Monday
Mar082010
The Last Nail?
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As I have pointed out previously the last argument for inclusion of Flash in the iPhone OS (which runs the iPhone, the iPod Touch, the upcoming iPad) is the desire to run streaming audio -- I'm looking right at you, Pandora -- in the background while running other apps. For many reasons Apple is not going to put Flash in iPhone OS and they are not going to allow multitasking any time soon, either.
Major League Baseball to the rescue!
This is a nearly perfect example of smart developers working out new and better ways to get things done. The current incarnation of the MLB At Bat app (2010) solves the problem with a very clever use of Mobile Safari and embedded Quicktime. Basically, in order to run background audio At Bat gives the option of loading the audio stream in Safari via the Quicktime plugin. The only downside is that you lose the ability to run any other Safari windows (as far as I can tell) but all of your other apps are available by just exiting Safari via the Home button after the quicktime stream starts playing. And I think a little tweaking of Mobile Safari by Apple (perhaps not until more apps use this -- looking at YOU, Pandora) would allow multiple Safari windows even with one streaming Quicktime.
Take that Flash. Now if Pandora is smart they'll find some way -- it will be more difficult to do given that the stream as it is now is user-alterable -- to run the audio stream through Mobile Safari. Perhaps it merely requires the end user to forego the ability to change channels or skip (or rate) songs. But it seems reasonable that this is the solution. And its another sign that Flash is coughing up blood.
Update: Looks like iPhone OS may have multitasking after all. At least that's what Apple Insider and Gruber think. [03/11/2010]
Major League Baseball to the rescue!
This is a nearly perfect example of smart developers working out new and better ways to get things done. The current incarnation of the MLB At Bat app (2010) solves the problem with a very clever use of Mobile Safari and embedded Quicktime. Basically, in order to run background audio At Bat gives the option of loading the audio stream in Safari via the Quicktime plugin. The only downside is that you lose the ability to run any other Safari windows (as far as I can tell) but all of your other apps are available by just exiting Safari via the Home button after the quicktime stream starts playing. And I think a little tweaking of Mobile Safari by Apple (perhaps not until more apps use this -- looking at YOU, Pandora) would allow multiple Safari windows even with one streaming Quicktime.
Take that Flash. Now if Pandora is smart they'll find some way -- it will be more difficult to do given that the stream as it is now is user-alterable -- to run the audio stream through Mobile Safari. Perhaps it merely requires the end user to forego the ability to change channels or skip (or rate) songs. But it seems reasonable that this is the solution. And its another sign that Flash is coughing up blood.
Update: Looks like iPhone OS may have multitasking after all. At least that's what Apple Insider and Gruber think. [03/11/2010]
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