Ubuntu Tips n Tricks

Saturday, January 23, 2010

iPhone Now Supports Adobe Flash (Kind of)

Posted: 23 Jan 2010 09:15 AM PST

Tobias Schneider, a programmer from Germany, created a script to make iPhone's mobile Safari browser run Adobe Flash files. The program that he named Gordon and released as free and open-source software works by writing the Flash runtime purely in JavaScript.

Though Schneider's work is quite impressive, don't think of playing those cute Flash games already because it has a number of limitations:

* Gordon only works within the Safari browser and does not enable full Flash support for the iPhone OS.

* For the script to work, website owners must use Schneider's code on every page with Flash that they want to display correctly on the iPhone.

* Pages running the Gordon script will push the CPU of the iPhone to its topmost limits according to initial tests. That should cause your battery to drain in no time.

Perhaps future versions of Gordon will bring in lots of improvements to make Flash on iPhone more usable.

If you are curious, you can test your iPhone's Safari browser running Flash and seeing Gordon in action by going HERE. Just make sure your battery is fully charged.