Briefly: AT&T objection, Skyfire sold-out, PayPal vulnerability

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
AT&T issued a statement Wednesday refuting T-Mobile's claim to "America's largest 4G network." The Skyfire browser iOS app, which converts Flash video to HTML5, "sold-out" after just 5 hours of availability, and a security flaw in the PayPal iPhone app could let hackers intercept user passwords.



AT&T vs. T-Mobile



AT&T responded Wednesday to T-Mobile's claims that it has "America's largest 4G network," asserting that AT&T has better deployment than T-Mobile on the High Speed Packet Access (HSPA+) technology, which T-Mobile has labeled as 4G.



T-Mobile fired the first shot this week with a new advertisement that parodies Apple's award-winning "Get a Mac ads. The ad features a woman as a myTouch 4G and a man as an iPhone 4 who is slowed down by the "old AT&T network." The commercial goes on to say that T-Mobile has "America's largest 4G network."



In Wednesday's official statement, AT&T presented figures that it believes counter T-Mobile's assertion. "T-Mobile's claims about 4G are based on the same HSPA+ technology we have deployed to 180M people today, more than T-Mobile's reported 140M, and we'll have it rolled out to 250M people by the end of this month, substantially more than the 200M T-Mobile says it will have by year end," read the statement.



Also at issue is whether HSPA+ is actually a 4G technology, as it is often called 3.5G. HSPA+ is seen as a stepping stone to the faster Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology.



Skyfire



According to an official blog post, demand for the new Skyfire for iPhone app overloaded the company's servers, causing the app to 'sell out' in just 5 hours.



"The user experience was performing well for the first few hours, but as the surge continued, the peak load on our servers and bandwidth caused the video experience to degrade. Thus we are effectively ?sold out? and will temporarily not accept new purchases from the App Store. We are working really hard to increase capacity and will be accepting new purchases from the App Store as soon as we can support it," read the post.



The new browser app for iOS had appeared on the App Store for a few hours Wednesday before being mysteriously pulled. The app offers a remote Flash to HTML5 conversion service that allows iOS users to watch Flash video content on the web, although popular TV streaming site Hulu won't work with Skyfire.



PayPal



According to The Wall Street Journal, PayPal rushed out an update to its iPhone app after being alerted to a major security flaw that could allow hackers to gain access to users' accounts. The PayPal app was updated Wednesday to version 3.0.1, which includes "an important security update."



Because an earlier version of the app neglects to confirm the authenticity of PayPal's website, a hacker can redirect an unsuspecting user to a fraudulent version of PayPal, although the attacker would need to be in the same physical location or on the same Wi-Fi network as the user.



Andrew Hoog, chief investigative officer at viaForensics, the security firm that found the flaw, called it a "colossal oversight" by PayPal.



A spokeswoman for PayPal told the Journal that she was not aware of anyone having been affected by the vulnerability yet, and promised that PayPal would reimburse any fraudulent activity resulting from the flaw.



As iOS apps deal with increasingly sensitive financial and private information, security experts have cautioned users to be more careful. Early in October, a security review found that 68 percent of the top iPhone apps in the App Store transmitted an unencrypted unique device identifier that could reveal personal information.
«13

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 45
    optikoptik Posts: 25member
    Its not perfect but it does indeed work
  • Reply 2 of 45
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by OPTIK View Post


    Its not perfect but it does indeed work



    You mean Skyfire, right? How are the load times?
  • Reply 3 of 45
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by joshong View Post


    You mean Skyfire, right? How are the load times?



    In fairness, their servers are a little overwhelmed right now due to consumer demand. To answer your question though, things are painfully slow(at the moment).



    I have 30 mb download, I'm not used to waiting, especially not 8 minutes for a 2 minute clip.
  • Reply 4 of 45
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by joshong View Post


    You mean Skyfire, right? How are the load times?



    This afternoon when I tried it it was about 10-15 seconds to get a video to start.. About 10 minutes ago the video wasn't loading at all.. Their servers are getting killed.



    Overall though, I feel kinda ripped off. Bought it on a impulse.. and to be honest it's not the best experience. The browser itself is ok, but a bit sluggish compared to safari. Waiting for stuff to load on another server side is almost annoying enough to not deal with it.. And, more annoying, since it streams live, you cannot fast forward through any clips. I guess it will be nice to have every now and again if I really want to see a flash clip but for the most part its nothing special.
  • Reply 5 of 45
    steve-jsteve-j Posts: 320member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Skyfire



    According to an official blog post, demand for the new Skyfire for iPhone app overloaded the company's servers, causing the app to 'sell out' in just 5 hours.



