Having grown up in a household of educators and now with numerous friends who teach, I’ve quickly learnt the importance of educating students in new and exciting ways. It keeps information interesting and relevant rather than becoming potentially stuffy and staid.

There are numerous ways to ensure this but one of the latest and most exciting ways is that of Rover from iSwifter.

Rover provides cloud-based streaming through iSwifter’s technology, enabling iPads to stream Flash content alongside other useful education tools. Free to download, it’s targeted towards the K-12 education sector having partnered with education brands such as Discovery Education, Mathletics and Funbrain. Partnering with such brands immediately makes Rover an immensely useful resource of offering both fun and knowledge without the child even realising how much they are learning.

Fundamentally, it means that children can use a classroom iPad to access such content rather than be restricted to the PC.

The app is easy to set up and offers a firewall-friendly solution to work around existing IT systems in schools while still maintaining the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). It is worth mentioning that a Wi-Fi connection is required to use Rover even for those with 3G iPads. It’s a small requirement, however, for an immensely useful educational tool.

Using the app is similarly easy to get to grips with thanks to digital textbook controls including a D-Pad, visual feedback for finger taps and support for a split keyboard form of control. Rover can even be paired with SMART board interactive whiteboards for added functionality. Each cross section of schooling is viewable separately from Elementary School to Middle and High School.

With increasing numbers of teachers using iPads within the classroom environment, Rover ensures that children have the best tools to learn with and in a fun and safe environment, too.

Rover is available now for the iPad and it’s free to download.

FREE!

Rover - The Browser for Education

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2011-12-12 :: Category: Education

YouWeb L.L.C. has released the one of the most ambitious and sought after workarounds ever on the iPad. Their popular browser, iSwifter, has just updated their app with an “all-you-can-eat” subscription model to provide unlimited access to Flash social games and MMO’s on the iPad. People can now play Facebook games and other popular flash games on their iPad. With the ability to use Flash not only to watch flash video but to interact with Flash content like games, the iPad may truly be able to replace laptops for some.

Rajat Gupta, co-founder of iSwifter and former EIR at YouWeb, explains YouWeb has been working over the entire last year creating this technology, “Playing Flash social games and MMOs on the iPad is something users are clamoring for. But it’s not as simple as building a Flash video browser: we have spent the last year building a cloud based Flash browser technology that lets users play their favorite Flash social games and MMOs on the iPad. Social game and MMO developers
benefit greatly from not having to spend months porting their Flash games to tablets.”

iSwifter is not only an app for playing Flash games but is a full-fledged browser with the added ability to watch Flash videos and interact with Flash content. The app itself is free and comes with a free seven-day trial. After the trial, the ability to have unlimited access to Flash games will be $4.99 a month.

Peter Relan, Founder of YouWeb and Chairman of iSwifter, compares iSwifter and Flash gaming to Netflix and movies, “iSwifter is doing for social gaming and MMOs what NetFlix™ and Hulu™ have done for movies and TV shows: subscription based unlimited access to awesome content. A few months ago nobody would have anticipated playing Facebook social games or Flash MMORPGs on iPads with a quality user experience!”

FREE!

iSwifter Games Browser - play all the hottest flash MMOs & social web games on the iPad, instantly

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2010-09-09 :: Category: Utilities

You may remember the Skyfire browser. The Mobile Safari replacement that allows you to stream Flash content to your iPhone and iPad. They announced recently that the browser saw over 300,000 downloads on the iPhone and iPod Touch in the first two days it was available. The iPad version saw nearly 200,000 downloads in the first two days of availability.

To celebrate this, Skyfire are putting their browser replacements on sale for a 48 hour Flash Sale, which started today. You have until noon on Friday to grab either the iPhone or iPad version for $1 off.

$2.99

Skyfire Web Browser - Your Path to Flash Video on iPhone

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-11-03 :: Category: Utilities

$4.99

Skyfire Web Browser for iPad - The Flash Video Browser

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2010-12-22 :: Category: Utilities

Last week we reported on Skyfire finally launching on iOS. As was to be expected, nearly everyone with an iOS device tried to download the new browser at once, promptly crashing the company’s servers and causing all sorts of problems. Now the team is ready to try again, but this time they’re only allowing a few downloads of Skyfire at a time.

