A cool new application from Blue Pacific (The company behind the Flash generator programs ASP Turbine and PHP Turbine) - Flash Printer

Flash Printer gives you the ability to make SWFs the same way you make PDFs with Acrobat. So now you can make your Word documents into lightweight SWF files to later be quickly downloaded, displayed and printed.

Currently the Flash Printer only runs on Windows 2000 and XP. When viewing the SWF file, you can flip and navigate pages, print, drag by a hand and zoom the page up and down.

More information and a short review of the demo over at Flashmagazine.com

[Via Flashmagazine.com]

More information and examples of using Flash MX together with web services, this time from Jeffrey Hill of Flash-db.com. He has put together quite a few examples of code doing it with PHP and Flash MX. To quote him:

Here's my implementation (completed before the MM went up).

Floogle MX

The Download and Documentation

The comparison between CF and PHP
(use's MM's client for both CF and PHP)

Some other web Service's I've put up for download in the past couple weeks/months:
Currency Conversion
Language Translator

By looking over the code - It should be really easy for anyone to implement a Web Service in Flash.

Interesting examples. But it reminds me of how sad it is that Flash MX is reliant on server scripts to perform web services. I understand the security problems with allowing Flash to contact any server, but it would still have been nice to be able to make web-apps that tied directly into various web services.

I really like the Flash presentations Macromedia has made of its own history. Macromedia: The Story. Its even better than the Executive presentation (which is great too) IMHO.

[Via Eric Dolecki]

New Flash related blog - Flash Distracted by Jason Key with a developers look on Flash and associated technologies, including a review of the first hosted Flash Communication Server services from Media Temple.

[Via David Burrows]

FlashGuru has written a short tutorial about how to Access ID3 Tags in external mp3's there is a good discussion following the tutorial. To me it seems like reading the ID3 tags with server scripts is probably a better way to go when building MP3 players with Flash and accessing external mp3's.

Mike Chambers has an interesting posting with links to articles and discussions going on about the Flash Communication Server and bandwidth discussion. Mike has some good points and does a good job balancing the whole discussion.

The problem is that this is something that the end product (connected flash movies) is something that can be done with XML today (and thus is not as sexy). However, it is much, much easier using the Flash Communication Server (no need to parse XML, send and receive ActionScript data types, etc...), as well as much more efficient. In fact, for large multiuser projects, you will probably save on bandwidth costs using the Flash Communication Server verses using XML (mostly because XML is so verbose).

Which is a good point. Not having to parse XML on the client side will make any data displaying application run a whole lot faster, and it will require transmitting less data than you have to with XML.

Adobe and Macromedia Settle Patent Litigation

I guess both companies managed to dig up enough patents to knock each-other out. Good one, congratulations to the real winners this round - the lawyers.

[Via Mike Chambers]

Nice to see Mario working on the Amazon Search, now is so feature full that its actually a better browser of Amazon then what you find at Amazon.com IMHO.

I am sorry, but I have a hard time taking serious the bill proposal from Californian congressman Howard Berman that would give the entertainment industry the right to hack computers and networks to stop people from downloading music and movies off the Internet. What has he been smoking?

Before the ridiculous no-linking cases in European courts, I would have said it couldn't have happened anywhere else than America.

Wired News has an interesting article that highlights the "dark side" of the hacking bill. The way the bill is written it could allow for interpreations that would allow any joe-hacker to use the bill to justify his hacking.

Dave Winer has also written an article about the bill that goes into some other parts of it, and also suggests what american voters should do with representatives such as Howard Berman:

Politicians who are openly corrupt must pay the ultimate penalty, lose their jobs, so no government leader ever again dares go against the interests of his or her constituency, as these representatitves have.

Robin Debreuil has started an interesting discussion of the Flash Comm Server and Bandwidth Costs. Its about the not so cool part of adding cool new broadband services to a web site. (Bandwidth cost).

[Via John Dowdell]

New tutorial from Macromedia: Using the Google web service in Macromedia Flash MX. A nice tutorial of how you can implement Google search with Flash MX and ColdFusion MX.

There are several things that bug me though. First, why is it that Macromedia is only able to provide the tutorial as a PDF file? I can't see any good reason why the tutorial couldn't have been delivered online by HTML with the PDF download optional. And, why is it that the files are distributed as "windows source files", I get that the Dreamweaver MX for Mac does not support web services (I purposely did not use the word understand, because I don't understand why Macromedia aren't supporting web services in Dreamweaver MX for Mac) but the files should be usable even on Mac, and should even be deployable directly on your machine if you have OSX and have taken the time to fix your own installation of ColdFusion MX (again I am amazed that Macromedia has failed to deliver a OSX distribution of ColdFusion MX).

Its weird really, this new tutorial from Macromedia for hooking into web services with ColdFusion MX and Flash MX showcases Macromedia's understanding and lack of understanding of the web all at the same time.

[Via Mike Chambers]

Behind the typeface: Cooper Black is a cool presentation based on VH1's Behind The Music concept. Its made by Cheshire Dave and was a made as a "birthday present" for his site Mastication is normal. I think its a well made and funny presentation, and hope that Chesh will follow up with other presentations of other typefaces.

[Via Chris MacGregor]

Remember that its System Administrator Appreciation Day today. Maybe you should give your SysAdmin some extra attention today?

Geek cartoon UserFriendly has a strip about this special day.

Den Ivanov of Shockteam.com has released a Video Greetings service based on Flash MX and Flash Communication Server. I am sure we will see a lot more of these kind of services popping up.

Check out the cool card I got from Jensa of Flashmagazine.com today, it shows how you end up looking when working from home. (Lets not talk about me looking even worse, at the office)

I hope Macromedia has made sure to make good agreements for kickbacks from web-cam producers, because I can see how the easier integration of video services will push demand for those gizmo's.

Greg Burch has a great tip when developing Flash Remoting apps: Debug Flash Remoting outside the IDE (yet in it at the same time)

I build smaller remoting components that hook into a very large system. And it is nearly impossible to get that whole system running and kept up to date to test my small pieces. So I noticed that as long as I leave NetDebug.as included in my little pieces that if I have the IDE open and the NetConnection Debugger panel open it will catch Flash remoting calls and responses

What I like with Mario's Quasimondo blog and his projects, is that he lets us follow his process while he is developing his Flash apps.

