O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: video

  • Adobe releases Flash Player 10.2.152.21 update

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    You may love or hate Flash Player, but updated versions are never a bad thing.

    Late Tuesday, Adobe released Flash Player 10.2.1521 for Mac OS X, a 7.6 megabyte download via MacUpdate. The new version functions essentially as a pre-release to version 10.2 and includes the following fixes and changes:

    – General stability fixes.

    – Additional audio and video fixes.

    – Stage Video hardware acceleration – A new method for video playback in Flash Player allows developers to leverage complete hardware acceleration of the video rendering pipeline, enabling best-in-class playback performance. Stage Video can decrease processor usage by up to 85% and enables higher frame rates, reduced memory usage, and greater pixel fidelity and quality.

    – Internet Explorer 9 hardware accelerated rendering support – Flash Player takes advantage of hardware accelerated graphics in Internet Explorer 9, utilizing hardware rendering surfaces to improve graphics performance and enable seamless composition.

    – Native custom mouse cursors – Developers can define custom native mouse cursors, enabling user experience enhancements and improving performance.

    – Support for full screen mode with multiple monitors – Full screen content will remain in full-screen on secondary monitors, allowing users to watch full-screen content while working on another display.

    – On Mac computers, hardware decoding of H.264 video in Flash Player is available with Mac OS X 10.6.4 and later on hardware supported by the Mac OS Video Decode Acceleration Framework (such as the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, GeForce 320M, and GeForce GT 330M). Whether hardware decoding will engage for a specific video is determined by the Mac OS Video Decode Acceleration Framework.

    The full notes of the new version can be found here and Flash Player 10.2.152.21 requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to install and run.

    If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know.

  • Adobe releases Flash Player 10.2.152 update

    adobelogo

    You may love Flash Player or hate it, but the new versions can’t be ignored.

    Late Tuesday, Adobe released Flash Player 10.2.152 for Mac OS X, a 7.6 megabyte download via MacUpdate. The new version functions essentially as a pre-release to version 10.2 and includes the following fixes and changes:

    – General stability fixes.
    – Additional audio and video fixes.

    The full notes of the new version can be found here and Flash Player 10.2.152 requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to install and run.

    If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know.

  • Western Digital Scorpio Black notebook drive now available in 750GB capacity, 7200 rpm speed

    If you’re using your Mac notebook for video, gaming or graphics work, you’re going to want a spiffy hard drive.

    Per Macworld, Western Digital has announced that the latest hard drive in its Black series is ready and shipping. The WD Scorpio Black is a 2.5″ SATA hard drive, now available in 160, 250, 320, 500 and 720GB capacities, features a 7200 rpm spin speed and 16MB cache, Western Digital claims the Scorpio Black is one of the fastest drives on the market.

    WD’s drive uses Advanced Format technology (which is optimized for Mac and the latest Windows operating systems) to make for a more efficient media format, which in turn allows for greater drive capacities and increased memory storage density. Other notable features include the Scorpio Black’s free fall detection (which aids in preventing shock damage and data loss) and multiple platform compatibility (ensuring that the WD drive will work in hundreds of systems on multiple platforms).

    The new Scorpio Black drive retails for US$149 for the 750GB drive.

  • Apple patents describe possible convertible tablet, next-gen MagSafe power/optical connector

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    A pair of patents that went public on Tuesday reveal that Apple could be working on a device that converts from standard laptop form to tablet form as well as a magnetic connector that provides both power and an optical data connection.

    Per freepatentsonline, a November 30 patent entitled “Application Programming Interfaces for Scrolling Operations” has surfaced, the patent depicting an Apple notebook that slides into tablet form as an example of a device that would take advantage of the patent’s scrolling operations.

    The drawings first show a laptop with a traditional keyboard, body, display frame and display. Then, according to the patent, “the laptop device can be converted into a tablet device” by sliding the display across the keyboard.

    Since the patent relates to scrolling operations, it would presumably not cover the convertible laptop to tablet form factor. Apple does, however, disclaim in the application that the patent contains “specific exemplary embodiments.”

    “It will be evident that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth in the following claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense,” reads the patent.

    In its recent revision. to the MacBook Air line, Apple took features from the iPad, such as “solid state storage, instant-on, amazing battery standby time, miniaturization and lightweight construction.”

    Apple CEO Steve Jobs said during the ultra-thin laptop’s unveiling that he and his company had asked themselves, “What would happen if a MacBook and an iPad hooked up?” With both a touchscreen and a keyboard, laptop and tablet configurations, these figures from the scrolling operations patent reveal the possibility of an even closer integration between the two products.

    In another patent awarded Tuesday, Apple seeks to reduce the number of cables connected to a laptop device to a single connector that would provide both a power and data connection.

    One drawing of the invention depicts what appears to be a MagSafe-like connector attached to a “power and data adapter” with optical, USB, Ethernet, and DVI ports. The adapter would function as both a power brick and a port hub.

    Another drawing features a MagSafe connector that splits off into a fiber optic cable with a data adapter and a DC power cable with a power transformer.

    The patent could be a first look at Apple’s planned implementation of Intel’s Light Peak optical cable technology. Intel is reportedly readying Light Peak for an early 2011 release, and Apple is expected to quickly incorporate the technology into its Mac line of computers.

    Intel claims Light Peak has a bandwidth of 10Gbps and will scale up to 100Gbps over the next decade. “Optical technology also allows for smaller connectors and longer, thinner, and more flexible cables than currently possible,” states Intel on its website.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available and if you have any thoughts on the patents, please let us know.

  • Skype 5.0 beta for Mac now available

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    Late Thursday, Skype announced a public beta of its client for the Mac. Per Macworld, the new version brings Skype much more in line with its Windows counterpart in both features and interface.

    First and foremost, the interface looks absolutely nothing like its predecessor, and entirely like its Windows counterpart, which got the 5.0 treatment in mid-October. Skype for Mac has shed the narrow-windowed “contact list” appearance—a staple of virtually every chat app on the market—in favor of an almost e-mail client approach. It’s a fairly minimal interface that feels all right (but not great) on the Mac.

    A left sidebar contains contacts, groups, and a Recent list that displays the contacts you correspond with the most frequently. For the first time, Skype 5.0 for Mac lets you turn on full integration with Mac OS X’s Address Book from the preferences. This means you can finally call, SMS, or IM contacts without first having to go through the process of adding them to your Skype contact list. Users can also open the Contact Monitor, which offers a compact window that is more akin to the style of a thin buddy list that you can keep to the side of your work.

    Beyond the major interface overhaul, the most significant new feature in Skype 5.0 for Mac is easily Group Video Calling (GVC), which first arrived in the Windows client last month. Skype 5.0’s group video chat looks somewhat like iChat’s, but unlike iChat, it supports up to ten members in a single chat (which requires that all parties have a minimum broadband connection of 4 mbps down and 1 mbps up). Skype chat is free to use while Skype 5.0 is in beta, but a paid plan will be required once the feature officially ships. There is no word yet from Skype on what GVC’s pricing will be or how it will fit into Skype’s existing price plans.

    Skype 5.0 for Mac contains plenty of other new features, though it is still lacking at least one feature of its Windows sibling, albeit one that not everyone will miss: integration of the Facebook News Feed.

    The Skype 5.0 for Mac beta can be snagged here and requires a Mac running OS X Leopard 10.5.8 and a 1GHz CPU or faster, though video calling requires at least a an Intel Core 2 Duo 1GHz CPU.

    Stay tuned for additional details and if you’ve tried the beta and have any feedback, let us know in the comments.