    ]



    It looks like there is HUGE demand for Flash video on iOS devices. The developer thought that there was, or it would not have developed the app. But not even the developer anticipated the enormity of the demand for Flash Video on iDevices.



    I wonder if Apple will change in any manner given this information.
  • Reply 6 of 45
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Steve-J View Post


    It looks like there is HUGE demand for Flash video on iOS devices. The developer thought that there was, or it would not have developed the app. But not even the developer anticipated the enormity of the demand for Flash Video on iDevices.



    I wonder if Apple will change in any manner given this information.



    Well, this information isn't exactly news. I'm sure Apple is well aware people want flash. Apple's stance is that flash sucks on mobile devices(and it does). I just wonder if flash were to improve, would Apple change its stance.
  • Reply 7 of 45
    hirohiro Posts: 2,663member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Steve-J View Post


    It looks like there is HUGE demand for Flash video on iOS devices. The developer thought that there was, or it would not have developed the app. But not even the developer anticipated the enormity of the demand for Flash Video on iDevices.



    I wonder if Apple will change in any manner given this information.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Postulant View Post


    Well, this information isn't exactly news. I'm sure Apple is well aware people want flash. Apple's stance is that flash sucks on mobile devices(and it does). I just wonder if flash were to improve, would Apple change its stance.



    And how much of this is just basic curiousity that is indulged because it is inexpensive? Let us know in three weeks how busy they are and that will tell you how many people really want Flash.
  • Reply 8 of 45
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Hiro View Post


    And how much of this is just basic curiousity that is indulged because it is inexpensive? Let us know in three weeks how busy they are and that will tell you how many people really want Flash.



    It's definitely obvious which direction the web is heading considering I had to really search just to find video in flash format. I guess it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have the option.



    A poor choice is better than no choice, right?
  • Reply 9 of 45
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Postulant View Post


    Well, this information isn't exactly news. I'm sure Apple is well aware people want flash. Apple's stance is that flash sucks on mobile devices(and it does). I just wonder if flash were to improve, would Apple change its stance.



    There is nothing to change on their stance. The server is doing the work, not the local device with a limited battery and weak ARM CPU. The video being sent is in a format that excludes the resource heavy Flash code. It?s simplified, which is exactly what Apple has been stating is need for years now, what MS and others are also backing, and what Adobe has been trying to correct with Flash since it was pointed out how much they let their plugin languish.



    PS: Why don?t I see Android browser apps that convert HTML5 to Flash since I keep hearing how much more efficient and great Flash is on Android?
  • Reply 10 of 45
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Postulant View Post


    Well, this information isn't exactly news. I'm sure Apple is well aware people want flash. Apple's stance is that flash sucks on mobile devices(and it does). I just wonder if flash were to improve, would Apple change its stance.



    I'm sure Apple would jump for a good version of Flash for iOS. I'm sure they'd promote the hell out of it in ads too. However its Adobe that can't write a version for the iPhone.



    Adobe only has to release something that just works, and at this point there are only two logical conclusions:

    1. Adobe is lazy and wont commit the effort to code for iPhone

    2. Adobe is incapable of writing Flash for the iPhone



    I'm guessing #1 is unlikely because a Flash app for $1-2 would make a small fortune overnight for Adobe, and even a free version would help cement Flash as THE video format for the near future.



    I think #2 is much more likely, Adobe has either lost the talent to code Flash for mobile, or the codebase is such a convoluted pile of nonsense that it's almost impossible to streamline. Since Flash came from Macromedia, I think its a very safe bet that it barely works now on the desktop.
  • Reply 11 of 45
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Hiro View Post


    And how much of this is just basic curiousity that is indulged because it is inexpensive? Let us know in three weeks how busy they are and that will tell you how many people really want Flash.



    Totally Agree. I may have really needed the app a year ago, but it's been quite awhile since I ran across a blue box.



    However I downloaded it. Curious to see how it worked, what it was about, blah, etc. It received a lot of pre-release publicity.



    I loaded several videos but only watched for a second or too. But I am sure I didn't help thing by banging their server with requests.



    I don't expect I would use it much, if at all. But, it's not a bad thing to have for anytime I may really need to watch a flash video.
  • Reply 12 of 45
    Regd. TMobile's claim about 4G, its nonsense throughout.