On the company’s official blog CEO Jeff Glueck announced that Skyfire will be available “while supplies last” and that the company will continually release the browser until servers near capacity, then shut it down until things clear up a bit.

“Due to overwhelming demand, we are taking this approach because Skyfire believes a good user experience should come first, and we would rather have fewer, happier customers, and add new users as we can support them,” he said. “We will open the first batches to US users only, with additional country support to follow shortly.

“Please note that there may be some initial congestion as a flood of new users simultaneously try to use the service, but try again an hour later and things should smooth out.”

Glueck is recommending that those who don’t get Skyfire right away keep checking the company’s Twitter and Facebook pages for updates on when the browser is available. Glueck is also promising to make Skyfire available outside the US as quickly as possible.

Those who have been able to use the browser seem impressed, as previously inaccessible videos now work without issue. The key is that Skyfire takes Flash videos and converts the code to HTML5, which can be read by iOS devices.

Has anyone out there tried Skyfire yet? If so, what do you think? Has it been worth the added hassle to watch video content you couldn’t see before, or is the net gain ultimately minimal?

$2.99

Skyfire Web Browser - Your Path to Flash Video on iPhone

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-11-03 :: Category: Utilities

[via Skyfire blog]

In a surprising move that brings us two different Flash-enabled browsers in the span of less than a week, iSwifter has launched their browser on the iPad. While at first glimpse it may seem that Apple has relented on its insistence that Flash not appear on iOS devices, the truth is a bit more complicated than all that.

First off, while iSwifter supports Flash, it doesn’t support all Flash content found on the web. Rather, only portals such as Ted Talks, Muzu.TV, Jambo Media, Green TV, All Things Science, Yahoo Blogs, WatchDoIt and Ignite Show. SkyFire, on the other hand, will convert any Flash video to HTML5 so that it can be displayed on an iOS device. Thus, while iSwifter will save you possible bugs and glitches from format conversion, it’s still not a magic bullet to get access to all the Flash content floating around out there.

In addition iSwifter also allows access to thousands of Flash-based games which otherwise might be walled-off from consumers. The ability to play Flash games on an iOS device is hidden via smoke and mirrors, where the game is actually hosted on iSwifter’s servers and players are merely streaming it from that point. It’s a similar setup to the OnLive cloud-based gaming service, just on a smaller scale.

It’s also important to note that the app is currently only available for iPad. While the company plans to launch an iPhone/iPod version soon, they aren’t yet ready to announce a release date.

While apps like iSwifter and Skyfire are helping folks slowly work around the iOS prohibition on Flash we won’t be able to truly put this issue to bed until Apple and Adobe kiss and make up. Perhaps someday users won’t have to utilize a workaround just to get access to otherwise freely available content, but until that day we continue to engineer solutions to problems that probably shouldn’t exist in the first place.

FREE!

iSwifter Games Browser - play all the hottest flash MMOs & social web games on the iPad, instantly

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2010-09-09 :: Category: Utilities

[via Venture Beat]

Like Flash but can’t bear to part with your iPhone? You’re in luck. There is a new browser, set to launch Thursday, that converts Flash from websites into HTML5 without too much of a hassle.

Skyfire first debuted on Blackberry and Windows Mobile back in 2008, and then was updated and fixed up for the Android launch back in May. The app has been downloaded more than 4.5 million times across all of the platforms. Needless to say, the Skyfire browser has been popular, but never has it been so necessary as it is now for the iOS platform.

To get around the Apple wall of hate and agony, Skyfire takes the Flash image from your page, downloads it, fully renders it, and than shoots you back a thumbnail that allows you to stream the video from their servers.

“We will attack those pesky blue Flash error messages,” said Jeffrey Glueck, Skyfire’s CEO.

