smokescreen
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Smokescreen makes Flash content visible on iPhone and iPad (video)
Mind you, it's just a preview release, but Chris Smoak's Smokescreen does exactly what it promises: enable Flash content to play on Apple's iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad. Kind of. Here's how Smokescreen gets around using a Flash plugin as described by Simon Willison: "It runs entirely in the browser, reads in SWF binaries, unzips them (in native JS), extracts images and embedded audio and turns them in to base64 encoded data:uris, then stitches the vector graphics back together as animated SVG." While it works fine with simple animated banner ads (uh, huzzah!?), we found that Smokescreened Flash content like video and games was impossibly slow when tested on our iPhone 3G. Still, it's a start for this soon to be open sourced Flash player written in JavaScript. Check the video after the break for a demonstration or give it a go for yourselves by browsing over to the appropriate source link below.
Smokescreen biometric reader keeps track of the nicotine crowd
Life is tough for a smoker: not only are you slowing killing yourself from ten different cancers, it's getting harder and harder to enjoy that rich, deadly tobacco in public venues. Smokers in most big cities are already accustomed to heading outside for a nicotine break, and now some are being confronted with a fingerprint reader called 'smokescreen' that controls re-entry to clubs and bars after they've sucked down those precious puffs of smoke. Made by UK manufacturer idscan, smokescreen is marketed as an easy way for owners to combat bracelet or hand-stamp fraud, and also keeps track of how many people are outside at any given time. Best of all, those nic-heads loitering for too long and killing the ambiance can be locked out after a preset amount of time, either forcing them to the back of the line or perhaps giving them the kick in the pants they need to quit.[Via CNET]
