skyfire
Latest
Opera buys Skyfire, wants its video and smartphone optimization expertise
In a sudden joining of former leaders in the mobile browser arena that have seen their fortunes turn, Opera announced tonight that it has acquired Skyfire for about $155 million in cash and stock. According to the press release, Opera believes one of the things the two can help each other with is its WebPass program that provides short-term mobile data, by further optimizing user's data requirements. Skyfire CEO Jeffrey Glueck will become an executive vice president at Opera and oversee joint offerings for the two, as well as remain CEO of Skyfire as an independent but wholly-owned subsidiary of Opera. If you're still using Skyfire don't expect it to go away anytime soon, as the two indicate its browser will continue to be developed and supported. The company says three large US mobile operators are already customers for its Rocket Optimizer tech, meant to speed up all manner of data even as mobile connections have gone from dial-up to broadband speeds. Opera claims its advertising chops can help the Skyfire Horizon mobile browser and toolbar applications as well. The deal is expected to close before mid-March, and the two will be taking meetings at MWC 2013 later this month to show mobile operators how much better they are together.
Mists of Pandaria: A new Alliance in the Jade Forest
Spoiler Alert: I am about to talk about the Alliance, especially its new leadership, in the Jade Forest on the Mists of Pandaria beta. If you don't want spoilers, read no further. Sky Admiral Rogers hates the Horde more than any character I have ever seen. She makes Joanna Blueheart look like a Horde sympathizer. That first part isn't a spoiler because it's pretty much all there is to Admiral Rogers, and I am fine with it. Admiral Rogers is seething with hatred for the Horde and everyone within it. This woman has one thing on her mind, and it isn't having a civil discussion to air grievances -- it's shooting Horde. For the first time since Cataclysm launched, I have just done quests that made me feel like the Alliance is accomplishing something. Granted, what it's accomplishing isn't always good, in a moral sense. But I've taken out two Horde warships, cleared the beach of Horde troops, driven an orc warlock to retreat, and then defeated the sha and orc slavers. All in all, the Alliance introduction to the zone feels like this is a faction that finally has had enough.
Skyfire browser brings account switching to iPad with HotSwap
Skyfire is among the most popular third-party browser apps in the App Store, bringing quite a few solid browsing features that mobile Safari doesn't have to the iPhone and the iPad. And here's yet another one: The latest update to Skyfire adds account switching capabilities, so multiple users on one device can have their bookmarks, history, account logins, and all other browser settings set for them when they first log in to the app. While we have seen information that many households run more than one iOS device, there are certainly plenty of houses out there where the family shares one iPad, and in those situations (as the company's trailer shows), account switching can be very helpful. Skyfire's feature is called HotSwap, and allows for up to four different accounts to be used on one device at one time. The app's probably most famous for allowing users to watch Flash-based videos on the iPad, by separately compressing and then streaming them straight to the device. You can pick up Skyfire on the App Store now for $2.99.
EVE Evolved: All there is to know about DUST 514
Last week, EVE Online developer CCP Games officially started accepting beta signups for its upcoming MMOFPS DUST 514. This first phase of closed beta tests will be open only to active EVE Online subscribers, giving us an early opportunity to contribute feedback to the game's development ahead of console players. I think that's important because it's our universe that the game will take place in -- literally. DUST 514 players will be connecting to EVE Online's supercluster, so gameplay between the two titles will be intimately linked in realtime. With the new game's release date set for the summer 2012, EVE players can expect the next big expansion to focus heavily on planetary control and the DUST 514 link. The past month has been flush with new information on DUST's customisable vehicles, drop suits, infantry weapons and more. We've even had a look under the hood at the server architecture that will keep the planet-bound battles fast and furious without lagging out the EVE players smashing each other to bits in orbit. In this week's EVE Evolved, I gather together all the key information on DUST 514 released this month and discuss what it means for EVE Online players.
