Yesterday at a conference in Japan, Adobe announced it has received an independent assessment of the worldwide installed base for its Web platforms. A Millward Brown survey estimates that Flash has been installed on 99% of the world's Internet-enabled PCs, leading Adobe to estimate that Flash Player 10 by itself will break the 80% penetration mark by the end of Q2 2009.

Some 100 million PCs are believed to have successfully installed Adobe's AIR runtime platform -- and by "successfully," the company means, it's running and active and without trouble. That's based on the company's own statistics about downloads.

Continue reading →

Download the VMware image of Moblin Alpha 1 from Fileforum now.

Embedded Linux, with its smaller footprint and tighter code, is finding its way into smaller platforms where even a stripped down Windows XP couldn't possibly fit. Intel is fully aware of this, which is perhaps one reason why it's funding the development of an innovative new Linux distribution called Moblin. It uses the GNOME Mobile platform and features OpenGL support, and it's attracting the attention of companies such as netbook leader Acer.

Continue reading →

New open source partnerships between IBM and universities in Japan, South Africa, East Africa, and Qatar will be followed by more pacts in other geographic and around more application areas of cloud computing.

"A lot of the focus on the global stage is on making sure that as many geographic regions and industries as possible get exposed to cloud computing," said Dennis Quan, IBM's director of autonomic computing, in an interview with Betanews. "We also want to be able to train the next generation in development skills for cloud computing."

Continue reading →

On Wednesday, Qualcomm -- like every other company that can afford two sheets of paper for a quarterly earnings report -- said that though economic times are bad, the company is well-positioned to be even stronger when things look up.

But in an era of complicated supply chains and tricky R&D cycles, what does that even mean right now?

Continue reading →

Swift action and a solid business model, said Western Digital executives on their earnings call Wednesday, were the only things that kept last quarter from being even worse than it might have been in the face of prevailing conditions.

On their Q1 call back in October, WD execs dialed back their guidance for the next quarter to anticipate 5% growth. It was the right idea -- historical norms for the are in the 7-10% range -- but it wasn't enough. WD in fact showed a 14% decline in hard-drive revenue from Q1 to Q2. Revenue for the quarter was $1.8 billion, down 17% year-over-year. Net income totaled $14 million, or 6 cents/share. Non-GAAP net income was $123 million, or 55 cents/share; that reflects charges related to the restructuring the company announced on December 17.

Continue reading →

It's not through Congress yet, but if and when the new stimulus package is ratified, it'll be one of the first items to get the new transparency treatment. The White House has reserved and posted a preliminary message on

Continue reading →

Nearly three years after data on 26 million veterans went missing in the wake of a Maryland house burglary, the Department of Veterans Affairs and a group of suing vets have reached an agreement on the class-action suit filed by the latter. It's now up to a judge to ratify the settlement.

Under the terms of the agreement, the VA will set aside $20 million for paying the expenses of anyone directly affected by the breach, including credit-monitoring expenses and mental-health costs for those who found themselves in extreme emotional distress in the wake of the breach, which has resulted in no known abuse of the data. Payouts will range from $75 up to $1500.

Continue reading →

Google evangelist and Net patriarch Vint Cerf this week unveiled three tools that ordinary Net users can use to see whether their ISPs are choking up on their bandwidth. The research and evaluation tools add more fuel to the reinvigorated Net-neutrality debate.

The M-Lab (Measurement Lab) suite, co-developed by Google, the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute, the PlanetLab Consortium, and assorted academic researchers, will comprise five user tools; three are ready now.

Continue reading →

Despite impressive traffic growth as high as 27% annually on its associated Web sites including new personal finance news service WalletPop, AOL is also faced with cutting back resources to survive the present economic situation.

This afternoon, a memo first obtained by The Wall Street Journal's Kara Swisher cites AOL CEO Randy Falco as telling his employees that even those who will be remaining with the company shouldn't expect much special this year.

Continue reading →

Released to the Android market in beta last November, Opera Mini today received the definitive update to "final version."

This version allows uploading and downloading of files through the browser, and allows pages to be saved for offline viewing. YouTube videos and the like (not all Flash 9+ video sites are supported) are redirected through the system's video player, double tapping the screen now activates zoom, trackball speed issues have been addressed, and text size can now be changed to "extra large" for easier navigation.

Continue reading →

A lot of tech journalists will tell you that unpleasant reader interactions -- everything from incoherent hate mail to death threats -- are an occasional part of the job. But Michael Arrington, leader of TechCrunch, has always modeled himself as a remarkable specimen of tech journalist, and so he's taking an entire month off after getting spit on at a conference yesterday.

In a post to his site, Arrington describes the interaction with the unknown man. "The last thing I wanted was another product pitch as I hurried to the car that would drive me to Davos for the next event. So when I saw this person approach me out of the corner of my eye, I turned away slightly and avoided eye contact. Sometimes that works. But in this case all it did was make me vulnerable to the last thing I expected."

Continue reading →

A "Google for films" type of search engine site just rolled out this week lets you quickly peruse a database of 60,000 titles to find movies for downloading, in cinemas, to watch online, and on TV, standard DVD, and Blu-ray.

In a quick visit to the FindAnyFilm.com site today, for example, Betanews confirmed that The Dark Knight is available in all of these categories, whereas Slumdog Millionaire -- another box office draw -- can still be seen only in cinemas.

Continue reading →

A legislative measure to fund broadband deployment in rural and underserved areas is one of the attachments to the hotly debated economic stimulus package.

A chunk of the economic stimulus package being debated on Capitol Hill, and whose initial votes are happening now, would empower the Commerce Dept. to direct its NTIA division to provide federal grants to businesses that build out broadband service in underserved regions of the country.

Continue reading →

Sony's PSP was Time's "Gotta Have it" device for 2005, which was like being voted "Person of the Year." Now as the PSP enters its middle-age, it is the subject of less adulation, and more dismissive grumbling.

Today, GamesIndustry.biz posted an interview with Laurent Benadiba, CEO of French software developers Smack Down Productions, who says publishers are discouraged from making PlayStation Portable games, despite it being an outstanding platform.

Continue reading →

In remarks this morning at a Media Institute Luncheon in Washington, FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell told attendees that he believes the government should concentrate on the existing DTV transition date of February 17:

I think it is important for all of us to stay focused on February 17 regardless of what Congress does or does not do. Most broadcasters are prepared to shut off their analog signals on that date, and with good reason. Not only has the government been working with them for three years to realize this goal, but broadcasters have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in new DTV equipment in the past few years.