Now he has gotten even closer to finishing the Amazon Explorer in his part 4. Its fun to see parts of his other Flash projects implemented with the Amazon Explorer, like his "Flash Connection" app.

I wouldn't be surprised if he makes available the source code for the Amazon explorer too, as soon as he is ready with it.

Hot or Not have been running their voting system on peoples pictures for a long time, now they are at it with blogs as well. According to James Hong (one of the creators of Hot or Not) its not really released yet - its still under development and now in a very public beta of sorts - thanks to Dave Winer finding them in his referer log ;-)

james hong's Radio Weblog

In case you haven't noticed. The cool stuff to thinker with right now is the Flash Communication Server. And there is a lot of stuff going on.

A couple of new forums for Flash Communication Server:

Flash Communication Server Mail List (run by Branden Hall)
Flash MX Backend Communications Web Forum at Ultrashock

And Mike Chambers is planning some cool testing of cool stuff (Flash Communication Server) on his cool blog tomorrow. He needs your help, and its going to be... neat ;-)

[Mike Chambers]

Nice to see the Flash 6 player taking off in the latest Media Metrix viewability audit. More than 30% coverage in all of the regions.

[Via John Dowdell]

This is probably the coolest Flash site I have seen in a looooooooooong while. (That is not saying little, with all the cool sites around right now)

Who's We Design Studios has made a killer 3D Flash site. The only problem I see with the site is that at times is incredibly heavy (it sometimes loads like a snail on my DSL line)

[Via Eric Dolecki]

RedFlash weblog is a Korean blog I can't read at all - but I figured out that he or she must have read my weblog (on the count of the links to my blog, of course) and is obviously interested in Flash (judging from the links).

Well, this might be totally useless info. But I thought it was plenty neat :-) hehe

David Dull has written an interesting article about the pros and cons of the technology exposed by the Flash communication server, titled: Flash Communications: New server, new possibilities

I thought it might be worth speculating on what new possibilities this creates for us flash developers and whether this will be the bright new future of the web or if it will never get used and disappear like generator.

NB: this isn't a how-to or coding article, just my thoughts, speculations and ideas

Phillip Kerman has made a killer Flash answering machine. Its based on Flash MX and the Flash Communication Server. You can leave a message with either text, video and/or audio.

Forget guestbooks, this IS the killer homepage application with Flash MX ;-)

Matt Rice has discovered a strange EULA (End User License Agreement) from Macromedia. And at the same time he is proving that almost nobody ever reads those.

The EULA in question is the license agreement for the Flash Communication Server Components. It basically states:

You shall not (A) use the Developer Version for any application deployment in a live or stand-by production environment or staging environment, in each case, including, without limitation, in any environment accessed by application end-users including but not limited to servers, workstations, kiosks, and mobile computers, (B) use or deploy the Developer Version other than internally for the sole purpose of designing, developing, and evaluating applications pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth in this EULA

Matt has a longer excerpt from the EULA on his blog.

To me it seems like the EULA might have been put together a little fast and have parts left over from other licenses. At least, that is what I hope. Matt is checking with Macromedia legal to try to find out what this is really about. Is the EULA applicable to the Flash Communication server, and if so - why are Macromedia marketing the personal edition as one that can be used for deployment?

[Update]
Mike Chambers of Macromedia left a comment stating:

the EULA is the base EULA for all of our server products. The personal edition of the Flash Communication Server is not a Developer edition, and thus this section does not apply to the Flash Communication Server.

I guess the difference between the "Developer edition" and "Personal edition" is supposed to be obvious, but it isn't for me. The names of the various server license types are so close that it would probably be better for Macromedia to have more spesific EULAs for each of their products. At least it would have avoided the confusion this time around.

[Via SwfNews]

The page has been off the net for a while, and is archived thanks to the WayBackMachine, but since everything else is going belly up these days, I thought I would post it here too, so you know what you gotta do if you want to read it...

vi(1) is for whimps

by Jesus Monroy, Jr.

Lately, I've been a bit melancholy. Someone off-handedly stated (in a thread I can't recall) that all discussion if they go on long enough end in a VI vs EMACS battle. Somehow, this just wrings with too much truth.

The UNIX kernel is bloating. ELF is popular and the words OPEN SOURCE, now have a new meaning. It's bizarre.

None the less rather than drone on my depressions. Let's move on.

Tool Set

• sh(1) - command interpreter (shell)
• echo(1) - write arguments to the standard output
• cat(1) - concatenate and print files
• head(1) - display first lines of a file
• tail(1) - display the last part of a file
• mv(1) - move files

1. cat -n displayes a file with line numbers.
2. cat(1) and echo(1) are almost interchangeable. The major difference being that echo(1) requires it's input as an arguement; where cat(1) will accept a stream.
3. ctrl-d (^d) can be used when typing to end a stream.
4. ctrl-v (^v) can be used when typing to inserting a literal (like ESC or ctrl-d).

1. FILE OPS
• Create File

1. echo line > filename
2. cat  > filename

• Append File

1. echo line >> filename
2. cat  >> filename

• Prepend to a File

1. cat < (echo line ; tail +0 original) > newfile; mv newfile original
2. cat > filename; cat original >> filename; mv filename original

• Insert into a File

1. head -n original > filename; echo line >> filename; tail -n original >> filename
2. head -n original > filename; cat >> filename; tail -n original >> filename

• Remove from a File

1. If you can't figure it out, give up now.

2. LINE OPS
• Prepend to a Line -

1. echo "prepend `(tail -n original | head -1)`" 
2. echo -n prepend ; `(tail -n original | head -1)` ; echo 
3. cat > filename ; echo `(tail -n original | head -1)` >> filename

• Append to a Line

1. echo "`(tail -n original | head -1)` append"
2. echo -n `(tail -n original | head -1)` ; echo append

3. WORD OPS
• Remove a word

1.

X=`tail -n original | head -1`
for I in ${X} ; do
    echo -n ${I};
    read Q
    if [ $Q == 'Y' ] ; then
        echo -n "${I} " >> tempfile;
    else 
    fi
done
echo >> tempfile

Monroy & Associates © June 22, 1999

Mike Chambers have put up a nice little chat application on his weblog - lets just call it mesh on MX chat (look on the top of the page). Its based on Flash Communication Server components and the server itself (of course), with hosting from MediaTemple. I hope other hosting companies will be able to make deals resembling those that MT must have gotten (Yes, I am talking out of self interest here).