Unfortunately, even with the external server rendering, Skyfire will still not display Hulu movies or let you play the billions of Flash games that plague the web. Even still, the developers think that their app will open up millions of web pages to iPhone users who were previously in the dark.

One concern that many have had with Skyfire is online safety. Instead of working on its own, Skyfire somehow works on top of Safari to render the video. Because of this, many users were concerned that online banking done via Safari would potentially be shot up into the Skyfire servers, but the folks at Skyfire say not to worry. Skyfire ensures that the information they receive will not be sold and that secured sites, such as online banking sites, will not be rendered with their servers.

Be sure to check the App Store on Thursday at 9AM EST to get your hands on this Flash rendering app monster. How it got approval from Apple is beyond me, but after a rigorous two month approval period, it looks like it’s here to stay.

[Source: CNN Money]

A new report from MeFeedia suggests that HTML5 is gaining ground on Flash, with 54 percent of all videos online supporting the format. This is substantial growth from even January of this year when only 10 percent of videos were compatible with HTML5. This announcement is great news for the iOS community seeing as how HTML5 is the format of choice for iDevices.

When the iPhone first debuted one of the major knocks against it was the fact that it didn’t support Flash, the standard format for almost all online video. Detractors wondered how a separate format could ever hope to make inroads against a larger, more-established and entrenched rival, akin to Betamax taking on VHS. Then again, technology is filled with stories of new devices driving one format over another, and it appears this may be yet another example.

The survey claims that mobile phones are indeed the primary driver in the growth of HTML5, and that while Flash remains the dominant format in desktop environments, it’s on the cusp of being overtaken in the mobile space. Just like how Sony’s PS3 basically drove the sale of Blu-Rays until the format established a foothold, the iPhone has blazed a trail for HTML5 to create demand and help provide for more widespread adoption. As if iPhone users aren’t smug enough already, here’s another feather in their cap (we kid).

Really this is good news all around. Flash isn’t going anywhere, and this is just a way for more videos to be easily available for more people. One of the terms used in the survey is that video is becoming “device agnostic,” which is truly a welcome trend. Feel free to celebrate the news by watching videos for the rest of the day, your boss won’t mind, after all you’re just celebrating a happy period in human history.

[via MeFeedia]

It seemed like the much talked up Wired Magazine for iPad, made in collaboration with Adobe, had hit a major problem when Apple banned Flash-based apps from the App Store, but now it has arrived and with Adobe’s help.

Rumor has it that Wired and Adobe had to rewrite the app to comply with Apple’s Objective C requirements after Apple blocked the use of 3rd party creation tools, namely Adobe’s new Flash tools in CS5. Today, the app has gone live on the App Store and, it seems, all the blood sweat and tears were worth it. Wired Magazine for iPad looks to have set a benchmark among other publishers who have rushed out digital versions of their apps and uses interactive features as well as traditional page viewing techniques to show off the magazine’s content in an exciting new way.

The app does weigh in at a hefty 500Mb so you’re not going to be able to keep too many copies on your iPad at one time, however, if all magazines follow this model and perform this well, it looks like the digital publishing revolution, hailed when the iPad was still just a rumor, may have well and truly begun.

The video below is Wired’s official video for its app that, ironically, requires Flash.

FREE!

WIRED Magazine

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2010-05-26 :: Category: News

If you’ve ever wondered why you see a little blue Lego brick rather than a video when using Safari on an iPod, iPhone or iPad, it’s really down to the personal preferences of two very rich and powerful men.

Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, is never one to mince his words or compromise when it comes to his company or its products and has exhibited these qualities once again with an “open letter” explaining his thought’s on Adobe’s Flash products amid the ongoing hostilities between the two companies.

When the iPhone was first launched, many criticized its inability to play the Flash video used on many websites including YouTube. Websites created using Flash technology were also incompatible with the iPhone.

With the launch of the App Store most of these complaints were calmed and Apple’s own YouTube app solved part of the web video problem, however a number of major sites such as The New York Times still use Flash and therefor cannot be viewed properly in the iPhone’s Safari browser.

