Posted 11/13/09 at 09:23:34 PM by Ryan Whitwam

Security research firm Foregorund has made known today that there is yet another serious flaw in Abobe’s Flash plugin. The problem could potentially affect many of the sites we use every day. Researcher Mike Murray said, “Any site that allows user-uploadable content is vulnerable, and most are not configured to prevent this."

The problem stems from the Flash ActionScript same-origin policy. This system is supposed to limit a Flash object’s access to content from its original domain. But if an attacker is able to insert malicious code into a Flash object, it can execute that code when run.  Anyone viewing the malicious Flash object is vulnerable to attack.

Adobe and the researchers agree that the flaw is not easily corrected with a patch to Flash. "We see this as a generic problem that affects any site that allows active scripting, not just Flash, but things like JavaScript and Silverlight as well,” said Adobe’s Brad Arkin. Foreground has yet to see any examples of the attack in the wild, but they believe it could happen at any time. The only way to be completely safe from this attack is to stop using Flash or at least running the No Script add-on for Firefox.

Read More

Posted 11/12/09 at 08:43:53 PM by Ryan Whitwam

In recent years, 1080p camcorders have found their way into more consumers’ hands. Now YouTube will allow people to take advantage of all those pixels. Starting next week, the HD options on the popular video sharing site will include both 720p and 1080p, provided the original source allows it.

There is a test video already up here. Performance seems to be good, but it doesn’t look tremendously different from current YouTube HD offerings. If you have an HD camera, YouTube would like you upload some 1080p video. They will be highlighting some of the best footage on the front page soon.  If you shoot HD video, will you take the extra time to upload your videos in 1080p?

Read More

Posted 10/20/09 at 09:42:29 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Santa Clara-based chip maker Marvell has launched a new range of CPUs called ARMADA. Based on the ARM instruction set, the new processors will power “smartphones, smartbooks, consumer and embedded devices, and displays.”

The largest producer of ARM chips in the world claims its ARMADA chips will enable mobile devices to deliver PC-like performance. Support for Adobe Flash and Blu-ray functionality should also enable ARMADA-toting mobile devices to deliver a rich multimedia experience.

Based on their intended device segment, the new application processors fall into four different series: the ARMADA 100, 500, 600 and 1000. "Launch of the ARMADA family represents a watershed event in mobile computing,” said Marvell’s co-founder and VP, Ms. Weili Dai.

Read More

Posted 03/26/09 at 05:42:20 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Though the browsing experience on cellphones has come up by leaps and bounds, a lot of work still needs to be done. Another considerable step forward would be full-fledged Flash functionality on cellphones. It is something that figures high on Adobe’s list of priorities. In fact, it is busy developing Flash ports for major mobile platforms.

Now it appears as though a Flash port for the Android platform may become available sooner than expected as another company  is also developing one.

Embedded software company Bsquare has announced that it is going to “port Adobe’s Flash technology onto Google’s Android platform for a global Tier 1 carrier.” The announcement doesn’t mention the name of the carrier.

Read More

Posted 03/25/09 at 08:15:03 AM by Pulkit Chandna

HP has begun offering a free Flash security tool called HP SWFScan, which helps developers identify vulnerabilities in their Flash apps. Though the ubiquity of Flash-based content should be enough motivation for developers to tighten the screws, a research conducted by HP revealed otherwise.

Thirty-five percent of the 4,000 Flash apps sampled by HP were found to be against Adobe’s security best practices. SWFScan decompiles Flash apps and checks the underlying ActionScript code for flaws. HP claims developers can even “audit third party applications without requiring access to the source code.”

Read More

Posted 07/02/08 at 02:24:49 PM by Mark Edward Soper

Adobe makes the wait for Reader 9 a short one, rolling out the companion to its heavily upgraded Acrobat 9 family just days after releasing Acrobat 9. Reader 9 supports all of the new multimedia features in Acrobat 9, including embedded Flash videos, and like Acrobat 9, loads much faster than its predecessor. Download it here.

Planning to try Acrobat 9 and Reader 9? Happy with third-party PDF readers? Give us your thoughts after the break.

Read More

Posted 06/26/08 at 03:54:34 PM by Mark Edward Soper

New Acrobat 9 adds built-in Flash and multimedia support to the venerable PDF format. That's the good news. The bad? Unless you buy (or try) Acrobat 9, you can't enjoy any of the new multimedia goodies in PDF documents just yet.

To find out what's new, how to buy (or try) your favorite version of Acrobat 9, and to learn when Reader will catch up, read on.

Read More