    Fact is that not only is TMobile (or ATT)'s network not 4G, even the next version (plain LTE) is not 4G. That is just false advertising.



    http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/21/i...eryone-else-i/
  • Reply 13 of 45
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addicted44 View Post


    Regd. TMobile's claim about 4G, its nonsense throughout.



    Fact is that not only is TMobile (or ATT)'s network not 4G, even the next version (plain LTE) is not 4G. That is just false advertising.



    http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/21/i...eryone-else-i/



    There is nothing false about it. You?re assuming that their statement of ?4G? refers to the ITU definition which means LTE Advanced, but they never state that.



    They could define ?4G? how they wish, based on how they setup different generations of cellular data (e.g.: GPRS, DGE, HS*PA, HSPA+) or by the speed of their network as the demarcation point. For example, is the current iPhone ?4G?. Yes! It?s the 4th generation iPhone and Apple could have advertised it as such.



    At worst, T-Mobile gets a lot of free press by AT&T and others coming out against their claim for ?4G? and the public gets slightly more informed about falling for marketing terms and applying marketing terms to well defined industry terms when they aren?t specified as such.
  • Reply 14 of 45
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Steve-J View Post


    It looks like there is HUGE demand for Flash video on iOS devices.



    The only things indicated here is that a bunch of people bought the app all at the same time and tried to use the appat the same time. A secondary issue is likely a poor server installation. Get back to us in a month or two and we might have an idea as to demand.

    Quote:

    The developer thought that there was, or it would not have developed the app. But not even the developer anticipated the enormity of the demand for Flash Video on iDevices.



    I'm not sure what the developer is up to. The first thing that comes to mind is where is the money? That is how will they pay for the servers and bandwidth.

    Quote:

    I wonder if Apple will change in any manner given this information.



    I highly doubt it for this round of hardware. First off today says nothing about the demand for flash on iOS devices. Second the performance issue is real, as long as we are running relatively slow single core processors flash is a waste. Worst Skyfyre is only a solution for video, something that is already being replaced widely on the net.



    In any event I don't see this app being around long, mainly because it is a bad solution to a minor problem. Also I don't see the economic basis for the company to survive.
  • Reply 15 of 45
    mgl323mgl323 Posts: 247member
    AT&T



    Are there any phones/devices that can use AT&Ts HSPA+ network?



    Skyfire



    I got the app in the morning right after my class ended, and my thoughts are that it works pretty good! It doesn't play hulu which isn't a big deal for me, and flash game don't work, also not a big deal since I don't play flash games. It takes a minute or two to get things set up and to buffer the video (but that was in the morning when the app was released). I normally don't need flash since the sites that I go to are iOS friendly, but having this option to play flash videos (converted to HTML 5) is always a plus in my book.
  • Reply 16 of 45
    Good thing I stopped by AI. I was disappointed I thought Apple pulled skyfire for no apparent reason or you know their control freaky way like they've done so in the past coz it disappeared from the App Store. Was going to get it. I guess I'll have to wait til the developers get their joint all squared away.
  • Reply 17 of 45
    blah64blah64 Posts: 993member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Steve-J View Post


    It looks like there is HUGE demand for Flash video on iOS devices.



    No, that's not true. You really don't get it, do you? There is HUGE demand for video on iOS. Nobody gives a shit whether or not it's in Flash, they just want to watch the video. And they don't want to lose 1/2 their battery life every time they watch a 5 minute clip either, which is prone to happen on a mobile device with Flash.



    Read this post by the Skyfire CEO for some enlightenment:



    http://www.skyfire.com/press/blog/60...hase-of-growth
  • Reply 18 of 45
    tjwtjw Posts: 216member
    and apple still think the iTwats don't want flash on their devices......



    Just get Android or web OS or blackberry or symbian or windows phone 7. All will have flash soon!
  • Reply 19 of 45
    john f.john f. Posts: 111member
    Well, internally, Apple has probably already developed a Flash video playback for iOS. It's fast, efficient, doesn't crash, ready to go when necessary, when people really demand it. Regular Flash I think not, just the video. It's like when they kept hidden all this time the Intel version of Mac OS X since the beginning. But Apple's real bet is HTML5 streaming video.
  • Reply 20 of 45
    successsuccess Posts: 1,040member
    Millions of people want crack and heroine too. Doesn't mean it's good.



    Heck, millions of people want Windows computers...Not saying much.
Sign In or Register to comment.