The Adobe Application Manager Enterprise Edition allows you to create a custom install package for OS X using your CS5 media. Not only that, it will allow you to bundle updates into the install or create a separate update package. I’ll walk you through both operations. Read more »
Adobe believes it’s got some increasingly popular weapons in Air and Flash to win the hearts of mobile developers. On the eve of the Mobile World Congress, the company shared some new statistics, hoping to get developers to see the value in its tools. Read more »
Adobe’s Flash-based enterprise web conferencing app, Connect, now has multi-user XMPP chat support, available as a “pod” and enhancing the product’s potential as a collaborative tool, as it can now integrate with a much wider ecosystem of apps, including many widely-used chat clients. Read more »
Flash Player 10.2 is beta no more, and the general release promises better performance and less CPU usage through Stage Video. Stage Video provides for “a full hardware accelerated video pipeline,” reducing CPU utilization by as much as 85 percent. Read more »
In a short private session with Research In Motion, I finally got a hands-on look at the BlackBerry PlayBook. It’s better than I expected: elegant, intuitive and speedy when running multiple apps. I finally found out why Flash runs well on the PlayBook. Hint: think cars. Read more »
We’ve already covered the trends that began to shape up in the infrastructure market in 2010 and will really materialize in 2011. Several companies played — and will continue to play — a big role in making those trends happen. From Facebook to Cloudera to Microsoft, here ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The question of who’s using Hadoop outside of web companies is fair, but somewhat misguided. Hadoop was born from the web and it was web companies, with their extreme needs, that showed what Hadoop can do. Now, it looks like Facebook’s turn to carry the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Mobile video accounts for a very small fraction of the overall U.S. mobile data market, despite on-the-go video and mobile TV receiving as much hype as any other area in the space. This report — the first in a two-part series on mobile video — examines what we can learn from the failures of mobile video to find a sizable audience so far, which challenges will continue to hinder the market in the coming years and the opportunities that will increasingly exist. The iPhone, Android devices and other multimedia-friendly handsets offer more screen real estate and higher resolution than previously possible, while the move toward 4G will help carriers deliver higher quality video more consistently. Even so, the challenges in this market are many, and mobile devices will likely always be inferior to set-top boxes, desktop computers and laptops when it comes to delivering a quality viewing experience. And because video consumes so much bandwidth on mobile networks, uptake will surely be impacted as carriers move away from all-you-can-eat data plans. The industry must, then, find other ways to monetize video in mobile, and without clogging already taxed cellular networks. Most importantly, it must develop viable business models for implementing video in ways that make sense for the consumer, the content owner and the network operator. Companies mentioned in this report include AT&T, Sprint, Apple, Google, Research in Motion, Qualcomm and Samsung. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Adobe took another big step toward improving the Flash video playback experience with the release of its Flash player 10.2 today. The new player reduces to CPU load of HD video playback to as little as zero percent by using technology already used by Google TV. Read more »
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said his company’s battle with Apple comes as a war is brewing to bring new applications to consumer electronics devices. That war is being fought to capture developer interest and ensure that the best applications are being built on different platforms. Read more »
The live-stream video market is entering an upturn in the typical hockey stick growth chart. Tens of millions of desktop viewers use browser-based players to find live-streaming content on an ever-increasing number of web sites and mobile devices. Raw viewership will grow fastest in the consumer segment, where sites like Justin.tv and Qik are focused. Those like Kyte, Livestream, Ustream and BitGravity, meanwhile, primarily offer platforms to commercial content providers seeking a mass audience. And as the market grows, both in terms of viewers and of the number and type of content providers, it will support both those with a diverse, one-stop-shop approach and those who specialize in particular content and audiences. Additional companies mentioned in this report include YouTube/Google, Sony, HTC, Vivu, Facebook and Apple. To see a full list of companies and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Not even the San Francisco fire department can stop us: NewTeeVee Live 2010 started off with a mandatory building evacuation, but ended up to be a fast-paced event highlighting Hulu’s success, Google TV’s vision, the challenges of designing TV-compatible interfaces and the power of conversations. Read more »
No, you don’t have to turn off Flash to save battery life of your MacBook Air, said Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch at NewTeeVee Live today. Lynch pointed out that Adobe has been doing a lot to optimize battery life and video playback on all platforms. Read more »
The television business is on the cusp of the biggest technological upheaval since the introduction of cable TV. The addition of Internet connectivity to living room devices will enable new functionality around programming services, program discovery, social networking, ad targeting and measurement — aspects of the TV viewing experience that have remained largely unchanged for decades. These trends have the potential to become the foundation for new economic models around how viewers pay for video service and how program creation is financed. In this report, we examine the leading contenders’ strategic positioning, relative strengths and weaknesses, and provide the early line on their odds of success. Companies mentioned include Google, Apple, Boxee, Roku, Vudu, Samsung, Microsoft and Sony. To see a full list of companies and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Skype is making it clear that it doesn’t want third-party clients using its services. First, Fring for iPhone lost Skype support (though there was debate regarding who was in the wrong), and today, another popular multi-service IM and calling client, Nimbuzz, had its Skype privileges revoked. Read more »
Adobe announced today a new version of Adobe AIR 2.5 that will include expanded capabilities on Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS; Windows, Mac and Linux as well as support for TVs. Adobe is also launching a new store for AIR apps called InMarket. Read more »
Adobe just released a new HTML5 video widget for Dreamweaver users and other web developers. The widget aims to make it easier to play video without using Flash, but it still reverts to the format for users that don’t have browsers with HTML5 video support installed. Read more »
Adobe today announced Acrobat X, the latest iteration of its family of PDF creation and reading tools. PDF authoring tool Acrobat gets several new features designed to improve business collaboration and productivity, while Reader introduces support for a wider range of content types and collaboration tools. Read more »
