News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

August 21, 2007

video

Flash adds some flash

Posted Aug. 21, ’07, 8:25 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Video

flash.jpgI looked down into my bowl this morning and found that the bits floating around were spelling things out: things like H.264 and AAC-HE. Which is slightly odd, as I was eating Cheerios. Usually they just spell “oooooo.” Who could be behind such a devious plot?

Ah, Adobe. Well met. I see you’ve been busy since our last encounter, adding brand new codecs and pimping up your Flash software. Flash 9, is it—sorry, Moviestar. Cute.

Well, I read through your engineer’s extremely detailed blog entry, and let me tell you what I saw: H.264 and AAC support, the ability to play .mp4,.m4v,.m4a,.mov and .3gp files, as well as support for iTunes metadata (though there is no support for FairPlay, naturally). Fascinating.

In the short run, this is more of a boon to content creators than to consumers, though the latter will probably reap the benefits of increased quality and more standardized formats. But these are all formats that Apple has had a big hand in popularizing, and that they’re also the formats of choice for devices like the iPod, Apple TV, and iPhone. I’m not sure what, if anything, that means just at the moment, but I’d be surprised to find that it’s sheer coincidence.

Know this, Adobe: I’m keeping my eye on you. And I’m switching back to corn flakes.


4 Comments

Walt said:

What a coincidence! My Fruit Loops were spelling out MacUser. With a capital M & U. What are the odds?

August 21, 2007 8:35 AM
Gabe Glick said:

Dan, I always love your humorous entries, and this one was a cut above.

"And I'm switching back to corn flakes."

Great stuff. I don't know how much you're paid for this gig, but you're more than earning it.

August 21, 2007 8:42 AM
sdk said:

Well, I read through your engineer’s extremely detailed blog entry, and let me tell you what I saw:

The link there just points back to this page.

August 21, 2007 10:47 AM

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