I hate Flash. But you know what I hate even more? Not having the choice to have Flash on my iPhone. Whether you like it or not, Flash is a major plugin of the online world, which is trying to get its way to the iPhone the legit way, and the not so legit way.
The lack of Flash on the iPhone has been an ongoing battle between Adobe and Apple, but it now brings the battle to the turf of other smartphone makers, like Motorola.
Anyone who has an iPhone knows that trying to watch Flash videos is just not possible. There are a few hacks and cracks that bring synthetic Flash knockoffs to your device, though the jury is still out on how well they actually work. That could be changing real soon.
Skyfire has submitted an application to the App Store that would perform a nifty little conversion and bring real Flash to your iPhone. We know that natively, the software would never get a chance to grace the presence of Apple territory, so the developers created a way to make the content compliant...
The way it works is when you click on a video that is Flash based, the app takes it from its original format and converts it to HTML 5. Such a simple sounding but brilliant idea by whoever is behind the development. HTML 5 of course is the format that Apple has regarded to be the future that eliminates Adobe's software.
The video shows off the seemingly stable app in action by loading an episode of The Daily Show. I can see Apple approving this and revering it to be the sort of example they speak of when they claim HTML 5 is the future. If only the app could make Jon Stewart consistently funny.
Will Apple approve this application or deem it too controversial? I wonder if the guy who decides will have to make a call to Steve himself. Let us know what you think of the app's presentation and concept in the comments below.
The Telegraph posted an interview with Adobe CEO, Shantanu Narayen, which inevitably included talk of the Adobe vs. Apple dispute. Narayen stated the following, which basically means that the software company is "over it". Here's the word for word :
They've chosen to keep their system closed and we'd rather work with partners who are interested in working with us.
We believe in open systems. We believe in the power of the internet and in customers making choices and I think a lot of the controversy was about their decision at that point. They've made their choice. We've made ours and we've moved on.
It's a business decision. With the energy and innovation that our company has, we'd rather focus on people who want to deliver the best experience with Flash and there are so many of them.
I can't help but notice the undertones here, but the man has a point. Several capable smart-phones have adopted Flash in their devices. Heck, even a jailbroken iPhone will (kind of) give it to you.
Whether or not Adobe cares anymore is not what Steve Jobs, and Apple, should be worried about. The FCC denied Adobe's request of information regarding their claim against Apple, while the European Commissions recently joined the party. We at iDB will continue to provide you with the drama surrounding this story. Until then, we're gone in a flash. I Couldn't resist.
Steve Jobs must really hate Flash. Aside from his public comments on the software, which he basically cited that Adobe's prize-fighter wasn't good enough to adapt into productive mobile use, he just (seemingly) won't give in. His hand might be getting forced, however, as it seems the European Union regulators have joined forces with the Federal Trade Commission, regarding "mobile software developers". This, of course means Flash.
The guys over at 9 to 5 Mac brought this ever evolving story to our attention, which cites the New York Times reporting, the European Union has brought itself into what it calls, a "Digital Agenda". Sounds scary. The "agenda" is aimed to (forcefully) encourage interoperability between technology. Basically they're making sure everyone plays nicely together.
Whether or not this correlation of forces will be what finally tips Apple's hand in the never-ending game of Rummy, only time will tell. We at iDB will continue to bring you the latest and greatest from this evolving beast. Until then, Apple and Adobe will have their respective lines drawn in the sandbox, as assurance to not let their balls into each other's playpen.
This morning I told you about a trick to install Frash on your iPhone. This can be a little cumbersome. My Twitter friend @egohot_dev sent me a tip that really automates the whole process.
Step 1: Make sure your iPhone is jailbroken. If it's not, follow these instructions.
Step 2: Go to Cydia and install the following source: http://repo.benm.at/
Step 3: Install Frash from this repo.
Step 4: Reboot your iPhone. Done!
Much easier than doing it manually.
Let us know how it works for you.
Update: There is now a much easier way to add Frash / Flash to your iPhone.
A few weeks ago we told you about Frash, the Android port of Flash to iOS. We even showed you how to install it on your iPad but to be honest, that wasn't a very stable port. Grant Powell recently compiled an iPhone 4 version of the patch that seems to work pretty well.