The chat showcases a weakness of the components (I think), at least the chat does not seem to multitask very well at the moment. There is a lag when trying to type everytime a message is coming in. I am sure Mike will be working on fixing that little problem.

It had to happen, and Mario Klingemann (Quasimondo) put it together first - The Flash amazonSearch

He writes about his Flash interface for Amazon in his blog:

I'm currently trying to implement some things that you will have difficulties to do in HTML. The whole idea is to have something like a table where all these books, CDs etc are lying around. Now you can make little heaps of stuff that interests you, throw away uninteresting stuff, see the connections, perhaps discover things you were not expecting and have an overall playful experience.

I am really looking forward to see where Mario is heading with it. So far it looks really interesting.

BTW: Daniel Dura is reportedly also working on a Flash interface for Amazon, very cool. :-)

Already playing with the Flash Communication Server? Then you should check out the Macromedia Flash Communication Server Components

The components include:

• SimpleConnect
• PeopleList ConnectionLight
• UserColor
• Chat SetBandwidth
• AVPresence

There is more information on the Flash Communication Server components page.

[Via Mike Chambers]

Amazon has been fiddling with XML and its API for a while, but finally got around to releasing the "Amazon.com Web Services"

The Google API like interface has already spawned cool new interfaces for Amazon.com - like Amazon Light, which I have to admit - might very well become my favorite access to Amazon.com.

[Via Dave Winer]

No, its not a movie based on the old TV-series, its the new Flash 6 player from Macromedia.

But it is at least as exciting. A lot of bugs have been fixed, and there has been added support for ID3 (MP3 info) and a whole lot more. There are more information about the player in the release documents and the beta release documents.

[Via mesh on MX]

I told you that there were too many cool projects to ignore, didn't I? Well, the Multi-threading Class looks like an interesting project. Its written by Jeremy Larkin and has been released on SwfNews today. The release is an alpha version.

While multi-threading sounds like the domain of "hard-core" java or c++ developers, the technology and ideas can be ported to Flash. The availability of multi-threading in Flash would solve many problems. We could fix potential code bottlenecks and give the look of improved performance. Feedback during loops would certainly make Jakob Nielsen happy !!

This site confuses me. I am not a designer, but all the designers I have known have been kind of "neat-o" kind of people. You know, the kind that has to have that pixel just there, not an atom to the left or right -- but just there. See where I am going?

Well, Anarchitect is the weblog of Nick Boyce using Flash 5 as the front end. It looks kind design-type like to me. And it is a new take on the old traditional blog design. But I have to be honest, even I feel like starting to tidy up the desk when I see that weblog. Makes me feel like going over to Nick and help him tidy up all his mess actually ;-)

[Via David Burrows]

Following up his FlashForward coverage, Mike has posted a number of links to FlashForward Pictures and FlashForward slides that has been posted online. Well worth checking out.

Nicolas S.-Roy has released a new and improved version of his Flash RSS reader, the site is now called The Daily News Monkey and includes a number of newsfeeds in various categories (of course, including the Flash blogs). Using the SharedObjects he has made sure you can add your own newsfeeds to the RSS reader. Looks good, and is fairly fast.

Mike is doing what I wish I had time for, having fun with Flash Communication Server MX. His latest fun was hooking his XBox up against the video in of his machine and sharing his playing with everyone else.

Thanks a lot Mike, now I have to go out and get myself a new video card and webcam :-) hehe

Mike also writes about his first trials with the Flash Communication Server, sounds like a lot of hard work (not).

Could someone tell me where I can buy more hours in the day?

I am trying to have some kind of a weblog vacation here - starting up a new company, trying to get some way overdue stuff done, and at the same time trying to at least sense that its summer, and then there are so many cool projects going on that I can't ignore them.

Not fair at all. But you have been warned, I will probably - most likely - hopefully, not post so much in the week(s) to come. But trust me to not keep quiet when I see something I think is cool.

Scott over at ActionScript.com writes about a petition for Flash by Linux users.

This is an old issue, a lot of people have been wanting Flash on Linux for a long while, and Macromedia has been claiming that the development of Flash for Linux just isn't worth the investment. While they support Linux as a server platform, they claim that there is really not a desktop market on Linux. I have always argued that its a catch 22, as long as companies such as Macromedia refuse to publish their products on the platform, you won't see a lot of users moving over to Linux as their desktop platform.

I have been using Linux and Windows for a good while now, and would switch in a second if my main tools were available on Linux - one of them are Flash MX, another is Dreamweaver MX. If Macromedia and other such companies started moving applications over to Linux, they would find a huge user-base. But I guess they don't want the money, or rely on people like me that give in an use Windows so that we can use their software.

For now, what we as wanting-to-be-linux-users-of-Macromedia-software should do, is to let them know what is going on. While I don't support the notion of spamming Macromedia people, there exists a number of ways to make yourself be heard:

• The Linux Flash Petition
• Use the wish-list form at Macromedia to let them know they should really support Linux

BTW: I would love to know when the Flash MX player will be made available for Linux. The fact that it is still not available is disappointing.

Fellow Flashmagazine'er Jens Christian has taken the time between having a nice (rainy) norwegian vacation and writing books to write about what he calls the Video Wars. He boldly states that victory is in the numbers, and that when it comes to the video player wars on the net, Flash MX will be the winner.

Interesting to see the comments coming in from other Flashers, John Dowdell writes:

I suspect we'll see people use Flash video in new ways, rather than just head-to-head in the old ways

Dave Burrows:

the big three (Apple, Microsoft and Real) have been battling it out for a while now with no clear winner but MX video support could put a cat among the pigeons. I've got all the plug-ins on my machine and I think that's the way it's going to stay....

Scott Manning (ActionScript.com) (hmm, interesting - the article was removed from ActionScript.com) writes:

Flashmagazine has recently written a more in-depth article that says Flash MX and Squeeze will eliminate the need for QuickTime, Real, and Windows Media. With no mention of Flix, they give the advantage to Sorenson.

Personally I have to admit that what kind of players I use very often are dictated by the content I want to watch (and which format it is delivered in) and to which degree I trust the companies that provide them. Real are among the players that will never ever be updated again on my machine. (Can you guess why). To me it seems like whoever gets to deliver the most content will "win".

