Monthly Archives: April 2010

[iPhone] Adobe Ceases iPhone To Flash Compiler

After Apple’s announcement of their iPhone OS 4 SDK  license:

Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine

This came a couple of days before Adobe shipped their latest Creative Suite 5, which contains a native Flash to iPhone compiler. Sadly this compiler can only (legally) be used for iPhones running the iPhone OS3 as the license of iPhone OS 3 still allows it. Anyway at the end of june the iPhone 4G is expected and thus the new iPhone OS 4 will be released under those heavily limiting terms.

Mike Chambers of Adobe now responded publicly to Apple’s moves:

We will still be shipping the ability to target the iPhone and iPad in Flash CS5. However, we are not currently planning any additional investments in that feature.(..)

The primary goal of Flash has always been to enable cross browser, platform and device development. The cool web game that you build can easily be targeted and deployed to multiple platforms and devices. However, this is the exact opposite of what Apple wants. They want to tie developers down to their platform, and restrict their options to make it difficult for developers to target other platforms. There is plenty of commentary online about this, so I won’t belabor the point, but I have included some links below that cover it more depth:

So, was all of the work on the iPhone packager a waste of time and resources? No, I don’t believe so. We proved that:

  1. There is no technical reason that Flash can’t run on the iPhone
  2. Developers can create well performing and compelling content for the device with Flash

via Mike Chambers’ Blog

[iPhone] Google Android Running On iPhone

Notorious Planetbeing – member of the famous iPhone Dev Team – just released a vid showing he managed to install Google’s Android operating system on an iPhone 2G.


In the video below Android is demonstrated on an iPhone 2G; however, it should be pretty simple to port forward to the iPhone 3G. The 3GS will take more work.

Planetbeing thanks CPICH for reversing support, harmn1, posixnina, jean, marcan and saurik for patches, and last but not least, TheSeven for his work on the FTL.

Pre-built images and sources can be found at http://www.mediafire.com/?xqjzn12igfn.

Via http://linuxoniphone.blogspot.com



[Pre] Prices For German Pre Plus and Pixi Plus Revealed

German carrier O2 just revealed the price tags of their latest Palm gadgets: the Palm Pre Plus and the Palm Pixi Plus. Distribution will start April 28th, 2010.

  • Pre Plus: 509€ (or 29€ as down payment and 24mth x 20€)
  • Pixi Plus: 389€ (or 29€ as down payment and 24mth x 15€)

Both devices come straight unlocked from the factory to your hands and can thus be used on any GMS/3G network anywhere on this planet. Buying phones at german O2 stores don’t require O2 subscriptions.

[iPhone] Lost iPhone 4G Prototype In The Wild

The story is burning all the Apple related pages. Although Apple officials say, their iPhone 4G prototype has been stolen, Gizmodo.com argues it has been lost by an Apple employee named Gray Powell. Powell is a developer at Apple and currently he works on Apple’s latest baseband.

It seems Powell has lost the device in the german restaurant Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City, California, after having had too much of our wonderful german beer.

Anyway Gizmodo.com now got their hands on the device and show what it’s got. Sadly they cannot get past the “connect to iTunes” logo because the device has been deactivated over the air obviously using mobile me.

We feel like the iPhone Dev Team or GeoHot should get their hands on that device. Until further news enjoy Gizmodo’s vid:

Update: in the meantime Apple has filed a formal claim to get back their device.

Update 2: Conspiracy theorists say this is an Apple marketing thing as the story doesn’t pass the smell test.

[App Store] Political Cartoonist Asked To Resubmit Rejected App

Wired reports that Apple has reconsidered their rejection of Mark Fiore’s App. Mark Fiore has just won the Pulitzer Prize. Apple originally said the App is in violation of their App Store policies and rejected it in december 2009.

“I feel a little bit guilty because it feels like I am getting preferential treatment,” Fiore said.

Read more on Wired.co.uk

[Pre] Palm Pre GSM Unlock For Sale Now

Precentral reports that a user has eventually made to unlock european GSM Palm Pre’s. This unlock is not proxy SIM based, it is a software unlock.

Luckily this unlocking thing does not apply to german Palm Pre’s as they we got factory unlocked Pre’s anyway.

Read more on PreCentral.net

[Flash] Adobe Flash For Mobiles in 2nd Half Of 2010

Murdoch’s Fox TV has spoken to Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayen. Besides talking about their intimacy to Apple, Narayen says Adobe Flash for mobile devices like Palm Pre or Android is coming in 2nd half of 2010.

Regarding Apple’s anti-flash position, Narayen said:

With respect to Apple, it really isn’t a technology decision as much as it is a business decision. And they’ve chosen to keep their system a proprietory and closed system, which it why they are not supporting Flash. And I think that this hurts customers.(..)

You’re gonna see phones that run the Android operating system from Google or the Palm operating system support the web in all its glory. (..)

And so what we think is that consumers will eventually vote for the experience that they want through their wallet.

Video is courtesy of Fox TV

[Palm] Pre Plus and Pixi Plus in Germany End of April

German Palm.de site reports that the Palm Pre Plus and the Pixi Plus are going to be released in Germany on April 28th, 2010. The exclusive partnership between Palm and O2 in Germany is over, Vodafone is going to offer the Palms aswell.

There is currently no information available about pricing.

Read more on investor.palm.com

[iPad] Israel’s Customs Confiscate Imported U.S. iPads

Haaretz reports that several iPads have been confiscated by Israel customs during the last days. It seems the U.S. american iPads don’t comply with Israel’s wireless networks. Thus the Communications Ministry has legally blocked the import of iPads to Israel.

“The iPad device sold exclusively today in the United States operates at broadcast power levels [over its WiFi modem] compatible with American standards,” explained the officials. “As the Israeli regulations in the area of WiFi are similar to European standards, which are different from American standards, which permit broadcasting at lower power, therefore the broadcast levels of the device prevent approving its use in Israel,” said the officials.

Don’t try to bring iPad to Israel in your hand-baggage. It would be confiscated anyway.

Read more on Haaretz.com