After much lamenting and a few attempts, Google Chrome can finally be run natively in OS X. Kind of. Don't get us wrong, it works: it starts up fast and runs one process per window, just like the Windows version. But there are a few glaring holes, the lack of plugins (and therefore Flash, which means no YouTube) being one of them. The History, Bookmarks Bar, and Preferences screens don't work either, which makes this not much more than a proof-of-concept still: it can run natively, but you wouldn't really want to.

It's too bad Google hasn't gotten this working themselves sooner. Maybe they've just been too busy lately taking care of panda-obsessed AIs.

According to Ed Sutherland from Cult of Mac, three out of four Apple's NAND flash memory suppliers are feeling the strain as the company demands storage for its new line of iPhones.

Sutherland cites a research report by analyst Vijay Rakesh from ThinkEquity. Rakesh says that Samsung has set aside its inventory of NAND chips for Apple until April.

Hynix, another supplier, reported softer sales growth for its NAND chips, and Toshiba is having problems supplying customers with 56nm NAND chips. Apple's fourth supplier, Micron, wasn't mentioned in Rakesh's report.

Aside from a new iPhone handset on the way, what does this mean? Higher memory prices, for one. Rakesh said that he expects NAND spot and contract prices to rise.

Many analysts around the time of Apple's Q1 conference call said they had high hopes for a new iPhone during the first half of the year. Some rumors suggest June might be the target date for release.

Two of Apple's rival mobile platforms announced news this week at the 2009 Mobile World Congress, with Windows Mobile 6.5 on the way, and a new Android-based handset from HTC.

Windows Mobile has updated its user interface to more closely resemble the iPhone's. I can imagine the brainstorming session:

Developer 1: "It needs to look, work, and feel like the iPhone, but -- you know -- not be."

Developer 2: "Instead of putting the icons on a rectangular grid, let's do a (one two three four five six) hexagonal one!"

Developer 1: "Brilliant! Book it. Done."

I kid, I kid. I'm sure it was more complicated than that. Anyway, Windows Mobile will also feature two new services, a "My Phone" synchronization service, and a new marketplace that will sell mobile applications from both phones and desktops. It's like I've heard this song before, but can't remember exactly where.

Also at the conference, HTC announced the Magic, a handset to run Google's Android operating system. Unlike the G1, the Magic will not have a slide-out keyboard. It will first be available to Vodafone customers in the UK, Germany and Spain, among other European carriers. Cult of Mac's Ed Sutherland suspects T-Mobile will carry the handset in the U.S. because it can handle the phone's transmission protocols.

Both the Windows Mobile and Android platforms also announced they'll support Flash (along with Symbian and Palm's new webOS) in 2010. And what of the iPhone? No dice: Adobe lobs the ball back in Apple's court, saying during the announcement, "We would love to see it on the iPhone, too, but it's Apple's decision on when and how they support any new technology. So we will continue to work on it."

[Via Hardmac, MDN, and IGM.]

New nightly builds of Safari's bleeding-edge doppelgänger, WebKit, are getting some new support for CSS animations -- support that's already available in MobileSafari.

The animations, which include a falling leaves effect, a way to simply animate objects sliding across the screen, and a "pulse" effect (described as "the new <blink>") are all supported by WebKit. The WebKit blog shows code examples about how to use these behaviors in your own sites.

MacRumors's Arnold Kim suggests that Apple may be looking to obviate the need for Flash on the iPhone and iPod touch through the implementation of web tools like CSS Animation. I would argue that while CSS is powerful, getting Flash on the iPhone is about one thing and one thing only: Games.

The iPhone Flash saga is a long-running show. First Adobe said they were going to do it come hell or high water, then they backed off, then Uncle Steve seemed to put the kibosh on the thing permanently. Now, however, Bloomberg is quoting the Adobe CEO as saying that "It's a hard technical challenge, and that's part of the reason Apple and Adobe are collaborating. The ball is in our court. The onus is on us to deliver."

The surprising part there is the admission that Apple is working with Adobe on the project. It didn't seem like Jobs was at all receptive to the idea back in March of last year, but maybe a new iPhone-specific Flash player could avoid the pitfalls of the resource-hogging desktop version on the Mac, while still maintaining enough power to surmount the objections to Flash Lite. I have to admit that I'd love to go straight to Hulu or Sling for streaming video on the iPhone, but given their record on the Mac desktop I'm a little skeptical that Adobe can deliver a good solution.