PowerConverter will let you publish your Powerpoint presentations to Flash. If nothing else, it will make your PowerPoints smaller in file size and more accessible on the web.

I would rather have used another tool for making interactive presentation - such as Flash MX, especially since they are charging US $299 for this PowerPoint "plug-in".

[Via John Dowdell] (blogger has broken their permalinks - and its been broken for a while now)

Mike Chambers have done a commendable job updating everyone of us that couldn't go to the FlashForward conference in NYC this summer (and documenting the great speeches and sessions for everyone that was lucky enough to be able to attend too), he put up a section of his blog for the blogging - and managed to post the following live bloggings during the 3 day conference (the first day was workshops/sessions)

Day 1:
(Workshops)

• Branden Hall : Session 1 of 3
• Branden Hall : Session 2 of 3
• Branden Hall : Session 3 of 3
• Video with Flash MX : A Users Guide : Session 1 of 3
• Video with Flash MX : A users Guide : Session 2 of 3

Day 2:
(Day "1")

• Macromedia Keynote
• Dynamic Drawing with Flash MX : Robert Penner
• Flash Remoting with Flash MX and ColdFusion MX : Christian Cantrell

Day 3:
(The last day)

• Rich Application Development with Flash Remoting : Mike Chambers
• Wearable Technology : Wireless Fashion : Phillip Torrone
• Star Wars in Flash : Developing for the Playstation 2 : Fred Sharples

Great job Mike! I don't think I would have done so good at blogging in the dark and with everything going on. And thanks to whoever was responsible for getting a Wi-Fi hotspot set up at FlashForward!

BTW: I am still wondering where the next FlashForward will be held, anyone have any information for me? Will there be a FlashForward conference in Europe, if so - when and where?

Macromedia published a press release today saying they have signed a technology development and distribution agreement with America Online (AOL).

Macromedia Flash Player will continue to be distributed with AOL software and will feature enhanced functionality that will enable AOL members to enjoy a more robust content experience.

Its a short press release that has sparked some speculation at SwfNews -- notably from someone within Macromedia ;-)

The part of the press release that has been emphasized is "improve the quality and user experience of many of our AOL client products" --

Which is interesting, I especially like the speculations of Matt Rice

If AOL integrates Flash into their instant messaging and core AOL client technologies, I think you would see renewed interest in what AOL has to offer. What about streaming instant messaging, where else would you be able to do that ?

[Via SwfNews]

The Flash Film Festival 2002 NYC awards have been handed out, and here are the winners, courtesy of Josh Dura

Motion Graphics
--------
FINN Movie
http://www.gmunk.com/2001_NYC_transit/FINN_QT.html

Navigation
--------
Anatomic Exuberant
http://www.hungryfordesign.com/Archive/2002/03/anatomic_exuberant

3D
--------
Whos We
http://www.whoswe.com

Commercial
--------
Benetton Paints
http://www.benettonpaints.com

Art
--------
Donald's Friendship Gallery
http://www.diesel.com/friendshipgallery/works/delight_insertsilence/index.html

Application
--------
Face Card
http://host.mp4.com

Cartoon
--------
Ride the Fence
http://www.blackmustache.com/ride.html

Information Graphics
--------
Russian Avant Garde
http://www.moma.org/russian

Game
--------
G-Max Skateboarding
http://www.gmaxskateboarding.com

Typography
--------
Max Weber Design
http://www.maxweber.net/eng/eng_flash.html

Story
--------
Colors Magazine
http://www.colorsmagazine.com

Original Sound
--------
Parthenogenesis
http://www.o-matic.com/play/parth/parth_swf.html

Technical Merit
--------
Random Media / Dream Domain
http://www.randommedia.co.uk

Video
--------
Velvet
http://www.velvet.de

Experimental
--------
Typorganism
http://www.typorganism.com

People's Choice
--------
G-Max Skateboarding
http://www.gmaxskateboarding.com

[Via Josh Dura]

Seems like Smashing Ideas have a very cool XML-blogger screensaver, they showcased it at FlashForward in NYC and fellow flash-blogger Eric Dolecki was there and writes about it on his blog.

Glenn Thomas of Smashing Ideas have promised to make the files from FlashForward 2002 accessible at FlashStudioSecrets, expect the files to be up on tuesday. (Thanks Eric for letting me know)

Kenny Bunch has released the BrowserHistory Class for Flash MX, its a cool component when you want to implement back and forward buttons in Flash.

Kenny decided to use the SharedObject intance and seem to have come up with a pretty good history solution. And it should work nicely with most browsers supporting Flash.

Wireless Newsfactor picks up on the news that the HP iPaq will start having the Flash player installed by default. (Phillip Torrone have reported on this before)

While Phillip thinks the next step is to have it being baked into the ROMs, I think the next step should be to get the Flash 6 player out for Pocket PCs and other PDAs, we need the MX revolution on the PDAs too. And I am not talking about timespan of 2 years. (Which is the time it took for the Flash 5 player to appear on PDAs).

[Via Greg Burch]

I am sorry, I have to admit that of the online web based RSS readers, this has to be one of the best I have seen so far: Full As A Goog: Chock Full Of Macromedia Goodness

Its made by Geoff Bowers and designed by Firda Beka and is realized with ColdFusion. Looks and works great, it might even start to compete with AmphetaDesk as my way of keeping updated on the Flash weblogs. At least when Geoff comes around to implementing some items on the wishlist, such as user added blogs.

This is just so cool. iSpell is a spelling tool that works directly in Internet Explorer to spell check everything you put into input fields. :-) It has support for US-english, canadian english, UK english and something they call 'common english'. And its free for personal and not-for-profit use.

Now I can stop cut 'n pasting between programs when I am blogging. Only downside is that it kind of gets me stuck with IE again.

[Via Burch]

Wired has an article today titled "Lots of Flash, Even More Sizzle". Apperantly their reporter Lisa Delgado will be covering the FlashForward conference in NYC.

In todays article she interviews Phillip and he lets her in on some of his mad inventions.

Mike Chambers is blogging live from the FlashForward conference going on in New York City right now.

