Can I hack or jailbreak to get the arrow keys? (+flash?)

[orish]

Thanks for that. I have been considering HTML5, but I read that it wasn't ready yet for everybody and that more people can play flash than can play HTML5 embedded audio/video clips.

(Sheesh! I just realised that I can't use HTML5 on IE unless I upgrade to version 9, and to do that I first have to upgrade from XP to Windows 7! I think that eliminates 70% of my customer base...)

Maybe the solution is to detect the browser type / version and play the audio and animated clips in either flash or HTML5 audio as befits the browser.

As for my arrow keys and being able to enjoy flash movies and games, I'll go for the jailbreak solution until Apple decides to catch up and give us Customers (with a big "C") what we paid for.



______________________
Haha! Until I read the other posts, I didn't realise I was being insulted too

"get over yourself", I looked it up : Patronising phrase used to tell someone... / a phrase little pussies use when they can't win an argument with a real counterpoint. I think this says it all!

 

[zrb0529]

interesting use of urban dictionary, also an interesting way of leaving out pieces of information that you quote to strengthen your own 'argument' though no one, as far as I'm aware, was arguing against you

what I said was in response to your 'I have x number of years of experience and I'm a mainframe programmer blah blah' no one cares because it has nothing to do with what you want

what you want is for apple to spend time and money, millions of dollars, to add a feature that a relatively small set of people actually care about

and yes, flash is popular, but thats only because until recently no one had the technology to get video and animation to work without it

as for people still using XP, it's not apples or microsofts fault if they refuse to upgrade and if all websites cater to these people then real progress will be slow and painful in getting things like HTML5 standardized, because if everyone takes the mindset of 'oh I might make a few people upset so I better not change' then where will we be

as for utilizing a method to detect and transfer between HTML5 and flash, that's a good option, but I don't think requiring users to jailbreak is really a good idea, because if they don't want to upgrade from XP should they really be trying to run redsn0w and/or other tools they come across?

 

[orish]

Hey zrb, coming from a man (?) who likes to insult people, it's difficult to follow what you are really trying to say. Do you know how much it costs to upgrade from XP to Windows 7? Not to mention the time and disruption to do so? If I'm going to 'require' all my customers to upgrade to Windows 7 then I may as well just ask them to install FireFox (or design my site to work just with IE 6/7/8 instead, since everybody already has that).

You've raised some interesting ideas, but I don't really think you're being helpful.

Unrealistic too... Very few people change technologies overnight, especially if it's something as obscure as being able to view HTML5 websites. Adobe has done a very good job of providing an almost ubiquitous technology - somethng that nearly every internet 'surfer' needs even if they are not aware of it. Adobe has critical mass, so why not embrace it?

I was nonplussed at what Apple did NOT support in the iPad (assuming that only a "few" customers might want it, and in order to save development costs you say?) - multilingual keyboards, text navigation keys, flash, multitasking, data/document sharing, etc. etc., not to mention a very slow and clumsy iTunes interface.

I came to this forum to look for advice from experienced iPad users and developers on how best to cater for my iPad customers and to be able to use my own iPad more productively.

Sorry if I come across as long-winded. I don't spend time on forums, so I'm not familiar with 'forum etiquette'. I'm just trying to make sense of this technology and why it seems so deliberately and senselessly limited.

And I have the one issue (or set or issues) that I'd like to resolve for now - and thanks to all of you who are helping....

 

[col.bris]

I have to say what you are trying to achieve is really not Apple's problem. It seems to me you have your self and your customers using xp which Microsoft no longer supports This coupled with using the iPad to access your custom application only adds to the problem . I can't understand why you just don't use a net book as it offers most of what you want instead of trying to modify the iPad to do something it is not design to do.

It is a know fact that using iTunes on xp and vista has some issues and yes it is sluggish however and in most cases not an Apple issue. . It is my opinion you are in fact behind the 8 ball What you want is a solution to fit your xp customers whom at some point in the very near future will have no choice but to upgrade to win7. As for blaming Apple and what the iPad does not provide for what you need really amazes me. No product offers every thing you want regardless of brand.

I Suggest you rethink your requirements and look for an alternate other than the iPad because while you continue in xp world and if flash is so important and you need all the other items you listed in your first post then find an alternative product. Our members are attempting to help you however looking at the posts are not getting any where. So I have no other answers to your problem.

 

[orish]

Dear Col, were life so simple! I know we are way off topic already, but what the hell!

Where I live, there are around 30 million computers, privately-held or available to the public in internet cafes. Around 50% are still XP based, 10% are Windows 2000, 20% are vista - although from anecdotal research, about half of these have been reverted to XP again. The newer 20% are Windows 7 and the remaining 10% seem to be a hodgepodge of Macs and other curious devices. Many of my (wealthier) customers also have iPads, but many others are opting for the Android devices starting to come out because of the limitations of the iPad they say. Except for those with iPads, so far as I know everyone has flash players on their machiens. And I don't know of anyone - other than a few IT afficiandos - who consider upgrading to Windows 7. XP works fine, vista doesn't. And XP is free. Most new computers are sold without O/S to keep the price down ($400 instead of $650 for a new entry level laptop), and nearly everyone still has access to the old XP installations CDs*. I don't know about Apples, it's popular for those who can afford it, the number one reason being... "it's pretty".

The beauty about people who own Apple devices is that seem to be happy to pay extra for good products, so I might just make a special "Apple" version of my courses and charge extra to cover the extra development costs.

I was hoping for a more straight-forward solution: maybe a hack or patch I could supply; or a way to produce web content that is browser and platform independent.

As you say, that will only happen sometime in the distant future when everyone has HTML5 and all the digital movies and audio content have been converted to the new (yet again) standard(s).

