• On TechRepublic: Why VISTA HATERS will love Windows 7
May 14, 2008 9:01 PM PDT

Adobe set to test new Flash Player

by Mike Ricciuti

Adobe on Thursday is expected to launch a beta test program for the latest version of its Flash Player software.

Flash Player 10, developed under the code name Astro, includes better support for 3D animation and video hardware acceleration, among other improvements.

Adobe said that Flash Player 10 will now support custom visual effects, created with Adobe's free Pixel Bender tools. Developers can write code to create effects that can be rendered by Flash Player at runtime.

Developers can also now target code to render through graphics processors, speeding up performance and freeing CPU bandwidth, Adobe says.

The beta version of Flash Player 10 will be available from Adobe's Labs site.

Flash Player 10 will run on Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, Mac OS X and Linux.

Adobe said that some of the new features in Flash Player 10 will ultimately be incorporated into a future release of Adobe AIR and the Open Screen Project, Adobe's movement to create industry consensus around Flash-based technologies for mobile devices.

Mike Ricciuti joined CNET in 1996. He is now CNET News' Boston-based executive editor and east coast bureau chief, serving as department editor for business technology and software covered by CNET News, Reviews, and Download.com. E-mail Mike.
advertisement
Click here!
Recent posts from News Blog
Neil Young Archives Blu-ray: Rip off?
Acronis revises survey results about backup habits
Acronis miscalculates data on users' bad backup habits
Flickr co-founder presses beta button
Comcast, Sony open retail store
Cox to try coaxing the Internet into submission
Was InfoWorld's CTO of the Year award a year late?
VMWare VI4 renamed to vSphere
Add a Comment (Log in or register) (4 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
by AppleSuxLeo May 14, 2008 10:55 PM PDT
As I remember , Astro was a dog LOL
Reply to this comment
by adasha76 May 15, 2008 12:54 AM PDT
With 'better support for 3D animation and video hardware acceleration', where does this leave the newly resurrected Director?
Reply to this comment
by adasha76 May 15, 2008 12:56 AM PDT
With 'better support for 3D animation and video hardware acceleration', where does this leave the newly resurrected Director?
Reply to this comment
by libertyforall1776 May 15, 2008 8:29 AM PDT
Yawn! I can't wait to see Flash die -- it is the biggest web browser crasher for me. :-( SVG and H.264 are more likely the future replacements...
Reply to this comment
(4 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
advertisement

Making sense of Windows 7 upgrades

faq The basics and the fine print on Microsoft's options for those eyeing the next operating system from Redmond.
• Full Windows 7 coverage

Road Trip 2009: Big Sky Country

CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman takes his car full of gadgets to the Rockies and the Great Plains in search of tech, science, nature, and more.
• America's Fortress: Cheyenne Mountain

About News Blog

Recent posts on technology, trends, and more.

Add this feed to your online news reader

advertisement
advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right