Where is Adobe in Google's OMHA?

This week saw the big announcement from Google relating to the upcoming Google Phone, where they discussed the Open Mobile Handset Alliance. Basically it is the group of companies (set to grow I imagine over time) that are wolrking on solutions for the Google Phone's open hardware/software platform.

One noticeable name not on the list (noticeable to me anyway) is Adobe.

I would have thought that given the amount of time this whole Google Phone thing has been gearing up, and the prospect of a mobile device from one of the largest companies in the world (not to mention a seemingly more open platform to work with), that Adobe would have been all over this from the point of view of making sure that this thing is Flash/Flash Lite enabled.

I don't profess to have indepth knowledge of how Adobe's internal decisions are made at this level, because this is a much higher level than most Flash Lite developers generally appreciate. But I would hate it if next year at the MAX conference, people were walking around with their Google Phones and the MaD team were having to field the question, "so why doesn't it have Flash on it?" like they did this year with the iPhone.

Maybe they ARE all over it and just haven't formally announced anything yet - all of which is perfectly acceptable. It would have been nice though to see the red and white logo there at the time of the OMHA unveiling for some "market confidence".

Casual games help reduce stress

Maybe for the players - certainly not for developers :) PopCap have done a stress test study to measure the effects of casual gaming on stress levels.

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/63117,casual-games-help-reduce-stress.aspx

Best Practices: Designing & Developing content for the Sony PSP using Adobe Flash software

There's a new Adobe eSeimar coming up that we wanted to tell you all about:

Best Practices: Designing & Developing content for the Sony PSP using Adobe Flash software

Presented by Chris Blair and Jeff Nusz, Zodal (NZ)
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
1:00 P.M. PDT

There are many new opportunities to be found in delivering software services, content, and entertainment to your audience through screen-based devices supporting Adobe® Flash® and Adobe Flash Lite™ software. For game developers, support for content created using Adobe Flash on Sony's PSP® (PlayStation® Portable) game console is a great way to reach a new, diverse, and ever-growing pool of consumers on the go.

Using examples from fun games developed by Zodal, Chris Blair and Jeff Musz will demonstrate the PSP's strengths, limitations, and unique quirks that game designers and developers need to understand before creating content for it. They will look at specific techniques for maximizing the PSP's resources based on experience developing mobile games with Flash Lite 1.1 and Flash Lite 2.1 technology. They will also look at strategies for developing cross-platform games targeted across desktops, mobile phones, and portable devices such as the Sony PSP.

What you'll learn by attending this webinar:

• The nuances in creating content for the Sony PSP using Flash Lite software
• How to manage and maximize the resources available on the PSP vis-à-vis Flash Lite
• How to reach new audiences as a games developer
• How to create cross-platform games from desktop and mobile devices to portable electronic devices

REGISTER HERE

Also, attend an eSeminar and you'll be entered to win a copy of Adobe Flash Professional CS3 or an iriver™ Clix!

Adobe AIR (Apollo) is available on Labs

Well, Apollo has moved out of alpha and the new beta has a new name, presumably what it will now be called for release - Adobe AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime). AIR is now available for download from Adobe Labs and should continue to give developers tools to press claims for the desktop space. No more mention about how this might eventually cross onto the mobile space through.

Some quick eyes and wits on various lists have already pointed out that a) AIR is RIA backwards (oohhh spooky!), b) Adobe has moved into the holy grail of software sales, where they really do make money from selling "air".

Ahh IT professionals, so hillarious, so insightful. No wonder we spend too much time on Twitter and not enough time with real people :)

MS "Surface" reognises T-mobile handset

Take a look at this article on Microsoft's new table-top "Surface" computer with something heading towards the "Minority Report" interface we all loved. Click on the video link on the right to see a Reuters video, and watch right to the end. There you'll see a very short clip of someone putting their mobile down on the table-top, and right where they put it, a T-mobile "My Favs" menu opens up around the phone. Now whether it can REALLY do that or if it was just a "smoke and mirrors" demo thing, that's pretty cool.

Hutchison triggers 3G price war

I blogged about this a little while ago, but the reality is finally coming to our shores - capped mobile data plans. Thanks to Hutchison, the telco market here is going to go into a spin trying to compete with mobile data rates ... when someone's paying $15/Mb on Telstra, how will they feel when their mate is only paying $30/month for 1Gb on Hutshison?

The new 3 service, called X-Series, has three levels of flat-rate pricing
starting at $20 monthly for 500MB of data, followed by a $30 monthly 1GB plan
and finishing with a 2GB plan for $40 monthly.

Thank God!

Release the CS3 Beast!

The Adobe CS3 software packages have been released with much fanfare and anticipation. It'll be in store starting from April, but today /tonight there gave been videocasts being broadcast all over the place to see the launch event first hand.

One of the cooler aspects for me is of course Device Central CS3 which forms a central piece of many of the new CS3 packages. See your content developed in Flash, Dreamweaver or Photoshop displayed and tested in context of over 200 devices (list updated quarterly as per current "Device Updates"). Flash Lite takes a big spotlight here and that's only a good thing.

