‘FarmVille’ is shutting down for good on December 31st

After 11 years, FarmVille is closing its gates for good. The game will shut down on December 31st, developer Zynga announced. While most people probably don’t think of FarmVille too often anymore, the game did attract millions of users, so this chang...

Adobe Flash Player Sandboxed in Safari for OS X Mavericks


The App Sandbox from Apple is a haven and a heaven for Mavericks users. Via this specialized application Adobe can finally curtail the capacity of the plug-in to copy and transfer files. Also the...

Mozilla Replaces Flash Player with Shumway In Firefox Nightly


Removal of Adobe from Mozilla and Firefox has been an ongoing process. It was a thorn in the side of these two. Now that Shumway has come of age, things are about to change for the better. This bold...

Google touts improved Flash Player security in Chrome for Mac, says it’s safer than ever

Google touts improved Flash Player security in Chrome for Mac, says it's safer than ever

Needless to say, Adobe hasn't had the best of times when it comes to the overall reliability of its Flash Player on Apple-made devices -- so much so that Steve Jobs took it upon himself to write some thoughts about it a couple of years ago. Thanks to Google, though, Adobe can proudly say it's famed Flash Player is now more secure than it's ever been -- well, at least on Chrome. According to Google, both companies have been working closely since 2010 to find ways to improve the security aspects of the famed plug-in, noting that some of the most recent enhancements can now be found in the latest Stable release of the browser -- in which a novel plug-in architecture is used, allowing Flash to run "inside a sandbox that's as strong as Chrome's native sandbox." The Flash plug-in improvements within Chrome aren't just for Mac users, however, as Google has said Adobe's Player is now fully sandboxed on Windows, Linux and, of course, its own Chrome OS as well.

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Google touts improved Flash Player security in Chrome for Mac, says it's safer than ever originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Nov 2012 02:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BBC Media Player to give Android users their iPlayer fix in a mostly Flashless world

BBC Media Player to give Android users their iPlayer fix in a Flashless world

Remember how the BBC was asking Adobe to keep Flash for Android on life support for a short while? The broadcaster just removed any doubts as to why with the launch of BBC Media Player, its solution for that day when the mobile plugin is well and truly buried. Starting with iPlayer on the mobile web and moving on to both radio as well as an updated version of the Android app due next week, the BBC will be using close Flash cousin Adobe AIR for streaming playback on Android phones and tablets. It can't quit Flash technology cold turkey given the sheer number of devices still running Gingerbread or earlier, which rules out HTTP Live Streaming for now. Media Player isn't necessarily the most elegant solution -- we're seeing reports of sub-par video and other hiccups -- but it will keep those episodes of Doctor Who rolling on most Android hardware and let the BBC push out updates that address as many of the Google-inclined as possible.

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BBC Media Player to give Android users their iPlayer fix in a mostly Flashless world originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 15:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Chrome for Windows gets more secure Flash player, gives users a browsing sandbox safety net

Google Chrome for Windows gets more secure Flash player, gives users a browsing sandbox safety netChrome turned 21 last week, and in that new version, Google's made playing Flash videos in its browser even safer... for Windows users, anyway. This latest release puts Adobe's Flash Player plug-in for Windows in a sandbox, much as Chrome 20 did for Linux. This sandbox is "as strong" as Chrome's extremely robust native version -- even in Windows XP -- which means that Flash-borne malware can't hurt Microsofties. Securing the Flash Player plug-in is the result of two years of work, and was made possible by a new plug-in architecture Google co-developed with Adobe. In addition to the security benefits, the architecture has also brought performance improvements by way of a 20 percent decrease in Flash crashes and GPU acceleration for smoother scrolling and faster Flash rendering. And, while the immediate good news is for Windows users, Google has assured us that a port for OS X is in the works, and it hopes to ship that Mac version soon.

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Google Chrome for Windows gets more secure Flash player, gives users a browsing sandbox safety net originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Aug 2012 19:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Third betas of Adobe Flash 11.3, AIR 3.3 give peeks at low-lag audio and deeper iOS support

Adobe Flash Platform

Adobe's famous desktop browser plugin may be looking forward to a 2013 overhaul, but that doesn't mean it isn't out to improve itself in the here and now. Flash Player's 11.3 beta, for instance, rolls in low latency audio support through NetStream, designed specifically to cut back audio lag in cloud gaming. The beta also introduces support for complete keyboard control when in full-screen mode, background Flash updating on Macs, and a Protected Mode for Firefox that keeps rogue Flash files from compromising Windows PCs using Vista or later.

The AIR 3.3 beta, on the other hand, smooths the runtime's iOS experience, allowing compiled apps to run in the background more like their natively-compiled siblings. It's also friendlier to developers, with new USB debugging and simulator support that now doesn't require a physical device. Android 4.0 users aren't entirely left out, getting stylus support for AIR apps on their platform. Adobe hasn't said when the finished versions of Flash 11.3 and AIR 3.3 will reach its servers, but if you're willing to live life on the bleeding edge, you can find the download links below.

Third betas of Adobe Flash 11.3, AIR 3.3 give peeks at low-lag audio and deeper iOS support originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 May 2012 08:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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