[via AppleInsider]

The folks at Flickr have released some good news today. Specifically, their mobile site at m.flickr.com has been improved to include, among other things, video support for the iPhone and iPod touch.

It seems to work by playing a Quicktime version of your clips, thus getting around the whole lack of flash support. The folks at Flickr note that the iPod touch and iPhone are the only mobile devices that can play the movies for now, but others will be added soon.

Other improvements to m.flickr.com include the option to comment on photos and add them to your collection of favorites. I found the site to be very fast indeed over WiFi and no slouch over EDGE, either. Those of you with later model iPhones (and iPod touches) will have to tell me how your experiences have been.

Thank you to Flickr and the Yahoo! Video Platform group. Now if only some others would follow suit (we're looking at you, Hulu).

[Via Daring Fireball]

It's been in beta for a while, but now Adobe's ubiquitous media plugin (warning: LOUD) has turned 10 officially for the Mac. The 5.5 MB download (available in separate versions for Intel and PPC) gains a host of new and improved features, including custom After Effects-style filters, advanced text support, 3D effects, better hardware acceleration and streaming support, vamped-up APIs, and file upload/download improvements.

Flash 10 requires a 500 MHz G3 or better on the Mac, and runs on Tiger or Leopard: OS X 10.3 Panther users are out of luck. Download now from Adobe if you dare. Authoring content that takes full advantage of Flash Player 10 means using Flash CS4, which -- what a coincidence! -- is shipping as of today, along with the rest of the CS4 suite.

Flash's ubiquity in the marketplace (99% of Internet users have some version of it installed, says Adobe) does give it a wide advantage over media alternatives like QuickTime and Silverlight, but one of the ongoing challenges for Flash is version upsell; getting people to move to the new build sometimes has to wait until a popular service requires it. For Mac users, the lure of upgrading includes a move away from the traditionally lackluster performance of Flash on the Intel hardware -- I know many MacBook users who can tell when a Flash ad is playing in a hidden Safari tab just by the sound of the cooling fans ramping up -- so with any luck, version 10 will address the challenges in that area while simultaneously adding all these cool new features.

Thanks Richard

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Adobe has confirmed that it's developing a version of Flash for the iPhone, and it's "a certainty" that it will be included in MobileSafari, according to Paul Boutin of Valleywag. Color me skeptical.

Paul Betlem (this story is replete with Pauls, it appears) from Adobe stopped short of saying it will be included on the iPhone, but instead said the ball was in Apple's court. If Apple approves, Adobe will have the player available shortly.

We knew Adobe was working hard on a version of Flash Player for the iPhone and iPod touch. The "closed system" of MobileSafari was making it difficult for them to build a plug-in for a browser that doesn't officially support plug-ins. Having Apple's buy-in on the project is an absolute requirement.

It remains to be seen how lean Flash Player will get in order to provide good video playback (for example) without draining the battery in 30 seconds flat. Will Adobe favor performance over economy? Or vice versa?

[Via Valleywag.]

Just when you thought you just bought (or just finished paying for) Adobe Creative Suite 3, get ready to take out another mortgage for Adobe CS4, which will be publicly unveiled on September 23. AppleInsider conjectures the software will drop in October.

Adobe will be delivering several webcasts that day to showcase the new software to the public. You can register here to participate in the webcasts.

Improvements to Photoshop and Flash are expected to headline the event. Adobe did not release any details about how the software will be bundled, nor any pricing information. Full versions of Adobe CS3 can cost as much as $2,500 for new users, and $160 for those who want to upgrade.

Adobe released preview editions of Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Soundbooth in late May.

[Via MacFreaks and cnet.]

Macally is promising a new product for your iPhone or iPod (coming soon!) that combines an emergency battery pack, data cable, and flash drive all in one.

Called PowerLink, the device will power your iPhone or iPod if the built-in battery dies, though Macally doesn't specify for how long. You can also connect one end to your iPhone/iPod, and the other to your computer, and the device will work like a short, rigid data cable. Thirdly, PowerLink contains a 2GB everyday flash drive.

While not the most attractive thing in the world, it is functional, and could get you out of a jam on a back-country road with a dead iPhone battery. Sure, there are plenty of other battery pack options for iPhone and iPod, but none with with all the extras.

