Yes, there is a PhotoSynth app for iPhone (and iPad with cameras and iPod touch with cameras) but you can view only your own PhotoSynth creations with it.

I however like to view also PhotoSynth of strangers, like for example panoramas in PhotoSynth of a beach where I was frolicking in childhood that had wild forest as background back then, but now the background of this beach consists of huge blades of wind power station farm… or to see new skyscrapers in places where there were none in past, etc. etc.

Yes, there is a PhotoSynth app for iOS but you can view only your own PhotoSynth creations with it.

I, however, like to also view the PhotoSynth creations of strangers, for example, panoramas of a beach where I frolicked in childhood that had a wild forest as background, but now the background of this beach consists of the huge blades of a wind farm. Or to see new skyscrapers in places where there were none in the past, etc. etc.

Yes, there is iSynth app – not written by Microsoft, but by some student who worked at Microsoft. But this app is abominable, and even though you can find PhotoSynths you can not view them in 3D, particularly the ones that I wanted to view. It is also not a Microsoft solution, so it is inherently inferior.

I have found another solution! And once you will install this solution (see below) you will be able to go to the photosynth.net website and search for something:

… and pick some specific PhotoSynth:

So, how to do it?

You need to use so called “Java bookmarklet” technology combined with the fact that once PhotoSynth app for iPhone was installed, your Safari browser can handle not just http: and https: protocols but also photosynth: that simply opens the app.

… and then you just tap on “bookmarks” icon and you tap on “show in PhotoSynth app”:

1. add any page as a bookmark by tapping the “more icon” and selecting “Add Bookmark” in the popup menu of Safari

2. find the bookmarklet text below and select and copy the Javascript to your clipboard.

3. Go to your bookmarks and edit the new bookmark. Edit the name (enter “show in PhotoSynth app” or “Edward rocks” or whatever you fancy) and paste the Javascript in the field for the URL.

4. Done.

… and then immediately Microsoft’s original app starts (you should install it previously) and opens given PhotoSynth:

While I have tested it successfully on several PhotoSynths, even huge ones that have over 70MB of photo material:

… for some PhotoSynths, even smaller ones, Microsoft’s sloppily-written iPhone app crashes with this error message:

I have used trick number 2 (see below) to see if my bookmarklet is at fault and no, it’s just the extremely sloppy work of Microsoft employees. Let’s hope Microsoft will release a new version of PhotoSynth app for iOS that will not crash with some PhotoSynths – but the solution stands the same.

* * * * *

Take the bookmarklet to copy from here:

javascript:function%20gup(%20name%20)%20%7B%20%20%20name%20=%20name.replace(/%5B%5C%5B%5D/,%22%5C%5C%5C%5B%22).replace(/%5B%5C%5D%5D/,%22%5C%5C%5C%5D%22);%20%20%20var%20regexS%20=%20%22%5B%5C%5C?&%5D%22+name+%22=(%5B%5E&%23%5D*)%22;%20%20%20var%20regex%20=%20new%20RegExp(%20regexS%20);%20%20%20var%20results%20=%20regex.exec(%20window.location.href%20);%20%20%20if(%20results%20==%20null%20)%20%20%20%20%20return%20%22%22;%20%20%20else%20%20%20%20%20return%20results%5B1%5D;%20%7D%20;location=’photosynth://viewExternalCid-’+gup(‘cid’);

* * * * *

How did I came up with this solution? Well, it’s not rocket science. Bookmarklets are used in other iOS apps – for example to send some link to apps etc and generally bookmarklet technology is not iPhone specific: it’s just ability to run JavaScript without loading the page etc.

So generally I have just stolen JavaScript function “gup” for extracting parameters from URL from here and then “;” as separator, and then I called in JavaScript the method:

location=’photosynth://viewExternalCid-’+gup(‘cid’);

Trick number: manually copy the cid (cid = collection ID) parameter of given PhotoSynth and to add it to magic address: http://iphotosynth.cloudapp.net/ViewHandler.aspx?cid=
… but this method is not as comfortable (required copying and pasting a lot) as my bookmarklet solution.

The End. Now you can view not just your own Photosynths with original Microsoft’s Photosynth app for iPhone but also Photosynths of complete strangers…

Look Ma! – no Silverlight and it works!

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