![]() And as we are about to highlight, there are many reasons that your browser should reside on a cloud-based server. While many applications like email or word processing have moved to the cloud, the web browser has stubbornly stayed local to your computer. But of course, that means you'd need to power up your PC each time you want to view your favorite Flash sites from your mobile gadget.Chances are, the most used software on your computer is your web browser. Using remote access apps like LogMeIn Ignition or TeamViewer, you can connect to your own local PC from an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad, and then surf the Web remotely. ![]() ![]() Of course, you can also replicate the same experience on your own. Those of you who still crave those Flash videos might want to check out Cloud Browse, though the free version seems too slow and the paid version may sport too high a price tag. Given the war of words between Apple and Adobe, and Apple CEO Steve Jobs' known dislike for Flash, it's a fair bet we'll probably never see support for Flash on any of Apple's mobile devices. And a few times I did get the message that the server for anonymous access (meaning free) users was full, so I had to wait and try again later. But there were often hiccups in the streaming of those videos, so I wasn't able to get a smooth performance out of them. I tried playing some Flash videos, which did pop up. I found Web browsing and page refreshes to be very slow, certainly slower than using a mobile browser directly. I tried Cloud Browse's free access on my iPod Touch via Wi-Fi. What about security issues tapping into a remote PC? Tang says the app is safe and that your surfing history is erased when you disconnect from the remote PC. So far, the only well-known Flash-based site that it doesn't work with is Hulu, which seems to specifically block access based on browser type or IP address and apparently won't play ball with Cloud Browse. But an iPad specific edition is in the works. Though the service runs on the iPad, it's optimized for the smaller screens of the iPhone and iPod Touch. Due to bandwidth restrictions, Cloud Browse works only over a Wi-Fi connection-no 3G, but Tang notes that he's working on getting 3G access. But there are plans to branch out into Europe and Asia. and Canada for now as AlwaysOn's data centers are based in the U.S. The service is available only in the U.S. Whichever type of account you opt for, a few other limitations remain. An article about Cloud Browse in USAToday says that a paid account would run $9.99 a month. A premium account is currently available as an invitation-only beta but should open to the public soon, according to the company. The service also tries to direct you to the closest data center to beef up performance. Free users can also get bumped off if a paying customer needs to jump on board.Ī premium or paid account grants you a full 30 frames per second of video streaming and 1GB of storage to save bookmarks and other data. Only a certain number of free users are allowed to connect at one time, so you may not get access if the remote PC is too busy. You're stuck viewing videos at a slow frame rate-a way for the company to cut down on bandwidth costs. The free version naturally comes with certain limitations. Like many app developers, AlwaysOn offers both a free and paid version of the app. You swipe and tap your finger to move around the screen, select a keyboard icon to type a URL or other text, and tap on a page icon to open up more than one page at a time. The Cloud Browse app works pretty much the same as other mobile browsers such as Safari and Opera. Those pages are then streamed to your iPhone. Instead of surfing sites directly, you control your own browsing session on the remote PC, which can pull up just about any Web site content, including Flash. Through Cloud Browse, you can connect your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad to a remote computer running in one of AlwaysOn's data centers. That's the idea behind the free Cloud Browse app from a company called AlwaysOn Technologies run by developer Lida Tang. If you can't view Flash sites directly through your iPhone, why not connect to a remote PC where you can? Cloud Browse delivers Flash content to your iPhone.
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