Flash Player 11New features

claims there are dozens of new features in Player 11 and Air 3.

Native extensions The update offers support for “unique device features and native code libraries, empowering developers to freely choose the right mix of Flash, HTML 5 and native code”, says Adobe. This means developers can take advantage of the latest innovations for a device straight away, where historically they would have had to wait for the AIR architecture update. “Now developers can write native code and take advantage as soon as latest innovations become available”, explained Winkour.

2D/3D support Full hardware-accelerated for 2D and 3D graphics enables 1,000 times faster rendering performance compared to Flash Player 10 and AIR 2, according to Adobe. This means developers can “animate millions of objects with smooth 60 frames-per-second rendering and deliver console-quality games on Mac OS,” according to Adobe. The same technology is coming to (including ) in a pre-, says the company.

Captive Runtime Another benefit is that developers can package AIR 3 with their application, simplifying the installation process for Android, Mac OS and iOS operating system, says Adobe. The benefit being that users no longer have to download and update the runtime separately, and developers can manage version updates to their application independent of general AIR runtime updates by Adobe.

HD Many developers will be pleased to hear that, thanks to H.264 hardware decoding, it is possible to play video without having to exit to a video player. “Full rate videos can now be displayed within Flash based applications on iOS devices using H.264 hardware decoding,” says Adobe. The same breakthrough means rich applications on televisions are also able to deliver HD video with 7.1 channel surround sound.

Other new features include Content Protection: so that premium video content can be protected; Rental and Subscriptions: content publishers can take advantage of rental and subscription options; Security thanks to cryptographically secure random number generation, more secure applications can be created; 64-bit: native support for 64-bit operating systems.

via MacWorld UK