Tag Archives: release

Flash Player 10.1 preview release for Android at Google I/O

Even though I already have FP10.1 installed on my Nexus One (one of the many perks of working at Adobe ;-)), I’m very happy to see that we will be releasing a public preview of Flash Player 10.1 for Android on my birthday… eh I mean… at Google I/O on May 19th/20th.

Ever since I switched to the Nexus One as my main phone I’ve been using Flash Player on the Android browser just about every day. I already told you a while ago that I am a news junkie and that I like to keep up with the news wherever I go. When something happens in the world, I usually visit a number of different news sites to see what they have to say. A lot of news outlets use Flash to deliver their videos. With Flash Player 10.1 installed on my device I can just open up a browser window, type in the URL that I am used to browsing to on my desktop machine and then just click on the video which starts playing instantly. No need to (purchase) download and install an app. The same content that I am used to seeing on my desktop machine is just right there.

I can’t wait to see and read your experiences with Flash Player on your mobile device. Google’s Android may be first but RIM, Palm (soon to be HP), Microsoft, Nokia and others will follow soon.

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Flash Player 10.1 for Android still on track for H1 release

There seems to be some confusion around whether or not Flash Player 10.1 for mobile devices (including Android) will ship in the first half of 2010 like we promised. It’s very energizing and refreshing to see the excitement about Flash Player coming to Android! However, I do want to set the record straight.

Flash Player 10.1 for mobile devices (including Android) is still on track for an H1 2010 release!

The confusion started when an interview with Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayen was misinterpreted. He said that Android devices with Flash Player 10.1 preinstalled will start shipping in H2.

It’s perfectly normal that devices with Flash Player preinstalled ship a little bit later than the actual release. That said, Flash Player 10.1 will also be available in the Android Market, on our website and/or via an OTA update of the OS. If you already own a recent Android device like the Nexus One, you will be able to download and install Flash Player yourself.

Make sure you sign up for the Flash Player 10.1 for Android beta notification and you may also be interested in signing up for the AIR2 for Android beta notification.

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Getting started with Flex 4, Flash Builder 4 and ColdFusion Builder

I’m pretty sure you will have heard that the Flex 4 SDK, Flash Builder 4 and ColdFusion Builder have been released today. If not, check out Andrew Shorten’s blog post on the Flex Team blog.

Andrew Shorten: In the Flex 4 SDK, we’ve implemented a completely new component and skinning architecture (Spark) that supports a level of expressiveness in RIAs not seen previously.

In Flash Builder 4, the team has made it easier than ever to connect to back-end services with a complete set of data centric development features, enabled new design and development workflows with Flash Catalyst and Flash Professional, as well as enhancing the core code development features that are essential to developer productivity.

We also released a completely new IDE for rapidly and efficiently building ColdFusion applications.

ColdFusion Builder is built on Eclipse and is integrated with Flash Builder 4 for fast, easy RIA development. ColdFusion Builder is packed with features and also allows you to easily build your own extensions. RIAForge already has a bunch of these that are ready to go.

When we first introduced ColdFusion Builder to the community, Ben Forta (Mister ColdFusion himself ;-)) wrote an article on how to get started with ColdFusion Builder.

Flex.org got a fresh new look and new/updated content including a new resources page to help you get started. We also launched a new Flex showcase. If you feel that your app belongs in the showcase, make sure you let us know! Tour de Flex has also been updated with new samples.

If you’re new to Flex or just want to update yourself on the new features in the Flex 4 framework and Flash Builder 4, you may want to take the Flex In A Week course. If you just want a quick taste of what Flex is, have a look at the Flex Testdrive.

Adobe’s Devnet and Adobe TV have a ton of new content on how to get started and use Flex 4, Flash Builder 4 and ColdFusion Builder. But before you get started, you may want to download the trial versions for Flash Builder 4 and ColdFusion Builder. Quick note: If you already played around with the beta versions, make sure you uninstall those first before installing the release versions!

There… That should keep you busy for a while. ;-) Flash on!

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Rant alert: The world is bigger than the US alone

copyrights.jpgI was just reading the live blogs coming from the Amazon press conference and felt kind of disappointed… again… I was hoping that Amazon would announce the European launch of the Kindle. But sadly… no.

I’m pretty sure it is yet another copyright issue that is preventing Amazon from launching Kindle worldwide. And that is exactly something that needs to change. With the Internet being this widespread and content accessible worldwide, old school copyrights and release tactics just don’t work any more. And in my opinion, they also make no sense at all.

Sadly… It’s not just Amazon. Apple’s iTunes is another good example. iTunes TV shows and movies are still only available in 1 or 2 countries in Europe. Or what about other online video providers like Netflix and Hulu? Even though it is perfectly possible to access these sites outside the US, copyright laws prevent you from using their service. Why is that?

Wouldn’t it make more sense to release books, movies, music, games, … on the same day worldwide? Combine available marketing power into one global campaign? Could that also have a positive effect on piracy? If I can go and see/buy a movie on the same day as someone across the ocean can, surely there is no need to download it? I would have no problem paying to see a movie or a new episode of a TV show.

Sadly, this is not even just restricted to copyright laws. Remember the launch of the iPhone? It was available only in the US for months. What did people outside the US do? They bought one in the US and hacked it. There are plenty of other examples like this one out there…

I know this blog post is not going to change anything but at least I got it out of my system ;-) Would love to hear your thoughts though!

UPDATE: As Mike Chambers pointed out, in some cases this is a knife that cuts both ways. People in the US also can’t watch content from Europe.

- End of rant -

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Adobe AIR enables rich internet applications on the Windows, Mac AND Linux desktop

If you haven’t heard, last monday morning we released AIR 1.0 after an extensive period of both private and public beta testing. One of the biggest themes for AIR is cross-platform compatibility with just one installer file and without having to code anything specific (with a few exceptions like application menu’s and dock/system tray icons) for the OS your targetting. Actually, as of now you don’t even have to target a specific OS anymore to make a desktop application. The AIR runtime takes care of that for you. You just make your app using HTML, Javascript, Flash or Flex or even combinations of that, export a .air file and it works cross-platform right out of the box.

We’ve also been talking about Linux support from the very start and Kevin Lynch showed a demo of that at the Engage event in San Francisco. He used the Parleys application. Parleys is a project by the Belgian Java User Group. It allows you to watch all the presentations recorded from numerous JUG-events. I think they currently have some 200 hours of content on the site and now in the app that’s been built by Benjamin Dobler. (Watch the video interview with Benjamin)

Anyway… You don’t have to take my word for it. Just go and check out the video.

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