Flash based apps on the tablet
 

I'm quite impressed that one can use also "real" Flash apps on the N8x0/2008 devices.

Just found "Flash Earth" here http://www.flashearth.com/ (it's a Flash mapping app, the smaller sibling of MaemoMapper), saved the SWF file onto a memory card, opened it from the browser (switched off the bottom toolbar, tweaked the security settings), and it worked smoothly. Check it out!

The promise of Flash as an application development system is also evident in larger apps like Splashup (saved from http://www.splashup.com/splashup/). It barely works at all on the tablet, since it requires slightly more screen real estate and apparently a faster processor, but it is slick and works well enough to whet the appetite...

Which got me thinking - is it possible on the tablets to have Flash apps packaged in a way that they don't require the browser as a host and can be installed in the regular way? Is that on a roadmap somewhere? Would that possibly make the apps run speedier?

Re: Flash based apps on the tablet
 

Love flash earth :)

Don't know if it's the smaller sibling of maemomapper - the images in flash earth look higher quality/nicer. Perhaps it's the scaling operations used?

Re: Flash based apps on the tablet
 

Though not for Nokia Internet Tablets specifically, Adobe do have that sort of thing on their roadmap. See Flex.

EDIT: Along these lines, does anyone think we'll ever see Silverlight support for the Internet Tablets? Would anyone want it?

Re: Flash based apps on the tablet
 

Thanks for the Flex link! I think it would be a clever decision on Nokia's part to give devs an easy way of building standalone Flash apps for the tablets - should draw the game developer crowd to the platform without them having to bother with a new development environment.

As for Silverlight - I attended a MS developer meeting recently, and one guest speaker from an ad agency was full of praise for Silverlight due to its apparently more flexible (no pun intended) approach to objects and their manipulation. However, I doubt that the tablets are on the MS radar yet.

Re: Flash based apps on the tablet
 

probably a dumb question, but how did you download the swf file? and does it make it run any smoother if you run if off the card as opposed to just logging on to the site?

Re: Flash based apps on the tablet
 

No, not at all! I would like to know how to do this as well! Several swf files I would like to have on my card. Thanks

Re: Flash based apps on the tablet
 

Not a dumb question. First, figure out what the flash file is called. There are several methods, one is to just use the source view in your (desktop) browser, another is what I usually do - I have privoxy on my desktop and I just look in its logfile for .swf.

To get the one in particular:
wget http://www.flashearth.com/flash_earth.swf
You can even do that directly on the NIT if you have wget installed.

Re: Flash based apps on the tablet
 

needs wget
From xterm type

and then from a new browser window file:///home/user/flash_earth.swf

I don't know how to adjust the privacy settings to allow connection though.

Rick

EDIT: Too late :)

Re: Flash based apps on the tablet
 

Saving Embedded Flash Files With Mozilla Firefox:

What I do is simple if you are using Firefox.

When you are at the web page that has the embedded flash file, you click on Tools form the menu, then "Page Info," then click on the "Media" tab, then finally scroll through the different items until you find the .swf or similar file (it will say "embed" or embedded to the right where it says the type of file it is). And you click "Save as" and save you wherever you'd like.

Re: Flash based apps on the tablet
 

wow, thanks for all the replies! you guys are MUCH more helpful than the people on other forums. (less condescending too!) thanks again!

Re: Flash based apps on the tablet
 

Also if you get the firefox plugin called UnPlug for your desktop (it finds media files on pages and gives you a clickable link) the copy it from your Desktop to your tablet.

Re: Flash based apps on the tablet
 

There's also a Firefox plugin called "UnPlug" which makes it very easy to download any embedded objects (e.g. video/audio and Flash files) from within a webpage.

Used it to good effect to get Flash games like Space Invaders working.