And so begins what is the biggest software release undertaken by Adobe!

Article on Wharton - Steve Jobs' Most Recent Vision for the Future: A World without DRM

An interesting article over at Wharton on the debate that Steve Jobs has brought attention to - to DRM or not to DRM. While related mainly to music, I think it's relevant for Flash Lite / mobile content developers who encounter this in their business. Is it the shadow of the "free for all" web being cast over an industry (mobile /.electronic content) that has pretty much been locked down and user-pays from the start? Time will tell ...

Builder.AU article on the Aussie mobile scene - featuring Moket

There's a new article on Builder.AU that looks at the current (and future) trends and technologies in the Australian mobile landscape - The Mobile Future. I was interviewed for the article to give a perspective on Flash Lite and where Moket fits into the scene here.

Also an interesting read is the Australian Mobile Development Landscape which looks at some of the big players here and where mobile is headed.

Despite what many people think, we're not all that far behind things down here in Oz!

Touchscreen from hell

via Wayne ... this may have made it's way around the blogosphere before, I seem to remember someone talking about the interface from Minority Report becoming a reality, but thought it would be worth posting about. This is like the upcoming iPhone Multi-Touch touchscreen interface on steroids ...

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid271543545/bctid422563006

The Google Monster

Google has reported more than a billion dollars in profit in the final quarter of 2006, beating the market's high expectations for the superstar internet search engine.

If anyone had doubts that another tech boom was on it's way, perhapd they should think again. In fact maybe it's already here? The big boys just keep getting bigger ... maybe this time the bubble won't burst so dramatically.

Read article here

Not everyone's happy with the iPhone

Well, at least not happy with the NAME. Seems Cisco are a little unhappy with Mr Jobs going ahead and announcing a product called "iPhone" while they were still in negotiatons over the use of the trademarked name - owned by Cisco.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21042507%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html

A Glalaxy Far Far Away

Some amazing new photos from the Hubble. Someone has overly developed sense for the spectacular!

Sir, it's a Mr Jobs on the iPhone ...

Well the wait is finally over hey? How many people started to believe that the iPhone was all just a big bad rumour that would never actually materialise into anything? Probably quite a few - the Apple PR machine did such a great job of managing the hype around this one that when the device was announced at Macworld (see video of the keynote here), the squeals of delight (yes, I actually heard squeals from the audience) from the Mac faithful could be heard from the ISS.

So what can we expect? From what I can tell, a pretty cool device that does just about everything. The Multi-Touch system will need to be played with before we can pass judgement obviously, but the idea of multiple touches working together to perform actions sounds pretty sweet. Jobsy's comment about the mobile UI these days being too restrictive because the handset buttons and controls are always in the same place ... well ... I can hear UI designers groaning a litle already. This will be a major shift for mobile developers and one that will take quite a while to fully establish itself. I mean, there are definitiely pros for having a defined set of UI rules that the user is comfortable using. Muscle memory is a powerful thing!

The connection with iTunes for the delivery content will now have to evolve to include software and content as well as music and video. It's Apple's own aggregation system with millions of already dedicated users. I remember talking about a year ago to some Adobe folks about iriver u10 had a difficult (or non-existant) business model for selling FL content because the companion iTunes-like software didn't allow for the transfer of SWF's, only music and videos. Once iTunes moves into that space for the iPhone, it'll be a killer.

I'll be very interested to see what the relationships are like with the carriers ... do they unlock the device for use with multiple networks? Do they operate their own Apple MVNO using Cingular? Time will tell. As it will also for possible Flash support. Discussion is already hotting up over Flash player verisons, Flash Lite, Flex, etc ... I have no idea and I don't think anyone else will for some time to come. I will say this though - the functionality that is being demonstrated for the "phone" part of the device is pretty cool.

If one thing is certain though, it's that Apple knows how to build hype and then cash in on it. So watch out smartphone market ... iPhone is coming.

More information on the iPhone site

Are the garden walls starting to crumble?

It's been one of the main gripes against telcos (at least here in Australia) - that the walled garden approach to controlling the customer is too restrictive and has hampered the uptaked of mobile content and services. So too has been the over pricing of these services in am emerging market where lower consumer costs might have helped the small number of 3G users actually try and get more from their devices.

But it seems that at least one Aussie telco is starting to move towards a more open and competitive mobile playing field.

It's long been the opinion of many of my colleagues that once the walled garden approach to customer control .. uh .. relationship management .. comes down, then we'll really start to see some of the promise of the 3G networks realised. I'm sure there are plenty of Flash Lite developers out there who would like to see the carrier cut out of things a little more, since they're reticence to adopt the Flash Lite platform has been a major hurdle to the development of the next generation of Flash mobile applications.

Time will tell of course, but perhaps we're moving in the right direction. Read more here

The Human Nature of Console Gamers

I'm sure this report isn't indicative of all gamers out there, but man can these guys get worked up over a new console! The launch of the PS3 in the US has been met with everything from long lines, crooked politicians and gun fire. Just your average product launch at Wal*Mart ?! Read the report here