Flash posts

The good news is that PlayOn's Web app allows you to access popular Flash-based sites like Hulu and Netflix on your iPhone and (soon) your iPad. However, the bad news is that there are a whole lot of hoops to jump through before you can get there. You've got to sign up with PlayOn (a subscription service that streams online media to a variety of different places); there's a 14-day trial, but otherwise, it'll cost you around US$50 a year. In addition, you've got to have an app running that's only Windows-based in order to connect (yeah).

If you get all of that going, though, PlayOn has an HTML5-driven app online right now that will allow you to pull up content and watch it in a mobile browser. The company is still trying to hammer out an official App Store app, but all reports say that the current service works quite well. If you happen to be a PlayOn member already, and you have an iPhone (the iPad software is coming soon), that's a nice bonus for you.

Of course, Hulu Plus already has an app of its own out, and Netflix does as well, so if there's just one site that you need, there's probably an easier way to do it than running an app on a Windows PC. Still, more options are nice, and it's good to see someone trying to make some waves outside of Apple's closed App Store ecosystem.

Well, if the video above doesn't prove to you how compelling Flash on the iPad can be, nothing will. Yes, the inevitable happened and Comex got Flash working on an jailbroken iPad. We all knew this was technically possible, but clearly Apple doesn't feel that Flash's performance on their mobile devices warrants full support. Whether it is battery or multitasking or whatever, Flash isn't allowed and we don't think it will be allowed any time soon (10.1 notwithstanding).

Nevertheless, if you're in the iPad jailbreaking set, go ahead and give it a try; Engadget has the how-to. You're missing out on all those crazy dancing skeletons and laughing babies. As you can see in the video you'll want to break out that Bluetooth keyboard to enjoy the full spectrum of the Flash web, as touch events aren't always analogous to mouse clicks and controls for games often require basic arrow key functionality.

We're starting off the Independence Day holiday with a bang -- a giveaway to one lucky TUAW reader of the Quirky Beamer iPhone case for the iPhone 3G and 3GS. Before you enter the contest, however, I'm sure you'd like to know what makes the Beamer different and how it works. That's the purpose of this short review.

The Beamer is one of Quirky's community-designed projects. We've talked about Quirky before -- anyone can make a suggestion for a new product, and if enough people like the idea then it goes through a community design and review process. The Beamer, suggested by Canadian Jenny Tyler, solves an issue for those who don't have an iPhone 4 to complain about; it supplies a very bright LED light that is amazingly useful in taking photos with the 3G and 3GS.

Here's an awesome little tidbit. Apple fan Laurent Bourrelly, who runs pomme-c, was rooting though his pile of Apple goodies when inspiration struck. Why not build a USB flash storage device out of a spare key? The result is the gizmo you see at right: a USB Command key.

If you'd like to build your own, you can follow Lauent's simple step-by-step instructions here. If French isn't your thing, check out Google's English translation. Actually, the photos alone are clear enough, so you probably don't even need to worry about the written instructions.

Well done, Laurent! We love it.

At long last, Adobe has released Flash Player 10.1 for Mac OS X. There's a huge list of changes with this update; hopefully one will address "...the number one reason Macs crash."

The major changes are aimed at developers, and include GPU hardware acceleration, support for dynamic quality during video streaming, dynamic sound generators, and upload/download functions in web apps. The 7.44MB download requires Safari, Firefox or Opera and Mac OS X 10.4 or later. Linux and Windows versions are also available now.

[Via Electronista]

If you're not familiar with New York City's gritty, 209-year-old tabloid the Post, it has a reputation for sensationalist coverage, a top-down conservative slant (courtesy of owner Rupert Murdoch), and a credibility problem; in 2004, a Pace University survey found that city residents considered it the least trustworthy of the NYC dailies. When it comes to coverage of the Big Apple's media industry, however, it usually finds the mark.

That's why this week's Post story about NBC Universal and Time Warner pushing back on adapting streaming video libraries for iPad is worth a second look.

The piece suggests that neither of the media giants is interested in putting in the effort to step away from Flash and create HTML5-savvy streaming websites, saying that Flash remains dominant, and the effort to convert their libraries isn't worth it. Contrast this with CBS and ABC's eager leap onto the iPad, and the continuing signs that NBC-owned Hulu is planning an iPad app.

I don't doubt that both TW and NBC would like to see Apple become a little less dominant in the media landscape, but what's weird about this story is that it implies that the "extensive video libraries" that both companies hold aren't already entirely iPad-friendly. Sure, the player interface may be Flash on their websites, but the content itself is very much iPad and iPhone compatible as H.264 video files. Of course, both companies are happy to sell their programs through the iTunes store, although that hasn't always been the case for NBC.

