Adobe releases Flash Player 10.3 for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android

Flash Player 10.3 introduces the following new features (for more information, check the full Adobe Flash Player 10.3 Release Notes):

    * Media Measurement: developers can implement video usage analytics for websites with as little as two lines of code. Analytics solution providers can use a set of new open APIs to easily implement consistent video analytics irrespective of implementation or delivery protocol. Media Measurement for Flash allows companies to get real-time, aggregated reporting of how their video content is distributed, what the audience reach is, and how much video is played.
    * Acoustic Echo Cancellation: developers can create real-time online collaboration experiences with high-quality audio, telephony, in-game voice chat, and group conferencing applications for desktop PCs. Developers can take advantage of acoustic echo cancellation, noise suppression, voice activity detection, and automatic compensation for various microphone input levels. End users will be able to experience higher quality audio facilitating smoother conversation flow, without using a headset.
    * Integration with browser privacy controls for managing local storage: users now have a simpler way to clear local storage from the browser settings interface since it is integrated with the browser's privacy settings in Mozilla Firefox 4, Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 and higher, Google Chrome 11 (available in Chrome Dev Channel), and a future release of Apple Safari.
    * Native Control Panel: users get streamlined controls for managing their Flash Player privacy, security, and storage settings. Windows, Mac, and Linux users can access the Flash Player Settings Manager directly from the Control Panels or System Preferences on their computers.
    * Auto-Update notification for Mac OS: automatic notification of software updates on Mac OS is supported, making it easier for Mac users to stay current with new capabilities in the latest version of Flash Player.

For the first time ever, Adobe has simultaneously released the same new version of Flash Player for Android. More specifically, 10.3.185.21 is available for Android 2.2 and above: Android 2.2 (codenamed Froyo), Android 2.3 (codenamed Gingerbread), and Android 3.0 (codenamed Honeycomb). Adobe does not mention anything in regards to Android 3.1 (also codenamed Honeycomb), which was just released earlier this week. Here's what's specifically new in version 10.3 for Android:

    * Security enhancements described in Security Bulletin APSB11-12.
    * Enabled NEON optimizations for OMAP4 (Cortex A-9) based devices.
    * Corrected an issue on the Samsung Galaxy S where H.264 video at resolutions of 720p and below was not displayed.
    * Android Apps using Browser Plug-ins like Flash Player in WebView no longer need to set android:hardwareAcceleration to True in their AndroidMainfest.xml for plug-in output to be rendered. This was previously an issue on Android 3.0+ only.
    * Fixed a crash on the HTC EVO that some users encountered with specific video.
    * Fixed an issue that caused video frames to stop rendering on long streaming videos (> 1 hour) on some Motorola devices.

In addition to the availability of Flash Player 10.3 on the Android Market, the new version will of course come pre-installed on many upcoming tablets and smartphones or delivered as an OTA update to existing devices in market. Adobe has posted a list of certified devices for the update if you want to check if yours is on the list.

Flash Player is currently available in the following languages: Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.