1 code base, 6 devices: Now including BlackBerry PlayBook
A couple of weeks ago I published a post about a proof-of-concept application that I built for a local commercial broadcaster. The app that I built in just 5 hours ran on 5 different devices. As I just started playing around with the BlackBerry PlayBook SDK I wanted to see how long it would take to push this app to the PlayBook. I was pleasantly surprised that it just worked! It only took me 2 minutes. So I can now say: 1 code base, 5 hours, 6 devices! It now runs on my desktop/laptop, HTC Desire HD (Android smartphone), Samsung Galaxy Tab (Android tablet), Google TV, AIR for TV, and now the BlackBerry PlayBook. And that, my friends, is the power of the Flash Platform! ;-) It’s a great time to be a Flash developer!
When you look at the video you will see one small flaw in my app though. The preloader screen doesn’t adapt to the bigger screen resolution so that will be the only thing I would have to update. Everything else is exactly the same code as the Android version of the application.
To get started building applications for the BlackBerry PlayBook check out the BlackBerry developer site. My fellow evangelist Renaun Erickson also has a ton of information about developing for the PlayBook on his blog!
Please note that the PlayBook emulator currently does not output audio from Flash video files and currently only plays videos that are encoded with the On2 VP6 codec. This is only a limitation because of the beta quality of the emulator.
1 code base, 5 hours, 5 devices. Powered by Flash!
Last week I had a bit of extra time to work on some demos and wanted to build something that could run on multiple devices. The Flash Platform is actually a very good choice to build multi-screen applications. A variety of devices already support Flash Player 10.1 in the browser and/or Adobe AIR and the list of devices is growing rapidly. I currently have a Samsung Galaxy Tab, HTC Desire HD, Logitech Revue with Google TV and a Broadcom AIR for TV set top box and wanted to build something that could run on all of these and in the browser on my desktop. Many of you know that I have a background in the broadcast industry so the choice for doing something with video was an easy one.
One of my good friends works at VT4. VT4 is part of the SBS Broadcasting Group and a very popular commercial TV station in Belgium. I knew they were playing around with some ideas and wanted to see if I could wow them ;-) As any broadcaster has these days they also have a bunch of video on their site. I started looking at how their video player was working and created a quick little proof of concept that would load an XML file with different videos. It took me about an hour to build the first working prototype that runs in the browser. I then asked them if they had an XML feed with the latest videos. I wanted to build something with real content and not something that I faked with local data and video.
Once I swapped the fake data and cleaned up the UI a bit the first device I wanted to test on was the Logitech Revue with Google TV. I just opened up the browser on the device and pointed it to the URL of the application on my server. The Logitech Revue comes with a keyboard remote control. The D-PAD on the keyboard sends out the same keycodes as the arrow keys on my laptop so the same application I was running on my laptop just worked exactly the same on the Logitech Revue. Device number 2 was done (number 1 being my laptop).
I also wanted to make an AIR for Android version that I could install on my HTC Desire HD and a Samsung Galaxy Tab. The only thing I had to change was the way the user interacts with the app. On a phone and a tablet the user uses his fingers instead of the keyboard input I was using on my laptop and the Google TV box. Again… This was the only thing I changed in the app before I compiled it as an APK and installed it on my phone and tablet. Number 3 and 4 worked perfectly.
The last device I wanted to try was the AIR for TV development box built by Broadcom. This is a prototype for a set top box that runs on AIR. At Adobe MAX we also had a Samsung Blu-ray player on display that can also run AIR applications. The set top box comes with a standard remote control. When the user presses a button on the remote control, a regular KeyboardEvent is fired off. It’s only a matter of getting the correct keycode and adding a function to it. Device number 5 was done.
It took me about 5 hours to build this application and do some minor tweaks to run it on these 5 devices. The only thing I changed was the input method. Everything else is exactly the same on all devices. I used Flash Builder Burrito to build it using the Flex framework. While it’s only a simple application I think this would take a lot longer if you had to build it with native code… And you wouldn’t be able to just reuse whatever you are using now in a Flash application in your browser. For instance, for a native application they would have to re-encode the video to a H.264. VT4 is currently using a mixture of the On2 VP6 codec and H.264 (not sure why but I’m sure they have a good reason for that).
