Items tagged with Adobe Flash
After more than a decade, the original FarmVille game that put developer Zynga on the map is shutting down for good. The reason? It is an Adobe Flash-based title, and with Adobe officially ending support for its Flash Player today, FarmVille becomes an optional casualty. I say "optional" because Zynga could have ported it to HTML5, but has decided not to do that. Zynga co-founder and chairman Mark Pincus posted a memorial of sorts to FarmVille on Twitter, explaining how it was created and the role it played in the "evolution of gaming," from his perspective. "The real innovation of FarmVille was in making games accessible to busy adults, giving them a place to invest and express themselves and...
Read more...
Is there finally light at the end of the tunnel? Are we actually getting closer to the day when we can once and for all be completely done with Adobe Flash Player and have its crusty, security-plagued bits stricken from the Earth? Well, it appears so according to the folks at Adobe. On Tuesday, Adobe issued its final update for the much-hated web plugin, which has in recent years been supplanted by HTML5 and other comparable technologies to deliver interactive content on the web. The final update is coming with the release of Flash Player 32 and AIR 32. The company waxed poetic about Flash, as we approach its execution date: Today marks the final scheduled release of Flash Player for all...
Read more...
Microsoft has announced that it will remove support for the Adobe Flash Player in its Edge Browser “at the end of 2020”. In Microsoft parlance, this refers both to Microsoft Edge Legacy (EdgeHTML engine) and New Microsoft Edge (Chromium engine) browsers. If you’re still using the crusty old Internet Explorer 11 browser, Microsoft is ending support there as well. There was one a time when Adobe Flash ruled the internet, providing everything from interactive content for websites, to addictive online games, to powering online ads. Its quick rise in popularity meant that it was also a frequent target for malicious content, and many malware writers used Flash to deliver disastrous...
Read more...
Adobe Flash has long been a method that developers used to put interactive content on the internet. There are tens of thousands of games out there that use Flash that will no longer work when December 31st, 2020 comes around. At the end of 2020, Flash will die off as most major web browsers remove Flash support. Ahead of all the games that rely on Flash dying off, a project is underway called Flashpoint that aims to save them. Flashpoint is a project that has so far saved over 36,000 Flash games from the digital garbage can. Flashpoint uses open-source software to allow users to download and play a long list of games and animations. Fans of flash games who want their favorite game to be saved...
Read more...
At least for the time being, it looks like the mad rush to buy graphics cards for cryptocurrency mining and leave gamers with overpriced options is in the rear view mirror. That doesn't mean cryptocurrency mining doesn't still present an annoyance in some sectors, though. Security researchers warn that cryptocurrency malware is currently hiding in a fake Adobe Flash update that is making the rounds. Adobe Flash can't disappear fast enough. In the meantime, it continues to present security issues, sometimes directly through discovered vulnerabilities, or in this case preying on the vigilance of users who aim to keep it updated to prevent the very sort of thing caused by the fake and malicious...
Read more...
Are you guys ready to get rid of Flash? We here at HotHardware definitely are, and thankfully, Adobe has already seen the writing on the wall. Adobe gave us our first glimpse at the impending death of Flash back in late 2015 — we just didn’t think that it would take five years for the blood to finally drain from the plugin’ increasingly lifeless body. Adobe today confirmed that it will no longer distribute or update Flash by the close of the year 2020. Hopefully, the “true” demise of Flash will happen quickly after that point since there will be no security updates to protect users from the scores of exploits that plague the software. With no support from Adobe, customers and developers would...
Read more...
Say it with me, “Let Flash Die”. As we’ve reported on numerous times on HotHardware, Adobe Flash is a plugin that has proven itself to not only be a resource hog, but a wretched security risk on nearly every computing platform that it invades. Even Adobe has seen the writing on the wall, as it is deprecating support for the much-hated plugin. However, one particular company isn’t quite ready to let go of Flash just yet, and it is willing to reward customers that embrace the plugin with a $5 discount. FedEx gives its customers the ability to “Conveniently design, print & ship documents anytime, from presentations to flyers to posters” using its FedEx Office online creation tools. However,...
Read more...
At this point, Adobe Flash is pretty much the scourge of the internet. The long-standing browser plugin has a penchant for draining PC batteries, impeding overall performance and presents an oft-abused security nightmare. Adobe has already announced that it is sunsetting the plugin in favor or HTML5 and most browser makers have announced their intentions to end support. Microsoft is the latest to step up its efforts to rid the world of Flash, and announced today that Flash will be disabled by default in Edge with the upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update. Microsoft hopes that this move will encourage sites to quickly adopt HTML5 content instead. “Sites that support HTML5 will default to a clean...
Read more...
There’s no question that Google Chrome is by far the most dominant player in the desktop browser market. As we reported in early November, Chrome has more market share than both Internet Explorer and Edge combined. And over the past year, Chrome has seen its market share climb from 35 percent to 55 percent. During its meteoric rise, Microsoft has done its best to assail Chrome and promote its Edge browser as the faster and more efficient choice for Windows 10 users. But with Chrome 53, Google gave Windows 10 users a 15 percent speed boost by using Microsoft Profile Guided Optimization (PGO) technology. Now, with Chrome 55, Google is putting the browser’s insane memory usage in check. Chrome 55,...