In this article, I will show you how to install Frash 0.02 on your iPhone 4. Some people report it also work on the previous iPhone models and iPod Touch. Proceed at your own risks...
Step 1: Make sure your iPhone is jailbroken. If it's not follow these instructions to jailbreak with JailbreakMe.
Step 2: Install OpenSSH from Cydia.
Step 3: Make sure iTunes is not running and SSH into your iPhone using WinSCP or CyberDuck.
Step 4: Create a folder called "Cydia" in /var/root/Media. Create another folder called "AutoInstall" inside the Cydia folder.
Step 5: Download the Frash-0.02.deb file and put it in the AutoInstall folder.
Step 6: Restart your iPhone.
Done! You should now be able to play Flash animations on your iPhone.
Here we go again. The ongoing feud between Apple and Adobe just will not go away. Especially if Adobe has anything to say about it. The Federal Trade Commission's office denied a request from Adobe, which was to see a near 200 pages of information relating to the lawsuit the company has against Apple. The request was made under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.
The FTC's reasoning is that making such documents public, "could reasonably be expected to interfere with the conduct of the Commission's law enforcement activities". This is a nice way of saying they don't want to screw themselves if they in fact act upon the lawsuit. This is where Apple enters the picture. Whether or not the suit has any merit is still in question, however, to refuse access is an indication that this isn't good for Apple, and certainly suggests that the investigation is very real.
The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg news reported in May that the FTC received a formal complaint from Adobe, concerning Apple's denial of the company's ability to port software such as Flash to iPhones and iPads. Apple implemented a device-wide ban on the software, after Adobe tried doing just this, which promoted the suit.
Steve Jobs went public about this via a letter in April, in which he degraded Adobe's software, calling it "unfit for the modern mobile area of computing". Also included in the not so loving letter was Job stating that porting such programs, would hinder performance, and leave users with "sub-standard apps". He obviously hasn't downloaded any fart machines. Nevertheless, I'd guess that Jobs wishes he would have went about this differently.
Whatever this refusal means, one thing is certain. There is more to this story than anyone is privy too. It seems strange that if the document was meaningless, the FTC wouldn't have a problem making it public. The FOIT isn't something you'd deny unless you have feel you might compromise its content, legally. We here at iDB will continue to follow this closely and update you as the information comes our way. Until then, enjoy your Flash free iPhone's.
Any thoughts?
[Apple Insider]
Last week, Comex, the developer behind the Spirit jailbreak, gave us a preview of Frash, which is nothing less but Flash for Android ported to the iPad. Today it seems someone released a .deb of Frash, and while Comex is not opposed to it, you've got to understand it's just an alpha version.
This tutorial will show you how to install Frash/Flash on a jailbroken iPad.
Step 1: Make sure your iPad is jailbroken. If not, jailbreak your iPad using Spirit.
Step 2: Download Frash.deb. For legal reasons, I cannot link to the file but a Google search can go a long way, if you know what I mean...
Step 3: SSH into your iPad and navigate to /var/root/Media.
Step 4: In the Media folder, create a folder called "Cydia". Open the Cydia folder you just created and create another folder called "AutoInstall".
Step 5: Upload Frash.deb to the AutoInstall folder.
Step 6: Reboot your iPad a few times.
Done! Now navigate to any site that uses Flash. You should see the red F logo where Flash is played. Tap the logo and the Flash animation will start playing
Again, this is just an alpha version that wasn't even officially released by Comex. You may want to try it just for fun if you dare. I suspect it will be posted in a repo on Cydia soon so you may want to wait for that.
I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
[via Engadget]
A few weeks ago, Comex, the developer of Spirit, shared with us a video of Flash running on the iPhone. Today, Comex introduces Frash, which is basically a port of Flash for Android on the iPad.
Frash can currently run most Flash programs natively in the iPad MobileSafari browser, but support for other devices (3GS and iPhone 4 only due to hardware requirements) is on the way, as well as support for iOS 4.
Comex won't release Frash until it is stable and that might take a while. If you're a developers and you want to join the effort at http://github.com/comex/frash.
Comex, the guy behind the Spirit jailbreak, recently posted this video on YouTube showing an iPhone running Flash. We don't have any additional information about this.