I think this is a great example of the power of the Flash Platform!
Please note that I did not edit the video experience on the devices. In the video you’ll see the Samsung Galaxy Tab buffering the video for a second. I recorded the videos earlier this week and was experiencing some network issues. I did replace the audio with audio recorded on my laptop. I shot the video with my Canon 7D and the internal microphone is not really made for these kinds of videos.
Flash on!
Multi-screen development session at Flash On The Beach
Although Flash On The Beach is only 4 years old this year, it has already become a highlight in the Flash community. There something about FOTB that makes this one of the “must-go” conferences of the year. And it seems to be growing year after year!
This is going to be the first year that I’m actually doing a session at FOTB. “I’d better come up with an appealing session”, was my first thought when I got accepted as a speaker. After all, I am sharing the billboard with Flash rock stars like Keith Peters, Mario Klingemann, Mike Jones, Grant Skinner, Joa Ebert, Colin Moock and many more.
But… I think I have an interesting session lined up. With multi-screen development becoming increasingly important, I thought it was a good idea to do a session about that. Even more so because we have some interesting announcements lined up around the MAX timeframe which coincidentally happens to be just 2 weeks after FOTB… So… I’ll show you how to build an application that runs on multiple screens sharing the same code-base and using the capabilities available in the different runtimes.
Can you read between the lines…? “Same code-base across the different runtimes…” Anyone? ;-)
Early bird pricing for FOTB ends on July 24th and FOTB did sell out the last 2 years… So… What are you waiting for? See you in Brighton!
More info and tickets on http://www.flashonthebeach.com/
Making money with mobile apps outside Apple’s App Store
When I talk to developers about mobile application development, they all seem to think that Apple’s App Store is the only outlet where you can make money with mobile apps. Sure, Apple has done a terrific job making it easier for the consumer to buy and install apps on their iPhone but that doesn’t mean this is the only way. The iPhone market is also only a fraction of the total amount of mobile devices out there and people have been making money from mobile phone users for years now.
Here’s a little test. Turn on your television and tune in to any music channel. (Try to) Leave it on for half an hour and count the commercials for ringtone and application subscriptions you see. I’m pretty sure that after half an hour you’ve seen at least five for companies like the Ringtoneking, Jamster and Jamba. All of these (worldwide) providers allow users of just about any mobile phone to buy, download and install mobile applications. All it takes is a simple premium SMS that returns a download link. People have been doing this for years now and the Ringtonekings of this world are obviously making a ton of money from it.
Sure, it’s not the most ideal solution and again, Apple has done a fantastic job with the App Store. However, if these ringtone/app providers have been making money for so long, that means that people have been buying and installing ringtones, games and apps way before the iPhone was even conceived.
Conclusion: If you want to make money from mobile application development, why not do it for the broadest possible audience? And if you’ve made that choice, look in to Flash for mobile devices. It’s available on more than 400 650 (source: Device Central CS4) different mobile phones from just about all manufacturers including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, HTC, LG, …
Building Flash applications for Facebook just became a whole lot easier
Facebook and Adobe have just released an ActionScript 3.0 Client Library for the Facebook Platform API. This will make it a whole lot easier for Flash developers to build applications for the Facebook Platform using Flash, Flex and AIR.
If you have already built a Flash based application for Facebook in the past, you’re probably wondering what is so new about this release. While there are some unofficial libraries out there, many of these struggle to stay up to date with the rapidly evolving Facebook Platform. Today’s release makes ActionScript one of three officially supported languages of the Facebook Platform. The new AS3.0 Client Library is fully supported by Facebook and Adobe. Both Facebook and Adobe are committed to making sure that this library is kept up to date and provides the best experience for developers building on both platforms.
Danny Dura published a quick start video tutorial that will get you building Flash apps for the Facebook Platform in no time. We’ve also created a dedicated area on the Adobe Developer Connection that has everything you need to get inspired and get started.
Flash on!
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