With this not-quite-sensical disrespect for the iPad's video prospects, where does that leave us? Is the Hulu app now programa non grata? Will we be shut out of TNT for the new Apple TV? Don't know, can't say... yet.

[via MacRumors & Engadget]

Android's new features in the upcoming version 2.2 (aka "Froyo," announced this week at Google I/O) are certainly intriguing, but some sections of the press have gone off the deep end in their analysis of what this means for the iPhone and the smartphone market in general.

PC World's piece, "7 Ways Android 2.2 Froyo Tops Apple's iPhone," is a perfect example of this phenomenon, and it reads like it was written by someone who's never even held an iPhone. All seven of their points are easily debunked, even leaving aside the fact that they're comparing today's iPhone with the as-yet-unbuyable Froyo phones of tomorrow.

Read on to find out why -- and bring marshmallows.

Here's an interesting stat -- 26% of the video on the Web is iPad-ready, according to Mefeedia, a firm that supposedly monitors online video around the Internet. You may think that's low (that means 74% of the web can't be seen on the iPad), but that number actually represents a good amount of growth, as just a scant few months ago, only 10% of Web video was iPad-accessible, or encoded in H.264 or HTML 5, not Flash.

Mefeedia also says that most new video is available in HTML 5 -- it's more or less the archives that haven't been converted over yet. The survey itself encompasses over 30,000 different sources, from partnered sites like Hulu, CBS, and ABC, as well as popular video sites like YouTube and DailyMotion. Mefeedia says it expects to "see a new level of engagement" with online video, and that when that surge of interest comes, it'll be supported by HTML 5. Adobe probably won't like hearing that, but then again, they've still got a big majority of the video, so we guess it's up to them to lose it.

[via Fortune]

The Apple/Adobe cage match continues with a new campaign from Adobe. We first noticed it on Engadget this morning. It begins with the simple statement "We [heart] Apple" and goes on to say, "We love Flash and HTML 5. We love our 3 million developers. We love authoring code only once. We love all platforms and devices."

It then describes what Adobe doesn't love, including "...anybody taking away our freedom to choose what you create, how you create it and what you experience on the web." After clicking through the ad, the user is brought to a page entitled "We [heart] choice" which features a letter from Adobe's founders, Chuck Geschke and John Warnock. Some choice passages include:

"If the web fragments into closed systems, if companies put content and applications behind walls, some indeed may thrive - but their success will come at the expense of the very creativity and innovation that has made the Internet a revolutionary force...We believe that consumers should be able to freely access their favorite content and applications, regardless of what computer they have, what browser they like, or what device suits their needs. No company - no matter how big or how creative - should dictate what you can create, how you create it, or what you can experience on the web."

In Adobe's view, Apple is telling developers "it's my way or the highway." Apple, on the other hand, believes that Adobe is clinging out outdated, proprietary tools. The fervor began when the original iPhone failed to support Flash (both the iPhone and iPad still don't) and the gloves came off when Steve Jobs published his "thoughts on Flash." Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen responded in a matter of hours, and the public bickering has continued since.

In addition to the web ad, Adobe also has a full page ad in the Washington Post today. Their opinions are so diametrically opposed, it's hard to see how this conflict will come to a resolution.

Thanks to reader Jeff Gates for his independent tip on this story!

Adobe is showing off Android-based prototype tablets at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco. Zedomax has a pretty gushing review of Flash's performance on these tablets, calling it "rather incredible technology." There's no mention of how the battery life in these prototype tablets suffers while playing Flash video, though. In his "Thoughts on Flash," Steve Jobs noted that using Flash on the iPhone effectively halves its battery life.

What's far more interesting, and far more hilarious, is that although Zedomax claims Flash works "flawlessly" on these tablets, there's certainly evidence to the contrary. In the video above, the Android tablet reviewer is showing off the Flash functionality. Just as he says, "Good thing I didn't buy an iPad, because this one does Flash," the browser crashes. "Whoops," the reviewer says, gamely trying to carry on with his review in spite of the crash. [Never mind that he's demoing Flash by playing a YouTube video, which of course the iPad does just as well. –Ed.]

As an interesting side note, the same reviewer says that these Android tablets are "basically a giant Android phone." So, if you hate the iPad because "it's just a big iPod touch," please remember that, in the interest of not sounding like a fanboy, you are obligated to hate the Android tablet (whenever it actually gets released) for the same reason.

[Via Daring Fireball]

If you want a preview of how this nonsensical antitrust investigation against Apple is going to play out, look no farther than Robert Reich, US Secretary of Labor during the Clinton administration. Reich has written in defense of Apple regarding the possibly forthcoming antitrust investigations. He notes that the investigations are taking place because of Apple's disallowing of third-party programming tools like Flash CS5 when writing apps for the iPhone. "What's wrong with that?" Reich asks. "Apple says it's necessary to maintain quality. If consumers disagree they can buy platforms elsewhere."