iSwifter will bring Flash-free browsing to the Mac
Apple hasn't shipped Adobe Flash Player on Macs since last October, and the current shipping version of Flash Player has some incompatibilities with Lion that have yet to be fixed. If developer iSwifter has its way, you won't need Flash Player on any of your Apple devices. iSwifter currently has a Flash-free browser app for the iPad that works in the same way as the Puffin and SkyFire browsers on that platform -- it runs all web content through a server that processes Flash content and then sends the "translated" animation, game, or movie to the device browser. Now iSwifter is planning on bringing its browser to the Mac App Store, although they're not saying exactly when the app will be available. The company wants to give users a common Flash-compatible browser that looks and acts the same on all Apple platforms. The existing iPad app is available as a free trial, and then charges $4.99 as an in-app purchase to use the browser without limits. iSwifter is planning on using the same process for the Mac app, although pricing may be different. So what would people use the iSwifter browser for? Mostly for playing Zynga games on Facebook. Over 40% of all gaming time logged on iSwifter's servers is for those games, which include Words With Friends, Farmville, Cityville, and Mafia Wars.
TUAW's Daily iPad App: Puffin browser
When you absolutely, positively need to be able to view Flash websites, the new Puffin Web Browser for iPad (US$0.99, universal app) is an inexpensive way to do so. The app, much like Skyfire ($4.99) before it, runs the sites through a server for rendering and compression before delivering the results to your iPad. The result? You can watch Flash animations and movies that are not viewable with Safari. I asked my TUAW cohorts to recommend a few Flash-heavy websites to check out Puffin, and each passed my tests with flying colors. First, Victor Agreda had me check the Fluidmaster website. This site is for a toilet repair kit company, and just going to the site in Safari was a total fail (see below). Opening the same site in Puffin, I was immediately able to view all parts of the site, including the ultra-cheesy Flash-animated "Bob the Plumbing Expert" (below). Rendering was fast over Wi-Fi, so moving from page to page was quick and pain-free. As you can also see in the image below, Puffin provides tabbed browsing on the iPad. One of our resident sci-fi experts, Dave Caolo, recommended trying to watch the Flash video episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars available on Starwars.com. When I loaded the site in Safari and went to one of the episodes, all I got was R2-D2 telling me I needed to load the latest Adobe Flash Player (below). Popping over to Puffin, I was immediately able to watch an episode. In comparison to watching it on my iMac in Safari with the Flash Player, the video was a bit choppy, and the audio occasionally got out of sync. One issue I did have with the app is that at the present time, cut and paste isn't supported. This was irritating when I was trying to paste in a password and couldn't. The Puffin folks say that it will be supported in a future version of the browser. The "drag" mode, which brings up a hand icon to facilitate dragging frames or scroll bars on websites, was also non functional for me. Still, the app is much less expensive than Skyfire; $0.99 gets you Puffin on both iPhone and iPad, while you'd need to spend $7.98 to get Skyfire on both devices. For those who really need to view Flash sites on mobile devices, Puffin is a capable browser at a bargain price.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Is Flash video working on iPad yet?
Dear Aunt TUAW, I keep hearing about applications like Skyfire working on the iPad so we can watch Flash video. But when I hop over to Hulu, it says I have to join Hulu Plus to view videos. Why does Hulu act like this? What am I doing wrong? Love, Your nephew Chris W.
Flash-friendly Skyfire browser for iPad gets updated
After the initial iPhone, iPad and iPod touch version earned $1 million in its first weekend on the App Store back in November, the third-party iPad-specific web browser Skyfire for iPad (US$4.99) has been updated to Version 2.1.1 and is available for downloading now. Fixes in the update include auto-completing URLs, stronger privacy controls and several performance improvements. Because Apple's iOS devices do not support Flash, the Skyfire browser provides a workaround that transcodes Flash video into HTML5 and thus enables iDevice owners to access most Flash-based websites and videos. While Skyfire for iPad version 2.1.1 requires, well, an iPad running iOS 3.2 or later, iPhone and iPod touch users can download their own version for $2.99 from the App Store as well.
