Flash

Adobe pushes Flash Player security update fixing critical vulnerabilities

Adobe today released a new security-focused update for its Flash Player software in an effort to patch a series of vulnerabilities that could give attackers control of your computer. Although Safari on macOS Sierra disables web plugins like Flash by default, Mac owners who have a standalone Flash Player installed on their system are at risk, even if they're using Flash Player that's built into Google's Chrome browser.

Alleged iPhone 7 Plus parts reaffirm dual cameras, suggest 16/64/256GB models

French leaker Steven Hemmerstoffer yesterday republished an image of some claimed iPhone 7 Plus components, found on Weibo.

The photo appears to show an alleged dual-camera module said to be destined for the handset's refresh, along with NAND flash chips which suggest that the iPhone 7 could include a new 256-gigabyte model.

The presence of both 16GB and 64GB memory modules on the photo might indicate that, disappointingly, the iPhone's highly criticized low-storage 16GB model won't be going away with the forthcoming hardware refresh.

How to manually check for Flash updates on your Mac

Flash is among one of the most targeted web platforms for injecting computers with malware, including Macs, and that's why Adobe is always turning around with updates for Flash all the darned time.

If you're like me, then your security is important to you, and you may not trust automatic updates to deliver updates to you quickly enough.

This tutorial will show you how you can make sure Flash is up to date on your Mac, the manual way.

Google to ditch Flash for HTML5 by default in Chrome come this fall

The slow death of Adobe Flash continues as Google preps to put another nail into the beleaguered technology's coffin come this fall. According to a draft proposal from the search giant, a copy of which was obtained by Venture Beat, Google's desktop browser will default to showing HTML5 content and video, falling back to Flash as a last resort.

Chrome ships with a built-in Flash Player which automatically kicks into action whenever a piece of Flash content is detected on a webpage.

How to remove Adobe Flash from your Mac

The succession of vulnerabilities found in Adobe's Flash Player shows no signs of dying down: not a month goes by without Adobe releasing another yet emergency update for Flash to patch a bunch of newly discovered vulnerabilities (measuring in the dozens).

Some of them can be pretty nasty as they introduce new attack vectors for spyware, ransomware, trojans and other malicious applications that you don't want anywhere near your computer.

A few years ago, Flash Player was impossible to avoid because a bulk of web video was encoded in Adobe's proprietary Flash format, but not anymore: YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook and many other popular web services now use HTML5-based video players that work in any modern browser.

While Apple does block older, vulnerable versions of Flash in the Safari browser on macOS, you should do yourself a favor and remove Flash Player from your Mac using step-by-step instructions provided in this tutorial.

Samsung to re-enter Apple’s supply chain for NAND flash memory chips in 2017

Following a five-year hiatus, Apple's frenemy Samsung is set to supply NAND flash memory chips to Apple for its devices beginning with 2017, ETNews reported Wednesday. NAND flash memory is extensively used across Apple's many products, including the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch and Mac notebooks.

Apple dropped Samsung as a NAND flash supplier following the iPhone 5 introduction in 2012 because the South Korean conglomerate was stuck with ball grid array (BGA) packaging and refused to invest in land grid array (LGA) package contacts that allow the flash memory chips to sit flush with the printed circuit board and were required to comply with Apple's electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding requirements.

Will iPhone 7 bring a new 256GB model to the mix?

MyDrivers, a Chinese-language outlet, recently posted a sketchy rumor claiming that Apple's next smartphone refresh includes an all-new 256GB model as an iPhone 7 Plus exclusive.

Today, Italian-language HDblog posted a picture of a 256GB NAND flash memory produced by US-based SanDisk Corporation which could give Apple the option of introducing a 256GB iPhone model.

OWC launches SSD Upgrades for Mid-2013 and later Mac Notebooks

Other World Computing (OWC) has announced on Tuesday a major new step forward in upgrading the flash storage of your 2013 or later MacBook Air or MacBook Pro with Retina display.

Now available are the OWC Aura solid state drives (SSD), which come in flavors of 480GB and 1TB. These storage drive upgrades are direct PCI-e drop-ins for any of the supported computers.

How to have your iPhone LED light blink and flash when you get a call, text message, or app notification

LED Flash for Alerts on iPhone

Your iPhone usually lets you know when there is an incoming call, text, or app notification using sound, vibration, or both. But in certain situations, audible alerts and vibrations won't be enough to attract your attention, like when in a loud environment such as a nightclub. Or perhaps you simply don't want to be disturbed by sound or vibration at all.

Thankfully, iPhones can use the LED flash next to the rear camera to alert you of incoming calls, messages, and other app notifications. In this post, we'll show you how to enable LED flash alerts on your iOS device.

iPhone 6s said to bring 12MP sensor, 4K video recording, and improved FaceTime camera

A lot has been said thus far about “the biggest camera jump ever” expected to grace Apple's upcoming 'iPhone 6s' and 'iPhone 6s Plus' smartphones. A report Thursday by 9to5Mac attempts to bring Apple's next-generation camera technology into full view.

According to sources who spoke with author Mark Gurman, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will introduce “a major revamp” to the camera system that ostensibly includes a twelve-megapixel iSight sensor out the back that can capture video in full 4K resolution, in addition to a simple software trick designed to bring flash support to the FaceTime camera out the front.

Breakthrough could bring 1,000 times faster flash storage with much longer lifespan to iPhone

Chip makers Intel and Micron today announced a major breakthrough in memory process technology which promises to increase the performance of NAND flash chips by a factor of 1,000.

The name of this game-changing technology is 3D Xpoint, pronounced as “crosspoint”. Not only does it enable 1,000 times faster performance, but has up to 1,000X greater endurance than NAND flash and is 10X denser than conventional memory.

By comparison, today's solid state drives typically offer between a hundred to up to a thousand times faster seek times versus traditional hard drive technology. Just don't count on Intel's new ultra-fast flash storage appearing in the next iPhone because a claimed logic board for an 'iPhone 6s' shows 19-nanometer flash memory chips by Toshiba.

Mozilla blocks Flash in Firefox as Facebook calls on Adobe to kill it off completely

Remember when Steve Jobs published an open letter calling for Adobe to kill off Flash and minced no words, saying Flash was “the number one reason Macs crash”? Five years later, the prospect for Adobe's proprietary multimedia plugin is looking increasingly grim as opposition is mounting against Flash.

Early in the year, Google stopped using Flash on YouTube after rolling out an HTML5 video player. Last week, Facebook’s chief security officer slammed Flash on Twitter and now the non-profit organization Mozilla has added every version of Flash to Firefox browser's default blocklist.