Adobe is “lazy”…
At a recent meeting of Apple employees, Jobs was said to refer to Adobe as “lazy” and referred to its buggy versions of Flash for the Mac as reasons not to support it on Apple’s mobile devices. These comments were supposed to be behind closed doors, but Jobs’ “Thoughts on Flash” posted last week on Apple’s website is for the world to see. Apple has also banned the submission of any apps to the App Store that were built using Adobe’s new Flash CS5 tools.

In his notes Jobs explains: “I wanted to jot down some of our thoughts on Adobe’s Flash products so that customers and critics may better understand why we do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads.”

Running through six topics covering everything from Flash’s inability to work with touch devices through security issues and battery life, all the while promoting the new HTML5 standard, Jobs concludes with this stinging sign off “Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind”.

Apple’s “smokescreen”…
Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayen has, in some part, responded to Jobs’ harsh words in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in which he refutes a number of Jobs’ statements referring to them as a “smokescreen” as well as finding Jobs’ reference to Flash being a closed standard as “amusing”. The fight back from Adobe appears to be focussing on its belief that all devices are equal and its software allows developers to create apps for a number of devices while Apple wants to control and manipulate its own hardware and software platform.

In some ways, Narayen is right. Everybody wants their sites and apps to be available on these highly popular Apple devices. Security and performance issues aside, by allowing Flash apps and sites into the mix, Apple would be relinquishing some control and would provide Adobe with more power. Without Flash, app developers must stick to using Apple’s own tools to create software for the App Store and web developers must take advantage of the open HTML5 standard to keep their sites compatible. Adobe is left out in the cold until it decides to toe the line.

So what’s the result of all this squabbling?
Adobe will push on and allow developers to create content for all of the other devices out there while being forced to ignore Apple, the market leader. On the flip-side, Apple will feel little effect while continuing to develop its ecosystem and maintain control of its developers and platform.

For these reasons, along with Jobs’ pigheadedness when it comes to quality and control, the blue bricks will remain until the rest of the world catches up to Apple’s view of the future – and that doesn’t include Flash.

image credit: Flickr user Ping ping

Surely it can’t be true? Well, fasten your seat belts because this time ladies and gentlemen – it is. Adobe has today announced via its annual Adobe MAX keynote that its popular multimedia creation software, Adobe Flash will finally be making it’s way to iPhone. It’s not Flash Player, but it is Flash. Flash Magazine reports that according to Serge Jespers an evangelist at Adobe, we can expect a beta very soon.

“A public beta version of Flash CS5 Professional with this new capability is planned for later this year. This new capability in Flash CS5 Professional allows developers to use their preferred Flash Platform tools and technologies to develop content for a device that was previously closed to them.”

In fact, you’re probably not going to believe this but the first ‘Flash-based’ applications are actually already on the App Store. Yes, really. Adobe says it put them up in secrecy to avoid a leak of the announcement before the keynote.

The full list of applications which use the new platform are as follows:

– Just Letters
– Finger Paint
– Red Hood
– Chroma Circuit
– FickleBlox
– That Roach Game
– Trading Stuff
– South Park Avatar Creator

So, What does this mean for the market? Well, for one, once Adobe release this beta of CS5 in this quarter, you’ll likely see a huge explosion in flash development companies announcing that they’re going to start targeting their content for iPhone. We’ll also be likely to see long-standing and existing flash developers porting their well loved flash classics.

When asked if Flash Player would ever come to the iPhone, they also had this to say:

“Flash Player uses a just-in-time compiler and virtual machine within a browser plug-in to play back content on websites. Those technologies are not allowed on the iPhone at this time, so a Flash Player for iPhone is not being made available today.”

But moving into the future, what does this mean for us? As consumers we’re likely to see the level (and quality) of particularly our gaming experiences become more enhanced, polished, and feature-full, with Flash bringing with it smooth animation and fluency of motion.

The only question I can see myself asking at that point is; Will our iPhone batteries actually be able to cope with this new genre of App Store swooshy’ness?