Read more...
It’s safe to say that Adobe Flash is one of the most disliked pieces of software in the modern computing era. What started off as an innovative way for users to experience interactive content and simple online games has transformed into a resource hog and significant security risk. Software vendors have taken extreme measures to scale back support for the plugin and Adobe itself has announced that Flash will soon be on the chopping block. This week, we’re learning that Google is taking further steps to ensure Flash’s demise. Starting in the fourth quarter, Google Chrome will default to HTML5 instead of Flash. What this means is that if a website provides a choice of displaying either HTML5 or...
Read more...
It’s been a rough week for Adobe and its Flash plugin. This week, Microsoft announced that it is hitting the pause button on unnecessary and excessive Flash content on webpages, and now we’re learning that Adobe had to scramble to patch up yet another zero-day exploit in Flash. This latest exploit is especially nasty as it uses a security hole found within Flash to allow nefarious parties to infiltrate Windows 10 machines and install ransomware. As we’ve seen by recent ransomware outbreaks at hospitals around the country, this is serious business. The exploit was initially discovered by Trend Micro researchers on March 31st, while fellow security researchers Proofpoint, Sophos and FireEye have...
Read more...
After major web browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox decided to push Flash further into irrelevancy, Adobe finally saw the writing on the wall and announced that Flash would be put out to pasture. The internet rejoiced at the news, but it will still be quite a while before we are completely rid of the resource hogging and battery draining scourge that has haunted us for years. To that end, Microsoft is trying to at least make the transition a bit easier to bear with the announcement that Windows 10’s Edge browser will gain the ability to “intelligently auto-pause” Flash content that is not pivotal to the viewing experience of a website. This is basically the same functionality that...
Read more...
It seems as though most (if not all) Internet users are awaiting the day when Adobe Flash is finally eradicated from the face of the earth. The Adobe Flash Player plugin has long been a security liability, resource nightmare and battery hog (for mobile users). Although Adobe has announced that it is winding down the use of Flash in favor of HTML5 development, we still have to deal with critical exploits until judgment day arrives. Hence the company has rushed out an emergency patch for Adobe Flash player. According to Adobe, the most serious exploit, CVE-2016-1010, has already been “used in limited, targeted attacks.” In all, the latest security bulletin covers over 20 known security issues in...
Read more...
We’ve been saying it for years: Adobe needs to go ahead and kill Flash. Late Apple CEO Steve Jobs called for Flash’s demise five years ago and at the time, it seemed like an impossibility. But after a half decade of increasing security exploits and performance degradation in even the most powerful PCs, the Internet has quite effectively turned its back on Flash. Companies like Amazon, Google and Firefox have all given Flash the cold shoulder in recent months and the lapses in security show no signs of slowing down. Adobe has finally gotten the hint and is retiring the Flash brand. “Flash has played a leading role in bringing new capabilities to the web,” said Adobe in a corporate blog posting....
Read more...
Can I get an “Amen” from the congregation? The planets are aligning and it appears that more heavy-hitters are throwing support behind taking down one the Internet’s greatest villains: Adobe Flash. Back in June, we brought you news that Google would be introducing a new “Intelligent Pause” function to Chrome that would disable all Flash content by default (or give Chrome the option to choose what Flash content is deemed worthy). If for some reason you actually need to access a blocked Flash element on a site, you will have the option to click on the element to re-enable it. Google favors HTML5 over Flash Google today confirmed that Chrome will block Flash elements by default starting on September...
Read more...
Adobe Flash is going down! Flash has been a boil on the butt of the Internet for years, but we’ve just put up with it despite the often horrid performance and numerous security lapses. However, some recent high-priority hacks using Flash as a conduit have only increased the number of people calling for the demise of the most hated piece of software on the Internet. Twitch, the online game streaming giant, is the latest to announce that it will move away from using Flash (Google’s competing YouTube Gaming service debuted with HTML5 support). Twitch’s efforts to distance itself were aired earlier this month via reddit. “The underlying HTML5 video playback works great and we've been testing it internally...
Read more...
Motorola's original Droid smartphone was a big hit. Now, the company has released an update to this popular phone in the form of the Droid 2. Like its older brother, this smartphone will be hitched to Verizon Wireless' network. It will also offer a slide-out hardware keyboard as well as Android 2.2, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, and 3G Mobile HotSpot capabilities. Other key specs include 8 GB of preloaded on-board memory and an 8 GB microSD card, a multi-touch 3.7-inch display, and a 5-megapixel camera. The Droid 2 by Motorola will be available at www.verizonwireless.com on August 11 and will hit Verizon Wireless stores on August 12. Like other high-end smartphones, it will cost $199.99 after a $100...
Read more...
Adobe has announced today at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain, that it is working on a new version of its Flash Lite Distributable Player, which is designed to bring Adobe Flash 10 functionality to smartphones. The Adobe Flash Lite 3.1 Distributable Player is available now as a beta for 11 Windows Mobile and 11 Nokia S60 (Symbian OS) devices (the list of compatible phones can be found here). According to Adobe, "Flash content reaches over 98% of Internet viewers with over 30M swf files online today. Moreover, 80%+ of web video is in Flash." Which means that any mobile device that doesn't support Flash is potentially missing out on a significant portion of the available...
Read more...
