Concerns about rising prices have also leapt with 60% of fund managers expect core inflation to rise in the next 12 months - compared to 7% in April. This prompts predictions of higher bond yields with a staggering 80% of investors expecting long-term rates to increase in the next 12 months. David Bowers, independent consultant at Merrill Lynch, said: ‘Evidence is pointing to a possible sell off in bonds as inflation worries mount,’ he says: ‘A sharp rise in bond yields could...

Adobe Systems () hopes to spread the use of its Flash animation and video software on mobile phones by making it free for device makers.

Adobe has charged cell phone makers roughly 25 cents per unit to install Flash software. But on Thursday the San Jose, Calif., company is set to announce that it’s getting rid of those licensing fees.

Adobe is also taking other steps designed to spread the use of its Flash software, which among other things is used to display much of the video on the Web. The steps will reveal more of the inner workings of Flash, so developers can more easily develop Flash applications and use the software to maximum effect. Adobe is removing all restrictions on the file formats for Flash animation and video.

Adobe’s announcements are part of the Open Screen Project, an effort supported by a group of tech companies. The project’s goal is to drive “rich” Internet experiences such as graphical and video content across personal computers, mobile devices, consumer electronics and TVs. It will take advantage of Adobe’s Flash player and AIR platform to enable a consistent “run-time” environment. That is, it will let many types of applications run over many types of devices, on many different operating systems.

Open Screen backers include ARM, () Chunghwa Telecom, () Intel, () LG Electronics, Marvell Technology, () Motorola, () Nokia, () NTT DoCoMo, () Qualcomm, () Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba.

“The mobile industry is stalled because there isn’t a consistent way to deploy applications and to browse for content,” said Gary Kovacs, general manager and vice president for mobile and devices at Adobe. “We see a unique opportunity to stimulate that to grow.”

The most significant change for Adobe is making its Flash player software free for mobile device makers. The company wants to bring its mobile strategy in line with its personal computer strategy, Kovacs says.

While Adobe will distribute its Flash player for free, it will make money by selling software developer tools, server software and services, Kovacs says. “As the platform becomes more ubiquitous across more devices in the mobile ecosystem, there’s more demand for all of those things,” he said.

By offering free Flash, Adobe hopes to remove barriers for developers and designers as they publish content and applications across desktops and devices such as cell phones and set-top boxes.

The Open Screen Project looks to enable the run-time technology on mobile devices to be updated seamlessly over the air.

The first devices to use the Open Screen approach will be available in 2009, Kovacs says.

Adobe’s Flash player is on more than 98% of Internet-enabled PCs. Flash technology delivers interactivity, video and applications over the Internet.

While Flash is on more than 500 million handsets and mobile devices, that’s still a small percentage of the devices in use, Kovacs says. Adobe expects Flash to ship with another 500 million devices by 2009.

Eliminating the licensing fees for Flash should spur greater adoption, says Kovacs. The per-unit fee for Flash was small, but it added up to a significant expense for mobile phone makers in large volumes.

By opening up the software to developers, Adobe will no longer have to work so closely with device makers to port Flash onto specific devices. Those manufacturers can do that work themselves, Kovacs says. And Adobe can deploy its engineering resources elsewhere.

Some content providers are supporting the Open Screen Project. They include BBC, MTV Networks and NBC Universal. They all want to deliver rich content across a variety of devices.

A television advertisement for a heart stent that promotes the products potential benefits but seems to play down the medical risks may deceive the public and should be reviewed by U.S. regulators, according to an op-ed article published on Wednesday by a leading medicaljournal. The 60-second ad for the Cypher stent, made by the Cordis subsidiary of Johnson Johnson, failed to adequately warn consumers about the potential dangers of receiving a stent, according to the article published by The...