flash

Real Networks has announced a new version of their RealPlayer today that will be available as a PC-only public Beta in June. The player allows users to download and organize nearly all embedded internet video content (Flash, WMV, QuickTime) including content from popular video sites like YouTube, Comedy Central, and of course, CNET. The player was demonstrated for me and actually looks pretty impressive. The new video download feature integrates fairly elegantly into your Web browser (yes, it works on Firefox). It works by temporarily displaying a small, fairly unobtrusive download tab in the right top corner of any video … Read more

You probably already know that the merchandising mania for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End has gone just a teeny bit over-the-top. Well, the tech tie-ins don't stop with skull-and-crossbones TVs: Pocket Lint claims to have found evidence of Pirates USB drives made by A-Data. Apparently, they'll come pre-loaded with wallpapers and other movie media goodies, and will be available in up to an 8GB capacity. Now that's some legit buried treasure.

However, there's no product page or pricing information yet. But considering the other sorts of Pirates tie-ins that we've already seen, … Read more

The Webware 100 is going strong, and if you're still in the voting mood, Digg has unveiled their list of 10 finalists for their API visualization contest, which can be voted on by--you guessed it--digging. Like Digg Expose, which I wrote about earlier this week (and is coincidentally a nominee), each of the finalists has found some really neat ways to play with Digg user data.

One of the most interesting aspects of this contest is the use of Adobe Apollo. Four of the 10 finalists' offerings are served up as Apollo apps, which is fairly impressive considering how … Read more

I'm a sucker for data visualizations. I waxed poetic about Swivel, the site that's attempting to make data charts accessible and useful, and the things that are coming out of Digg's labs from Stamen Design continue to innovate and change the way users can interact with social sites.

This afternoon I've been glued to "Diggspose" , a mashup made in Adobe Flash that combines Snap.com's preview shots of Web pages with popular and upcoming stories on Digg.com. The result is a moving picture show of story thumbnails you can click on and … Read more

This week in the Rafe & Tom Real Deal podcast: Silverlight. Real Deal fans sent some interesting and technical questions about the platform ahead of time, which Tom had good answers for. Check out the podcast here:

>>> Listen now <<<

Next Tuesday, we'll be discussing live streaming, and of course, we'll live-stream the recording session, at 3 p.m. Pacific Time next Tuesday. More details to come.

If you want to join the discussion ahead of time, head on over to the Real Deal forums or post a question here.

At JavaOne, Sun's James Gosling talked with CNET News.com's Stephen Shankland about the new application platform, JavaFX. Gosling talks a bit about how JavaFX will compare to Adobe's Flash and Microsoft's Silverlight.

See News.com for more on JavaFX

If you're a Web user wondering what to do about this three-way race, here's my advice: don't worry about it, but do prepare to be impressed. The competition among these three powerhouses is going to make for fantastic new apps, as the platform vendors struggle to one-up each other by building their most … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--When Sun announced its new JavaFX scripting language Tuesday at the JavaOne trade show here, it looked to some like the company was trying to re-create what's already being done more widely with Adobe Systems' Flash and that Microsoft hopes to accomplish with its Silverlight software.

But JavaFX, which is geared to make it easier to build flashy Web sites and Java desktop applications but which isn't yet released as a final product, stands out from those competitors, Sun Chief Executive Jonathan Schwartz argued at a news conference.

Java is already used on the servers that power … Read more

From News.com:

Sun Microsystems on Tuesday plans to introduce a friendlier way to write Java applications for consumer devices, an attempt to derive more profit from Java and stake a greater claim in the next generation of Web applications.

At the JavaOne conference in San Francisco, Sun's Executive Vice President of Software Rich Green, is expected to unveil JavaFX Script, a simpler scripting language for writing applications on Java-equipped desktop PCs and handheld devices.

Read the full story on CNET News.com.

A new week and a new MP3 player. This time it's Samsung causing our saliva glands to work overtime, with the unofficial announcement of the YP-U3. The U3 is a flash-based MP3 player and is the successor to the YP-U1 and YP-U2.

It comes in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB capacities and supports MP3, WMA and good old OGG-format music files. There's a built-in RDS FM radio (very nice indeed, Samsung), a built-in USB plug (less nice) and it still sports a trippy blue LED on one end (oh dear).

Samsung told us this morning the YP-U3 is … Read more