Adobe has been hard at work for sometime now, creating a version of their Flash technology which could easily operate on wireless smartphones.

This week during the Adobe Developer Conference, they took the time to showcase their Flash 10 Player operating on Window’s Mobile, Google Android, and Nokia Symbian systems. It’s also expected that flash will be making an appearance on RIM’s BlackBerry sooner rather than later.

Who is missing from that list? You guessed it, Apple’s iPhone is reportedly not interested in having flash integrated into the iPhone.

Why? Well, Apple is known for being a little bit of a control-freak when it comes to their iPhone product, and even bars the downloading and use of any non-preloaded code. However, should the prevalance of flash on smart-phones, and more so their no-nuse of it, eat into their market share, they’ll no doubt be likely to reconsider.

There was never any doubt that the iPhone is popular, but just how popular it is is making headlines.

New reports indicated that the iPhone 3G is currently the most frequently purchased mobile handset bought by US consumers. This is the actually the first time a smart-phone has lead the pack among all handsets.

This news means that the Motorola RAZR, which had been on top for almost three years now, has been displaced. The iPhone also outpaces popular handsets shut as the LG Rumor and the Blackberry Curve

Now, while this is positive news for Apple, as you might suspect, due to the tough economic times mobile sales are down fifteen percent from last quarter. So, times are good for the iPhone, but perhaps not as good as they could be.

It sounds like a lot, and should mean a big increase in profits for manufacturer HTC in the upcoming months and year. However, while 500,000 units is certainly impressive, it won’t rival the first gen iPhone’s launch, which occurred in the summer of 2007.

Regardless, it’s a good number, and will give Android developers a sizable user-base to market new applications toward.

If you haven’t heard, or are perhaps were enjoying sometime living under a rock, T-Mobile is scheduled to launch the G1 Google Android phone on October 22nd. It offers touch screen, (hidden) QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, 3-megapixel camera, navigation ball and will retail for $179.

The G1 Google Android

wireless phone is certainly a rising star, hitting Sarah Palin levels of interest this week. I’m not sure which one is garnering more interest, but it’s clear in either case, that people want to know more. I’ll leave the political news media to pursue Palin, while I consider the Android Google “Gphone” cell phone.

The G1 device, which is being produced by Taiwan’s HTC and sold in the US by retail wireless carrier T-Mobile, surely appears to be serviceable mobile, but with all the hype surrounding the G1 device, that’s hardly going to be enough to win over many critical tech-fanatics – which are, of course, used to the Apple iPhone’s sleek design and abundance of features.

Gphone features include a good sized touch screen, (hidden) QWERTY keyboard, 3G, Wi-Fi, 3-megapixel camera, navigation ball, dedicated internet button, and built in web apps. To build on this foundation, many more applications are offered through Google’s Android marketplace.

The heart of this endeavour and the hype going a lot with it, is Google’s open-source Android software, which is a Linux-based, open-source operating system for wireless phones that will work with Google applications. Google has promised that it will be free for manufacturers to work with, though there has been some debate throughout the blogosphere on whether that is entirely accurate or not.

As for cost, the price tag is a lot more decent than previously speculated, at $179 with two data plans available for $25 and $35 respectively. Currently, the G1 phone is only available to current T-Mobile customers through their website, however look for the new device to be featured at all T-Mobile locations by the end of October.

For a retro viewpoint, check out our previous Gphone update here.

Google G1 Phone

A revolution is easy to spot when looking backward, but they are much harder to see when they first happen. Microsoft, Apple, eBay, Amazon…all revolutions with ramifications that weren’t seen until much after they first released a product, or came online.

But I predict a revolution in an event that took place just a few days ago at the Worldwide Developers Conference, where Steve Jobs announced the latest version of the iPhone. I know, I know, you’re thinking that I missed the boat. The iPhone revolution already took place; this is old news.

more…

We took a lot of flack over a post back in January that questioned the security of Apple’s Mac OS X. TechConsumers left various comments ranging from “For some reason unknown to me, no one can ever show me a situation where a user opens a e-mail and their Mac turns into a robot sending out hundreds of e-mails” to “Mac OS X *is* inherently safer. You have to be a major league Windows zombie not to know and accept that.”

Well, CanSecWest’s PWN 2 OWN contest has just shown that Mac OS X isn’t “inherently safer” and that clearly it is possible for a user to open an e-mail on a Mac and have it join a spam botnet.

more…

Paul’s Soapbox is a regular feature of TechConsumer where I sound off on various tech topics/products that I’m interested in (or hate). This is just my $.02, so consider yourself warned. This week’s subjects? Vista, Mario, and Kevin Rose…

For all the Vista users out there, I recently stumbled across an awesome program for the Vista Sidebar. It is called Amnesty Generator, and basically it will take the code for any web widget (think Google Gadgets, ESPN, etc) and turn it into a Vista Sidebar compatible gadget. It is a simple program, but works great; I use it to display the NBA.com live sports scores on my desktop. Check it out. There is also a Mac OS X version, but I have not used it.

more…

                                                    
ITaP (short for Information Technology at Purdue) is offering advice for potential buyers of the iPhone: Wait. According to Frank Wolf, Mac specialist and systems administrator for ITaP:

“The iPhone is still being considered by many to be a revision-one product when thinking about it in an enterprise. I recommend to the people we support that they hold off on getting an iPhone until the next revision is released.”

Here’s more of his reasoning as to why you should wait:

more…

Paul’s Soapbox is a new regular feature of TechConsumer where I sound off on various tech topics/products that I’m interested in (or hate). This is just my $.02, so consider yourself warned. Apple gets another beat down this week…

AppleTV is first up on the chopping block. Personally I love how Steve Jobs said at Macworld 2008 that AppleTV 1.0 was more about sharing music and pictures. If that was really the case then why was it called AppleTV? It is funny that a device with TV in the name has hardly any TV content. Especially since the departure of NBC from iTunes. AppleTV “Take Two” is about movies; it won’t be until AppleTV “Third Time’s the Charm” that you’ll get the TV part. Yet another reason why people should hold off on the AppleTV.

more…

While it’s nothing new for organized crime to focus on phishing and identity theft, Windows-based computers have traditionally taken the brunt of most attacks. So much so, in fact, that plenty of my Apple friends claimed it as yet another reason to switch to the below-the-radar Mac. Too bad, then, that a report out last week shows that the end of 2007 was the beginning of “financially-motivated” organized crime targeting Apple computers.

Is this good news or bad? After all, it could be taken as a sign of Apple’s success. Macs finally appear to be popular enough that cybercriminals care. However you frame it, check out this call to arms of sorts from Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos (the firm responsible for this report):

more…