I say almost, because there was still some noticeable frame dropping. But still, I could actually watch HD flash video (windowed and full-screen) without it stuttering like a slideshow. One issue with YouTube: the CPU pretty much went into overload once the video was playing, and on the third viewing I had to Force Quit Firefox to wrestle back control.

But this is good news for hackintoshes, and netbooks in general. This is not hardware GPU acceleration (limited to Windows right now), it just seems to be better CPU usage. Earlier today I also posted about AnandTech's Flash 10.1 CPU-utilization tests: they still noticed improvements under OS X, too. If you've given Flash 10.1 a try, post a comment here so other readers can see what sort of netbook you have, and if it's worth trying.

For the record, my MSI Wind U100 has 2GB of memory, a 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor, and integrated Intel 945 graphics. (Pic above is of the Dell Mini 9).

I took the same [480p Hulu] Office clip I'd been using for all of the other tests and ran it on my Mac Pro at full screen (2560 x 1600)….Going from roughly 450% down to 190% (or a bit over 10% of total CPU utilization across 16 threads) made full-screen Hulu playable on my machine. In the past I always had to run it in a smaller window, but thanks to Flash 10.1 I don't have to any longer.

Meanwhile, Nvidia Ion-accelerated video was deemed "almost perfect." Just take a look at the table. CPU-utilization of 70% generally makes video unwatchable, but updating to Flash 10.1 made full screen high-def (1920 by 1200) Hulu a smooth stream on the Ion test system.

ATI chips and integrated Intel graphics ran into a few problems, but they've been attributed to the Flash 10.1 player still being a beta. I recommend giving the full test info a read over at: [AnandTech | Flash 10.1 Download]

This is, to be clear, just the desktop version of Flash 10.1—the full-fledged Flash for Android, webOS, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile is still a ways down the pipe. It's worth getting excited over anyway, since I've watched an HP Mini 311 with an Ion graphics chip tear through an HD YouTube clip without breaking a sweat. For now, graphics acceleration is limited to Windows, unfortunately. But still, perfect timing, really, since YouTube's launching 1080p video this week (perhaps not so coincidentally).

The new version of AIR acts more like a native app, with full support for mass storage, multitouch gesture support, communication with actual native apps, and access to USB peripherals, p2p networking, and faster WebKit rendering, among other perks for developers. Maybe I'll stop hating it so much now.

They're both in beta, but god knows, they can't be any crashier or resource-whoring than anything else Adobe's foisted upon the internet. [Adobe via TechCrunch]

We've been working on it for the last few weeks. This is sort of the prelude of offering Plus members iPhone support; and in the future, an app. In the future, like the next several weeks—maybe longer, we'll be offering Plus users the option to transcode their videos to an iPhone version too."

Sounds good, but don't forget that with Flash 10.1 on the way, pretty much every phone (including Android handsets, not just the Hero) should get Flash support around mid-next year. Wild guess: except for the iPhone, probably. Ugh. [CNET]

Using the next version of Flash Authoring—which is now in private beta—developers will be able to turn any Flash app or widget into an iPhone/iPod touch application. Some apps will require optimization, taking into account the iPhone's hardware limitations and its multi-touch user interface conventions:

The iPhone has a significantly slower processor and less memory than what can be found in a typical desktop computer. As such, existing content may need to be optimized for performance, and / or user interactions (given the smaller screen and different UI metaphors).

However, publishers will be able to easily adjust their existing code at a small cost, developing a full app that would be available at the App Store. While this doesn't fix the lack of Flash in Safari—which Chambers says they are still working on—it's a huge advance. Just imagine Web publishers creating iPhone-capable versions of their sites—or part of them—which would feed on the same online data as their browser-based counterparts.

Now, if Adobe introduced a Flash video player, and Apple enabled Safari to recognize Flash video like they do now with YouTube H.234 material, everything would be fine. [Flash apps for iPhone and Mike Chambers]

The dates correspond with the beginning and end of the Adobe MAX conference, where Naraye says the beta will first become available. The release will be a much bigger day for Android and WebOS, which, unlike WinMo and Symbian, don't have (decent) existing solutions for Flash video such as Skyfire or Bolt Browser, though it's not clear exactly how Adobe will approach optimization. Flash compatibility, as any N95 user can attest, isn't worth much when a simple YouTube video bring your phone to its knees.

As for the notably absent mention of iPhone development, we can only assume it's still happening, albeit at the same relaxed pace it's been sustaining since 2008. [Android Guys]

The announcement comes in two parts: one from Nvidia; one from Broadcom. Both promise full hardware acceleration for Flash video, primarily by means of upgrades to Adobe's plugin, guaranteeing smooth playback of HD flash video. Perhaps more importantly, this also means much, much lower CPU usage during regular video playback.

The reason behind this two-pronged announcement strategy, unfortunately, is that the first wave of optimization will only benefit hardware based on either Nvidia's powerhouse Tegra solution, or Atom netbooks which have Broadcom's Crystal HD video accelerator add-on, which must either be installed by the OEM (rare) or plugged into a PCI-E Mini port or ExpressCard port. In other words, current-gen netbooks, based on Intel's chipsets, are kinda left out in the cold, unless Adobe pulls a surprise out of their hat in the next few months.

We won't see this Flash upgrade for Atom until "the first half of 2010", though the release hints the Tegra will support it from the get-go. It's a step in the right direction, but not a huge one.

Products we've seen to date—namely the Intel Media Processor, Yahoo! Connected TV platform and smattering of proprietary connected sets—have offered up a taste of what Flash support means for TVs, albeit through often-clumsy widget systems and the tolerable Flash Lite. Now—through another offshoot of its Open Screen Initiative—Adobe wants to expand Flash support to all kinds of hardware, in what looks like a bid to set a new VOD standard, inking deals with companies as diverse as Comcast, Broadcom, Netflix and Intel.

