Related
The Motorola Milestone is one of the top-selling smartphones that runs Google's Android operating system. (Jeff Chiu/Canadian Press)Google is adding Flash, the popular software used for video and multimedia on the web, and a host of other new features to its Android smartphone operating system.
An upcoming update, which is available now to software developers and will be rolled out to phone makers in the coming weeks, will allow owners of smartphones running Android to view websites that use Adobe Flash to deliver video and multimedia elements.
The capability could give Android phones an advantage in web surfing over Apple's iPhone, which does not run Flash.
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has publicly criticized Adobe's software for being proprietary and for demanding too much battery power.
Jobs's criticism prompted Adobe to fire back in full-page newspaper ads last week.
"We [heart] Apple," the ad reads. "What we don't love is anybody taking away your freedom to choose what you create, how you create it and what you experience on the web."
Google executives took their own shots at Apple in announcing the Android update at a developers' conference in San Francisco on Thursday.
"It's much nicer [to work with Adobe] than just saying 'no'," said Vic Gundotra, Google's vice-president of engineering.
The Android update will also feature improvements in the speed and performance of applications and the web browser, how apps are sold through Google's Market and how users can copy and move their data.
Android 2.2, code-named "FroYo," will also let users turn their smartphone into a Wi-Fi hotspot, which will allow them to share their cellular internet connection with other devices.
Google also announced that the new Android Market will compete with Apple's iTunes store and software by selling music that can be downloaded directly to phones, rather than having to first go through a computer. The company did not provide details, however.
Google said there are now more than 60 types of phones running Android, with 100,000 individual devices being activated every day. The company said Android devices are now second in U.S. smartphone sales, behind Research In Motion and its BlackBerry but ahead of Apple's iPhone.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- Dozens of children die in Syria massacre, activists say
- More than 90 people have been killed by regime forces in a district of central Syria, activists say, and as many as half the victims may have been children. more »
- Aylmer triple stabbing leads to first-degree murder charges
- The estranged partner of a young mother who was stabbed to death along with her parents at their home in Aylmer, Que., has been charged with first-degree murder Friday. more »
- Severe storm in Quebec leaves damage in its wake
- Trees were uprooted, roofs damaged and windows shattered as severe thunderstorms, and possibly a tornado, rattled through southwestern Quebec Friday night. more »
- The risks and responsibilities of taking on Mt. Everest
- The deaths of five climbers last weekend on Mt. Everest, with more summits underway this weekend, fuels the debate about the risks and responsibilities of high altitude climbing. more »
Latest Technology & Science News Headlines
- Unloading of docked SpaceX capsule to start Saturday
- The privately bankrolled SpaceX Dragon capsule made a historic arrival at the International Space Station on Friday, and astronauts will begin unloading some of the 544 kilograms of food, water, clothing and other supplies its carrying starting Saturday. more »
- South Africa, Australia to share world's largest telescope
- South Africa and Australia will jointly host the Square Kilometre Array, which promises to be the world's largest telescope, the international consortium in charge of the project said Friday. more »
- Bonavista, N.L., 'coyote' was really wolf, tests confirm
- Wolves have not been seen in Newfoundland since around 1930 and were believed to have been hunted to extinction on the island, but genetic tests have confirmed that an 82-pound animal shot on the Bonavista Peninsula in March was, in fact, a wolf. more »
- Once-rare argus butterfly thriving thanks to climate change
- Global warming is threatening the existence of many species, such as the giant polar bear, but in the case of Britain's brown argus butterfly, it took a species in trouble and made it thrive. more »
- Yahoo scraps digital magazine designed for iPad
- Yahoo has killed Livestand, a tablet magazine, just six months after its debut on the iPad. more »
Bob McDonald's Blog
Government to shut down unique fresh water research area May. 25, 2012 12:31 PM The Experimental Lakes Area research facility in Northern Ontario is being closed down after 44 years of providing invaluable data to scientists in Canada and internationally, a decision that has stunned researchers and environmental groups.
Quirks & Quarks
- May 26: Before the Lights Go Out May. 25, 2012 4:15 PM A new book, "Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis Before It Conquers Us", suggests that the unpredictable, unplanned, ad-hoc way our energy use developed in the past will shape our energy future.
Latest Features
- Aylmer triple stabbing leads to first-degree murder charges
- Pope's butler arrested in Vatican leaks scandal
- B.C. premier unhappy with disgraced Mountie's transfer
- Everest victim's husband says family not seeking government help
- The risks and responsibilities of taking on Mt. Everest
- Severe storm in Quebec leaves damage in its wake
- Canada ending 'Buffalo shuffle' for visas, closing consulate
- Ottawa man in hospital after lightning strike
- What a Greek euro exit could mean for Canada
