Smokescreen is a new open-source project that is working toward getting Flash onto the iPhone and iPad--but not in the way that you might expect. Rather than do some jailbreak hack or complain about Apple's Flash ban, though, the people behind Smokescreen decided to tackle the problem head-on by bringing Flash to the iDevices without requiring the Flash plugin.
Smokescreen converts Flash to HTML5 and JavaScript, two Web technologies that the iPad and iPhone do support. The Smokescreen folks say that Web designers won't have to learn anything new to make the conversion, it'll just work.
Smokescreen appears to be geared toward advertisers, but there's plenty of other stuff you could conceivably do with it. The source code for Smokescreen isn't available just yet, but there are several demos of Smokescreen to try out (including some Strong Bad E-mails converted using Smokescreen--Homestar Runner on your iPad? Yes, please!).
This isn't the first time that someone has attempted to bring Flash to the iPhone without a plugin. Earlier this year we spotted another JavaScript workaround similar to Smokescreen. In both cases, as far as I can tell, anyway, it's up to the Web designers to make their Flash content iPhone-friendly.
Are you in Flash-free bliss on your iDevice? Or is the lack of Flash a deal-breaker? Discuss!
[Smokescreen via Daring Fireball]
Ad Choices