Skyfire for iPad hands-on (video)
What's better than using Skyfire on a 3.5-inch screen? Using it on a 9.7-inch one, of course! After tinkering with the new iPad browser, we've noticed that it has the same feel as its iOS brother and Android cousin, with a modified look to it. Features like private browsing, mobile or desktop view and bookmarks remain present -- and rest assured, the ability to watch Flash videos is still as easy as tapping a button. What's perhaps the most salient addition in this rendition is the social network integration. When the app is opened, you'll notice right away that it's got eight buttons along the bottom, four of which are Facebook related. These buttons, referred to as "quick view" by the peeps at Skyfire, give you, well, a quick view of the button you've tapped. For example, when the Facebook button is pushed, you're presented with a trimmed down the mobile version of the social network. The same goes with Twitter and Google Reader. The app also features Fireplace, which allows you to view specifically the links your Facebook friends have shared, and 'Popular', which shows all the related links your friends have shared based on what website the browser parked on, and of course a dedicated 'Like' button. The Share function lends you an easy way to share links via various popular networks. As for the browsing experience itself, the devs at Skyfire did a great job ironing out the kinks that we stumbled upon in the iPhone version. Pages render nicely and quickly, pinch-to-zoom works as well as it does on Safari, scrolling is buttery smooth and Flash videos play noticeably quicker in comparison to what we experienced on the iPhone. The app is sadly not available in the App Store just yet, but hang tight, it's been submitted for approval and should hit virtual shelves soon. Update: Video's now after the break! Update 2: We just got word that it's been approved by Apple. It'll be available tonight at around 8PM EST and cost $4.99.
Skyfire browser earns $1 million in first weekend
Apparently there is a market for Flash on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, judging by the success that the third party browser Skyfire (US$2.99) had in its first weekend in the App Store. The Skyfire browser enables Flash video playback by converting Flash content to HTML5, which is playable on the iPhone. Using adaptive streaming technology, users can view full Flash pages on their phones, and have up to eight different browser windows open at the same time. While it sold so quickly at first that they couldn't keep their servers running smoothly, Skyfire ended up selling more than 300,000 copies of the browser in the first weekend alone, grossing over a million dollars. After Apple takes their cut of the sales, that leaves them with somewhere in the neighborhood of $630,000, quickly quieting those who asked how they would make any money with the new browser. With HTML5 here to stay (for a while, at least) and Flash currently a non-player in the iPhone market, it looks like the Skyfire browser found a rather large piece of its target market during the first weekend alone. After all the animosity between Adobe and Apple, though, it's hard to think that even a number like this will help them find common ground. You can watch a video of Skyfire in action after the break.
Skyfire browser back in the App Store, but in limited quantities
This just in: the Skyfire browser, which was released earlier this week and then quickly pulled when the company's servers were overwhelmed, is being released back into the App Store. But before you do what I did and rush out to purchase it, note that it is only being released in "batches." That means that for those of us who are seeking a way to watch Adobe Flash video on our iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads may have to wait a bit longer. Sure enough, the first batch is apparently sold out, as I was unable to find it in the store either in iTunes on my Mac or in the App Store on my iPhone. Skyfire CEO Jeff Gleuck is recommending that people hoping to buy Skyfire follow the company on Twitter or friend them on Facebook. That way, you'll be notified when the next batch is released.
