Online video is gaining more popularity at a faster rate and the proof for that are the numbers released by Adobe. The company  monitored video performance throughout 2012 across digital platforms and their study suggests that desktop is still dominating online video views, but there has been a massive increase in mobile viewership.

According to Adobe, Digital video has grown across all platforms. There has been an increase of 30 percent year over year in the fourth quarter of 2012 and video streaming has grown 50 percent since Q1 of 2011. But more interesting are the numbers regarding mobile video consumption. Mobile video starts now account for more than 10% of total digital video starts. And viewing on tablets is increasing at a faster pace when compared to that on smartphones.

This growth in mobile audience is certainly a big opportunity for publishers as they can now try to get more users to engage with online ads, but an ad format that works best on mobile devices is yet to be found out. Mid-roll and post-roll ads appear to be more successful on mobile platforms when compared to pre-roll ads.

Adobe has also looked into authenticated streams and the influence of social media like Facebook on digital video. Head here if you are interested in checking out the full report by Adobe.

The post Mobile Video Viewing Up 300% In 2012 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

A bit of buzz has stirred after Adobe strangely put up its Creative Suite 2 software, including programs like Photoshop CS2 and Illustrator 2 up for download for free on their website. The free downloads included a full version of the program that didn’t require a unique serial key to be activated.

Of course many believed that Adobe were putting the software up for free simply because they had turned off the activation servers for the eight year old software, which would make sense as a new purchaser was much more likely to buy something newer that would better support the current OS’s. However, only part of this was true; Adobe did in fact shut down the CS2 activation servers late last year, but as complaints started to hit the company about not being able to re-download a package they had already purchased, Adobe then followed to put the program up for free to these customers.

Adobe then told customers that to legally use the software, they still had to have purchased a valid license beforehand, but the doors to the free downloads and serial keys are still open, and in fact, Adobe have even opened it up wider by turning off the requirement to log into adobe before accessing the page.

CS2 may run poorly on newer OS’s, and it’s outdated to say the least, but as it’s been put up for free to download, I don’t expect anyone will hesitate to grab themselves a copy, even if doing some seems to fall into a bit of a grey area. CS2 might be outdated, but for those with really basic photo-editing needs, it could still be more than enough to meet their needs.

Do you think it’s fair to take advantage of Adobe putting the software up for free on their website? What are your experiences with CS2 on newer operating systems?

[Source]

The post Adobe CS2 is Now Available for Free, Sort Of appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

When I talk to most of my techie friends, we tend to agree that devices like our smartphones and tablets are largely for consumption, whereas the laptop or desktop is where the content is usually created. The lines are blurring, of course, thanks to apps like Flickr Mobile, Instagram, and so on. That trend is continuing with the release of Adobe Photoshop Touch for the Apple iPad 2.

Announced at MWC 2012, the new iPad app isn’t going to be quite as robust as its desktop counterpart, but it does grant access to core Photoshop features, “as well as new capabilities for creating and sharing in an app custom-built for tablets.”

You can use the app to create layers, add effects, and touch up photos. There’s a “Scribble Selection Tool” that works like the lasso tool for removing elements, for example, as well as a “Refine Edge” tool for making fine-tuned selections.

Photoshop Touch for iPad is available now through iTunes for $9.99. It’ll be a part of a large family of iPad apps from Adobe, including Adobe Collage (moodboards), Adobe Debut (presentation), Adobe Ideas (sketching), Adobe Kuler (color themes), and Adobe Proto (website and app prototyping).

The post Apple iPad Gets Adobe Photoshop Touch App appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

It was just couple of weeks ago when Adobe dropped its star product, Flash Player from its support on all platforms except for Blackberry OS.

There must be some life after death: Google’s Market now offers Adobe Flash Player 11.1.111.5 for Android mobile devices that qualify (generally speaking, Android 2.2+ phones and tablets).

The changelog for this particular release for Android cites some improvements on a mostly dead corpse of a player. Is it worth the time downloading it, to upgrade?

Presumably, the player should play smoother and smoother, with every update but it didn’t happen this way.  The app (or plugin, rather) became bulkier, more resource-consuming, and with more security holes than ever. That was the story when the player was alive in Adobe development labs.

While dying, Flash still has some importance. The move to total dominance of HTML5 in Web sites is not so rapid as some might want it to be. Moreover, Web browsers that support all the proposed features of HTML5 are not exactly available today.

The shaping of the HTML5 standard itself into a more or less complete, or just  finalized form, may take another couple of years. Until then, you might want to take shot at the new reincarnation of Adobe Flash Player for your Android phone.

I downloaded and installed it on my NOOK Color running CyanogenMod 7. As the least, it didn’t break it, and it didn’t crash. Did it make my streaming videos playing smoother? Not really. But as always, your mileage may vary.

The post Adobe Flash Player 11.1.111.5 For Android appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

It’s well known that Apple is no stranger to competition. The newest Photo Stream feature for Mac OS X and iOS are already fighting a little rose war with Adobe’s Carousel app and service for Mac and iOS. Judging from the buzz around Carousel though, it might be even turn out to be a formidable competitor to Photo Stream.

