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Comment by shrikant | Hacker News Reader

I didn't see the author of the piece mention it anywhere, but this is clearly because his friend sent him a link to a video which is delivered via Flash. 60 Minutes video segments on the CBS News site don't have any associated text below them. He'd have been better served by his friend sending him the link to the associated article instead.

(...or is this so blindingly obvious that it just doesn't warrant a mention?)

IIRC on the iPad, even YouTube links open the YouTube app. Not sure what happens if you don't have the app installed - does it ask you to download the app instead?

Edit: I suppose one could make the argument that if the CBS News website can serve up different stuff to the iPad, then they might as well serve up what's compatible instead..

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YouTube links do open the YouTube app, but embedded YouTube videos also work just fine inline. If you open youtube.com in the browser, videos also play in the browser. Vimeo and other video sites also play directly in the browser, no app required.

You can't play Flash video in the browser, but that doesn't mean you can't play video in the browser.

Until you meet a monetized video, and will likely be "not available on mobile", since they cant prevent you easily copying that video etc etc.

Has there been any movement on a secure way to use the <video> tag yet?

The security of Flash video is a myth, as rtmpdump has had RTMPE support for a long time (though Flash has been ahead of the cat and mouse game for temporary periods), and Replay Video Catcher provides a more general solution. "Securing" HTML5 video would be a shameful waste of time, as it would inevitably mess up Linux etc. with no actual benefit to publishers.

It doesn't have to be 100% secure, it just has to be more secure than right click -> save as. Torrent sites aren't getting their content from Hulu or Netflix.

Securing HTML5 video is the only way we're going to have Hollywood content stream over the web again. That's just reality. But it's looking more and more like these types of appwalls are what the future holds for the web.

Torrent sites don't derive content from Hulu or Netflix because the quality is poorer than iTunes. There's no conceivable reason for pirates to settle for a 1 mbps Netflix stream when the 6 mbps iTunes is available.

It has nothing to do with the security. (Heck, iTunes video has some kind of DRM attached.)

I really wish people wouldn't use "secure" to mean "laden with broken DRM and other misfeatures that serve publishers by antagonizing users." That's not "secure," that "broken."

Yeah, YouTube has been serving up HTML5 video along with Flash for quite a while now (presumably based on some kind of browser sniffing, though I think you can configure your account to send it to the desktop as well, if you're logged in).

"Not sure what happens if you don't have the app installed - does it ask you to download the app instead?"

FWIW Apple handles this by preinstalling and not allowing you to remove the YouTube app.

For other use cases there are a couple of ad-hoc systems that guide you to the App Store, namely a Game Center invite for a game that's not installed and plugging in an accessory that has a companion app that's not installed.

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