Mobile for Flash Developers free eSeminar today

Posted by on Apr 30, 2009 in devices, Flash, mobile | Comments Off

Atlantic Records have been working with AgencyNet on a fantastic multi-screen application called Fanbase. The team used Adobe AIR and the Flash Lite Distributable player to bring the application to consumers.

Working on Fanbase among others is David Brown, an extremely talented Flash developer. He’s been working with us for some time on the Distributable Player, and in fact his Bacardi application may well have been responsible for the new security model.

Today (Thursday, April 30, 2009 11:00 A.M. PST), David Brown from AgencyNet will host an eSeminar and uncover the key factors to consider when developing and deploying content to multiple devices with Adobe’s distributable player solution. Topics include Multilingual content, multiple input types, and consistent user experiences across screens.

More information and registration here.

The power of the Flash Platform part 2: Augmented reality

Posted by on Apr 29, 2009 in Cool stuff, Flash Platform, Flash Player | 1 comment

Augmented reality has been around for quite some time but now that it is available for the Flash Platform (and thus available to just about everyone) it is really booming. I was recently looking for some AR examples and came across some really cool applications. I hope these will give you a bit of an idea of the immense possibilities this technology has. It’s not even that difficult to build. Check out Lee Brimelow’s tutorial video and you’ll be building applications like this in no time.

LIVING SASQUATCH

This one really blows people away. You can completely animate the sasquatch while still being able to control it in 3D space. You really need to play with it yourself to believe it. Check it out on http://www.livingsasquatch.com/

RONALD CHEVALIER

This one is very funny to demo. You stick the black and white pattern on your forehead and when you launch the application, your face is replaced with the one from Ronald Chevalier. Good fun! ;-) Check it out on http://ronaldchevalier.com/mindportal/

GE SMARTGRID

This was the first augmented reality Flash application that I saw and you’ve probably seen it as well. But if you haven’t, go check it out on http://ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid/#/augmented_reality

MICROSOFT SQL SERVER
I think this is the first augmented reality campaign in Belgium. Obviously the agency and the client chose the best platform to do this. The Flash Platform is also the only cross OS and cross browser platform that allows you to bring AR to the widest possible audience. Check it out on http://sqlug.be/augmentedreality/activate/activate/

I’m sure you’ll agree that augmented reality is pretty cool but what do you do with it? In Brazil, Doritos actually put the black and white pattern on the Doritos bag. When you go to their site and show the bag, you get access to exclusive content. (via http://kiss-the-future.blogspot.com/2009/04/augmented-reality-in-doritos-sweet.html)


Lego even created an in-store display with augmented reality. Just hold up the box to the camera and the display shows you what the finished project looks like. See http://www.notcot.com/archives/2009/01/legos_digital_b.php for more.

I’m sure there are more AR cases out there. If you know of any or are building one yourself, please leave a comment.

Need help switching to AS3.0? Check out the Migration Cookbook

Posted by on Apr 28, 2009 in ActionScript, How-to | Comments Off

A lot of Flash developers are still using ActionScript 2.0 to code their Flash based projects and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, ActionScript 3.0 gives you lots of benefits. For instance, the performance of ActionScript 3.0 based applications is far greater than AS2.0 based apps and you also get a ton of new Flash Player APIs and community libraries.

Today, we launched a new ActionScript technology center on the Devnet site with links to a variety of resources and tutorials. The Migration Cookbook is a good place to start. There’s also a downloadable PDF version that will get you up to speed with ActionScript 3.0 in no time.

Flash on!

Upcoming events & speaking engagements

Posted by on Apr 27, 2009 in Events, Flash Platform | 3 comments

My calendar for the next coming weeks is pretty full. I thought it was a good idea to combine some of the events I’ll be speaking at in one blog post.

FFK09 – April 27th, 28th, 29th, 2009 – Cologne, Germany

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Germany’s biggest Flash conference is starting today in Cologne. Tomorrow morning (Tuesday) I’ll be doing the keynote and will be available to chat throughout the day. My colleagues Tom Krcha and Duane Nickull are also presenting. FFK09 is sold out so if you didn’t get a ticket, you’re out of luck. If you are at FFK09, come and say “Hi”!

Twiist – May 15th, 2009 – Leuven, Belgium

twiist.jpg

There aren’t that many conferences in Belgium. So when a new one pops up, I am more than happy to support it. Tickets are available on the Twiist website. but I also have one (1) ticket to give away to one of my blog readers. The first one to mail me (serge at adobe dot com) with 3 names of Twiist speakers (not including mine) will win the ticket. (While this ‘contest’ is open to anybody, please only participate if you’re also in Belgium on the 15th and plan on attending this conference). Martin Heidegger from Hobnox won the ticket.

Multi-Mania – May 18th & 19th, 2009 – Kortrijk, Belgium

2m09.jpg

Multi-Mania is probably one of the fastest growing conferences in Europe. In one year, they doubled the number of attendees to 800 last year and I hear the venue is even bigger this year. With yet another impressive speaker list, Multi-Mania is not to be missed. I’ll be doing the keynote session as well as a couple of other sessions. Doing a keynote on my birthday? What better way to celebrate my birthday could there be? ;-)

From A To Web – May 26th, 2009 Milan, Italy – May 28th, 2009 Rome, Italy

From A To Web.jpg

I’m going to be in great company during this event. With speakers like Marco Casario and Andrea Trento, this event is also not to be missed. I’ll be doing a keynote session as well as a session on Flash Catalyst, Flex 4 and ColdFusion.

These are just the events for the next couple of weeks. I’ll post another blog post for the June events as soon as everything has been confirmed. If you’re at one of these events, come and say “hi”.

Weekly blend – April 25, 2009

Posted by on Apr 25, 2009 in Weekly blend | Comments Off