Adobe releases Flash Player 10.3 Beta

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Adobe has released Flash Player 10.3 Beta, available for download online.

Flash Player 10.3 Beta is available for Windows, Mac OS and Linux. It has "enhanced user privacy protection" features that Adobe is soliciting feedback on from those who download the Beta release.

The privacy update is an integrated browser privacy control so users can clear local storage from their web browser settings. It works the same way as clearing cached cookies and is compatible with Mozilla's Firefox 4 and Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8, but not Apple Safari or Google Chrome yet.

Flash Player 10.3 also brings media measurement video analytics, which is also available for Adobe Site Catalyst. This allegedly makes it easier for software developers to implement video analytics with only a couple of lines of code required. There are open APIs added that allow companies to get aggregated reports about how videos are distributed in real time.

Acoustic echo cancellation adds higher quality audio using noise suppression, voice activity detection, and automatic compensation for various microphone input levels. Adobe reckons it should make any digital audio conversion easier to hear.

Other updates include more functionality embedded in the control panel. Users can access Flash controls from system preferences to tweak privacy, security and storage settings. There's also an automatic notification of software updates on Mac OS.

This is the desktop only release and the Flash Player 10.3 Beta release for mobile devices is coming soon, along with another update for Air and the Air SDK. µ