An update for Adobe's Flash Media Server

Adobe has released a new update for its "Flash Media Server", version 4.5. It was an opportunity for AEG Digital Media, a specialist in webcast and media services for live streaming events, to team up with Adobe for its promotional campaign. In a mini-reportage, we see their technical teams working at full tilt; we clearly appreciate the levels of stress inherent in their work!

The vice president of AEG Digital Media admitted that his company was pulling out all the stops to ensure reliable and high quality production across all new media. To achieve this, it is obviously essential to be able to rely on technology as robust as that offered by Adobe's "Flash Media Server".

And the cherry on the cake: this update means content in Flash format will be viewable on iPhones and iPads. About time too!Provided by YC/ATC-TCL.com

Reversing course, Hewlett-Packard to keep PC unit

Hewlett-Packard's new chief executive Meg Whitman, just five weeks into her tenure, said that the company will keep its personal computer division and also resume making tablets.
Whitman's announcements were a dramatic repudiation of strategic decisions which led to the ouster of her predecessor, Leo Apotheker, after less than a year at the helm of the world's biggest computer maker.
Apotheker, who was fired by HP's board in September, had proposed spinning off the PC unit and stopped production of the TouchPad, HP's rival to Apple's iPad, in a shift towards software and services for businesses.
"HP objectively evaluated the strategic, financial and operational impact of spinning off PSG," Whitman said in a statement, using the acronym for HP's Personal Systems Group which makes PCs.
"It's clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees," Whitman said. "HP is committed to PSG, and together we are stronger."
Whitman, the former chief executive of online auction giant eBay, took over as HP's president and chief executive from Apotheker, a veteran of German business software giant SAP, on September 22.
The low-margin PC market has been flat amid an astronomical increase in powerful smartphones and the arrival of hot-selling tablet computers such as the iPad.
As part of his strategic shift, Apotheker also announced the $10.24 billion purchase of British enterprise software company Autonomy and a decision to halt production of the TouchPad, which was powered by the webOS operating system HP acquired from Palm.
HP's acquisition of Autonomy closed earlier this month.
Whitman declined to reveal what HP planned to do with webOS, but said HP would make tablet computers running Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 operating system.
"We need to be in the tablet business," Whitman said in a conference call with financial analysts.
Whitman said the company would make a decision on the future of webOS "within the next two months."
In its statement Thursday, HP said the PC unit would be "a key component of HP's strategy to deliver higher value, lasting relationships with consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and enterprise customers."
"As part of HP, PSG will continue to give customers and partners the advantages of product innovation and global scale across the industry's broadest portfolio of PCs, workstations and more," said Todd Bradley, the executive vice president of HP's Personal Systems Group.
"We intend to make the leading PC business in the world even better," he added.
Bradley, who was also on the conference call, said tablets were helping to usher in a "new age of personal computing" and it was "not too late" to get into the market dominated so far by the iPad.
Shares in the Palo Alto, California-based HP plunged 20 percent on August 19, the day after Apotheker announced the possible spinoff of the PC unit, and lost 40 percent of their value during his tenure.
"We confused the market pretty dramatically on August 18," Whitman conceded Thursday.
HP shares rose 0.52 percent to $27.23 in after-hours trading after gaining 4.82 percent on Wall Street on Thursday.

China censors web after tax riots

China on Friday blocked online access to news of riots by thousands of people who clashed with police in an eastern manufacturing city in what began as a protest over taxes.
Cars were smashed and several people were injured in the riots, which went on for more than a day and involved thousands of people, said local authorities on the website of eastern Zhejiang province, where the unrest occurred.
News and images of riots are viewed as highly sensitive in China and authorities moved swiftly to prevent users of the country's hugely popular social media sites from viewing online reports.
Searches for Zhili, the name of the town where the rioting took place, were blocked, as were words including "tax" and "protest".
The riots, which began on Wednesday and continued well into Thursday, were among the largest reported in China in recent months.
Hong Kong television showed footage from late Thursday of armed police on streets lined with shops whose windows had been smashed.
A local government website said 28 people had been arrested over the riots and police had been forced to use "heavy-handed measures" to quell them.
A posting on a microblog run by local police called for Internet users to "pay attention to the authenticity" of web messages about the incident.
Beijing has repeatedly vowed to clamp down on "rumours" on the Internet as the country's online population continues to grow.
China now has more than 500 million Internet users, posing a huge challenge to government attempts to control public opinion.
Authorities in Zhejiang said the tax collector whose demands for money from a clothing manufacturer sparked the Wednesday night riots had been sacked.
One local manufacturer reached by telephone said conditions were calm on Friday, but there were large numbers of police in the city and residents had been told to stay indoors.
Mass protests are not uncommon in China as disenfranchised people left behind by the country's economic boom take to the streets to air their grievances.
Last month, protesters in Zhejiang broke into a factory and ransacked offices, overturning vehicles after an Internet posting blamed the plant for local pollution.

Google tunes Internet television offering

Google on Friday set out to breathe new life into its moribund Internet television platform.
Second-generation Google TV software features simplified controls, improved search, slicker integration with video-sharing service YouTube and the option to add applications made by outside developers.
"In the grander scheme, it is another step on a long road," said Chris Dale of the Google TV team. "We are committed to the product and making it better."
Google is among technology firms betting that the future of home entertainment is films, television shows, and other video content streamed on-demand over the Internet.
The California Internet titan last year launched Google TV, which is powered by Android software and Chrome Web browser and can be accessed using Sony TVs or set-top boxes from Logitech that route Web content to existing television sets.
Sony and Logitech have both slashed prices on Google TV offerings in the face of disappointing sales.
Criticism of Google TV included that using it was relatively complicated, making it daunting to those who aren't technology savvy.
Updated Google TV software that will begin rolling out next week seeks to make it easier and more intuitive for viewers to find online video.
"The Internet marks a new chapter for television," Google vice president of product management said in a blog post.
"This chapter is not about replacing broadcast or cable TV; it's not about replicating what's on TV to the Web," he continued.
"It's about bringing millions of new channels to your TV from the next generation of creators, application developers, and networks."
Google declined to comment on deals it might be making with television or film studios, but did tell AFP that more electronics makers were signing on to embed its TV software into devices.