Hasta La Gadget!

You might recall that Verizon and Motorola’s first go-around at pushing Android 2.2 to the original Droid didn’t include compatibility with the Flash 10.1 install in the Market — but don’t worry, lovers of Flash-based web ads, because the fix is now upon us. We don’t know exactly how long the rollout process is going to take, but you know how it goes with Android OTA updates: even if they try to stretch it over several weeks, there’s usually an update.zip floating around within a few hours that you can grab if you want to accelerate the process just a bit. Here’s the full statement from Verizon:

“Verizon Wireless has begun pushing an update today to the DROID by Motorola (introduced November 2009) that will allow customers to download Adobe Flash 10.1 via Android Market. Flash Player 10.1 provides access to millions of sites with rich content including animations, casual games, videos, rich internet applications, audio and much more.”

Verizon pushing Droid update for Flash 10.1 compatibility originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A new chip could improve error correction in flash memory, and might also lead to more efficient spam filtering and shopping recommendations.

Lyric Semiconductor, a small MIT spinoff, has created an error correction chip that uses a technique called “probability processing” to guess the right answer or solve a problem.

The chip, called LEC, is 30 times smaller in size than current digital error correction technology. That means manufacturers can create higher density chips that offer more storage at lower costs.

“This is not digital computing in the traditional sense,” says Ben Vigoda, founder of Lyric Semiconductor. “We are looking at processing where the values can be between a zero and a one.”

Error rates in flash-based storage are of concern to both consumers and manufacturers.

“The issue with flash is you get higher and higher bit errors as you move to smaller geometry,” says Greg Wong, an analyst with research firm Forward Insights, “so to discern data that is in there you have to use probability type of algorithms.”

Today, one in every thousand bits stored in a flash memory comes out wrong when the memory is read. With the next generation of flash memory, the number of errors is expected to approach one wrong bit out of every hundred.

For consumers, this  means a music file that they play from their flash storage disk could sound wrong — or a file could get corrupted. To avoid that, flash memory makers have to use error correction, much of which is currently done using software algorithms.

The problem with software-based solutions is that they use digital signal processing circuits that add to the size of the chip, says Wong.

“This is an area where cost is a very sensitive factor,” he says. “So if you can reduce the size of the circuitry, there’s a big benefit there.”

Despite its tiny size, the Lyric LEC contains “a Pentium’s worth of computation,” says Vigoda.

Story continues.

You can only humor someone for so long, and it seems as if Adobe is at its breaking point with Apple. Just three months after publishing a new ad campaign that sought to ease the tension between the two mega-corps, Adobe’s CEO has been quoted as saying that his company has “moved on” from the whole ordeal. On one hand, we’re glad to see Adobe focusing its resources on optimizing Flash for the myriad Android 2.2 devices that’ll support its mobile player in the months to come, but on the other, it’s a bit depressing to see Shantanu Narayen essentially give up hope that Jobs and Company will ever come to their senses. For example, have a listen at this, with “they” most certainly referring to Apple:

“They’ve chosen to keep their system closed and we’d rather work with partners who are interested in working with us. We believe in open systems. We believe in the power of the internet and in customers making choices and I think a lot of the controversy was about their decision at that point. They’ve made their choice. We’ve made ours and we’ve moved on.”

Something tells us the FTC won’t be so quick to follow suit. Oh, and if you’re wondering how Adobe could just turn the other cheek here, the company’s Anup Murarka just said at the Flash / Android event ongoing in San Francisco that Adobe has “relationships with 19 of the top 20 mobile manufacturers in the world.” One is the loneliest number, or so we hear.

Adobe’s CEO: ‘we’ve moved on’ from Apple’s argument, and Flash still rules originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon confirms original Droid will be getting second Froyo update originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 19:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’re probably wondering how you’ll get 2TB or so into a single CF slot of your D3S. Or even if you’re not, you’re probably wondering how you can strap a trio of CF cards together for a 6TB slab of flash storage. So far as we can tell, PhotoFast’s the first with an adapter that enables devices with CompactFlash slots to accept those minty fresh SDXC cards, which would theoretically allow anything that understands CF to now recognize. The GM-7300 SDXC-to-CF adapter is expected to ship next month in Japan for ¥2,980 ($35), but there’s no word yet on when it’ll be headed up over the Bering Strait and down into the US of A.

PhotoFast GM-7300 SDXC-to-CF adapter gives your pro DSLR another storage option originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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