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iSwifter Brings Flash Games To the iPad — Sort Of
itwbennett writes "Peter Smith is blogging about the free iSwifter app, which aims to solve the 'no Flash games on iPads' problem. The app, which is currently available for the iPad and planned for the iPhone and other devices, 'streams Flash games to your iPad. You run the app, which contacts iSwifter servers, which are actually running the Flash. Ideally, the effect is identical to running the app directly from a web page.' Smith tested the app and calls it an 'interesting idea,' but an imperfect solution — at least right now."
Does it also clean your floor?
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
there is some "browser" i have on my iphone that does the same thing. it's like transfering PC Anywhere or VNC. painfully slow and PITA to control the other website
How does this compare to other SWF players written in JavaScript, such as Gordon or Smokescreen? Ideally, these SWF players should run entirely inside Safari.
farmville is already on the iphone/ipad and links to facebook. and there is enough porn out there that works on the iphone/ipad that lack of flash isn't that big a deal. worst case you can download your porn yourself using firefox on your PC, convert using handbrake and carry all your porn with you
If Flash matters to you, don't buy the iPad, and send Apple a respectful e-mail saying that you require Flash support in a tablet device if you are to buy it. That is the real solution. If sales suffer because of the lack of Flash, and they are aware of it, then it is likely they'll rectify the problem. If not, someone else will.
However if you get all caught up in Shiny New Toy Syndrome and rush out to buy it, no matter how bad a fit for your use it is, don't go and cry about it later. All that tells companies is that you don't really care about what you say you do, they can produce whatever they like with whatever restrictions they like and you'll buy it so long as it is cool.
I just don't understand all the crying about Flash on Apple devices. If it doesn't matter to you, then great, buy their device, be happy and so on. If it does matter, then do not buy their device, let them know that this is a requirement before you make a purchase, and go on with your life.
However don't buy the device because it is cool, without researching it, and then cry because it won't do what you want.
and there is enough porn out there that works on the iphone/ipad that lack of flash isn't that big a deal.
What if I don't want FarmVille or porn, but instead I want the games and vector animations on Newgrounds, plus all of Homestar Runner and Weebl and Bob?
convert using handbrake
I tried converting an SWF vector animation to a video file. The video was ten times bigger.
First came OnLive and now this. I see thin clients becoming a common solution to many graphical/computational intensive applications in the future.
I may be in the minority, but I really don't notice the lack of flash on our iPad (or iPhones). It seems like this stuff is a solution in search of a real problem.
Trolling is a art,
Those of us who bought devices which belong to us after purchase don't have this problem.
Of course, flash sucks 98 % of the time, but it's still sometimes useful and even nice to have. Point is, the choice of what software to run after I purchase the device should be mine, not the vendors.
Stop buying shiny cages, and this won't be a problem any more.
Actually either way is totally fine. There's nothing wrong with buying a tablet as a toy and being happy with the apps in the store. There's also nothing wrong with wanting it as a professional device, and demanding that it works with all your sites/software and refusing to buy it if it doesn't meet your needs. The problem is people who want to buy it because it is a shiny toy, and then cry because it isn't what they wanted. Don't buy it then.
This is particularly true given the price. When you are talking something that is $500-900 depending on options, that is a purchase you don't rush in to. You take a little time to do some research and make sure it meets your needs. If it doesn't well then give it a miss. Don't just rush headlong in to buying it and then sniffle because it isn't what you wanted. That does nothing but teach companies to ignore you.
Remember the days when mobile phones couldn't render full web pages, and we used Opera Mobile which rendered it on their servers and streamed an image back?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is exactly the same, isn't it? That's awesome. And sad.
Same here, with one exception -- restaurant websites tend to use Flash.
Of course if I can't find the info I'm looking for then I'm not going to waste my time on the place, so it's not my loss.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
That application will not pass the approval process because it downloads stuff and runs it... quite against the requirements for apps, if I recall.
Technology always goes in circles. Just look at how "cloud computing" is being touted as a big deal now, but it was the norm up until the personal computing came along.
Perhaps geeks simply enjoy reinventing the wheel.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
I think that pretty much sums things up.
I'm going to use iSwifter and build a protocol within it to create a sandboxed client side platform. That will get all the load off of the iSwifter servers and make it scale better.
I'd think the latency would destroy any usability on anything but farmville type games?
Peter Smith is blogging about the free iSwifter app, which aims to solve the 'no Flash games on iPads' problem.
That's a problem?
And yet this does nothing to solve the problem that most flash games are designed for a keyboard and mouse interface, not touch.
Really, the existence of something like iSwifter is an interesting counterpoint to the article from yesterday about how terrorists are frequently engineers, or rather, it points out that the same isn't true in most cultures.
When someone is willing to gin up a jury-rigged way to play Flash games remotely on an iDevice rather than stick an IED in Steve Jobs' car to solve the same problem, I think that's a pretty good testament to how committed most technically-skilled people are to civilization, and that's a good thing.
Swifter, no swifting!!!
If Flash matters to you, don't buy the iPad, and send Apple a respectful e-mail saying that you require Flash support in a tablet device if you are to buy it.
I hated Flash before it was seemingly cool to like it again.
So I'll advise anyone who has had a multi-year dislike of Flash, from the CPU-sucking browser crashing video playback, to the headache inducing animated ads, to the flash overlays that perch atop the real content - to those people, email other device makers and ask them why on earth they are even considering making a device that supports Flash.
The more device makers that don't support Flash, the sooner it will go away. Don't add it just to have one more item on the checklist than the other guy, is what I would say to these device makers...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You must not have bosses or a marketing department that demands pretty graphs for pointless meetings.
I have yet to attend a meeting in any size company that required animated, rather than static, graphs.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm ok with whatever people want. Devices, like computers and tablets, are just tools to be used to accomplish the job you want. What that job is will differ person to person. So if you have no use for Flash, then getting a device that doesn't support it makes sense. However some people do have a use for Flash. For them it does not make sense to get it, and then complain about it.
My objection is just to people who buy devices and then bitch that they aren't what they want. This seems to happen more often with Apple devices because Apple is "cool" to own. A large number of people bought the iPad with no research, no consideration if a tablet was actually of use to the sort of work/play they do, just because it was a "hip" gadget to have. Then they get angry because it doesn't support what they want. Well that annoys me. Make informed purchase decisions, research a devices limitations and decide if they are ok for you. Don't buy it, and then cry, particularly with a company like Apple was is well know for dictating how a user's experience is to be.
I want an Android device with Android Market, but I don't want a phone. Is that so much to ask?
Looks like you will get this with the Samsung Tab.
Be careful what you ask for - it may not have a phone, but require a contract anyway... http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/16/samsung-galaxy-tab-wifi-only-version-coming/
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you are shorter of breath and one day closer to death