From the monthly archives:

March 2009

Adobe and Facebook team up for Flash Technology

by Mahesh Kukreja on March 31, 2009

Adobe has partnered with one of the most popular social networking Web sites, Facebook, to give developers a new set of tools to create applications.

The applications will use Adobe’s Flash platform and the new ActionScript 3 Client Library for Facebook the two companies developed together. The client library is a free open source programming language that supports Facebook application programming interfaces (APIs) including Facebook Connect.

Adrian Ludwig, Adobe’s group manager for platforms, told Macworld that the companies will release the library and then gather feedback from developers. The libraries will be updated, adding functionality based on that feedback, allowing developers to make better applications.

The number and types of developers using Flash is increasing all the time. Some of the developers are focused on Flash, while others are coming from more traditional segments of the market.

“We are seeing that it’s becoming quite easy for traditional developers to start using Flash,” said Ludwig. “That’s quite a change from where it was five to eight years ago when Flash was focused on animation.”

Adobe said that Flash Player 9 has 98 percent penetration, meaning that 98 percent of all Internet connected computers have the application installed. The company did a study two months after the release of Flash Player 10 and found 55 percent penetration. While not released yet, Ludwig said he expects the latest adoption rate for Flash Player 10 to top 80 percent.

Those numbers give Flash Player 10 the fastest adoption rate of any version of Flash Player, according to Adobe.

Writing Facebook applications in Flash is not new. In fact, 12 of top 20 apps on Facebook use Flash. However, the new tools should make it easier for developers in the future.

Adobe is making documentation, example applications and code available for download from its Web site.

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Microsoft announces partners for app store

by Mahesh Kukreja on March 31, 2009

Microsoft Corp has signed up multiple software partners for its upcoming cellphone software marketplace, including Web music service Pandora, game publisher Electronic Arts Inc and social site Facebook.

The software company said on Tuesday it plans to discuss those partnerships and conduct demonstrations of the software store — set to launch later this year — at the CTIA wireless showcase in Las Vegas this week.

Apple Inc started the trend for cellphone application stores last summer and its offerings from third- party developers of software, ranging from the practical to the whimsical, have helped boost iPhone sales.

Some analysts are skeptical whether Apple’s rivals will be able to generate as much interest from consumers and developers with their own mobile software offerings.

Analysts expect BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd, which popularized email on the go, to officially launch its application store at CTIA. Google Inc already has a store for phones based on its Android system. And Palm Inc is planning one for its Pre phone.

In February, Microsoft revealed plans to open Windows Marketplace for Mobile in the second half of this year, but had not announced software partners until CTIA.

Along with a list of initial partners, the company said it expects many of its existing 20,000 mobile phone software partners to offer software via the marketplace.

DESIGN COLLABORATION

Other partners include Gameloft SA, weather website Accuweather.com and News Corp’s MySpace social networking website. The Windows application for social network Facebook will be the first to let consumers upload video captured on their phones directly to Facebook in April.

The apps marketplace will work on phones based on Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft’s next version of its mobile operating system, also available later this year. Companies expected to sell phones running Windows Mobile 6.5 include LG Electronics Inc and HTC Corp.

MySpace said LG plans to preload its application onto its new Windows phones in the second half of the year.

In a keynote speech at the show, the president of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices unit, Robbie Bach, will announce an alliance with fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi, who will design themes to let consumers customize their phone’s appearance.

Microsoft also plans to make its marketplace attractive to carriers with options such as a share of software revenue, 70 percent of which goes to the software developers, according to Andy Lees, who heads Microsoft’s Window Mobile division.

“We’re also partnering with mobile operators very closely so they can have their own stores in the mobile market place,” Lees said in an interview ahead of the show.

This would mean that purchases could be included in the consumer’s phone bill.

“That means we’re a very friendly strategy for carriers and for (consumers),” Lees said.

He promised strong operator support for the store, but declined to name specific customers.

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Microsoft Kills Encyclopedia Encarta

by Mahesh Kukreja on March 31, 2009

Microsoft Corp. is to exit its Encarta encyclopedia business later this year after losing ground over the years to freely available reference material on the Internet on web sites like Wikipedia.

“People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past,” the software maker said in a notice posted on its MSN website.

Microsoft, which axed 5,000 jobs earlier this year to cut costs and warned profit and revenue would fall over the next two quarters, said it would stop selling Encarta software products by June.

Encarta websites worldwide, except Encarta Japan, would be discontinued on October 31 and Encarta Japan will cease after December 31, the company said.

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Skype available for iPhone

by Mahesh Kukreja on March 30, 2009

Skype will begin offering its Skype for iPhone application on the App Store starting Tuesday. The company will officially announce the new app at the CTIA trade show in Las Vegas.

Using Skype for iPhone, users with an iPhone, or second generation iPod touch with a compatible headset and microphone, can make free Skype-to-Skype calls over Wi-Fi to other Skype users worldwide; have the ability to call landlines or mobile phone numbers (Skype calling rates apply); send and receive instant messages; receive calls to a personal online number on Skype; and see when your Skype contacts are online.

Scott Durchslag, Skype’s Chief Operating Officer, said that Skype for iPhone provides the same simplicity that the desktop app provides to its users.

Skype for iPhone will be a free download from the App Store.

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