July 9 - 10:30pm EDT   Microsoft tonight launched the public version of Silverlight 3, its animation and video plugin for the web. The rival to Flash is the company's first to use hardware graphics acceleration both for 3D and for offloading the work of decoding video from the main processor. Regardless of graphics power, the update is also the first to promise a near-seamless HD video experience: a "smooth streaming" technique that automatically lowers the bitrate to start playback immediately and quickly brings it back up to provide the maximum quality the connection allows. [full story]

March 18 - 7:00pm EDT   At its MIX 09 developer and designer conference which kicked off on Wednesday, Microsoft released a beta version of its upcoming Silverlight 3 Internet media player. The Flash alternative is smaller in size than its Silverlight 2 predecessor, at 4.4MB, and aims to improve on the earlier software which launched in full build four months ago. Along with the player, the software giant release associated tools for developers, including the Software Development Kit (SDK) and various authoring programs. [full story]

February 17 - 6:50am EST   Adobe’s Flash Lite multimedia player for mobile phones, while still lacking iPhone compatibility, has been growing in popularity and will have reached 1 billion phones by the end of March this year, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics. Reaching their desired mark one year ahead of the company’s previous target, Flash Lite is said by Strategy Analytics expert Steward to have risen due to recent support for HD video as well as Nokia’s agreements to install Flash Lite on its phones. Another factor mentioned by Robinson is the absence of real competition for Adobe's Flash Lite player, though he still predicts another 1.5 billion smartphones carrying the software ... [full story]

February 16 - 12:25pm EST   LG's turn at MWC phone launches centers on three full touchscreen devices, including the first-ever phone planned around Windows Mobile 6.5. The GM730 (shown) has the company's new S-Class 3D interface, which adds an iPhone-like home screen with a "cube" that lets users flick between apps, media, phone and widget functions; underneath, it now has the updated Internet Explorer's full web browsing with Flash and Silverlight support. [full story]

November 2 - 10:15pm EST   Netlflix has opened the Mac version of its streaming movie player into the public stage of beta testing, according to Hacking Netflix. Anyone can now opt-in to try out the player, which is based on Microsoft's Silverlight animation plugin. The entire Netflix collection is not yet available for streaming playback, although over 12,000 titles are accessible and the company is regularly adding more content to its "Watch Instantly" section. The service should be available for all customers by the end of the year. [full story]

October 27 - 1:25am EDT   Netflix, the online movie rental service, is launching Mac support for internet streaming movies utilizing Microsoft's Silverlight, a web-browser plug-in that features animation and audio-video capabilities similar to Adobe's Flash software. The deployment of the capabilities will start with a small number of subscribers, expanding to all subscribers by year's end. Silverlight features cross-platform and cross-browser support, as well as Play Ready DRM, a pivotal factor in Netflix being able to stream copy-write-protected content to subscribers on both Macs and PCs. [full story]

October 13 - 3:25pm EDT   Microsoft is nearing a final release of its updated programmable browser plugin, Silverlight 2, with a beta version available for download. Many of the new features are designed to be attractive to developers, which will be a key factor for taking market share from its main competitor, Adobe Flash. Support for the full range of .NET framework has been added, which further expands the list of compatible programming languages that also includes Visual Basic, C#, JavaScript, IronPython, and IronRuby. The plugin now works across Windows, Mac, or Linux systems in Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer. [full story]

May 19 - 11:15am EDT   British TV broadcaster ITV is officially supporting Macs for web-based viewing, it has announced. The network lets users watch a number of programs online, such as Coronation Street, Britain's Got Talent and Pushing Daisies; until recently however users were forced to use Windows, and ideally Internet Explorer. The site now runs on Firefox 1.5 and 2, as well as Safari; the key difference is that these require Microsoft's Silverlight plug-in, which operates similarly to Flash. Mac owners must be running Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later. [full story]

March 18 - 10:20pm EDT   Adobe is in the process of developing its own Flash client for the iPhone, company chief Shantanu Narayen told investment experts during a conference call (registration required). The executive revealed that Adobe has obtained the publicly available Software Development Kit and intends to release a version of the animation plugin through the App Store as soon as the software is completed. Narayen stated that analysis by the company suggested a form of Flash could be developed without requiring special access to Apple's mobile Safari browser and that it would be an important launch regardless of how it arrives. [full story]

March 17 - 9:55am EDT   A successful Microsoft takeover of Yahoo could potentially impact the open nature of the Internet, Google chief Eric Schmidt said today. The head of the search engine giant is "concerned" that Microsoft's ownership would result in the use of proprietary technology and curb a diverse market that comes from web standards that work in any device or browser. [full story]

March 7 - 12:40pm EST   Steve Ballmer recently sat down with Guy Kawasaki at the Mix 2008 conference in Las Vegas, where Kawasaki asked him about his feelings on Apple's iPhone developer announcements yesterday. According to CNET, Ballmer thinks that Silverlight on the iPhone would be interesting, but somewhat dismissed the idea. He says that there has been no official conversations with Apple CEO Steve Jobs on the matter, and Apple's business model of taking 30-percent of revenue is questionable. [full story]

March 4 - 8:40am EST   Nokia today said it would add support for Microsoft's Silverlight web plugin, resulting in some of the first mobile devices to support the new rival to Adobe's Flash. The update applies to virtually all of Nokia's handhelds and ranges from the most basic Symbian Series 40 cellphones to Series 60 smartphones and the company's Linux-based N800 series Internet tablets. Adding the feature provides the phones with support for animation, videos, and even software programs running inside of Silverlight and helps mirror the experience a user would have on a desktop. [full story]

December 26 - 10:05am EST   Telestream has released a new update for its Flip4Mac WMV Components packages, bringing their version to 2.2. The software is used to play, import and/or convert Windows Media videos in a manner compatible with QuickTime; the upgraded edition is now fully compatible with Mac OS X Leopard, and should better support online streaming, whether through websites or directly from servers. The application now also has a JavaScript browser plug-in, which allows web developers to create interactive options for users such as playlists and custom buttons. [full story]