Skyfire being rereleased into App Store 'in batches,' coming to other nations in due time
Good news, sick-and-tired Safari users -- Skyfire's back! Sort of. After hitting the App Store and subsequently crashing / burning under the load, the company yanked it in order to get its server situation under control. Now that it has had 48 hours to pony up for extra bandwidth (a wild guess, there), it looks as if it's ready to cautiously let even more people join the fun. The CEO has confirmed via a blog post that Skyfire will "open batches of downloads for new users over the coming days," with the first batch hitting right about now. It'll be first come, first serve, so you know what to do there. In related news, he also affirmed that it's still available to US downloaders for now, but that "additional country support" would follow shortly. Huzzah! [Thanks, Ankur]
Skyfire for iPhone hands-on (video)
Although Skyfire for iPhone is almost exactly like its Android counterpart, it's still not available for download in the App Store due to server issues, so we thought you might want to see how it works. We've seen improvements on the Flash-to-HTML5 conversion servers in the past day or so, which makes watching videos a breeze. The app itself serves as a fully functional browser with the usual features you'd hope to find: bookmarking, a dedicated search bar, custom homepage, and even private browsing. Pages render rather quickly, although scrolling and pinching to zoom is a little rough around the edges. As for actually watching Flash videos, it couldn't be easier -- once you've navigated to a page embedded with a video, a popup window will appear and you're good to go. Sadly, though, the browser lacks the ability to scrub videos. But hey, if you've been waiting three-plus years to play flash videos on your 3.5-inch display, Skyfire might (or might not) be the solution to your burning desire. Be sure to check out the browser in action after the break!
Skyfire pulls iPhone app from App Store due to overloaded servers
Just five hours into availability, high demand on Skyfire servers forced them to pull the Skyfire iOS app from the App Store. The company says its working to increase server capacity and will have a new group of apps available "soon." The $US2.99 app brought Flash video, in a roundabout way, to the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Here's how it worked. The app was a standalone Webkit browser. When used to visit a site with Flash video, the app presents a thumbnail. When tapped, the video is transcoded on Skyfire's servers to HTML5 and streamed to the device. Note that Flash games won't work and Hulu has blocked Skyfire, as it wants people to sign up for the $10/mo. Hulu Plus. During its short stint of availability, Skyfire became the third most-downloaded paid app. Good luck getting the server demand worked out. You can watch a video of the app after the break. Ed. note: Download Squad got a hands-on with the app before the servers turned to molten slag and the app was pulled.
Skyfire disappears from iTunes App Store due to technical difficulties (update: 'sold out')
Trying to get a copy of the Skyfire browser for your iOS device? You may not have much luck, as the pseudo-Flash-capable browser has just disappeared from iTunes App Stores around the globe, mere hours after its splashy debut. When we try to download it for ourselves in the United States we get the message immediately above, and RazorianFly readers are chiming in with reports that the app is no longer available in Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Spain and the UK. We just pinged Skyfire for comment and they say it's not Apple's fault; demand for a Flash video workaround is apparently so high that the company's having server issues and decided to pull the app rather than introduce new users to a sub-par experience. Skyfire assures us that it's adding servers as quickly as it can, but didn't provide an ETA on when we might see the app once more. Update: While we're not sure how an digital app can be "sold out," that's exactly what the company says happened to its $2.99 browser today -- after quickly becoming the top grossing app in the iTunes App Store, Skyfire is "temporarily not accepting new purchases" and says it will issue Facebook and Twitter status updates when the next batch of licenses is available. In other words, Skyfire's throttling the flow of purchases from now on. PR after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Skyfire browser for iPhone hits the App Store, ready to play your Flash videos (update)
It's been over two months since it was first submitted for approval, but the Skyfire 2.0 web browser for iPhone is now finally, officially available for download, complete with the ability to play Flash videos... sort of. To get around the iPhone's Flash restrictions, the browser actually transcodes the video in a way that lets the phone only see HTML5, and it compresses all videos by about 75 percent in the process to ease bandwidth concerns. Of course, that workaround also means that Flash video is the only type of Flash that the browser supports, and the company also notes that Hulu is currently blocked but that "scores of other premium sites are supported." Skyfire also points out that the browser has more than just Flash going for it -- it's a full-fledged Webkit browser in its own right, and packs a few other tricks like easy sharing to Facebook and Twitter, and a so-called Facebook Quickview mode. Head on past the break for a quick video overview, and hit up the App Store now to grab the browser for the "special early adopter price" of $2.99. Update: Skyfire is now "sold out." What could that possibly mean? Find out right here.
