Apple announced yesterday it’s awaited tablet, the iPad, which runs on the iPhone OS and features a much more powerful processor. There was no mention as to whether or not the device would support Flash, but engadget reported that Flash cannot be displayed in the Safari browser of the iPad. This doesn’t come as a big surprise as the iPhone still currently does not support Flash at all. While this might be a big drawback for most consumers, Flash developers are not left completely without a solution as the new version of Flash CS5 will allow packaging Flash into native iPhone applications which will run on the iPad. However, it is very unlikely for the initial release of Flash CS5 to support any of the custom APIs for the iPad as opposed to the iPhone, but we can hope that Adobe takes that into consideration in later updates.

The iPad is expected to be released in March 2010, there is no release date for Flash CS5 yet.

Google has recently launched a beta feature for users of YouTube to allow them to view videos on YouTube directly using  HTML5 without the need to have the Flash Player installed. The feature is still in beta and will not work with monetized videos or videos with annotation. It is also not supported by all browsers yet.

If YouTube was to rely primarily on HTML5 instead of Flash then this would be a major loss for Flash technology as YouTube is one of the most popular websites on the Internet and one which has helped promote the use of Flash as the optimum method for delivering video on the Internet.

The movement towards HTML5 instead of Flash for delivered video is motivated by the will to rely on open web standards instead of relying on a proprietary 3rd party technology such as Flash. It also makes more sense to implement a video directly, the same way an image is embedded, instead of relying on a plug-in to do the job.

However, playing a video is a more interactive experience that needs additional navigation tools and may not be placed and played the same way an image is showed. This of course can still be achieved by using AJAX instead of Flash, but it will take a lot of time before such technologies can replace Flash video because the support of HTML5 is still buggy across different browsers. The consistency that the Flash Player provides is also a big advantage that will be very hard to duplicate using HTML5 and AJAX.

You can read more about this on TechCrunch. You can also try out the new HTML5 playback feature on YouTube through its TestTube page.

Earlier this month Adobe release the public beta of its upcoming AIR 2.0 SDK – codenamed Athena. The latest version of the SDK will enable you to create AIR applications with new features such as the support for mass storage devices, advanced networking capabilities, multi-touch gestures, HTML5 & CSS3 support, and many other new features. You can learn more about Athena and download the SDK at Adobe Labs.

Adobe recently released version 3.5 of the Flex SDK, the freely available SDK for developing and deploying Flex applications. This is a minor update that fixes bugs and security issues, but it is still worth checking out by Flex developers. You can download the new SDK from Adobe’s website.

The recently released Google Nexus One phone runs Android 2.1 OS which has support for the Flash Player 10.1 in its browser. Unlike some previous Android devices, the Nexus One is also equipped with the fast Snapdragon processor. This should enable this phone to deliver a Flash experience on the go similar to what you can achieve on the desktop.

This could be the most interesting mobile phone for Flash developers at the moment, as the promised ability to export iPhone applications cannot still be seen before Flash CS5 is released. You can develop Flash applications for the Google Nexus One using your current Flash authoring tools.

Good news for Flash game developers, Adobe recently launched a dedicated portal on its website dedicate to Flash Game Technology which hosts a videos, articles, and discussion boards to help Flashers develop their skills in making games. The portal has both Flash CS and Flash Builder tutorials. You can view the Flash Platform Game Technology Center here.

[via swfGeek]

Adobe announced recently that has canceled its plans to release a public beta of Flash CS5 before the end of this year in hope of delivering a more fine tuned final product sometime next year. I am like the majority of other Flash users disappointed as I was looking forward to try out the new features of Flash CS5, especially the tools for creating Flash iPhone applications using the IDE. It is unknown if there would be a public beta release of Flash CS5 now before its official release in 2010.

On a more positive note, Lee Brimelow posted a video showing some of the new features of Flash CS5 including on-stage video playback and cue point creation tools, new Flash file open uncompressed format, code snippets, custom class code hints, Flash Builder integration, and the new TLF text format. You can view the video at GotoAndLearn.com.

Flash CS5 is expected to be released in the first half of 2010.

Lee Brimelow is back again with a short FAQ on Flash iPhone development that explains a bit about the functionality of Flash iPhone applications and other questions related to the compiling process. The highlight of the FAQ is that Lee expects the public beta version of Flash CS5 to be out before the end of 2009 – We are already in December, so this means it should be out this month if nothing goes wrong! You can learn more from this FAQ by checking it out here.

Lee BrimeLow of the Flash Blog has posted a nice video tutorial on how to create a native iPhone application using the upcoming Flash Professional CS5. This tutorial shows how similar the process for creating an iPhone application is to process for creating AIR applications.

Just like on-device testing using Xcode, those wishing to test their Flash-created iPhone application would have to acquire the $100 developer license from Apple in order to be able to test their applications on their actual devices or in order to distribute them through the iTunes store.

Learn more about this by viewing the video tutorial here.

Republic of Code’s Website of the Month Award for December 2009 goes to Fully Illustrated, Michael Heald’s portfolio featuring amazing artwork and photography. View the website via this link.

(You can submit your website to win the Republic of Code Website of the Month Award via this link.)