Ironic Week in Review

Dig that hole a little deeper,
these guys are...

This week there were two topics of interest that I thought were kind of funny or ironic.  So here we are, The 'Ironic Week in Review'.

First topic:
Isn't it kind of ironic that almost immediately after announcing no more mobile Flash.  Adobe goes and rolls out an update for Flash on Android devices?  I know they said they wouldn't drop support for updates (just support for further versions of Flash on mobile plateforms).  But still, it's almost as if Adobe decided they needed to prove to the public that they still have the ability to update it.

Or maybe they needed to save face with all of those people who let "Flash Support" sway their purchasing decisions when it comes to consumer electronics?


Second topic:
It's official Ashton Kutcher is a "Qwitter" or a "Twitter-Quitter".  It appears as though Mr. Kutcher tweeted about the Penn State Abuse Scandal without being fully informed (at all, whatsoever; it's only made national headlines seriously?!).  And it struck a cord with the general public since he has something close to 8 million Twitter followers (which equates to a countries population right?).  In his defense he did publicly issue an apology on his blog.  Enough said right?  Nope, he the proceeded to hand his Twitter account over his "team" at Katalyst Media "to ensure the quality of it's content".  Isn't Twitter like Microblogging or the ability to randomly update stuff wherever you are at?  Maybe the way to ensure "quality content" is to stay informed of what you are tweeting about?

Why is this turn over ironic?  Well you can thank Mr. Kutcher for Twitter being what it is today (or at least lending a hand).  Remember in Twitter's earlier days when Kutcher was in a "follow war" with a couple other celebrities and his account seemed to just take off?  I don't know it just seemed ironic that for someone who started Twitter so strong and now because of some controversy decides to bail and let some PR rep take over?  That's Hollywood for you.

At second glance, maybe "Two & A Half Men" is rubbing off on him.  Maybe he decided to bail before the "trolls" come after him?  (another joke in bad taste I know- #jokefail).

:)

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No More Gmail Love for Blackberry

It was announced recently that Blackberry users will soon be unable to get their hands on a dedicated Gmail app for their devices.  However, as one might expect from a company like RIM who was basically one of the front runners in the smartphone market, this is kind of a surprise. Instead, the decision came from Google themselves.  RIM built their business in the phone market by granting a web experience on their devices and were one of the first to really get it right.  Only since the iPhone's debut has RIM been struggling to stay ahead of the tech curve. 

No doubt RIM is feeling the pressure being put on from both Apple and Google in the smartphone industry.  We have already seen this with the release of RIM's Blackberry Playbook which has all but been a 'hot item' since it's release.  So what is the plan with Google then?  Looks like the effective date is November 22, 2011.  If you are a Blackberry user who already has the Gmail app installed, you're in the clear.  Unless of course you require some sort of support for it.  Otherwise, you can continue to use it to your hearts content.  The other good news is that if you are indeed a Blackberry user, your device already includes native Gmail support via Blackberry Internet Services.  So you're still in the clear regardless what Google decides to do now or in the future.

If you are a Blackberry user who doesn't have the app but would like to get it.  You have until the 22nd of this month.  Instead of supporting a dedicated app, Google seems to be redirecting their efforts in this area to "building a great Gmail experience in the mobile web browser" per their website.  What do you think?  Does this sound like Google is trying to sway Blackberry/Gmail user's to move towards Android (or at least away from RIM)?  Either way, with about every other mobile device supporting a Gmail app sounds kind of funny with this move doesn't it?

It definitely sounds like it's been a big week as far as "tech shake up's" go.  With Adobe's announcement earlier this week of discontinuing mobile Flash to Google not supporting Gmail app's on the Blackberry platform...Man, what's next?  Is Netflix going to reopen Qwikster? (just a joke, sorry Netflix).

:)

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Adobe Kills Off Flash for Mobile Devices

It's no secret that HTML5 is a growing technology.  Now with a lot of desktop web browsers able to play nicely with HTML5 (and this is growing as well); it seems that it may become one of Adobe Flash's rivals on the web.  It is also no secret that Apple doesn't jive with Flash very well (at all) to put it modestly.

Up until yesterday (Wednesday) it seemed as though Flash had a decent foothold in the mobile sector when you figure it plays very well with Android based devices.  Why is yesterday such a point in the previous sentence?  Because yesterday; Adobe announced that it would no longer be developing Flash for mobile devices.  One thing you will also remember is that Adobe products are pretty decent.  At least as long as they are updated regularly when the newest versions roll out.  If not, then they typically turn into security risks (as with the case for most outdated software).

In a recent blog post by John Nack (product manager at Adobe) he pointed out that basically if Flash is kept from being run than they will have to find a different approach.  Is this a shot at Apple?  Apple doesn't ship their mobile devices or their computers with Flash preloaded.  Not really a big deal, right?  Since most Windows computers don't ship with it preloaded either (or at least an updated copy).  Wrong!  Apple has their reasoning behind this.

Apple's stance in the past is that Flash is more resource intensive than it probably should and caused lower performance in their products.  Meanwhile, the rest of 'web-world' uses Adobe products as sort of a 'defacto standard' on the web.  Regardless whether you are a fan or a "Flash hater", it's goes without saying that Flash is everywhere on the web.  If we look into the future just a short way, what if manufacturers and content creators find other ways to produce their projects and content on mobile devices; would this not also bring about a movement among people in the industry to figure out how to port their content away from Flash on the desktop/laptop side of things too?  That is speculation on my part though (I like to project ahead a little ways).  I hope I am wrong or that HTML5 is really that good to handle the migration from Flash by the industry.  On the other hand, it would be nice to be able to visit a site that was once Flash based and get the prompt that you need to install the latest "plugin for your web browser"...

As far as the mobile market is concerned, it looks as though Apple is probably pretty happy with Adobe's decision.  Seeing as how other devices may win some user's over solely on the fact that they grant a complete "web experience" in that they offer Flash as well (I have seen some ads that point this out specifically).  Either way Adobe rolls their dice, I hope for their sake they already have a plan in the mobile arena.  Otherwise, who knows?

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