socialrosiechen: Artefact brings "Flash in a Pinch" to the iPad

Monday, June 21, 2010

Artefact brings "Flash in a Pinch" to the iPad

Filed under: Video, Web services, Adobe, Apple

Our trusty sister site, Engadget, just hit on another effort to bring Flash to the iPad. We already told you about Smokescreen, which involves a complex process of converting Flash video image-by-image into an iOS-friendly format. It's still mostly only good for ads, and it's not interactive. That's why Artefact Group's new "Flash in a Pinch" for iPad could be a big deal.

Instead of transcoding the Flash files on your iPad, it sends them up to Artefact's servers, which work their magic remotely (the technical details are available on Artefact's site, for the curious) and send an iPad-readable result back down. Boom! Flash on your iPad, whether Steve Jobs likes it or not. Flash in a Pinch can even react to clicks, which means there's some hope for interactive Flash web apps on the iPad, not just videos.

The problem is that Flash in a Pinch is still wicked slow, because the data has to be uploaded and downloaded from Artefact's servers. Right now, there's not even sound in the proof-of-concept version. I wonder whether one of these Flash alternatives will actually become viable and run smoothly before everyone stops caring about Flash altogether, though.

Check out the video of Flash in a Pinch running Hulu after the jump, and see what you think.