If anyone has seen the previews for Flash 10.1 it is very exciting. One medium for playing videos, games, animations, ads, navigators, … working across all platforms, except Apple.

Using Flash can bring down the cost of developing mobile apps. There are currently 5 major app stores for mobile devices; Palm, Microsoft, Google, Apple and Blackberry. As things are right now you would have to make an app in each market (using different languages and technology) to reach the entire mobile audience, but Flash 10.1 will change this.

Flash 10.1 is set to run on everything; netbooks, tablets, computers and smartphones. So every site that works on your computer will also work on any internet connected device if it supports Flash 10.1. Flash 10.1 is also GPU (hardware) accelerated, so animations and video will run extremely fast even on lower priced hardware. This also brings me to question if Adobe CS5 will also have 3d rendering with openGL or DirectX. Flash 10.1: Full Flash for Everyone But iPhone, Actually Playable HD Vids

The exception will be any of Apple’s mobile devices which are unfortunately becoming the IE6 of mobile devices. They hold just enough market share to have to support them, but don’t play nice with everything else out there. Some companies are falling back to HTML5 when encountering a devices from Apple, others are turning to apps. This is a major inconvenience to have to spend extra time and money to develop something specifically for 24% of the smartphone market.

HTML5 is nice for video, but if you support HTML5 with h.264 video then you choose to not support anyone using Firefox (50% of internet users). Also features that can be done on Flash; multi-bitrate streaming, full screen, embeddable video, video ads, overlays, hotspots and interactions are not available. So HTML5 can not be used alone, but only in combination with another technology. If you want to see more about HTML5 you can view my other post for more information.

Fortunately for everyone Adobe has an answer that will save time and money. If you created a mobile application in Flash 10.1 it will not run on Apple, or will it? With the new Adobe CS5 Suite you can now export Flash to an iPhone app. So you will be able to build an app to run on everything with one technology.

There is an example below of Flash application that was built by the New York Times for a mobile site. It can also be exported as an iPhone app, submitted to the store where it will undergo a 2-6 week approval process, hopefully be accepted then can be used as a fallback for the mobile site. The development costs will be lower and the user experience will be consistent across all platforms.

Here are a couple more examples of Flash 10.1:

Flash Player 10.1 prerelease software demos and interviews

Packager for iPhone Examples

I guess only time will tell if Apple will adopt Flash or if it will affect Adobe or Apple’s market shares.

Posted by Beau Durrant

Devices from futuristic television shows are becoming a reality and this year the focus is on the PADD.

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/PADD

A PADD (Personal Access Display Device – coined from Star Trek) is a hand held touch screen device that displays information and preforms various tasks. The devices available to consumers will not be able to open doors, read oxygen levels or complete transactions with a finger print reading, but they are excellent for a quick update on news, checking your email, watching videos or playing a casual game.

Many companies have released or will be releasing their version of a PADD this year. Each one has different features and price ranges, so if this interests you I would recommend taking the time to find the one in your price range that will fill your needs.

Apple iPad

Google Tablet

HP Slate

Notion Ink Tablet (ADAM)

Freescale Tablet

Asus Eee Tablet

ICD Vega

Compal Tablet

Microsoft Courier

Firstview CE/Android Tablets

Pierre Cardin Tablet

MSI

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/08/msi-shows-off-10-inch-android-tablet-running-new-tegra-chipset/

Dell Streak

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/07/dell-teases-audiences-with-a-peek-at-its-upcoming-slates/

Quanta

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/08/quanta-tegra-2-prototype-hands-on/

Posted by Beau Durrant

What is Google Buzz?

Google Buzz is a new social network powered by Google.

Similar to Twitter you can follow people and have them follow you, reading and posting constant streams of real time updates. But that’s just the start … there’s the ability to add images and videos, comments, like and share posts/statuses. Integrate your favourite sites and Google Apps together in one place and do everything from your desktop, notebook or mobile device.

There have been many reactions to Buzz in a short period of time both good and bad. Many concerns about privacy, automatic opt-in from Gmail, features and uses.

Google Buzz had made a huge impact in less than a week, only time will tell what is to come in the future.

We have our Google profile set up with Buzz. We haven’t used our Gmail account a lot in the past but will be expanding on it and using it a little more to test this new social media resource.

Tools & Integration

Migrate your Twitter Contacts to Google Buzz
*Beta Code: p4rtr1dg39405

My Tweeple matches Twitter Profiles with Google Buzz Profiles

View Google Buzz Mobile From Your Desktop & Android 1.5+
@Brandon Partridge

How to Send Google Buzz Posts to Twitter
@Darren Humphries

Ping.fm already updates Google Buzz instantly from txt, apps, email …
@Seesmic

HOW TO: Integrate Google Buzz Into Your WordPress Blog
@Christina Warren

HOW TO: Make a Google Buzz Desktop App
@Christina Warren

HOW TO: Integrate Facebook, Twitter, and Buzz into Your Gmail
@Ben Parr

Buzz off: Disabling Google Buzz
@Jessica Dolcourt

Posted by Beau Durrant

The risks organizations run in not embracing new trends in social media don’t seem great at first glance.

On the surface, there is very little fear felt for those missing out on a few Facebook fans. The time spent not tweeting is re-invested into core business strategy or customer service and becomes a well-played investment for most anti-social enterprises.

This philosophy may not be as stable an investment as most may think. The ability to be agile and responsive across social networks is a major asset in today’s marketplace. Knowing how and when to interact may be the difference between dodging a bullet and facing a very public catastrophe.

Recently a few large organizations have learned a lesson in social media negligence the hard way.

January 2010 was a difficult month for H&M, a major clothing retailer. On January 5th, The New York Times ran a story detailing the discovery of bags of purposely destroyed clothes in an alley behind an H&M store in New York City. The clothes were sliced,  ripped and discarded as unsold inventory. Later that day, H&M was the top trending topic on Twitter as people trashed H&M’s decision to destroy clothing especially as many people suffer through difficult economic times.

H&M did not offer much of a response to the social uproar, besides a short apology through traditional media. H&M’s Twitter feed was corporate and cold in it’s own defense. Five tweets in total were issued on the matter. All linked to non-related pages on their corporate website, one asked for e-mail feedback, and another to an official response but was a broken link.

Currently, with no social media response, the blogosphere remains a one-sided indictment of a company’s poor corporate responsibility decisions. Without a response, reputation will continue to be negatively affected and only time will tell if profits will be influenced.

Ideally any response from H&M could have been presented in a social medium that people prefer to use. A blog post would have been ideal and working links to this post from their Twitter account would also have been very useful.

Any subsequent follow-up posts or tweets on the subject would have also been seen as meaningful attempts to reach the social sphere.

Is your organization ready to react to crisis in a social environment?

Catching the buzz of social media now will not only equip you to respond if disaster strikes but who knows, maybe you’ll profit from your involvement in the short-term as well.

Posted by Neil Gilbert