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Adobe releases Flash 11, AIR 3.0

When Apple introduced the iPhone and iOS, it pushed for the adoption of HTML5 as an alternative to and replacement for Adobe Flash, stating that the plug-in is clunky, lacking in features, and not advancing. Since then, Adobe has buckled down and implemented a number of enhancements in Flash and its latest releases have brought massive speed and feature improvements. Today, Adobe has furthered this effort with the release of Flash Player 11 and AIR 3.0. You can also grab the updates manually from CNET Download.com: Flash Player 11 for Windows | Mac; and AIR 3 for Windows | Mac.

With these latest releases Adobe is bringing highly accelerated graphics support to the platform. According to Adobe, the new Stage3D technology in the new Flash Player brings combined 2D and 3D acceleration that is up to 1,000 times faster than the previous Flash and AIR iterations. While currently Stage3D is supported only for personal computers, it should make its way to mobile devices in future Flash releases.

The advancements offered by Stage3D should bring far more complex graphics development for the player, and allow some developers to use it as a viable alternative for their projects, especially for cross-platform efforts.… Read more

Toshiba Canvio portable drives get USB 3.0, cloud backup

Toshiba announced today the updated version of its Canvio portable drive, which now comes with USB 3.0 and cloud backup capability. The original version of the drive was announced more than a year ago and offers only USB 2.0 connectivity.

The Canvio 3.0 drive is available now in three capacities, 500GB, 750GB, and 1TB, which cost $90, $110, and $140, respectively. The drive is preloaded with NTI BackupNow EZ software for Windows, which enables users to back up both to the portable drive and to the cloud. Toshiba says the software will scan a computer automatically for important documents and recommend which files to back up to the cloud and which to back up to the directly connected portable storage device. It's unclear, however, if the online storage is free, and if so how much storage is included with the drive.

Toshiba also announced that its entry-level Canvio Basics storage drive now comes with USB 3.0, too. The Canvio Basics 3.0 is also available now in 500GB, 750GB, and 1TB versions that each cost $10 less than the Canvio 3.0 of the same capacity.… Read more

The worst-sounding audio product

I've heard a lot of really bad-sounding audio products over the years, but most of them were so awful they suffered a natural and well-deserved "death." Take for example the $499 Gateway KAS-103 home theater in a box system that debuted in 2003. I had the "pleasure" of reviewing this attractive system, but it sounded so bad I was duty bound to try another sample, which was equally dreadful. There was absolutely no blend between the sound of the subwoofer and the tiny satellite speakers, the high levels of background static were impossible to ignore, … Read more

Intel next-gen chip to support key Apple tech

Intel's next-generation processor is expected to add support for a key OS X technology that accelerates gaming and financial applications. That potentially means a more powerful MacBook Air in the future.

Listed as a "core" OS X technology, OpenCL "dramatically accelerates" applications by tapping into the special processing power of the graphics processing unit (GPU), according to Apple. It taps into what an Apple developer page states as the "the amazing parallel computing power of the GPU."

GPU-centric acceleration can be used for financial modeling, accounting applications, analysis on large media files, games, and media applications. In general, the GPU is much better than the CPU (central processing unit) at certain types of computations--thus the necessity of GPUs in games. … Read more

Intel's Ivy Bridge chip packs understated goodies

Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge processor will pack two key--some might say essential--technologies that will make it the platform of choice for Ultrabooks. Hint: one of them is not Thunderbolt--the widely publicized connection technology that is now part of the entire Apple MacBook lineup.

For the uninitiated, Ivy Bridge is Intel's next-gen processor that is being manufactured now and is due to land in laptops by the first quarter of next year. It will have more powerful graphics silicon than the current Sandy Bridge chip and offer improved power saving features to boost battery life.

But those marquee features … Read more

Intel to focus on Ultrabooks, Windows 8 at forum

Intel will put its large spotlight on Ultrabook laptops and Windows 8, among other technologies, at its annual developer conference next week.

In a keynote on September 14, Mooly Eden, general manager of the PC client group at Intel, will describe the "transformation of the PC" being driven by Ultrabooks at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), according to an overview of the forum CNET received from Intel today. IDF begins next Tuesday.

Ultrabooks are very light, very thin Windows laptops that compete with the MacBook Air. The core hardware includes Intel second-generation "Sandy Bridge" processors and … Read more

The 404 897: Where you both owe me 14 bucks (podcast)

Remember the story we told you last week about the woman who spent $180 on what turned out to be a wooden Apple iPad? It happened again! In the same city! There's a lesson to be learned in all of this, and that lesson is to never trust anyone with more than four gold teeth.

Same rule goes for mustaches, and Google's celebrating Freddie Mercury's 65th birthday with a Web app that lets you add a mustache to every face on the Internet! We'll demo it today using someone else's face, however, since none of us are creepy enough to grow our own mustache.

We'll also talk about Amazon.com-branded delivery lockers popping up in select 7-Eleven stores, adding fuel to the fires already burning through the United States Postal Service, and introduce a new photo caption segment that Wilson cooked up over the weekend.

The 404 Digest for Episode 897

This is why Jeff and Wilson owe me 14 bones. After the $180 wooden iPad comes the $250 paper laptop (same city). Google honors Freddie Mercury with Mustachify.me. Google doodles a complex piece for Freddie Mercury. Amazon starts putting the USPS out of work, one 7-Eleven at a time. The U.S. Post Office says a winter shutdown is possible. Did somebody ask for pizza on a bullet-capsule to the moon? Check out this 404 photoshop, courtesy of Captain Carlos! Join The 404 Facebook Group! Add The 404 on Twitter, and while you're logged in, follow Jeff, Wilson, and Justin too!

Episode 897 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Fix up your photos with Digital Image Tool

The hassle of rotating, resizing, renaming, and otherwise adjusting digital images before sharing them online is sometimes enough to make us leave our images languishing on our memory cards. Fortunately, there are plenty of free programs that can simplify this process. Digital Image Tool is a sleek application that lets you make basic formatting changes to your images and looks good doing it.

The program's interface is done in attractive shades of gray, with an intuitive and contemporary layout. You can select batches of images to work with, and the program's major features--resize, watermark, tag images, and rename--are … Read more

Decrypt files with Abylon's free Reader

PC security is more important than ever, and a growing number of software makers and PC users are employing encryption, digital certificates, and other means of verifying the authenticity of files and programs. Security software maker Abylon's Reader is a free Explorer plug-in that can verify, decrypt, and unpack a wide range of signed and encrypted files, including CR2, CRP, PK7, P7M, and VSP7 files. It also offers secure delete, a certificates manager, a tool for creating your own certificates, and smart card support, all directly from context menus in Windows.

Reader opened with a test certificate included for … Read more