February 16th, 2010
After writing this very lengthy comment on Brother Chuck Freeman’s (@ChuckStar) blog post responding to Brother Kevin Suttle’s (@kevinSuttle) excelent blog post regarding AIR and Mobile devices, I thought I should really post here on my own blog and #keeptheblogchainalive as Kevin says. There are a great deal of questions regarding AIR and Mobile devices, and I have had a few rolling around in my brain for some time. Be sure to read Kevin’s post then Chuck’s post, and you’ll get all the context.
Continue reading »
February 15th, 2010
Adobe is pushing mobile devices in great new directions. First announced was Flash Player 10.1 concept on devices, then the iPhone packager with the upcoming CS5. But today, Adobe goes one step further with building AIR for Android devices (and quite probably more).
Continue reading »
February 3rd, 2010
Last night I updated the layout and look of this blog. As someone who tries to focus on usability as best as possible (my writings aside), I strove to make this blog the best and easiest to use as I possibly could. Right now, it is rather basic in the design look and feel. No pretty pictures, no extra design, just straight forward reading. Boring, sure. I plan on adding some visual elements in the near future, but for now, just content.
Also, I love to hear constructive criticism. If you see anything that you feel could be improved, by all means leave a comment.
Thanks.
February 1st, 2010
**Beware: The following blog post is basically just rambling thoughts.**
Like a lot of people I’ve been pretty excited about Flash Player 10.1 on hand held and touch devices. The fact that I could use the same websites and play the same games on a mobile device that I can on my laptop sounds just plain awesome.
But there’s a dark reality that most people haven’t quite thought about (well maybe they have but I haven’t found it to read yet), and something I just keep forgetting.
Garth Braithwaite (@GarthDB) reminded me of this fact during a conversation on twitter. He said, “Flash 10.1 is not going to be develop once/deploy everywhere like people expect.” We were speaking in terms of video on mobile devices and how well it may or may not perform.
This statement sort of kicked me in the side of the head and got my brain running about possible issues of interactive sites that may run on mobile devices in the future. Continue reading »
January 26th, 2010
So, I’m pitching concepts for possibly speaking at a Flash conference. Throwing around some ideas on topics to speak on, I’ve landed on a few that I think people may enjoy. But now I need your help. Take a look at the list below and post a comment telling me which topic you would like to hear me elaborate more on if I get accepted to speak. Thanks!
1. Mobile UX: It’s About the User. From project flow to design to testing, staying focused on the user will better your applications and ensure the best user experience possible.
2. Designer/Developer Relations: Why Designers should learn some dev and devs should learn some design.
3. Designing for the iPhone using Flash CS5. (This is if CS5 is available, of course.)
4. Pushing the limits of Flash Player 10.1 for mobile. See how Flash Player 10.1 can be utilized for the web on mobile devices.
5. Using FlashBuilder/Catalyst as a Designer. Take Illustrator and Photoshop files from concept to fully functional applications with ease. Quickly and easily add Flash animations, design, and video to your applications.
6. AIR and Netbooks, Next Generation Apps on Next Generation Devices. Find out how AIR can be utilized on next generation devices such as netbooks and tablets.
7. Designer/Developer Workflow – Creating Custom Flash Components: Learn how to speed daily workflow by creating custom Flash components that are easy for developers to implement and simple for designers to skin.
January 16th, 2010
Image care of Elad Elrom.
Not 20 minutes ago, I got off the phone with Elad Elrom who is organizing Flash and the City – a three day conference in New York this May. Elad told me about all the awesome events he has in store. So awesome, in fact, that he made me swear on possession of my soul not to tell. Since I would like to keep my soul, all I can say is: You HAVE to go to Flash and the City.
Not only will you learn so much your head will explode from some of the brightest minds in the Flash Community, but you will have so much fun all your friends/coworkers/neighbors/students/teachers/bartenders/hair stylists/pets will be olive green with jealously. You won’t be able to stop talking about it.
So, go and get your tickets. Get packed now, because you’ll be too excited not to.
January 15th, 2010
Flash Player 10.1 beta has been out for a little while, but Adobe doesn’t have any information on how to use the API in Flash CS4. They on have instructions for Flash/Flex Builder. In fact, even Lee Brimelow had to ask how to use it from the Flash CS4 IDE. So here is how to get it running.
1. Be sure to fully quit out of Flash.
2. Download and install the player beta.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the download page, you will need to also download and unzip the Player Global SWC.
4. Back up the FP 10 playerglobal.swc and replace it with the new 10.1 version.
You can find it here on Mac: /Applications/Adobe Flash CS4/Common/Configuration/ActionScript 3.0/FP10
And here on PC: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Flash CS4\Common\Configuration\ActionScript 3.0\FP10
Now let’s make sure it works.