Thanks for your help and advice. At least I know now that it can't be done simply. Or that flash might still be the solution, but that only the iPad (or Apples?) will be the odd man out. I'm guessing that the "Apple Philosophy" is to deliberately set itself apart from the mainstream by refusing to endorse the dominant standards. I know Microsoft and Sony do this as a matter of course - and then come up with their own standards that everybody else has to comply with. So kudos to Apple for standing up for itself (I suppose)!

* There are places where Windows 7 can be obtained for free but the cost of the license is only 1/3 of the problem. Taking time to upgrade is the main problem, plus the fact that Windows 7 requires that you upgrade the hardware also, or at least put in (a lot) extra RAM.

 

[avoider03]

I see the main problem as how to deal with the lack of arrow keys. Did everyone get distracted by the argument?

I have one program (iA Writer) that can do this, but would gladly jailbreak to get the arrow keys on all keyboards.

Is there a program on Jailbroken iPads that could do this?

 

[Edialv]

Hello. Im new to the ipad world and i love it. I have an adroid phone and love it as well and i completly understand the differences and what each platform has to offer and their limitations. Having said that i hate to see people give some rude responses to other users who are just trying to get some advice. Everyone always has a bias and that is man nature. Beatimg someone up becuase your an apple fan or vice versa is just not needed in a forum. To some of the useres here being just difficult try to not jump on people if they ask a question about flash. Rant over.

 

[iChuckNorris]

Hello. Im new to the ipad world and i love it. I have an adroid phone and love it as well and i completly understand the differences and what each platform has to offer and their limitations. Having said that i hate to see people give some rude responses to other users who are just trying to get some advice. Everyone always has a bias and that is man nature. Beatimg someone up becuase your an apple fan or vice versa is just not needed in a forum. To some of the useres here being just difficult try to not jump on people if they ask a question about flash. Rant over.

Agreed. The iPad is my first Apple product, and it is awesome for what it does. It does have some limitations, but I knew that when I bought it. Sure, I wish it played flash and had arrow keys, so I think the original post is a valid question even if it might have come off wrong. Jumping down a person's throat for questioning Apple doesn't seem like a very friendly way to run a forum I hope that's not the usual around here

 

[Digikid]

No it is not....just a few select members.

 

[iPaciMac]

I think a lot of people get tired of people begging for flash on their iPad. The iPad wasn't ever designed to have flash so no, it can't do flash. That's not news. So when people 'jump down peoples throats for questioning Apple' I think what's really happening is people are 'jumping down peoples throats because people aren't doing their own research before asking questions' and some people are incapable of taking criticism and, in that case, the internet is not a good place to be.

Cheers!

 

[Superbike81]

For all you people who think it's "plainly obvious" that the iPad didn't support Adobe Flash from the start, please point me to where it says that in the manual, or on Apple's website, on the box, or in any iPad advertising. I don't recall ever seeing anything that would have even hinted me to it not supporting Flash (and Javascript)

Not everyone scrounges through tech sites and forums before they buy a product, in fact, those of us who do are quite the minority. So because my mother wanted the iPad, but didn't research it fully before she bought it, that means that if she posted a question on this board wondering why she can't access the Honda website to research a new car purchase, someone should be able to "jump down her throat" and be rude and condescending towards her (especially a moderator)?

That's complete BS, and you Flash-haters need to step back for a second and understand that not every iPad owner is an internet geek who scrounges through forums and product reviews. Hell, I'll bet half of the owners wouldn't even know what Flash is if you asked them, but they damn sure know they can't use it when someone e-mails them a YouTube link that's not in HTML5, or if they want to research a new car on the manufacturers website.

Someone said it in a previous post.......get over yourself.

 

[DaveSt]

Thank you SuperBike, that was very well said. Heck, I AM a huge geek and I had no idea all of the things Flash was used for before I got my Ipod Touch. I pretty much though it was just those annoying ads and Facebook games.

In the last two days I have had to explain this very issue to my mother who asked me why she can rarely view video links sent to her email (she got an iPad for Christmas). I'm still not sure she understands the issue and I know the person that bought this device for her had no idea either. She has the iPad for pretty much four things: web browsing, email, Kindle reading, and simple games. Imagine her disappointment when I told her that as of April she will have (1) limited email if her friends still insist on sending Flash links (they are surely evil old ladies) and (2) most likely no Kindle support. As my frustrated father (the man who spent a good chunk of his money for this gift) said to me as I was leaving "I never thought I would see the day that Apple made Microsoft look like the good guys".

 

[iPaciMac]

I think the point is that people who -should- research before they purchase things...when you go to the honda site to look at cars do you just buy the first one you see or do you just buy one thats pretty?

 

[DaveSt]

I think the point is that people who -should- research before they purchase things...when you go to the honda site to look at cars do you just buy the first one you see or do you just buy one thats pretty?

So, people that have no idea what Flash is are supposed to go to Google and magically type in "Does iPad Support Flash"? The whole point of these devices is that "they just work" isn't it? I'm guessing that tech savvy power users are only a small part of the target demographic Apple is marketing to. Even if I buy a Honda just by picking the one that looks nice I can be pretty well assured it will run on the same roads and the same fuel any other car will. If the roads are the internet and one of the fuels is Flash, the same can't be said about the iPad.

 

[f4780y]

To be fair guys, almost every online and printed review I can recall reading about the iPad mentions the issue of Flash (including the non-tech publications). I honestly don't have an axe to grind one way or the other, and I am disappointed to hear when people are upset to discover Apples lack of flash support after they purchase an iOS device, but there is a great deal of commentary on the subject in the wild which isn't that challenging to stumble upon.... Just my opinion of course.