Macally hasn't announced a release date yet, but the product will be available for $50.

[Via Productdose.]

The slowness of Flash has long been a complaint on the fairer platform and it finally looks like somebody at Adobe was paying attention. Adobe Labs has released a beta for Flash Player 10 and among the changes is a major speed boost. Indeed commenting on his personal site, one Adobe Flash engineer has gone so far as to say that "this version of the player runs... [the GUIMark] benchmark substantially better on OSX than any previous Flash Player version. It should be up to 3 times faster" (more details here).

Adobe Flash Player 10 beta 2 is a free download from Adobe Labs. However, they warn that previous version should be uninstalled before updating.

[via MacNN]

Quark Inc. announced QuarkXPress 8 at the Drupa printing exhibition in Düsseldorf today, the latest version of the high-end design tool for Mac and Windows. Many of the changes to QuarkXPress are in the areas of user interface and workflow, which were criticized by many users after the long-delayed release of QuarkXPress 7.

Some of the interface enhancements include:

• A picture content tool for moving, rotating, and scaling images in real-time
• New Bézier Pen Tools
• An enhanced measurements palette with new controls for modifying drop-shadows
• Drag-and-drop from the desktop, Adobe Bridge, iPhoto, MIcrosoft Word, and the hundreds of other applications that support drag-and-drop
• Instant access to master pages and exports to PDF, SWF, HTML and EPS

QuarkXPress 8 offers improved typographical controls for designers, including hanging characters with multiple presets. There's also built-in support for Flash content creation, which formerly required the purchase of Quark Interactive Designer

Quark also noted that designers who purchase QuarkXPress 7 at regular price between today and August 1, 2008 and those who purchased QuarkXPress 7 or an upgrade between May 1 and today will receive the upgrade for free. The package is expected to ship within 60 days, and no final pricing has been announced.

Thanks to Ling for the tip!

Update: Jay Nelson has a huge writeup of QXP8's features at Planet Quark.

If you were one of those people who were excited that Adobe was going to apparently fight to get Flash on the iPhone, get ready to be unexcited: Adobe has decided that despite what they thought earlier, they're not actually going to be able to get Flash on there using only the SDK from Apple. Nope, Adobe has admitted that they need Apple's help to get it working (not a big surprise there), and since Apple isn't really keen to help at all, odds are it's just not going to happen.

Adobe then announced that they didn't need your iPhone anyway, Apple, and that they hate you, Apple, and that you never let them have any fun, and that they wish you'd just die! And that they'd never been born! Then they ran to pout in the corner for a good 20 minutes, only to be seen a little while later playing with their trains like nothing had happened.

[Via Engadget]

The rumors are apparently true, after a fashion -- despite reports of Jobs' opposition to the idea, Adobe has told the Wall Street Journal that after reviewing the iPhone's SDK, their CEO says they can bring Flash to the device all by themselves. It'll be super interesting to see if Adobe tries to make an end run around Apple to get their platform on the iPhone via the SDK, or if Apple cooperates to let them do it (Flash, for all of its foibles, is definitely a big part of the current internet).

But at this point it seems like Adobe is dead set on getting Flash on the iPhone whether Apple consents or not. We'll watch this one as it develops obviously -- by the time the rest of the SDK-driven apps come around in June, browsing Flash sites might be the last thing on everyone's minds.

[Via Engadget]

Back in early February, we reported that sources had given GearLive (of jiggly-icon fame) the nod about Flash coming to the iPhone 'very, very soon'. Unfortunately, anyone hoping to get Flash on their iPhone (or iPod touch) anytime soon is likely to be left waiting, as Steve Jobs yesterday pulled a broadside on Adobe Flash, saying it simply wasn't suited for the iPhone. Ouch.

Of course, some folks are likely to be more than disappointed with this announcement (not least Adobe and perhaps GearLive). Others, myself included, are simply relieved that our iPhones will remain clear of Flash's clutches [call me bitter, but I've seen enough 'Unresponsive Script' errors for my liking]. Either way, with Flash now brushed aside by Steve-O, it's all-eyes on Apple's Campus Event tomorrow, which starts at 10am PST, as the veil of secrecy (hopefully) rises on Apple's plans for third-party applications.