1. Start Flash CS4 and create a new AS3 .fla.
2. Create 2 new Dynamic text fields, and give them instance names of text1 and text2.
3. We need some code. A topic of discussion lately has been Multitouch, and since the multitouch API is FP 10.1 specific, let’s use that. Open the Actions panel (opt+)F9 and copy/paste the following code:
import flash.ui.Multitouch;
{
text1.text =“gestureEvents work”;
} else {
text1.text = “!gestureEvents”;
}
if (Multitouch.supportsTouchEvents)
{
text2.text = “touchEvents work”;
} else {
text2.text = “!touchEvents”;
} |
**Previously I had extraneous code. It has now been removed.
Test Movie will throw errors because CS4 doesn’t have a standalone version of FP 10.1 (there isn’t one publicly available yet). But you installed FP 10.1 earlier. So now you can Publish and Run (cmd/cntrl+F12) in the Browser. Text1 and 2 should report back if GestureEvents and TouchEvents work on your computer.
Check Christian Cantrell’s Adobe Dev Center post about Multitouch if you are unsure if your system supports it.
Have Fun!
January 14th, 2010
Yesterday, Tobias Schneider @tobeytailor released his JavaScript Flash runtime – Gordon. This runtime allows Flash swfs to run on the iPhone in Safari. Although currently Gordon only supports Flash Player 1 (that’s not a typo), this is pretty monumental. It’s a great step in the right direction in getting Flash on the iPhone. This looks pretty much like a precursor to what Adobe sneaked at MAX in October 2009. There they showed how Flash could be rendered with HTML5 canvas tag. The difference here is that this is the actual swf playing. It’s actually JavaScript turning the Flash to SVG.
It should be said that Gordon is not the actual Flash Player, but some JavaScript wizardry that somehow renders Flash on those oh-so-beloved-yet incredibly-frustrating-for-the-Flash-Community iDevices.
** Edit: 01/21/10
Peter Elst states in his blog post:
To be very clear: it is *not* running the SWF file — its parsing it, converting it using Javascript and outputting SVG. Running that same SWF file on a native Flash Player, even on a smartphone would be a fraction of that in terms of CPU usage.
**
That’s still pretty cool. Tabias used an existing language to do this. (You should read Peter’s posting for more info.)
Tabias has stated that he is working on another release to get FP 2 targeted swfs to run through Gordon. If Adobe isn’t careful Mr. Schnieder may render all their hard work of tricking iPhone to play swfs almost completely wasted. Maybe they should just hire him.
January 12th, 2010
Back in October of 2009 Adobe showed off the ability to publish Flash files as iPhone applications. That sent the Flash world into a tizzy that we still have yet to come down from. The apps looked like iPhone apps, they installed out of the Apple Store like iPhone apps. In fact, if you didn’t know the people that created them were primarily Flash developers, you would have never known the apps were created in Flash (that is if Adobe didn’t tell you, too).
Then comes the Android Phones, and in particular, the Nexus One. (ok so the image below doesn’t show the Nexus, just the Motorola Droid. The Nexus One is a bit too expensive without service.) Reports are that Nexus One will handle Flash Player 10.1 when Adobe is ready, so too, will the Droid and Palm Pre.
That’s cool. Actually that’s awesome. I can’t wait to be able to hold the Flash Player in hand. But that’s within the staunch walls of the browser.
Maybe this whole Flash compiling to iPhone thing is an even better idea. Compiling an application or game as a device driven app is much more compelling to me than running that same app through the browser and it’s limited sandbox and often ugly UI. I mean, there is a greatly growing number of AIR applications being released into the wild, taking Flash out of the browser. So why is the mobile push for Flash pretty much staying in the confines of the browser? Why not go further than that?
How about a compiler for Blackberry (Storms, Curves, etc) native applications? What about Android?
The Nexus One looks very promising compared to the iPhone. Android OS can certainly handle intensive applications on the Droid, so the Nexus One should be able to as well. If the Flash compiler can perform well enough on iPhone, why can’t we get a compiler to other devices as well? And if Adobe really can’t stand Apple as much as we think they do, then why not push for native apps on devices that could have the potential of bringing this iPhone madness to an end?
We continue to feed the iPhone/iPod tyranny by creating content for them. Instead, we should be trying to focus on making content for those that can match up to the iPhone. It’ll make innovation better. Maybe we’ll eventually see a device that will render the iPhone obsolete.
Simply, I want to be able to compile device driven (non-browser) applications and RIAs to multiple platforms and OS with minimal effort. Please.
January 12th, 2010
Since moving to the Mobile and Devices Group at Smashing Ideas we have started to implement scrum/Agile development style project flows on a few projects. We have also been looking for an application that can assist in such but have yet to find anything of any value.
Adobe has been working on an AIR app called Work Flow Lab that looks to be pretty promising. The .9 beta release of WFL has quite a bit of the features we have been looking for, but as of this release, still lacks in some of the features that would make this app truly useful. This is a beta application, though, so hopefully it can be expanded.
In any case, keep an eye on WFL. I have a feeling it will be an useful tool for project development in the future.
Also watch Doug Winnie’s Adobe blog for updated information on WFL.
I’m going to try to do a screencast of this as soon as I can.