He has already blogged about the Flash Communication Server party/presentation that Macromedia had yesterday, and is blogging the sessions/workshops he is attending today (the main conference starts tomorrow). He is obviously attending Branden Hall's sessions

Cool stuff, almost like being there ;-)

The german design/flash/web company derBauer has released a new version of their site, this time with a LOT of chrome. I think the interface looks slick, but either I am too dense to understand all of the navigation, or they actually have "dead links" in their Flash site. All in all its worth taking a look at, the slickness factor is high.

[Via valyard|ru]

Mike Chambers writes about the questions about *nix versions of the Flash Communication Server MX

Currently, it is only available for Windows servers, but we will be releasing Unix versions later in the year.

Make sure to send which Unix flavor you prefer to the wish list. This will help us to prioritize the work.

So if you have a Unix flavor of choice you would like to see the Flash Communication Server released on, let Macromedia know. (And, just FYI - various distributions of Linux does not constitute various versoins of Unix ;-)

Personally I would like to see the Flash Communication Server made available for:

• Linux (of course, since its my server OS of choice), besides you could probably make one kick-ass communication server if you put the Flash communication server on an IBM mainframe such as the IBM S/390
• Solaris, because its a 'legacy' OS and a lot of people still swear by it
• BSD - simply because Macromedia probably will have been doing most of the job already when they port the server to...
• OS X - Apple's Xserve and the BSD based OS really should be used for all it is worth. If Macromedia do not make the server available for OS X, they will be missing out badly, IMHO. Besides - a lot of *nix hackers are moving to OS X, so its a platform they should support if they want to have more interesting implementations of the server

My brother gave me a hint about this cool comic strip - Altered Ego is about a guy that seems to think that days are made for sleeping and nights are made for.. ehh.. well.. I am not sure the main character of the strip knows either.. But one thing is for sure - he is an struggling artist ;-)

Hmm, for some reason my brother thought this was appropriate to send me as an apropos to weblogs. hehe - I am not sure if he is talking about struggling with finding stories to write himself - or if he is trying to hint that I should look for the delete button. Or maybe its about one of those days where nothing happened?

Random Media is todays Macromedia Site Of The Day and its not hard to see why. It showcases some of the possibilities with the Flash Communication Server MX. The site allows you to navigate through a world of audio, text and images and also seems to have a time dimension of sort.

If you have a web cam or a microphone you can add to the mix with your own images and sounds, I found a lot of funny things on my trip through the site.

Pretty perverted, huh?

The F.A.Porsche designed monitor from Samsung can be made to turn over on the side and let me browse the web at 1028x1280 - or work in Flash for example. :-) I think that is going to become my favorite position for it ;-)

Here's some pictures just to give you some insight into how my world looks like when browsing the web and working different applications right now:

Macromedia has released the Flash Communication Server MX and they already have up an impressive development center for the server. This new server from Macromedia sports multiway audio and video streaming and messaging, making it ideal to be in the center of collaboration systems and multimedia delivery. Macromedia has only released it for Windows so far, but there are versions for Linux and Sun in the lineup.

We have some screenshots up at Flashmagazine.com of the development part of the communication server, and there will be more articles made available about the server later today.

It seems to me by the launch of the new MX products from Macromedia that the merger with Allaire really did Macromedia and Allaire good - I am impressed by the amount of information they are making available about their products.

Before I forget it, you can read more about the Flash Communication Server on a number of other sites too:

Mike Chambers has some really good resource links. Expect him to post more useful pointers and information about the Flash Communication Server MX.

C|Net has an article titled "Macromedia gets chatty"

Infoworld - Macromedia unites multiple media types

eWeek: Macromedia Server Brings Life to Web Sites

And all the blogs are writing about it: Flazoom, PNut, and Quasimondo

Toast.com offers a Flash based GUI for their free e-mail service. It looks good, and I am sure it will appeal to those that think Hotmail and friends look too damn ugly. But the usability of this e-mail Flash application could have used a real workover.

First of all, why not use some common GUI idioms instead of making up their own GUI? This kind of application is most certianly not going to become the primary application for any of the users (ok, I take that back -- there might be one or two that actually check e-mail all day).

It also seems to me like this application is actually slower in Flash than it would have been in HTML.

Both of these main flaws could be remedied, and I hope they will. In my opinion all that this example of the use of Flash has going for it right now, is that it looks good.

[Via John Dowdell]

Interesting article by Gary Rosenzweig about how to protect your Flash and Shockwave content from thieves, he has some good suggestions, but I think John is right when he says that its probably better to make a theft-protection system that only fails once in a while - that way its harder to catch for the thiefs.

[Via John Dowdell] (Welcome back from the accordion vacation John :-)

The Flash compression tool Optimaze! has been released by Ideaworks3D via Electric Rain in the US. The tool can now be bought at the Electric Rain website for US $129.

The price might seem steep, but concidering the kind of work you would have to put in to even get close to its compression of the SWF files, the program easily pays for itself in reduced headackes and time spent doing manual optimization.

What Optimaze! does is to simplify and compress the vector graphics in the SWF files. And it does a good job. Usualy the file size of the SWFs end up being reduced 30-40% compared to the original. They claim to have seen compressions of up to 70% in certain tests and with no singnificant losses in animation quality.

Optimaze! has a Flash MX user interface, optimizes SWFs from Flash 3,4,5 and MX. In fact, it will optimize any SWF files from any SWF-exporting applications, such as Swift 3D. And it imports the SWFs directly so you don't need the FLA to do the optimization.

Its important to understand that Optimaze! is a vector compression tool, it will not compress/optimize your SWFs if your only content is JPEGs, it does not do any bitmap compression, and it will not compress the sound either.

(I posted another story about Optimaze! the 4th of July)

Macromedia has added the Macromedia Application Development Center for ASP.NET to their list of resources for people wanting to use Macromedia Flash MX and DreamWeaver MX together with ASP.NET technology. So if you are developing solutions based on Microsofts ASP.NET, you now have a lot of useful information available at Macromedia.com.

If, on the other hand, you are a Java developer, you should check out the Macromedia Java Development Center.

[Via Mike Chambers]

Thought I would link to a couple of new articles posted at Flashmagazine.com.

David Vogeleer has written a nice follow-up tutorial on arrays: The Power of Arrays II - You can also read his first tutorial "The Power of Arrays - Array Fundamentals"

Stephanie Reindel of Flash99good has written an article titled "We've Got Flash - The Ominous Wow Factor and Its Adverse Affect on Usability"

As you might have discovered, Flashmagazine.com hasn't only been redesigned, it has also woke up from the sleep that it has been in more or less since the market crashed and the company that took care of most of the expenses of Flashmagazine.com went bankrupt.