In theory, this means we'll see a wave of Flash-enabled DVRs, set-top boxes and HDTVs by the middle of this year, and they told us you'll see new Flash applications for the framework early next. Since Yahoo actually uses Flash in their own widget framework for TVs, they're not exactly competing—Adobe wins either way. Adobe's goal is to be just as ubiquitous on embedded devices as it is on computers connected to the web: Over 90 percent have the Flash plug-in installed.

The above is just one concept of how a Flash-based UI could look. Hulu just inched closer to millions of living rooms, and there's really no downside to that. [NYT]

We've no idea from the press release whether or not Flash will be usable on the G1 that's already available, but it seems like the next phone (the G2?) should almost certainly, definitely, probably, most likely have it. Maybe. [Bsquare via Engadget]

Flash was confirmed to Newsweek's Dan Lyons weeks ago, but now they're being open about the support.

Palm has joined Adobe's Open Screen Project—an industry initiative designed to bring full web browsing and Flash-based apps to televisions, desktops and mobile devices. So, by definition, this will not only bring a complete web-browsing experience to the Palm Pre, it could also result in the development of standalone Flash apps for the webOS platform. The Flash player for smartphones is expected to be released by the end of the year. [BusinessWire]

Adobe and Intel aren't being coy about their intentions, saying that their partnership—set to bear fruit by the middle of the year—will bring a “richer and more seamless web-based and video viewing experience” to users of CE 3100-based HDTVs, set-top boxes and Blu-ray players.

Judging by this morning's news alone, 2009 (starting with CES, no doubt) is shaping up to be the year that all our TVs jumped on to the internet, for better or for worse. [Register]

First, they're customizing the compiler specifically for the ARMv6 and ARMv7 processors, which will help speed up and smooth out communications between the processor and the app. Second, they're going to take advantage of the graphics subprocessors found in some ARM chips. Flash on desktops isn't optimized for any sort of graphics processor, but taking advantage of this on a mobile platform will not only help with the workload, but it will improve battery life at the same time. Lastly, they're making video compression and decompression better suited for the processors, so that it requires less horsepower.

It should come as no huge surprise that Adobe says Flash 10 will be running on ARM devices by next year, considering that they already announced plans for the software on the iPhone and G1. It will not only make it easier to view sites with rich web content, but it will also be easier to view and upload flash videos, and run flash-based apps. [MIT Technology Review]

We are working on Flash on the iPhone, but it is really up to Apple.

This is pretty disheartening, especially when you consider that Adobe has previously claimed that Flash for the iPhone could be out in "a very short time" if Apple gave the green light. CPU load, battery life, video performance and reluctance to open up their browser to plugins could all be issues at play here, but they're not necessarily dealbreakers, and certainly not unique to the iPhone. Taking into account Apple's recent bout of surprise stubbornness, it looks like it might just be time to just, you know, move on. [MobileCrunch]

The bad news is that that's pretty much what the situation was a few months ago, so that's not really saying a whole lot. If it's spiffy enough to match Steve's criticisms, then maybe there's some hope, but the ball is in Apple's court, and it's been gathering dust there for a while. [AppleInsider]

The big steps Adobe is going to take to make this work are:

- Removing restrictions on use of the SWF and FLV/F4V specifications
- Publishing the device porting layer APIs for Adobe Flash Player
- Publishing the Adobe Flash® Cast™ protocol and the AMF protocol for robust data services
- Removing licensing fees - making next major releases of Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR for devices free

Adobe's also throwing in the AIR platform as well, which is "the next-generation RIA runtime for the desktop, supporting HTML, Ajax, Adobe Flash technology and PDF." [Adobe]

You'll recall Apple's celebrated announcement of YouTube support. However, the fine print suggested you couldn't get all YouTube video, but only those that had been rolled over to the Apple-favored H.264 video codec.

Although this was arguably a technical hurdle, Archos had just announced and demonstrated a Wi-Fi media player that could easily browse YouTube, and queue up any video on the site, using an Opera browser with Flash plug-in. Did the Archos 605 have that much more processing muscle? Teardowns of the iPhone have revealed a sufficiently sturdy ARM processor, so we think it's doubtful.

My suspicion is that a Flash-friendly iPhone wasn't good leverage to convince Google to adopt the H.264 codec crucial to the YouTubin' success of the browserless Apple TV platform. By giving YouTube special favoritism in the iPhone launch, Apple got Google to do its codec swaperoo. But people have demanded more, because this isn't just about YouTube. People want Flash for non video stuff, too. (Games, websites that choose to unwisely use it for their entire menu structure)

A more simple and therefore probably reason is that Apple and Adobe didn't have enough time to build it into the phone. Not an issue, since firmware every quarter, flush with features, is the way gadgets roll these days. (Zune, Xbox, Wii.)

The man who ought to know, Walt Mossberg, says that Flash will come as a simple software update, answering our question about technical capability:

Apple says [to Mossberg, not to the general public] it plans to add that plug-in through an early software update, which I am guessing will occur within the next couple of months.

Questions About Apple's iPhone [Allthingsd.com]

come close to the quality that ABC is offering. So what gives? Technology-wise, NBC relies on Adobe's Flash to stream their video, whereas ABC went with technology from Move Networks. I personally wouldn't say it's HD quality, but ABC clearly delivers a better, sharper picture.

Ultimately, our hats go off to both networks for bringing us full-screen video online, though we hope ABC's push for quality gives other networks a nudge to do the same. – Louis Ramirez

ABC.com Unveils "HD" Video Player [Broadcasting Cable via Crave]