Adobe Mac and iOs apps are free, but since your photos are stored in the cloud, you will need to purchase a subscription to the app. You can use the full version of Adobe Carousel at no cost for 30 days, after which you’ll need to spend $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year which isn’t exactly free at all.

So here what’s in store for you: familiar and multi-touch gestures provide a fun and interactive experience to explore tens of thousands of photos quickly and easily, and Adobe’s powerful photo-processing engine lets user adjust exposure, shadows, highlights, white balance, vibrance, clarity and contrast. There are also over a dozen “Looks” that allow customers to quickly experiment with the appearance of a photo. Users can also share their photos by sending them directing to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr or via e-mail.

Carousel really seems to be what’s marketed to be – the only photography solution that gives you access to your entire photo library from all your iPad, iPhone and Mac.

The post Adobe Carousel Photo App Pretends To Be Free For iOS and Mac appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Without giving time-line specifics, Adobe said the Flash upgrade will be coming to mobile devices “in the next few weeks;” promising news for all those waiting for Android’s Honeycomb release since that platform is optimized for Flash to fully utilize the hardware. One of the known enhancements will be Stage Video, which improves video performance through hardware acceleration on mobile devices.

Adobe also took a moment to toot their own horn, so to speak, about Adobe AIR, which can now be found in more than 84 million mobile devices, including 20 million smart phones running Flash Player 10.1. Could these performance enhancements allow it Flash on the next-generation iPad?

[via PR]

The post Flash 10.2 Optimized For Mobile – Will The iPad 2 Get It? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

HP Slate Tablet PC has Flash Mobile

One thing that has remained constant is the keyboard. But it looks like your keyboard will also become a historical artifact just like desktop computers such as the Amiga, Zx Spectrum and even the Atari ST with the popular tablet PC’s making waves in the market.

Growing up in the 80’s and early 90’s, you would fondly remember the above obsolete but classic desktop machines.

We may just end up adding the modern desktop machines to that list. It’s the 21st century, the year twenty-ten. You don’t need to be able to afford the Optimus Maximus keyboard, but what is affordable is Apple’s iPad and HP’s Slate. With touch screens and virtual keyboards that make traditional keyboards look like a child’s toy.

Apple has openly expressed its dislike for Adobe’s mobile version of the Flash program calling its stability questionable. So what did Apple do? No, it did not contact Microsoft asking for licensing rights to Silver Light. That wouldn’t have been prudent because HP’s tablet the “Slate” runs Windows 7.

Apple’s solution? It dropped support for Flash altogether from the iPad.

HP has capitalized on the situation and their new demo video for the Slate is very similar to Apple’s commercials for the iPad. But HP on their Voodoo blog just recently posted an entry dubbed “The HP’s Slate Device Runs The Complete Internet — Including Flash!” taking a stab at Apple and informing consumers that its own product provides a superior internet experience than Apple’s iPad does.

Talk about kicking an apple when it falls off a tree!

The post Tablet Wars: HP ridicules Apple’s iPad as an incomplete internet experience appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Adobe Photoshop.com Mobile for the Android 1.1

What happens when you see an image with the file format having the extension PSD? That’s correct, you automatically think of the current industry leader in image manipulation, Adobe Photoshop.

The PSD file format is so popular that even rival image manipulation programs support the PSD file format. With Adobe re-branding its flagship software as CS “Creative Suite” and creating an application for the iPhone, it was only a matter of time before we saw Photoshop for the Google Android line of phones. Called the “Photoshop.com Mobile for the Android 1.1” – it allows the user to do easy photo editing and image effects on the fly.

Here’s the interesting part: Photoshop.com editor is available to software developers, and they can provide it within the environment of almost any application they are working on.

So let’s say you’re on Facebook and using a social media application, you can access Photoshop editing tools and edit your pictures and publish them right there and then. Your profile pictures are going to look fantastic, even those taken when you’re having a bad hair day.

Doug Mack, vice president and general manager of Digital Imaging and Rich Media Solutions at Adobe, touted Photoshop.com Mobile as the ‘go-to’ photo editing application for both iPhone and Android devices.

A developer’s website gives Android developers access to the nuts and bolts of how to integrate Photoshop.com Mobile for Android 1.1 editor in other applications. This developers website is providing the application and source code on how to integrate it with an existing application. It’s a smooth and developer friendly process and don’t be surprised if you see this feature very soon in a lot of online applications.

The end user for the Android phone benefits because now they get applications with even greater features and a wider range of integrated Photoshop functionality. They have access to popular tools such as the sketch tool, soft focus, vibrant colors and a whole host of special effects to satisfy all their image manipulation cravings.

Photoshop.com Mobile for Android 1.1 is available to download here: http://mobile.photoshop.com/android or by scanning the QR code from your Android smartphone.

The post Android developers get Adobe Photoshop Mobile Editor appeared first on Mobile Magazine.