We are all starting to get on our feet again, but we don't have the luxury of being able to spend the same amount of time that we once did on it, and that is part of the reason for switching from Flash to HTML as the presentation format for Flashmagazine.com. Now everything is being powered by a publishing system that actually has a Flash MX frontend, and there will be several different versions of Flashmagazine made available for various devices, there might even be a Flash version again sometime in the future. But until then, I hope you all will appreciate the new content that will be made available in the weeks to come. And that you all will be with us as we continue to develop Flashmagazine's design and functionality.

BTW: Jens Christian Brynildsen is still the main editor of Flashmagazine.com, and is also the guy who is responsible for getting Flashmagazine.com v2 beta up and running, together with Gaute Fleisje that are working on the design. (He was also the designer for the first design version of Flashmagazine.com).

Thanks to Michael Gunn for making me realize that I should write a little about the new content that has been posted to Flashmagazine.com :-)

I saw this on friday and couldn't belive my eyes, and I have been using the time since I saw the news about the Danish Court decision to make a pre-luminary injunction against the search engine Newsbooster.com for the use of direct linking to try to find words of how stupid I think the whole thing is.

I am afraid I need to resort to using bad language to state how it makes me feel.

Its fucking stupid. Its ignorant, it screams of ignorance to how the web really works. And it makes me feel like telling the danish newspapers behind the lawsuit to get off the fucking web, because obviously they do not want to be a part of it.

The whole web is based on links. Or deep links that they prefer to call them. I am right there with Dave Winer when he calls "deep linking" an oxymoron. You only have one type of linking on the web - and that is linking directly to web pages.

What makes the court decision even more ridiculous is that there exists a number of ways to make sure that search engines does not index your content (after all this was a case against a search engines actually doing its job indexing web pages), there also exists ways of redirecting visitors coming from external sites to your own homepage if you are allergic to "deep links":

I really hope this doesn't catch on.

[Via Dave Winer]

Flashmagazine released the 'beta' of their new site today, Flash has been substituted with HTML in the implementation of the site. Even with Flash MX the text flow options just wasn't there to make it possible to make a good publishing system for the site. Sad really, since the site was one of the few examples of a content site implemented in Flash.

Even though Flash is no longer the format in which the site is published, the main topic is still going to be Flash and vector graphics and keeping the Flash developer community updated on the latest news. Expect the site to be updated with more interesting content very soon.

For now, feel free to leave your opinions about the new design and the choice of ditching Flash in favour of HTML as the presentation format.

Seems like Samuel Wan also had some extra time for experimentation yesterday, he has posted a lot of interesting projects today:

Local Connection is the tool for getting rid of all those pesky fscommands headackes in Mac IE and Netscape. Sam has made available source code and a demo, and links to more information about local connection.

I'll let Sam introduce it:

Local Connection kicks ass, and totally relieves the headache of fscommands in netscape, mac IE, and other broken browser platforms. I've created very short demo file which shows you how easily you can use local connections in less than 5 lines of code.

Bevel Panel Components

User interfaces frequently employ beveling techniques to distinguish one section of an interface from another section. Traditionally, beveling in Flash took a lot of manual labor to draw each vector rectangle. Fortunately, these two bevel panel component allows you to create beveled rectangles quickly and easy

Sam also took the time to post a tutorial about variables and OOP:

Variables Revisited, Part I

This tip is probably old news to some Flash programmers, but for others, it'll hopefully clarify an often misunderstood aspect of OOP. Variables actually work differently, depending on whether you're assigning a primitive data type or an object reference. The difference is subtle, but it can cause confusion when you start passing lots of data between different parts of your code.

Branden used the holiday (4th of july) to do some research on shared fonts, the result can be seen today in his Shared Fonts Redux article. This is very useful information for anyone wanting to deal with shared fonts in Flash. Could someone make sure that Branden gets some more vacation time please? *g*

Here is what Branden writes about it:

I spent a good chunk of time during the holiday yesterday taking another look at shared fonts. That research has resulted in a lot of information on exactly how to make shared fonts work in the real world

Chris MacGregor's excelent site Flazoom has been off the web for since wednesday now. The site has not been shut down, but it seems that his hosting provider isn't exactly living up to their name. (Valueweb). Sad to be without one of my favorite sites. If you feel like me, let them know.

This is a cool application for everyone making Pocket PC presentations. FlashAssist Pro allows you to make Flash presenations for the Pocket PC as full screen installable Pocket PC applications, with advanced features not available when using the regular Pocket Intenret Explorer to view Flash content. Using a simple wizard interface you can make Flash applications Pocket PC ready in 1-2-3.

Flash Assist Pro also includes a Flash XML server that allows you to store and retrive XML data to a Picket PC file using ActionScript, and adds ActionScript that allows you to control the Pocket PC input panel and system volume.

Plenty neat. To see the power of FlashAssist Pro, check out Ericd's FlashForward2002NYC guide or Bill Perry's (PocketPCFlash) Pocket PC Summit Guide (You will find many more fullscreen applications on Bill's pages)

[Via Guy Watson]

Sean Voisen of Eat Orange has released Eat Orange Blogchat Version 1.0.

The Flash based Jabber application is made with his Flash JabberConf API (see previous posting).

He has also made available the source code needed to make your own Flash frontend for Jabber, you will need to set up a Jabber server to run chats on your own domain.

Interesting Google resource - Zeitgeist, it gives insight into what has been on peoples minds in the way that it shows what people have been looking for at Google.

[Via Mario Klingemann]

Coolin Moock's ActionScript: The Definitive Guide is the best ActionScript book you can find out there, and now Colin has announced that he will be making ActionScript: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition, the mini-site includes a FAQ that should answer most of your questions about the book project, including:

When will asdg2 be available?
As usual, I indent not to rush the book. O'Reilly and I prefer to publish books that add a lot of value, not merely rehash the Macromedia documentation. This requires an incredible amount of research, testing, and technical editing. When a formal launch date is determined, O'Reilly will make an official announcement.

