Duane's World Episode 10

Duane's World on Adobe TV and InsideRIA has now reached into double digits with Episode 10. In this show, Flash guru Clive Goodinson shows an in depth demo of the Pixton online comic strip creator and discusses how he balanced AJAX, Flash and PHP within the application. Clive also gives a tutorial on how to create comics on Pixton by building a Duane's World Comic strip.

The Codes and Tunes tutorial in this episode shows how to draw simple vector graphics in Flex Builder 3 with music guests Canadian rockers “6th Avenue Nightmare”.

Narrowing my new car choices

Well, the Porsche is gone and my wife and I are sharing a Land Rover Discovery. The Disco has to go though. I detest most newer British cars with a passion, although the Bentley and Austins are nice. Then again, why on god's green earth would someone build a power drivers seat that can adjust so far forward the head rest hits the steering wheel?

I have been researching getting a new 2008 BMW X3 compared
to the 2007 X3 there's more storage, and overall, the styling is more like BMW's
own 3-Series cars, with a touch of wood trim on the panels. The new features include a panoramic-style roof, heated front seats, available heated steering wheel (for the cold weather package,a must for Canadians like me), heated second row seats, side impact/curtain airbags, stability/traction control, park assist, and Bluetooth wireless technology.

The MSRP is about $36,000. I plan to test drive several automobiles
but for some reason I can’t wait to test drive the BMW X3,
hit the highway with a cup of Starbucks and throw in an acai for an
additional energy boost! The X3 is a far cry from my Porsche twin turbo but
for my family I think it’s just perfect.

A hybrid is also an option but I am waiting an environmental report that can clearly show a *NET* gain of being environmentally sensible. The BMW X3 will be far better than the Disco though for the environment.

Mix Match Music - a rising star using Flash and Flex!

The more the music industry flounders, the more musicians who understand technology will start to innovate. This is the latest example and it is built on the Adobe technology platform.

The real heavy metal of the 1980s!

I was there. This was not the 1980s 'poofter poodle' metal (Poison, Ratt) of MTV but the real, down to earth, in your face heavy metal. Ace Koden was a ground breaking band at the time from Victoria. While shunned by the mainstream media, the quietly scheming metal and punk acts had their own events, their own fan base and bootleg recording distribution networks. Watching bands like Black Flag and playing gigs with the Dayglows and No Means No at the FOE in Victoria were commonplace. This is when music had real heart - we were social rejects and we wanted everyone to know it. This was embraced in the way we dressed, the way we talked and our clothing. That is me on the right hand side. I was a metal head and proud of it!