Skyfire VideoQ brings Flash video to iOS

The Skyfire web browser for iOS offers an alternative to Safari which features social sharing features and easy access to web video — even Flash video. That’s unusual, because the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad don’t actually support Adobe Flash. But Skyfire gets around that little problem by using a remote server to convert Flash into a format your device can handle and streaming it to you on the fly.

But if you’re not looking to switch web browsers just so you can watch The Daily Show on your iPhone, there’s another way. Today Skyfire released a new app called Skyfire VideoQ. It’s a standalone app that lets you watch internet video on your device. Here’s how it works with Safari or other web browsers:

  1. Register your email address in the app.
  2. When you’re surfing the web and find a page with a Flash video you want to watch, open the share option and email a link to the page to [email protected]
  3. When you open the VideoQ app you should see a list of videos you submitted, ready for viewing on your device.

It seems like a lot of work to go through to watch the occasional video — especially since videos from some sites (such as Hulu) won’t play anyway. But I suppose it’s better than running a whole different web browser if Flash support is the only feature you’re intersted in.

On the other hand, you don’t need to use a web browser at all to use Skyfire VideoQ. The app also includes a list of hot videos as well as video channels for technology, news, sports, and more. This allows you to simply fire up the app and find interesting web videos to watch at any time.

Skyfire VideoQ is available from the App Store for $1.99.

Skyfire 4.0 browser for Android adds customizable SkyBar, on-demand video

Skyfire is rolling out a new version of the popular Skyfire web browser for Android today. The browser is known for its social and multimedia features, and the latest version gets a few tweaks in both areas.

The SkyBar which provides quick access to Skyfire’s special features is now user configurable. You can choose which of the 14 features you want to place on the SkyBar, including new options such as Twitter, Groupon, and Google Reader.

Skyfire 4.0 also no longer displays video thumbnails automatically when you load a page. Instead you can press a video icon after a page has loaded to scan for video. This should improve page load times while still allowing you to view web video from a variety of sites.

Since Skyfire uses remote servers to compress videos before sending them to your phone, some video sites that aren’t normally accessible in a mobile browser work with Skyfire. Unfortunately that doesn’t include Hulu.

The basic browser is available as a free download, but starting with Skyfire 3.0, most users will have to pay $2.99 for the premium video feature. Verizon Wireless customers get that feature at no additional charge.

via PocketNow
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Skyfire 3.1 web browser for iPhone shows related sites

Skyfire has released a new version of its popular web browser for the iPhone. Skyfire 3.1 includes a handful of new features including localized versions for 7 new languages, and the ability to switch the user agent between iPhone, Desktop, or iPad views.

The web browser also now shows “related site.” This doesn’t just help you find new sites you might like — it also comes in handy if you’re trying to use Skyfire to watch a video only to find out that the web site doesn’t load properly in Skyfire. You can use the related sites feature to search the web for sites with similar content.

Skyfire’s claim to fame is that it lets you watch Flash video on phones which don’t support Flash, by encoding videos and other data in an iPhone-friendly format using remote servers and then sending it to your phone. But not all web sites appreciate this feature and some sites, such as Hulu, have taken steps to block Skyfire.

Skyfire 3.1 is available from the App Store for $2.99.

Skyfire 4.0 for Android coming soon, free (only) for existing users

Skyfire is preparing to launch a major update to its mobile browser for Google Android soon. The company isn’t talking about new features yet, but in a blog post the Skyfire team says that a new pricing structure will be rolled out. Since Skyfire 3.2 is available as a free download, it’s a safe bet this means that version 4.0 will have a price tag.

That said, it sounds like Skyfire 4.0 will be a free update for all existing users, so it seems like now is as god a time as any to install Skyfire. That said, Skyfire already charges for its iPhone browser, but it doesn’t charge very much. You can download that app for just $2.99. There’s little reason to expect the Android version to be much more expensive.

The URL for the blog post also mentions “freemium,” which suggests that there may be free and paid versions of Skyfire 4.0.

The web browser’s claim to fame is that it brings support for some Adobe Flash video to platforms that wouldn’t otherwise support it. That includes devices running Android 2.1 and earlier. While Adobe offers a Flash Player plugin, it only supports Android 2.2 and up.

Skyfire does this by using remote servers to compress and convert web content including Flash video before sending it to your phone, which helps reduce the bandwidth and processing power needed to render complex web pages.

The Skyfire browser also has social tools built in, making it easy to access your Facebook data or share pages with contents.

Skyfire 3.0 web browser hits the App Store, brings Facebook integration along for the ride

Skyfire has launched an updated version of its mobile web browser for the iPhone. Skyfire 3.0 for iOS is now available from the App Store for $2.99.

The biggest change in version 3.0 is probably the app’s tight Facebook integration. You can use the integrated Facebook features to quickly access your Facebook feed or profile data without loading a new web site. There’s also a new Like button which lets you “like” and share any page you visit with the web browser.

You can also see what content on any web site is the most popular with your Facebook friends using the “Popular Content” feature.

The browser also features Twitter integration.

Of course, Skyfire’s claim to fame is that the browser converts Flash video from some web sites into iPhone-friendly formats using remote servers. Not all online video sites are supported, but Skyfire 3.0 does add support for video from more web sites.

There’s also a new “OneTouch Search” feature that lets you search Google, Wikipedia, or VideoSurf.

Many of the new features in Skyfire 3.0 for iPhone have been available for Android Skyfire users since November.

You can check out a demo video after the break.

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Skyfire’s Flash-capable web browser coming soon to the iPad

Skyfire is a popular web browser for mobile devices with a few tricks up its sleeve, not the least of which is that it can display some Adobe Flash video on the notoriously Flash-resistant iPhone thanks to remote server technology which converts Flash to HTML5 before streaming it to your phone. Now the folks at Skyfire are preparing to launch a new version of their browser that’s optimized for the Apple iPad.

The new app is optimized for the iPad’s larger 1024 x 768 pixel display, but otherwise looks a lot like the latest Android version of Skyfire, complete with Facebook and Twitter integration.

MobileCrunch reports that Skyfire has submitted the new browser to Apple for approval, so it shouldn’t be too long before it pops up in the App Store. Skyfire for the iPad is expected to sell for around $4.99.

Skyfire 3.0.1 for Android adds minor, but important updates

Skyfire has released version 3.0.1 of its popular web browser for Google Android. As you might suspect from a point release, there aren’t a ton of huge differences between Skyfire 3.0 and Skyfire 3.0.1, but there are a few new features that should make the Skyfire experience a bit better — especially for users running Android 2.2 and up.

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For one thing, you can now move the app to your SD card, freeing up several megabytes of storage on your phone. This feature isn’t supported on Android 2.1 and earlier. Another Froyo-only feature is support for file uploads from within the browser.

All users should also benefit from the other two updates: Crash reporting capabilities and the ability to continue app downloads in the background and receive system tray notifications when they’re complete.

Skyfire 3.0.1 for Android is available as a free download from the Android Market.

Skyfire brings Flash video-capable iPhone browser to Europe

Skyfire is continuing the gradual rollout of its new web browser for iOS. Unlike most mobile web browsers, Skyfire users remote servers to convert Flash video to HTML5 and beam it to your phone, which means that Skyfire needs to have some pretty hefty servers running in order for you to fully use the browser. For that reason, the company decided against offering the browser globally right away, and instead focused on a US launch last month.

Last week the company began offering Skyfire in the UK App Store, and now Skyfire is also available in France, Germany, Italy, and Ireland as well as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

The app runs about $3 in each country where it’s available.