I can't wait for it to be released, but take your time Colin - we want more of your high quality work :-)

[Via FlashGuru]

Optimaze! is a Flash vector optimization/compression program that most of you might not have heard of. The developers of Optimaze, the UK based Ideaworks3D, first showcased their technology at the FlashForward 2001 New York City, they knocked everyones socks off with their compression technology and have been promising to release their excellent program ever since then. When I was attending FlashForward 2002 in San Francisco I again got to see their product taken to the next level. This time not only doing amazing compression but also adding vector effects to animations. It should be made available for Mac and Windows machines - but don't be surprised if they make the program available for Linux as well. Their program actually has a Flash frontend as opposed to a regular GUI.

The product is especially interesting to use to get the file sizes down on vectorized animations and Flash content coming from 3D tools, as such their announcement of a close partnership with the 3D software maker Electric Rain makes a lot of sense. Electric Rain will be the primary US distributor and re seller of Optimaze!

I actually have a video presentation of the program just waiting to be published, if we could just get someone to host the video files for Flashmagazine.com - we can't afford the bandwidth ourselves. I will let you all know if anything happens with the video content we want to publish.

Here is the press-release:

Boulder, CO – June 25, 2002 - Today Electric Rain, Inc. announced the signing of an agreement with U.K. based Ideaworks3D, Ltd. to become the primary U.S. distributor and reseller of Optimaze! Ideaworks3D Optimaze! is a soon-to-be-released compression tool that allows users to optimize their Macromedia Flash (SWF) files for better distribution and playback on the Web. The agreement is an effort to capitalize on each company’s strengths in order to maximize Optimaze’s market penetration.

“When we ran one of our Swift 3D Extreme showcase files through Optimaze! and saw a 50% reduction in file size, we knew Ideaworks3D had something special,“ explained Mike Soucie, President/CEO of Electric Rain, Inc. “Optimaze! is a great complementary tool to both Swift 3D and Flash MX and is likely to be a valuable asset to every Flash developer concerned with the size of their SWF movies. Electric Rain is excited to leverage our sales and marketing expertise within the Flash community to help insure the success of this great new product.”

Optimaze! is a patent pending post-production tool that provides Flash developers with a new way to efficiently compress the vector graphics contained within an SWF file. The nature of the application makes it a powerful tool for any Macromedia Flash developer concerned with creating smaller and more efficient SWF files. Optimaze! features a ground-breaking user interface, developed and delivered entirely in Flash MX, which provides unique functionality in the manipulation and previewing of compressed SWF content. This powerful, Flash based front-end, interfaces directly with an advanced vector compression engine to accomplish previously unattainable file compression. Files generated by Flash, Swift 3D and any other Flash exporting application can benefit significantly from Optimaze’s powerful compression engine to optimize the vector content of any SWF file.

“Ideaworks3D specializes in developing revolutionary technologies like Optimaze!,” said Adrian Sack, President/CEO of Ideaworks3D “and we’re looking forward to having Electric Rain on board to help us bring this hot product to market. Optimaze! is the first application of its kind to take an existing SWF file and shrink it down even smaller than Flash itself is capable of. Our optimization engine takes SWF compression to a whole new level of detail and Optimaze! will provide Flash developers with the control and flexibility that’s been sorely needed since Flash began to be used for creating dynamic Web content.”

Optimaze! will be available early July 2002. Electric Rain will begin selling Optimaze! through their www.optimaze.us Web site as soon as the product becomes available. U.S. residents who purchase Optimaze! from Electric Rain will benefit from their established in-house fulfillment system with shorter delivery times and lower domestic shipping rates than from the U.K. Electric Rain will also supply customers with discounted bundling deals of Optimaze! and their Swift 3D product line, as well as with Macromedia Flash MX.

Janis Ian writes an alternative perception of the music industry and their "problems" with peer-to-peer networks:

If you think about it, the music industry should be rejoicing at this new technological advance! Here's a fool-proof way to deliver music to millions who might otherwise would never purchase a CD in a store. The cross-marketing opportunities are unbelievable. It's instantaneous, costs are minimal, shipping non-existant?a staggering vehicle for higher earnings and lower costs. Instead, they're running around like chickens with their heads cut off, bleeding on everyone and making no sense. As an alternative to encrypting everything, and tying up money for years (potentially decades) fighting consumer suits demanding their first amendment rights be protected (which have always gone to the consumer, as witness the availability of blank and unencrypted VHS tapes and casettes), why not take a tip from book publishers and writers?

[...]

One other major point: in the hysteria of the moment, everyone is forgetting the main way an artist becomes successful - exposure. Without exposure, no one comes to shows, no one buys CDs, no one enables you to earn a living doing what you love. Again, from personal experience: in 37 years as a recording artist, I've created 25+ albums for major labels, and I've never once received a royalty check that didn't show I owed them money. So I make the bulk of my living from live touring, playing for 80-1500 people a night, doing my own show. I spend hours each week doing press, writing articles, making sure my website tour information is up to date. Why? Because all of that gives me exposure to an audience that might not come otherwise. So when someone writes and tells me they came to my show because they'd downloaded a song and gotten curious, I am thrilled!

Brave words from a little musician that very well could get squashed by the industry. At least she would still be able to write.

[Via Kevin Marks]

Mario (Quasimondo) keep on producing cool projects, this time around its the Flash Connection v1.0 that has been released.

Mario writes:

[It] tries to visualize the ties between the flash-related sites that I currently link to. My rough crawler could of course only read HTML so pure flash sites will probably show no outgoing links. At the moment the information gets served by a static XML file, but in the future I try to make it fully dynamic (perhaps it is even a better idea to crawl RSS feeds).

I think RSS feeds sounds like a good idea. I like the way the relations are displayed, but the current version could have been more easily manipulated I think.

Interesting article in the New York Times today: Escaping to Bryant Park, but Staying Connected to the Web

It was the perfect collision of technology and nature, at least the way Oren Eckhaus, a Brooklyn photographer, describes it. He was surfing the Internet on his Apple Titanium PowerBook one day last week and a leaf fluttered in a light breeze and landed on his keyboard.

"I'm surrounded by all this technology, and this leaf falls — that is so amazing," Mr. Eckhaus said, sitting in the shade on a bench in Bryant Park last week. "Nothing like that can happen at home, except the coffee can spill on your computer."

