep up with continuous shooting now. That's made more challenging by the 80-megabyte files the IQ180 produces, but it's offset by the fact that such cameras typically shoot one photo per second or slower.

A final new feature is the addition of USB 3.0, the new version of the Universal Serial Bus specification that's about 10 times faster than the prevailing USB 2.0 that's been around for a decade. It continues with earlier models' FireWire 800 connection, too, for tethered shooting in which data is recorded directly on a computer rather than on memory cards.

The IQ180 is scheduled to arrive at the end of April, and the IQ160 and IQ140 at the end of May in the US.

Via CNET US

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The move places Google instead firmly in the camp of browser makers Mozilla and Opera, which ardently desire basic web technologies to be unencumbered by patent restrictions.

"Though H.264 plays an important role in video, as our goal is to enable open innovation, support for the codec will be removed and our resources directed towards completely open codec technologies," said Mike Jazayeri, a Google product manager, in a blog post.

A codec's job is to encode and decode video and audio, a technologically complicated balancing act. Codecs must reduce file sizes and enable streaming media that doesn't overtax networks, but they also must preserve as much quality as possible - for example, by trying to discard data that the human senses won't miss much and cleverly interpolate to fill in the gaps.

One big change coming with the new HTML5 version of the web page description language is built-in support for video; most web video today employs Adobe Systems' Flash Player plug-in, which uses H.264 and other codecs under the covers. Although HTML5 video has promise, disagreements in the W3C standards group have meant the draft standard omits specifying a particular codec.

H.264, also called AVC, is widely supported in video cameras, Blu-ray players and many other devices, but it comes with significant royalty licensing fees from a group called MPEG LA that licenses a pool of hundreds of patents.

WebM, though, has been an open-source, royalty-free specification since Google announced it last May. It comprises the VP8 video codec Google got through its acquisition of On2 Technology and the Theora audio codec associated with an earlier and otherwise largely unsuccessful royalty-free codec effort.

It's catching on - for example, with smartphone chip support from Rockchip announced last week. Hardware decoding means computing devices can decode WebM faster and without quickly sucking batteries dry. And Adobe has pledged to build VP8 support into a future version of Flash Player.

Via CNET

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