Didn’t have time to keep up with every ripple in the technology pond this week? We’ve got you covered. Here are some of the most noteworthy stories from the last week.
Adobe kills Flash for mobile
We first reported on this bombshell announcement on Wednesday, when we heard that Adobe would no longer be developing Flash for mobile devices, instead focusing its efforts on HTML5. Our own Geoff Duncan took a hard look at the decision, how the company came to it, and what it means for Apple, other mobile companies, and the future of Adobe. The announcement could also mean potential problems for connected TVs like Google TVs, which rely heavily on Flash to deliver video content.
Apple releases iOS 5 update with fix for battery life issues
In a response to “batterygate” — the stream of iPhone owners complaining about rapidly draining battery life with the new iOS 5 update, Apple started testing out a iOS 5.0.1 update among a small group of users earlier this week. The update worked, so as of yesterday, iOS 5.0.1. was made available for all iPhone users and included the battery fix, bug repairs for some iCloud issues, and improved Siri voice recognition for Australian users.
Twitter unleashes new “Activity Stream”
This week, Twitter started rolling out a new “Activity Stream” feature that looks a whole lot like the Facebook news ticker. The new element aims to connect users with other people they might want to follow, and give them a peek at what their friends are doing and who they are following. We examined the new Twitter addition to see whether it fits into where we think the company should be going or if it’s just a useless copycat of nemesis Facebook.
Barnes & Noble releases new Nook tablet
On Monday, the big box store came out swinging against Amazon and the Kindle Fire with a new 7-inch Nook tablet. The brand new tablet offering has a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 7-inch, laminated IPS “Vivid View” LG display for $249. We were on-hand at the event to give our first impressions of the new tablet and give you the inside scoop with a hands-on video. We’ve also got a spec showdown to give you the details on the new Nook and its competitor, the Kindle Fire.
Facebook reveals winners and losers of new Open Graph
It’s been over a month now since Facebook introduced its new Open Graph feature, which allows outside applications to be much more integrated into the Facebook interface and profile pages. This week we got to see some of the effects of the new feature, including which companies have benefitted the most from the increased app integration.
