ReadWriteWeb

Google launched an experimental tool called Swiffy in its Labs today, allowing developers to convert Flash (SWF) files to HTML5. That means you can reuse Flash content on devices without a Flash Player, even iPhone and iPads, explains Google on the project's Labs' page. And Swiffy's output works in all Webkit browsers, including Chrome and Safari.

The iPad isn't just a hot new consumer device, it's also an increasingly popular tool for business. Each week we take a look at the new or updated business apps for the iPad, and highlight trends in how tablets are being used in the enterprise.

This week we look at a new app for enterprise microblogging, a new RDP client for the iPad and yet another way of building mobile apps. Plus, an advance look at the forthcoming Skype for iPad app.

The Internet Archive's entire collection of digital videos will now be available in HTML5 as well as Flash, the organization announced today.

The Internet Archive will be using Kaltura's open source video platform in order to deliver the 500,000 some odd digital video assets housed at the Internet Archive. Kaltura's video player identifies whether a device and browser supports Flash or HTML5 and will deliver the content accordingly.

Today Adobe released an update to its Flash Builder 4.5 and Flex 4.5 software which now allows developers to build cross-platform applications for Android, iOS and the QNX-based BlackBerry PlayBook. This extends the functionality of the Adobe framework, released back in April. At launch, the software only supported Android, with support for the additional platforms planned for this month.

Despite numerous pronouncements about the death of Flash, there are still plenty of games and videos that require it, much to the frustration of anyone using an iOS device to try to access those websites. But with the release of a new app available today, iSwifter will bring Flash to the iPad so that users can play Flash-based social games and MMOs.

The app itself is free, and after a 7-day free trial, will require a monthly subscription fee of $4.99.

Although it's getting a lot easier to build your own video games, many of the tools out there for doing so require you have a background in programming. Not so with with Stencyl, a new game creation studio that launches today.

"Our goal is to build the ultimate game creation experience, one that democratizes the game creation process by eliminating all technical barriers, leaving one's imagination as the limiting factor," says Stencyl co-founder Jonathan Chung.

Today, SublimeVideo, a cloud-based HTML5 video player service, is launching commercially with plans starting at under $10 per month. Developers will also have access to a free, unlimited plan which they can use for testing purposes. The service, developed by Switzerland-based development and design firm Jilion, allows Web publishers to easily deploy HTML5 video on their websites, without needing to understand the complexities of different browsers versions and their associated specifications.

Instead, with the SublimeVideo service, a plugin-free Web player is provided that uses HTML5 to display the embedded videos Web publishers want to host online. When a user visits a site using an older browser, a "fall back to Flash" mode switches the player to use Adobe Flash technology for more universal compatibility.

Today Adobe is launching an experimental Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool called Wallaby. The tool takes content created with Adobe's Flash Professional and converts it to HTML5, the latest revision of the Web markup language. HTML5 is supported in most Web browsers, but, most importantly, it's supported on Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, where Flash is banned.

An organization has created what it hopes is a simpler way to control Flash-based interfaces using the Microsoft Kinect device. Open Exibits is an organization dedicated to creating open source interactive technology for students, museums and other educational organizations. It has built an open source module for controlling Flash with Kinect, and has demonstrated Kinect-control for Google Maps as well as some of Open Exhibits' own projects.

The module, still in alpha, is available here.

This week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Adobe provided an update on how its Flash and AIR technologies have performed over the course of 2010, specifically in terms of penetration results. Thanks in no small part to the rise of Android devices, Flash adoption has topped Adobe's earlier forecasts. At the Adobe MAX Developer Conference earlier last year, Adobe had forecasted 9% of mobile phones would support Flash in 2010, but as of year-end, the actual number was 12%.

There are now 35+ certified mobile devices that support Flash, says Adobe, and 20 million mobile phones running the plugin.