Skyfire for iOS gets App Store approval, available soon
Getting something like a browser through Apple's App Store approval process can be a nail-biting experience both for the developer and for would-be users -- but now that Opera Mini set the precedent, there's little justification for denying them (assuming there's no foolishness going on under the hood). This time around it's Skyfire, submitted in early September and finally cleared by Cupertino's powers that be this week which means that it should pop up in the App Store in short order. As in the Android build, Skyfire's iOS browser does some back-end magic to convert any Flash videos that it finds embedded in web pages so that they can be viewed, a feature that could make this a pretty popular download. Keep a close eye in iTunes over the next day or two.
Skyfire submits iPhone browser for App Store approval, we wait for the Flash to hit the fan
There was a time when Skyfire on Windows Mobile meant full Flash all the time. The 2.0 version on Android reigned that in a bit, really only supporting Flash video and little else, something Android 2.2 users no longer need to worry about. iOS users, however, do still spend their days ruing websites with such content, and so that's the market Skyfire is targeting next. The company has submitted a version of the browser for App Store approval, transcoding Flash video such that the phone only sees HTML5, with content coming in over H.264 adaptive streaming. As such, video is said to be compressed an average of 75 percent, in theory allaying any concerns about this thing being a bandwidth hog. In other words: there's no reason for this to not be approved, right? Right! However, something tells us things may not be so easy... Update: Now with video -- watch the Skyfire crew coerce a poor iPhone into playing Comedy Central content right after the break.
Skyfire 2.0 beta for Android video preview!
We just spent a few minutes playing with the beta version of Skyfire 2.0 for Android that was released today, and we'll cut to the chase: this is easily the best browser we've used on the platform. Clearly we'll need to spend more time with it to make sure it can handle all the typical sites you'd want to visit while you're on the road -- but loading the desktop version of Engadget is always a great barometer for this sort of thing, and this browser rocked it. Rendering is about as reasonably fast as you can expect it to be (on our Snapdragon-powered Nexus One, anyhow), and everything we saw displayed spot-on perfect (save for embedded Flash, of course), but if you're in a situation where you don't need to see the full page or it looks screwy, you can toggle it to send an Android user agent right from the app's toolbar below the URL field. It works just about as well as Steel and the built-in browser on a G1 we tested, and Flash videos work just fine there as well. The browser touts compatibility with Flash videos, too, so we headed over to YouTube to try our hand at it; it immediately detected the presence of a video and popped up the so-called "SkyBar" at the bottom of the screen, where you can press the Video button to load the video in a new window. It doesn't work embedded in the page, but considering how small your phone's screen is, that's really for the best -- you get the full-screen experience, and in our testing, it looked fantastic. One downside is that you don't seem to be able to scrub videos while they're playing, but maybe this is something these guys can get patched up for the final release. Follow the break for our full video! Update: One annoyance we've noticed is that pinch-to-zoom works in "steps" -- it's not smooth, which makes it pretty weird to use, but remember that Opera Mini doesn't support it at all.
Skyfire 2.0 beta now ready to set Android ablaze
We've been seeing mobile browsers steadily raising their game lately, so it was inevitable that Skyfire would look to shock and awe us with its first release for the Android platform. Version 2.0 introduces a brand new SkyBar -- which ironically sits at the bottom of the screen -- providing users with a trifecta of new features. Firstly, the Video link serves as a workaround for those pesky "your phone ain't got no Flash" missives by doing server-side conversions of Flash video into universally comprehensible formats like HTML5. If implemented well, this should be a major coup for the company, particularly in light of a potential iPhone release as well. There's also a streamlined sharing feature for social networks, and an Explore function that suggests internet content on the basis of what's currently on display. We'll be testing out the usefulness of these shortly -- for now, hit the source link to get your own Skyfire going. Update: Check out our hands-on preview of the new browser right here. Hint: it's pretty awesome. %Gallery-92020%