An expert in US labor law, who was once the secretary in charge of labor policy in the US, sees no problem with Apple's practices regarding development for its platform. Case closed, Adobe. Thanks for playing.

Read on to find out why this investigation started in the first place.

Shortly after Steve Jobs delivered his "Thoughts on Flash" missive to the world last week, Microsoft's general manager for the Internet Explorer browser mentioned that the huge software company is putting its muscle behind the H.264 standard for HTML5 video content. Apple, of course, has been promoting the H.264 standard for video content in HTML5 as a replacement for Flash-based video content.

Dean Hachamovitch, general manager for Internet Explorer, stated last week in a blog posting that the "future of the web is HTML5." He noted that the HTML5 specification does not specify a particular format, and that "H.264 is an excellent format." The bottom line? "In its HTML5 support, IE9 will support playback of H.264 video only." Hachamovitch followed up on his original post today with a much more complete explanation of Microsoft's reasoning for selecting the H.264 codec over competing emerging standards.

The comments from Hachamovitch also noted that most web video is currently Flash-based, and although Microsoft and Adobe are working together on Flash, there are issues with security, performance, and reliability with Adobe's player.

It appears that Microsoft is planning for a future that is less dominated by Adobe Flash, and one that is more in line with the standards-based approach that Jobs and Apple are embracing.

[via MacRumors]

According to the New York Post, The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are negotiating which of them will launch an inquiry into a clause in the iPhone OS 4 SDK that bans the porting of software originally written for Adobe's Flash, Sun's Java or Microsoft's Silverlight/Mono to the iPhone OS.

The issue at hand is this: Does the restriction kill competition by forcing developers to create applications that only run on Apple's devices rather than work with other operating systems and hardware like those from Google and RIM?

Adobe had been working on a feature in Creative Suite 5 that would allow Flash applications to be ported to the iPhone. Under this rule, those apps would be rejected.

This comes days after Apple published an essay from Steve Jobs explaining why his company's devices do not support Flash. In the essay, Steve said that Flash "...is no longer necessary to watch video or consume any kind of web content."

Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen responded in an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal, saying that Apple's adherence to a single platform is a detriment. He concludes that Adobe's concept is best for most developers, as it allows them to distribute apps out to many places rather than forcing them to pick one. Narayen then warned developers against the "cumbersome" nature of having two workflows, one for Apple and one for everything else, while Jobs suggested that Adobe abandon Flash and adopt open web standards like HTML5.

Note that launching an inquiry does not mean the beginning of formal proceedings. Inquiries are conducted to determine if formal action should be taken. In any case, this won't be settled quickly or simply.

[Via AppleInsider]

Got thoughts on Thoughts on Flash? Picked up a new iPad 3G? Or just sore that you're not cruising the high seas with the Mac elites? We have your medicine: an hour of power chat with team TUAW, tonight on the Talkcast. Join us, won't you?

To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, the embedded Facebook app, or the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (take advantage of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8.

If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Gizmo or X-Lite SIP clients; basic instructions are here. Talk with you then!

Note: For those who want to listen to the show on iPads or iPhones without calling in, you can try this MP3 streaming link once the show begins -- we're not 100% sure it will work, but do let us know.

Apple and Adobe may be at each others' throats, but that won't stop the software from going out. Adobe has released "Gala," a Flash Player preview that introduces support for H.264 video hardware decoding on Mac OS X 10.6.3. While Flash Player H.264 video hardware decoding has been available on Windows for some time, Apple has only recently made available to developers APIs that support H.264 hardware video decoding in the browser, with the release of Mac OS X 10.6.3. Gala's hardware decoding "enables supported Macs running the current version of OS X to deliver smooth, flicker-free HD video with substantially decreased power consumption," according to Adobe.

In order to take advantage of Gala's hardware decoding, users will be required to have Mac OS X 10.6.3 running on a Mac with one of the following graphics cards: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, GeForce 320M or GeForce GT 330M. Those Macs include MacBooks shipped after January 21st, 2009, Mac Minis shipped after March 3rd, 2009, MacBook Pros shipped after October 14th, 2008, and iMacs that shipped after the first quarter of 2009. Mac Pros are not supported at this time.

The Gala preview is available for download now. Until the release is finalized, users will see a small white square in the upper left corner of the Flash video while video is hardware decoding. I've only played around with it for a few minutes, but I can happily report that I've noticed huge improvements in the playback of HD Flash video on YouTube on my 2009 MacBook Pro.