WIF – February 5th & 6th – Namur, Belgium – http://www.wif-dogstudio.be/
WIF (Webdesign International Festival) is a worldwide event and this will be the first one in Belgium. It may sound strange to some of you, but I don’t speak at events in my backyard that much. Even though I live in Belgium, the majority of my speaking engagements are abroad. So it’s obvious that I am looking forward to this one. Maybe this one even more as it is the first event (to my knowledge) in the French speaking part of Belgium. I’ll be doing a keynote session at the end of the first day… right before the bar opens up ;-)
Mobile World Congress – February 15th-18th, Barcelona, Spain – http://www.mobileworldcongress.com
I already talked about MWC last week but let me repeat that I am very excited about MWC this year. If you’re a developer interested in mobile application development and interested in checking out MWC, then visit http://www.adobe.com/go/mwc2010. We’re offering Flash Platform developers a limited number of complimentary exhibition visitor passes (a value of € 599 per person) on a first-come, first-served basis.
FITC – February 22nd-23rd – Amsterdam, The Netherlands – http://www.fitc.ca
FITC starts just a few days after MWC so it’s obvious you can expect some cool mobile demos in the FITC keynote (along with other cool stuff of course ;-)). I’m also doing a session on AIR 2 and all the new features it has to offer. I will show a bunch of code snippets and how to use them in real applications.
FFK10 – April 13th-16th – Cologne, Germany – http://ffk10.flashforum.de
This event is three months from now, but tickets are going fast! This will be my third year at FFK10 and it’s always great fun. Sascha and Marc always do a great job putting this event together. This year will be their 10th anniversary and I promise to bring something cool to the keynote ;-)
If you’re going to be at one of these events, feel free to ping me and to come and say “Hi”. Hope to see you there!
Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is just around the corner and you can already feel the excitement building.
2010 is going to be an amazing year for Flash developers who want to create mobile applications. Not only did we announce the Flash CS5 iPhone compiler but we’ve already demoed Flash Player 10.1 on a variety of devices from Android to WebOS to Windows Mobile. At Mobile World Congres in Barcelona we will be demonstrating uncompromised rich web experiences in Flash on the latest smartphones, netbooks, and smartbooks with some of the Open Screen Project partners. If you plan to attend the show, come visit us in Hall 1 and experience them firsthand.
We’re also offering Flash Platform developers a limited number of complimentary exhibition visitor passes (a value of € 599 per person) on a first-come, first-served basis. Email us with your name, company name, and email address (for each pass) if you’re interested. For more details, visit http://www.adobe.com/go/mwc2010.
From the evangelism team, Mark Doherty, Tom Krcha, Enrique Duvos and I will be there to answer your questions. Hope to see you in Barcelona!
I am extremely proud to see how well the Dutch Adobe User Group is doing. Proud to see how fast they have grown from a dormant user group to the group that it is today. Every single meeting is very well organized and always sold out with over 250 attendees.
On December 3rd (a little over 9 days from now), they are raising the bar for themselves by organizing the Adobe User Group XL event. The speaker list is very impressive and I really hope I can catch some of the sessions myself. I’m really eager to see what Ralph Hauwert has been up to. He’s been teasing his Twitter followers with little sneaks of his new 3D engine and I really can’t wait to see more. I’m also looking forward to OOO-ii’s session. These guys must have the coolest job ever. They build all the cool screens you see in Hollywood blockbusters like Star Trek and Minority Report and they use Flash to build them. And then I’m not even talking about the sessions by Group94, Layar, De Monsters, PowerFlasher and all the other speakers. This is really going to be a fantastic event and tickets only cost €75!
While I think the ticket price is well worth it, I did manage to get 5 free tickets. Want one? I’ll make this easy for you. ;-) Point your browser to the Adobe User Group XL website and write down the names of 5 speakers (speaker names, not companies) as a comment to this post. The five first commenters win! (Don’t forget to add your real email address) Well… That didn’t take long :D Congrats to Jolijn, Hans, Marien, Marc and Bart.
See you in Amsterdam!
After a very successful and fun tour though the UK, SOTR is now going to mainland Europe. Most of you know that my love for ColdFusion is growing with every project I do using it. I think you can really only appreciate ColdFusion after getting a taste of it and SOTR is the perfect place to get that taste. With SOTR Europe being a free event, there really is no excuse to not be there. ;-)
Hope to see you in Munich, Zurich, Milan, Amsterdam, Brussels or London!
More info and free registration on http://www.scotch-on-the-rocks.co.uk
With Flash On The Beach and MAX fast approaching, it’s about time to start prepping my multi-screen development session and lab for both events.
Before I can get started though, I need to come up with a good idea for a multi-screen application and I need your help in deciding which direction I should go.
So… What type of application would you like me to build for this session and lab? Entertainment? Food? Travel? Video? Photo? It can basically be anything as long as it has an in-the-browser version, a desktop version and a mobile version. I do have some ideas in my head but can’t decide on which one to use… That’s why I’m asking for your help!
Now, I’m not asking you to come up with a complete concept (but you can if you want to ;-) ). I’m just asking you to tell me what type of app you would like to build in the BYOL-lab at MAX and have me explain/show in my session at FOTB. I’ll reward the best idea with a goodie bag ;-)
Feel free to post your thoughts as a comment or use the contact form.
