Droid X

Adobe Systems, the company responsible for such technologies as Flash, Shockwave, and the PDF format, have released a video demonstration of their Flash Player 10.1 running on an Android smartphone.

Senior Technical Evangelist for Adobe, Ted Patrick, hosted a brief video wherein the company’s Flash technology was shown running on an upcoming android handset by Verizon Wireless. Two simple games were demonstrated and showed the Android’s native web browser running the flash content embedded. A World Cup application was also shown to demonstrate how the technology can also be used for applications development as well as web content development.

The introduction does not come without its concerns, however. Many smartphone makers have long been concerned with Flash’s performance on mobile devices. In April, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs even went as far as to publish a lengthy article titled “Thoughts on Flash” explaining why his company will never adopt the Adobe platform onto its wildly popular iPhone, iPod, and iPad devices. His concerns, he says in the article, are of battery life and system performance. Jobs believes that the HTML5 open web standard is where the future of the internet lies, and not with Adobe’s Flash.

The video released on Tuesday shows notable lag as Patrick demonstrates the World Cup application, despite the device’s 1GHz processor.

The Droid X used in the demonstration will be available from Verizon Wireless on July 15^th. The Android 2.2 update with Flash 10.1 is slated to be pushed to phones around the end of this summer.

laihiu / flickr.com

New information and images of Motorola’s upcoming smart phone, the Droid Xtreme have been leaked to the public. The project was once referred to as the “Motorola Droid Shadow.”

Once the phone hits the shelves, it looks like it will be running a slightly customized version of the UI featured on the current Android 2.1 software.

In addition, the phone will boast an 8-megapixel camera that is capable of shooting HD video. It remains unclear as to whether the resolution will be 720p or 1080p.

The device’s current release date is rumored to be late July or early August. Given this time frame, Motorola may decide to install the Android 2.2 operating system on the phones before release, but that too remains to be seen.

The device will sport a 4.3-inch screen, an HDMI port, a Snapdragon processor, and 16 GB’s of storage, among other features.

Motorola’s deal with Verizon makes the phone exclusive to Verizon customers only. However, since the release dates for both the Droid 2 and the Droid Xtreme are still unannounced, no one can say for certain which phone will hit Verizon’s shelves first.

AMagill, flickr.com

Motorola, Inc. today announced that together with Franwell, Inc., a supply chain solution integrator, it has deployed a radio frequency identification solution at H&M Bay’s cross-docking distribution center in Federalsburg, Maryland.

Together, the companies are improving H&M Bay’s frozen food transportation system to ensure its customers’ packaged goods are distributed on time and within the industry’s proper temperature controls.

“H&M Bay prides itself on its ability to deliver efficient and quality service to customers,” said John Walker, software development manager, H&M Bay. “In order to speed up freight transfers, guarantee product freshness and reduce labor costs, we have joined forces with Motorola and Franwell to improve our delivery and inventory processes to help us meet our overall business objectives – to deliver quality and timely delivery service. With a unique integration of technologies, H&M Bay has realized faster truck loads and reloads, and a 25 percent reduction in cross-docking labor, allowing our workers to concentrate more on serving our customers and less on inefficient duties.”

Time is of the essence in a temperature controlled environment. Such is the case for H&M Bay, a premier freight mover in the less-than-truckload (LTL) frozen and refrigerated commodities market. In this industry, cold storage freight transfers must be stored and shipped in environments that meet stringent industry guidelines and government mandates.

In an effort to improve the company’s operational efficiencies and guarantee consistent temperature controls, H&M Bay turned to Motorola and Franwell, Inc. for an RFID hardware and software solution that would locate and record pallet information in real time – giving operators an instantaneous read of inventory as it enters, moves through and leaves the distribution facility.

“H&M Bay approached us with a desire to develop a solution that would allow it to track inventory movement throughout its facility without impeding the flow of its workforce,” said Terri-Anne Crawford, vice president and chief operating officer, Franwell. “By deploying an RFID solution that tracks freight at the pallet level and identifies each warehouse storage location, together with the right mix of mobile devices, we were definitely able to deliver to this objective.”

The initial H&M Bay deployment consists of RFID tags, which are placed on each warehouse storage location along with each pallet to facilitate product control and automate the tracking of inventory in the distribution center’s cooler and freezer storage rooms. As Motorola RD5000 mobile RFID readers detect tagged pallets and tagged storage locations, a message is automatically sent to H&M Bay’s automated inventory system to seamlessly record when a pallet has been removed from its location and where it has been placed.

For greater employee mobility, H&M Bay leverages Motorola MC9090-G RFID handheld mobile computers to commission location tags and make initial assignments to the location. Each forklift truck in the facility is also outfitted with a Motorola RD5000 mobile RFID reader and a Motorola VC5090 vehicle-mounted mobile computer for greater ease-of-use while on the forklift, on the ground and anywhere throughout the warehouse. Similarly, Motorola RFID industrial-class XR series readers are used on the cooler and freezer doors to detect pallet tags as they enter or exit the cold storage facilities.

“We believe in combining best practices to help our customers achieve their goals and improve business productivity with our cold chain solutions,” said Mike Maris, senior director of transportation, distribution and logistics, Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions. “Motorola works to ensure each solution is tailored to meet everyday business objectives, helping LTL customers streamline supply chain efficiencies and improve employee effectiveness, productivity and customer service.”