The BBC is rolling out a way to help it's Android apps to function without Flash, by using Flash. A custom app called BBC Media Player (Google Play) will allow British users to watch and listen to BBC on-demand content from their mobile device, even when Adobe pulls Flash from Android for the second, and potentially final, time.
When the Samsung Galaxy Nexus began shipping earlier this month, it did so without either Adobe AIR or Adobe Flash Player. Adobe now has confirmed that it will be supporting both those apps, not just Flash, on the Android 4.0-based smartphone some time in December. The company will be offering the functionality through a "minor update to the runtimes."
Occupy Flash, a group dedicated to seeing the end of the Flash platform, has called on all PC users to uninstall the Flash Player plugin from their desktop browsers. The group calls themselves “The movement to rid the world of the Flash Player plugin.” As far as the group is concerned, the death of mobile Flash is not enough, and it wants to see the end of all Flash development.
Adobe and Sony have jointly announced an initiative to encourage developers to build apps for Sony’s forthcoming S1 and S2 tablets. The Adobe AIR App Challenge is sponsored by Sony and offers $200,000 in total cash prizes. To be eligible to enter an app into the competition, it must combine Adobe Flash technology and HTML 5 using Adobe Creative Suite and the open source Flex framework.
Alongside Adobe's Flash 10.1 release on Thursday, the company also introduced an update to its cross-platform runtime environment, Air. The v2.0 revision is said to improve overall efficiency, with less CPU drain and up to 30 percent less memory usage, without requiring developers to modify their existing Air apps.
Adobe has released an updated version of its Photoshop Express beta service, its web-based application that offers online storage and photo-editing. The company now offers a Photoshop Express Uploader (powered by Adobe AIR) that enables photo uploading from the desktop of any internet-connected computer and the ability to quickly browse through thumbnails and drag & drop directly from the desktop. Adobe also said the update adds ability to print photos through the Shutterfly online printing service and incorporate exclusive music into slideshows.
Lunar Software has released EarthBrowser 3.0, an update to the real-time three dimensional model of the earth that offers continuously updated global information. The software renders a virtual representation of the earth along with a large variety of current data, including new Doppler Radar and Northern Lights overlays, animated weather model forecasts from NOAA, and more. Animated weather model forecasts from the NOAA are continuously updated for the entire world, and include datasets for Precipitation, Snowfall, Temperature, Pressure, Humidity, Wind Speed/Direction and more.