When you see what a great job Comex was able to do with Spirit, I can't wait to see what he's got up his sleeves to run Flash on the iPhone.
Comex is not the only one working on porting Flash to iOS. Chris Smoak recently unveiled SmokeScreen, a workaround that will allow you to play Flash content on your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Ok so it's not native yet but we've got another semi-solution for you. For those of you who weren't fans of Smokescreen, comes "Flash in a Pinch" Â by Artefact. It gives you another option for getting Flash on your iPad.
Love it or hate it, the fact is there is still a lot of content on the internet that is only available in flash. Take HULU for example. I drool just thinking of Hulu's massive library on my iPad's sexy screen. But unfortunately because the entire site is coded in Adobe Flash and that format is not currently supported in the iPad's web browser, this perfect union may never be.
Now that's not to say that in the future Hulu won't re-encode some or all of its library in HTML5 and enable viewing from iPads and other devices. Personally I think they have a paid/subscription app or service on the way for such devices, but that's neither here nor there.
The fact of the matter is they, like many websites, are currently using Adobe and haven't shown any signs of changing. Now I agree with Apple and Mr. Jobs on this one. Adobe Flash is resource heavy (meaning it drains your battery faster), it has a tendency to crash (taking with it the OS that's running it), and it's got serious security problems. If your company, your brand, Apple, is known for being 'simple' and 'just working', why would you want such an unstable platform running on your devices?
Steve Jobs sums it up pretty nicely on Apple's website with Thoughts on Flash. In the above mentioned article, Steve says "When we see Flash performing well on a mobile device, we'll add support." After years of waiting, they obviously haven't been able to please the CEO in the black turtle neck. Or any other cell phone manufacturer for that matter.
Adobe flash support was originally supposed to ship on phones in late 2008, then 2009, 1st and 2nd half. Some Android phones claim flash support, but most of it is "Flash Lite" that gives limited access to a small number of flash web sites. So it looks like we're playing the waiting game.
Either Adobe has to rebuild flash and fix some serious flaws, or websites like HULU may eventually have to turn to open platforms such as HTML5. Or things could stay the exact same and we'll have to tote around ugly 3 GHz Android phones with no battery life if we want a decent flash on the go experience.
Or, you can try out an alternative solution like smoke screen or Flash in a Pinch. Now neither one of these run natively obviously, but they do enable your iPad to access flash contents. Both use very different back end technology, but essentially accomplish the same thing.
If you checked out the link for Flash in Pinch, you might have caught the video of the iPad running Flash in a Pinch to view what else, the HULU site. You then would have noticed how choppy the frame rates were even on fast broadband to wireless connection. This has to do with the fact that flash is not running natively. The video has to be encoded, sent off to remote servers, decoded, sent back to your device in a compatible format. Whew! No wonder it's so choppy.
The group behind the technology of Flash in a Pinch, Artefact, also claim they can do this with Silverlight and other platforms as well that aren't supported in mobile devices, and they are working on improving frame and bit rate during playback.
Either way you slice it, similar solutions were cooked up for viewing flash on the iPhone and just never seemed to pan out. So between that and that painful video I just watched, chances are I won't be using either product to view flash on my iPad.
I will just have to hold on for an official announcements from one of the big dogs. But hats off to developers. These guys never cease to amaze me. The genius and man hours that went into develop something like this is incredible. The ability is obviously there it just needs some tweaking. Thank goodness people like this exist to keep us from living a black and white world.
Flash. That's something most iPhone users have been forced to give up. Fortunately there is still a handful of renegade coders that won't let Steve Jobs and his gang dictate what you can or cannot view on your iPhone.
Chris Smoak is one of these guys. Because he is aware that no matter what Apple thinks, Flash is still a huge part of the Internet, he developed Smokescreen, a workaround that will allow you to play Flash content on your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Here is how SmokeScreen works: "It runs entirely in the browser, reads in SWF binaries, unzips them (in native JS), extracts images and embedded audio and turns them in to base64 encoded data:uris, then stitches the vector graphics back together as animated SVG."
SmokeScreen is just at its beginnings. Since Smokescreen is written in JavaScript, it is slower than the Flash plugin and is limited in speed by the performance of the browser. Still, it's a nice beginning that gives us hope to see Flash one day running on iPhone OS. [via Engadget]