Flash for Android is dead, dig up a copy from the graveyard

Yes, Flash is old, buggy, slow, and it sucks your battery dry. So is it a good thing that Adobe pulled Flash out of the Google Play Store?

Flash is also unavoidable because many websites still use it, and some will keep using Flash until the end of times.

For example, the typical bar and restaurant site requires Flash to read the menu and book a table. These sites will ditch Flash eventually, but it's gonna take a while.

Artists use lots of Flash. Paintings, photos, poetry, literature, without Flash your online culture choices are very limited. And because art sites live a lot longer than the artists who built them you're gonna need Flash for years to come.

Games? Movies? Not all of them will be converted to HTML5 or other formats, so you'll need an old Flash player to see what was hot when your grandparents were young.

But with Flash no longer available in the Play Store you'll have to get your fix of Flash somewhere else. Fortunately that's really easy.

Adobe maintains an archive of old Flash versions. It has all the Android installers too, so you can simply download the APK file, check the "unknown sources" box in Androids app settings screen, and hit install. Don't forget to set your Flash Player privacy and security settings.

If Adobe ever pulls the Android Flash installers from their site there are plenty of sites, forums, P2P networks and other sources to dig up a corpse copy of Flash.

Keep in mind that your web browser needs to support Flash for the plugin to work. Chrome doesn't, and Opera crashes when it bumps into Flash. Current versions of Dolphin Browser, Firefox for Android, and the stock browser up to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) support Flash, but new versions may break it so backup your browser before you update it.

• Flash for Android on adobe.com

(if this link stops working, leave a comment or hit the contact link on the bottom of this page and I'll add other links)

PBPlayer gains ads, loses purpose

Video and audio player PBPlayer used to be a simple and effective media player with a minimal set of Android permissions. It didn't ask for your location and it never went online. But not anymore.

Thumbs and times

A recent update added video thumbnail images, which you can switch off if you like the app to stay clean and minimalist. The video list of PBPlayer now shows the duration of your movies too, but not the length of your audio files.

The video thumbnail images generated by PBPlayer will appear in your gallery apps because the makers of PBPlayer forget to add a .nomedia file to the PBThumbnails folder. You can remove the unwanted thumbnails by adding an empty (text) file or empty folder called .nomedia (including the leading dot) to the PBThumbnails folder on your memory card.

Ads sneaked in

The "what's new" section of the Google Play Store page is empty. The general app description lists some of the updates, but not all. It fails to mention that the app uses two new Android permissions (full internet access and network location) and it fails to explain what those permissions are used for. A look at the scan results of Addons Detector gives the answer. Online access and spying on your whereabouts was added for one reason only: advertising. PBPlayer used to be free of ads, but now it throws banners from AdMob and AdSense on your screen.

The inclusion of advertising isn't mentioned anywhere in the app description. I'd be all for a Google Play Store requirement that forces every app developer to disclose all sources of in-app advertising before you install it. But even without such a formal requirement it's good manners to disclose the presence and source of your advertising in advance.

Of course you'll never notice the ads if you root you phone and run AdAway or DroidWall to keep PBPlayer offline, but that works for any other media player too and there are plenty of apps that blow PBPlayer out of the water.

Missing alternatives

Given the number of downloads (in the order of 10.000 as I write this) it is very unlikely that the makers of PBPlayer will make any money from their ads. Their user base is way too small for that, and by adding ads to an app that's outperformed by the competition the number of users will remain low.

A donation link that launches your web browser (so the app itself doesn't need any internet or location permissions) would be much more effective for an app with such a small user base. Alternatively, the makers of PBPlayer could sell an ad-free paid version of their app, but for some reason they didn't do that.

Verdict

By adding ads without offering a paid ad-free version PBPlayer lost its only purpose, that of an offline player for local content. It is no longer a match for apps for like MX Video Player, so PBPlayer is no longer on my phone. I now use MoboPlayer (DroidWalled offline) for locally stored movies, and MX Video Player for online video streams. You could do it the other way 'round, because there is not much difference between Mobo and MX unless you have some very exotic codec requirements.

• PBPlayer
• MX Video Player
• MoboPlayer

Ice Stream gets you movies, tv shows, music, ...

Update: Ice Stream stopped working. A future version of the app may fix it, so stay tuned. VideoMix is a good replacement.

Icefilms.info links to lots of movies, tv shows, concerts, documentaries, and other video content that you can stream to your phone or download.

Whether thats legal or not depends on your local laws. In my country it's legal to download any work of art for personal use, offset by a levy on blank DVDs and other storage media. Things may be different where you live, so check your local laws first.

You can download videos, but you can also stream them to start watching without waiting for the download to finish.

The app breaks once in a while. This is usually quickly fixed by an update, but sometimes it takes a long time before it works again.

SlideMe lets you download the APK directly to your memory card and GetJar hosts the app as well. You'll need a video player that can deal with DivX. MX Player is a good choice to watch videos from Ice Stream.

• Ice Stream download on SlideMe
• Ice Stream on GetJar
• Ice Stream support on forums.icefilms.info
• MX Player

Update: Ice Stream stopped working. A future version of the app may fix it, so stay tuned. VideoMix is a good replacement.

Hideman VPN and Hotspot Shield VPN: surf safe over unsafe internet connections

Ancient problem: how do you send confidential information when you can't trust the messenger? Modern solution: virtual private networks turn unsafe traffic on public WiFi in bars and coffeeshops into secure encrypted connections. Unfortunately most VPN services want your money, but there are some exceptions. Hideman VPN and Hotspot Shield give you VPN for free, usually at decent speed.

Hideman VPN gives you 5 hours of secure internet per week for free. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it's enough for online banking and shopping. For most other web surfing you don't need a secure connection, so five free hours a week will do the job for almost everyone.

The app is so simple that anyone can VPN on Android. Launch, connect, go online, and disconnect when you're done. Connection speed varies, but in my tests it's adequate for surfing the web, email, and doing stuff with your Android online banking app. It's too slow for video streams or downloading movies and music, but why would you need a VPN for that if you're on public WiFi?

Hotspot Shield VPN doesn't have any time limits. It's ad-supported, but I've never seen an ad in this app. I guess AdAway is doing what it's meant to do ;)
Minor problem: Hotspot Shield can be really slow (disconnecting and reconnecting usually speeds things up a bit), but slow and safe is better than fast and leaky. Major problem: Hotspot Shield doesn't have an off switch and keeps a big ugly red icon in your notification bar. Hotspot Shield is one of the reasons why task killers can be useful.

Hideman VPN is better than Hotspot Shield, but it's a good idea to keep both apps. When your free hours on Hideman run out you can switch to Hotspot Shield for a slower but functional secure connection.

To check that your VPN connection is working as it should, head to ip.cih.ms before and after you switch on your VPN app. The IP address reported by ip.cih.ms should change when you connect to a VPN.

• Hideman VPN
• Hotspot Shield VPN