How do you win? Easy! Take out your crystal ball and take a look in to the future of the Flash Platform. Where do you see the Flash Platform 5, 10 or 20 years from now? What would you add or change to the Flash Platform?
Be creative! You can use both the power of words and the power of pixels. If you want to create mockup of Flash CS10 or Flash Builder 10, then please do so. If you are better with words, feel free to type away. Leave a comment with a link to your image or just post your thoughts. Please enter your real name and email address.
Winners will be picked based on creativity, originality and/or interesting ideas. Winners will be announced on Monday, August 17th 2009 on this blog. Deadline: Sunday, August 16th, 2009 00:00GMT
Looking forward to hear your thoughts and ideas!
MAX TICKETS
If you get your MAX ticket before August 31st, you can benefit from the early bird pricing. A full conference ticket will cost you $1295 or €907. That’s a $200 discount on the regular pricing! That includes lunch on all conference days, access to all keynotes and evening events and access to all breakout sessions and labs. Traveling alone is no fun so there’s also a group discount. If you travel in a group of three or more, your registration price per pass is only $1095 or €767.
If you’re in the US, you can get $400 off the regular price when you purchase one of the listed products from the Adobe Store. This offer is only valid in the US but for you, my regular blog reader, I can do something special. If you’re not in the US, you can use promo code EMA931(restrictions apply*) to get a $400 discount on the regular pricing. Your MAX ticket will then cost $1095 or €767. Register here!
FLIGHTS
Finding an affordable flight is all about timing. If you book your flight well in advance, the flight will be cheaper. Generally if you also include a weekend stay, the price of your flight gets a lot cheaper. In case of MAX, I would suggest flying over on Friday October 2nd. Spending the extra days in the hotel is in most cases cheaper than the extra cost on the flight. Also check with your local travel agent. They may have a promotion for a certain airline. And also shop around! I’ve just checked some routes from Europe to Los Angeles and you can get a flight today for as little as €350. Which reminds me that I should probably book my flight as well ;-)
HOTEL
There are a ton of motels and hotels in the greater Los Angeles area and if you’re not picky, you can even find a place to stay for as little as €14 a night. There really is a lot of choice in LA and I’m sure you can easily find a place to stay in your budget range. You can find a decent hotel starting at €50/$70 a night. For hotels near the venue, check out this Google Maps link. If you don’t mind a little drive in the morning, you should also check hotels a little further away from the venue. But beware that LA traffic can be brutal in the morning and evenings.
CAR RENTAL
Renting a car is not a bad idea. Los Angeles is huge and public transportation can be a bit challenging. If you are going to rent a car, make sure you shop around! Compare the prices from different companies and also check with your local travel agent. They usually have even better prices than what you can get online.
If you do rent a car, make sure you also do some sightseeing. Meet up with some of your friends and colleagues to share the milage and do a little road-trip. I can really recommend going to Santa Monica and/or Venice beach.
If you want to do some shopping for some cool attire, head on down to Melrose Avenue (between Fairfax and La Brea). If you’re done shopping, get yourself a cookies and cream milkshake at Johnny Rockets on the corner of Melrose and Gardner. Make sure you sit outside so you can watch the people walk by and maybe you’ll even spot a celeb ;-)
I can also recommend doing some shopping at Farmers Market. Whether you want to shop for some fresh fruit, hot sauce, get some goodies at an Apple store or get a new Taschen book, Farmers Market has it all.
If this is your first time in LA, you have to walk Hollywood Boulevard and get a photo of your favorite celeb’s star on the walk of fame. But know that that will only keep you busy for about half an hour.
WHERE TO FIND THE BEST DEALS
I’ve recently discovered Momondo.com. This Danish startup finds the best travel deals for you and displays them in a nice uncluttered interface. Not sure if this is the cheapest flight available for that period? Then click on the price calendar to see if there are any cheaper flights. It will also find the best deals for hotels and car rentals. I’ve already mentioned it before in this post but also check with your local travel agent. You never know if they have a promotion for LA if you don’t ask.
DISCLAIMER: Please note that Euro pricing is provided for information only. Exchange rates calculated with Google on July 28th 2009. Also read Google’s disclaimer.
* Offer good for new Adobe MAX 2009 registrants only. Offer good for Adobe MAX 2009 full conference pass registration only. Offer cannot be combined with any other offer, package or registration code. Offer expires at 11:59pm PST on October 4, 2009. Offer is not transferable and valid only for intended recipient. Void where prohibited. Terms and conditions for Adobe MAX registrations will also apply.
So… Since there are so many of you reading this, this invitation is very appropriate. If you are in the Bangalore area on August 4th, I would love to meet you at Adobe’s Devsummit. We have an exciting day scheduled for you and we’ll cover everything from Flash Builder 4 to Flash Catalyst to ColdFusion to mobile and more.
Since I’m in India all week, I’ll also visit some customers, visit the Flex user group in Pune, speak at the Bangalore University and meet our developers and engineers working on Flex and ColdFusion.
Hope to see you there!
