DeviceScape.app

[Speedracer04]

Can someone who knows, explain what this app does/supposed to do? I really dont know what it does...I installed it, registered, connect...but it doesnt do anything.. Thanks in advance. I only ask because its not on the dev wiki for native apps.

 

[Jim82]

devicescape

It's suppose to automatically connect you to different wireless networks you have registered with your iPhone, or other Wi-FI device. By that I mean, you don't have to go and type in passwords for the different locked networks, and if you are in an open network area like a coffee shop or college campus it will automatically log you on. At my college, as soon as you open the internet browser you are taken to the school online internet access website where you then input your username and password. This program is suppose to eliminate that hassle and inconvenience, by putting it in as soon as you hit that Wi-Fi network. However, a very very very limited list of business and schools are compatible with the program, the list is on the companies website (http://www.devicescape.com/).

 

[Speedracer04]

^thanks. Now I know I should uninstall it.

 

[bluedonkey]

Hello Jim,

If you discover networks that we don't support, please try to send us the login page(s) and we'll get them added to the system. There is a link at the bottom of the My WiFi tab at my.devicescape.com which will take you to the submission form. That gets the details in our queue, and we try to get networks in the system within a couple of days (although at the moment we're getting a lot of submissions so it may take a little longer).

Our goal is to support all networks, free or paid, anywhere in the world, but to achieve that we need the help of our members to send in the smaller networks we don't have. In parallel with that, we are working with the larger providers all around the world to get their networks added and tested (we even operate a number of them in our test facility now so we can verify new releases against them).

Rgds,
John...
--
System Architect,
Devicescape Software, Inc.

 

[chopper dave]

This is awesome- now when I am at school (U of Michigan) I don't have to keep logging in every 5 minutes, since the network logs me out every time the iPhone goes to sleep!

 

[Speedracer04]

Hello Jim,

If you discover networks that we don't support, please try to send us the login page(s) and we'll get them added to the system. There is a link at the bottom of the My WiFi tab at my.devicescape.com which will take you to the submission form. That gets the details in our queue, and we try to get networks in the system within a couple of days (although at the moment we're getting a lot of submissions so it may take a little longer).

Our goal is to support all networks, free or paid, anywhere in the world, but to achieve that we need the help of our members to send in the smaller networks we don't have. In parallel with that, we are working with the larger providers all around the world to get their networks added and tested (we even operate a number of them in our test facility now so we can verify new releases against them).

Rgds,
John...
--
System Architect,
Devicescape Software, Inc.

Am I the only one who thinks its too hard to to add a network? You have fields for pictures of the login screen? Why cant we just provide you with the url of the login page?

Or why cant you set up these networks on your iPhone yourself. Why do you have to do it server side? There cant be an option within the app to add/remove your hotspots?

It would look like this:
DeviceScape.app->settings->add hotspot->type in url, login, pw. ->save->connect.

Everything user based would be ideal no? No waiting for you guys to add it to your list.

 

[darngooddesign]

John, I made a better icon for you.

Cheers

 

[bluedonkey]

Am I the only one who thinks its too hard to to add a network? You have fields for pictures of the login screen? Why cant we just provide you with the url of the login page?

We don't actually want pictures of the login page, we want the HTML for it so we can analyse what is needed to get you logged in correctly. You could send us the URL as well, but often they are not accessible from the internet (you can only see them when you are sitting at the hotspot).

Or why cant you set up these networks on your iPhone yourself. Why do you have to do it server side? There cant be an option within the app to add/remove your hotspots?

Well, we keep everything on the server, including your credentials for the networks, for a number of reasons:

1. Having them on the server allows other users to benefit from the network being added;
2. If they change, and that does happen sometimes, we can update the server and everybody can login again (they don't even need to re-sync, since we provide the information about how to login, and the credentials, on demand to the device when it tries to connect at the hotspot);
3. By keeping as much as possible of the data in the internet, we can keep our memory requirements on the device to a minimum; not a problem for your laptop perhaps, but it is a consideration in many embedded devices (like digital cameras, WiFi VoIP phones or even on your iPhone - the more data there is being stored by applications, the less space there is for music and video);
4. If you lose your device, you just have to go to our server and disable it to prevent it from getting online using your credentials.

It would look like this:
DeviceScape.app->settings->add hotspot->type in url, login, pw. ->save->connect.

Everything user based would be ideal no? No waiting for you guys to add it to your list.

The problem with that is that adding a network is not that simple; we actually need to look at how the credentials are submitted (the form that needs to be submitted, the names of the inputs that need to be completed etc), and whether there are any pages that need to be skipped before and/or after login. It might look like a trivial problem to solve, but the reality is that there is a lot of variation in the login forms from one network to another (not to mention a lot of bad HTML in login pages that needs to be parsed the way today's very tolerant browsers would).

Rgds,
John...

 

[bluedonkey]

John, I made a better icon for you.

Thanks, though our graphic designer will be hurt that you didn't like his

 

[kwjohns]

This is going to require that I get ahold of a laptop since we can't download the html file on the iPhone.