It’s been a good month for Adobe and its mobile efforts, first with Apple’s relaxing of its Flash developer tool ban and now the release today of AIR for Android, which opens the door for AIR applications on Android devices. Read more »
The New York Times is reporting that two companies with good reason to fear Apple’s growing influence in the tech industry recently got together to talk business. The hour-long meeting saw Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer meet Adobe chief Shantanu Narayen at Adobe HQ. Read more »
The New York Times is reporting that two companies with good reason to fear Apple’s growing influence in the tech industry recently got together to talk business. The hour-long meeting saw Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer meet Adobe chief Shantanu Narayen at Adobe HQ. Read more »
It’s been a good month for Adobe and its mobile efforts, first with Apple’s relaxing of its Flash developer tool ban and now the release today of AIR for Android, which opens the door for AIR applications on Android devices. Read more »
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen reportedly met recently in San Francisco and discussed a number of issues including a possible acquisition of Adobe by Microsoft, according to an account by the New York Times. This isn’t the first time the two have talked buyout. Read more »
With companies — including the rich, technology-savvy banks — struggling to store and analyze their mountains of data, it pays to establish a foothold in the analytics market. For vendors utilizing Hadoop, the promise might be even ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
There are a few key reasons why businesses choose open source in the enterprise: control, better quality code, responsiveness and security. But as we discovered in the most recent GigaOM Bunker Sessions event, innovators are embracing new solutions that make the battle for open source as ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
AOL has acquired video syndication specialist 5min Media to boost the amount of video it serves on its sites, while boosting distribution of its own video assets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although estimates place the value of the deal at around $50-$65 million. Read more »
There’s a reason why RIM unveiled its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet at a developer event. It’s because the device is the company’s best shot at greatly expanding its developer base well beyond the 300,000 or so developers it now has. Read more »
Bloom Energy has installed the largest single installation to date on the roof of Adobe’s headquarters in San Jose, Calif. The dozen fuel cells will be one of the first to run on biogas (methane from organic waste), making them carbon free. Read more »
The latest edition of Adobe’s amateur image editing software takes a little from Photoshop and a little from iPhoto, but it may not be enough to justify the price. It largely depends on how much you like your Apple-exclusive features. Read more »
Adobe today announced the newest version of their consumer photo editing tool, Photoshop Elements, the kid brother of the Photoshop CS5 we all know and love. Adobe also announced Premiere Elements 9, available for the first time on the Mac. Both are available now. Read more »
This came a quite a shock to me, since it seems so impervious to the wailing of developers and consumers alike, but Apple announced today via an official press release that it would be relaxing some of its iOS development restrictions. Read more »
Adobe announced the latest version of its Flash Media Server today, with new features aimed at making it the streaming server of choice for enterprise webcasts. The addition of IP multicast and P2P functionality will open up a whole new market for Adobe in the enterprise. Read more »
When Microsoft or Adobe find a bug in their software, they can issue a new version that can be downloaded in a matter of minutes. But as our cars get loaded up with more and more smarts, what will it take to iron out the kinks? Read more »
Today on the Net: analyst say bankruptcy might be imminent for Blockbuster, Adobe’s CEO says he doesn’t need Apple or the iPad to survive and Gene Munster says rumors of a $99 iTV could mean Apple could soon introduce out a connected TV. Read more »
Flash has stood out as an exception in the web development world otherwise dominated by open source, but Flash’s banishment by Apple suggests that this exceptional position may not last much longer. The reason is explained by an economic theory called the “hold up” problem. Read more »
An ongoing digital strategy by the European Union (EU) could force Apple into allowing Adobe’s Flash to run on the iPhone. The incomplete plans outlined by the EU, known as the Digital Agenda, aim to redefine how antitrust rules are practiced. Read more »
The second quarter of 2010 belonged to the little guys and the new guys. Almost across the board, from processors to virtualization to cloud services, relatively small vendors and startups had the market cornered on innovation and mindshare. And where there’s tinder in the forms of customer demand, products, funding and a greater societal movement toward environmentalism, something is bound to catch fire. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Several significant events set the tone for the digital media ecosystem during in the second quarter. First among these was the release of the iPad, the impact of which went far beyond device uptake; among other things it does not support Adobe Flash, which has impacted the entire chain of web-based video production from content sites re-encoding video to new tools being developed for HTML5-based advertising.
Another principal event in the quarter was the announcement of Google TV, a software platform built on Android 2.1, Google Chrome and Flash 10.1 that will be incorporated into a variety of companion devices including TV sets, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes. The platform offers significant advancements in merging TV and the web experience (although TiVo says it has done just that for years). Sony and Logitech have both announced plans to launch Google TV products in fall 2010.
Also in the second quarter, both YouTube and Hulu refreshed their sites, reflecting the market’s growing maturity. But while YouTube spent the quarter on the defensive in its ongoing legal battle with Viacom over copyright infringement, Hulu was on the offensive, introducing new services and preparing a paid subscription service launch. A paid service would bring new revenue streams to the video site, and would put Hulu in more direction competion with Netflix, which is increasingly shifting toward its streaming video service, away from its former mainstay of DVDs by mail. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The second quarter of 2010 saw social networking companies wrestle with the next phase of their development as well as the fallout from the success they’ve had thus far. Meanwhile, the advance of location-based services, one of the hottest topics in the sector, seemed to pause ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
HTML5 isn’t yet fully ratified, but browser vendors are nonetheless starting to implement some of its features. This presents a huge opportunity for forward-thinking web app developers, which in turn will spell good news for ever-growing number people who uses web ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
