This Week's Sponsor:

Kolide

Ensure that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta.


Adobe Releases Flash 11 And Air 3 Betas

Adobe yesterday made betas builds available for Flash 11 and Air 3, which tout some fairly significant improvements and feature additions. Perhaps the most interesting is the inclusion of Stage3D APIs (codenamed “Molehill”) which are a set of low-level, GPU accelerated 3D APIs that can enable high performance rendering of advanced 3D scenes. Adobe, in conjunction with Frima Studios has put together a demo of what this can achieve – we’ve embedded it past the break.

The inclusion of native support for 64-bit operating systems and browsers is also welcome news for performance and works on Windows, Mac and Linux in the new versions of Flash and Air. The last point of note is the inclusion of H.264/AVC software encoding for cameras, this will allow higher quality real-time communications from within Flash player.

Jump the break for that demonstration video of Stage3D as well as a full list of improvements in Flash 11 and Air 3. You can download the beta builds of Flash 11 here and Adobe Air 3 here.

[Via 9to5 Mac]


Performance and 3D

Stage3D APIs (“Molehill”) for Flash Player
A new set of low-level, GPU-accelerated 3D APIs that enable advanced 3D experiences and improved 2D performance across devices through the Adobe Flash Platform runtimes.

Cubic Bezier Curves
Using the cubicCurveTo drawing API, developers can easily create cubic Beziers without requiring custom ActionScript code.

64-bit Support
Native support for 64-bit operating systems and 64-bit web browsers on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows.

Linux Vector Printing
Currently supported on Windows and MAC you can now print rich and crisp images on Linux.

Media/Real Time Communications

G.711 Audio Compression for Telephony
Support interoperability with legacy phone system (through Flash Media Gateway, FMG) and other third-party clients (through open RTMP protocol) without the need of transcoding.

H.264/AVC SW Encoding for Camera
Stream beautiful video from your computer’s camera with higher compression efficiency and industry-wide support, enabling both high quality real-time communications (e.g., video chat and video conferencing) and live video broadcasts from within Flash Player.

Language/VM

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
Enables ActionScript programmers to take advantage of fast parsing and generation of JSON-formatted text to represent their data. Take existing code written for the JSON interface provided by ECMAScript 5th edition and drop the code, with minimal or no modification, into an Actionscript project.

Garbage Collection Advice
Provides a simple facility with which AS3 code can advise the GC on when to schedule the disruptive end-of-GC pause.

Socket Progress Events
Provide a means by which content can determine how many bytes remain in the AS Socket’s write buffer. Provide an event which will inform content whenever data is removed from the AS Socket’s write buffer so that it may easily monitor the status of the write buffer without having to set up a timer and manually poll the size remaining in the AS Socket’s write buffer.

Security

Secure Random Number Generator
Generate secure random numbers that are cryptographically as strong as the underlying operating system. Utilizing native OS APIs this feature will be used by Flash Player on the desktop and mobile platforms (Android) by Flash Platform Services.

Unlock More with Club MacStories

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for over six years.

In that time, members have enjoyed nearly 400 weekly and monthly newsletters packed with more of your favorite MacStories writing as well as Club-only podcasts, eBooks, discounts on apps, icons, and services. Join today, and you’ll get everything new that we publish every week, plus access to our entire archive of back issues and downloadable perks.

The Club expanded in 2021 with Club MacStories+ and Club Premier. Club MacStories+ members enjoy even more exclusive stories, a vibrant Discord community, a rotating roster of app discounts, and more. And, with Club Premier, you get everything we offer at every Club level plus an extended, ad-free version of our podcast AppStories that is delivered early each week in high-bitrate audio.

Choose the Club plan that’s right for you:

  • Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with app collections, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, a Club-only podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
  • Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus exclusive content like Federico’s Automation Academy and John’s Macintosh Desktop Experience, a powerful web app for searching and exploring over 6 years of content and creating custom RSS feeds of Club content, an active Discord community, and a rotating collection of discounts, and more;
  • Club Premier: Everything in from our other plans and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.