The really neat part about this project in Bryant Park, New York City, is that the access is made available for free. Currently there are more than 70 hotspots in NYC that are publicly accessible and free, all run by NYCwireless

Now if I could only convince some of the parks in Oslo to buy into this idea, and I would get a lot more fresh air and sunshine :-)

[Via Dave Winer]

A new cool resource for anyone using any of Macromedia's MX products for developing or designing web and multimedia content: Designer & Developer : Tips Library

Its nice to see Macromedia coming along with a more interactive resource center. At the Tips Library you can contribute with your own tips, to quote Macromedia; «ways of saving time, checking quality, or making your site something "special"»

Interesting announcement from the norwegian browser company Opera today: "Macromedia to Embed the Opera Browser in Web Authoring Products"

Today, Opera Software announced an agreement with Macromedia, whereby the two companies will work together to integrate their products for the Mac platform. Opera will deliver a full-featured, embeddable version of its desktop browser to be integrated into a wide range of Macromedia Web development products.

The anouncement has sparked some questions in the blog community about what this means for the Macromedia products.

At ActionScript.com the question was:

Macromedia uses Opera's browser in their Mac products (how or why this will work is a bit mysterious)

Todd @ What Do I Know also wants to know what is going on:

...why in the world is Macromedia joining efforts with Opera to create an embeddable browser for the Mac?

I think Mike Davidson from ESPN.com has an interesting explenation/theory:

First let's deal with why they need an embeddable browser. Not many of these have been released yet, but many companies are starting to use Flash to develop desktop applications. At ESPN, we created 'The BottomLine' which we believe to be the most widely used installable Flash desktop application in the world. We released it a couple of months ago and it has already been downloaded by over 300,000 users. Here's the problem though: the application is only embeddable as a true installable app on Windows PCs. The reason is that there is an IE control built into Windows which allows you to easily construct a 'shell' around any Flash app. All other machine/browser combinations must use the popup window version of the BottomLine.

[Via ActionScript.com]

Macromedia has released a developer beta of a new Flash 6 player, codenamed Airwolf. The list of bug fixes and extra features in the player is actually quite impressive.

The Flash 6 build r39 beta can be downloaded from Macromedia.com. Mike Chambers have been nice enough to provide a username and password:

Username : betabits
Password : flex475

New features / fixes include:

• Masking Device Fonts
• Accessing ID3 properties in MP3 files with the Airwolf Player
• Flash scriptability (XPCom/LiveConnect) support for Netscape
• Text fields are now more efficient and consume less memory
• Intel P4 optimizations

Does anyone know if this beta addresses the Flash Player Cross Server Scripting exploit that was reported earlier this summer? I couldn't find anything in the release information.

[Via Mike Chambers]

A new resource has been made available at Macromedia.com today, the Mobile Development Center is packed full of valuable content for anyone wanting to develope content for mobile devices, its very comprehensive - even to the point of offering information about solutions not directly tied into the Macromedia product line.

Here is a rundown of the articles available:

• Mobile Development Center
• JD's Forum : Why you should care about devices : John Dowdell
• Logged In : The Future of Flash on Devices : Top Developers
• Selling Macromedia Flash Device Content to Clients : Phillip Torrone
• Flash Enabled : Flash Design and Development for Devices Chapter 5 : Understanding the Flash Application Development Workflow
• Macromedia MX Featured Community Site : PocketPCFlash.net
• Nokia Communicator, a Silver Brick of Gold : Glenn Thomas
• Developing for the Nokia 9200 Communicator : Chris Pelsor
• Creating Full-featured Macromedia Flash Apps for Pocket PC : Anthony Armenta
• Getting Started with Macromedia Flash on Pocket PC : Bill Perry
• Creating Apps for "Sometimes-connected" Devices : Mike Krisher

[Via Mike Chambers]

PAVLOV Lab'Dog is a funny Flash cartoon about a.... (drum roll) lab dog. I thought it was really funny, and can't wait till the guys at Cromozone (out of Belgium) comes up with more experiments!

[Via Valyard.ru]

Mark Pilgrim continues on his 30 days to a more accessible weblog, today he explains why the _blank tag is evil.

In all dominant browsers, using the <a target="_blank"> tag to force a link to open in a new window breaks the Back button. The new window does not retain the browser history of the previous window, so the "Back" button is disabled. This is incredibly confusing, even for me, and I've been using the web for 10 years

My personal reason for not using _blank tages on my weblog is that I think it should be up to you - as the reader - when you want a new browser window to open.

Here is a little tip for you if you want to open new windows (I do this all the time myself when I want to look at something and go back to where I was by closing the window I opened):

Hold down the shift key while you click on the link (for Internet Exlorer and Opera - for Mozilla, hold down the control key while clicking the link) , that will make your browser open the link you click in a new window.

Hollowcube.com is Michael Gunn's weblog with news from the Flash scene, and some interesting projects. Michael's latest project is a Cell phone messaging system made in Perl with a Flash frontend.

Denim is a really wicked cool project that the Group for User Interface Research at UC Berkley have been working on. I'll be a little lazy and quote Branden from his posting (Its late here, ok? ;-):

Denim is a pen-based Java application that you use to design working prototypes of web sites that consist entirely of sketches. You just sketch out the pages, draw lines between them, and they work!

It is based on a SATIN, a toolkit that they developed for making pen-based applications in Java. Very cool stuff, be sure to check it out.

[Via Branden Hall]

This is a flash animation follow-up of the Apple Switch campaign. I thought it was hillarious: macboy.com: Switch Gates

[Via Josh Cooper]

The RegExp Parser Class for Flash 5/Flash MX is a cool extra feature. Kind of strange that Macromedia never included something like this. According to Branden Hall its fast too (and he should know). I haven't had the chance to try it out myself yet.

[Via Branden Hall]

Mario keeps proving that he knows how to use the new cool features of Flash MX, and the equally cool features of the Google API with his Google API Flash banner

He is using it on all the stories on the frontpage of Quasmindo.com, kind of scary that I am the only search result associated with the story about "the search for Quasimodo". :-)

Mario has made the full source code for the Google API Flash banner available, great job Mario!

I have been contemplating including it on my own blog, but I think that if I do, I will do it purely on the individual stories and not on the index. I haven't really tested it out - but I have a feeling that many SWFs running on the frontpage at the same time doesn't really treat peoples CPU's all too good.