The talk James Ward and I are delivering on day one of Adobe MAX 2008 is filling up fast. The talk is entitled AIR Boot Camp and will be delivered both in San Francisco and Milan. Curious about AIR? This is the place to go! If you are planning to attend, please register soon, space is limited to only 300 and it is over half gone as of today.
Also - if you are attending, we might get through the content before the time is up (it is a 3 hour mega lab session and all hands on coding). Accordingly, in true community style, James and I would like to ask you to suggest additional topics we can address. So far the outline is as follows; comments are also welcome:
Adobe AIR Boot Camp
Duane Nickull + James Ward
Teachers Aides: Andrew Spaulding (need 2 more).
Audience Assumptions
- This is a 101 Boot camp to introduce people to AIR
who have never used it before or want to go past Hello World.
- Attendees have Adobe’s AIR runtime installed
- Attendees are roughly familiar with XML syntax rules
- Attendees have Flex Builder 3 installed
Description
Join us for an introduction to working with Adobe AIR, in which we will build several projects from start to finish. Projects include "HelloWorld.air," a video player, a "full screen" application, a web service client, a simple example of how to make remote calls, a chromeless window application, writing data to and from a hard disk, working with XML (including RSS feeds), and packaging AIR applications for later distribution. Course materials include the presentation, all code for the projects, and a step-by-step written tutorial.
Topics
An overview of AIR
Architecture
Runtime Architecture
Development environment
Code, Code and more Code!
Projects:
1. Advanced Hello World (learn data binding, compiling, using [Binding], variables, using AS3 and MXML in a project, and much more
2. Chromeless applications - building applications with no system chrome
3. Video Capture and manipulation - use a stream
4. Video playbakc and full screen controls
5. Working with Audio and Events - event handling, audio playback controls
6. HTML - using HTML within an AIR app
7. Reading and writing to the local disk
8. Working with XML - all about E4X, pre-requisite to learn how to manipulate RSS and Web Services call returns.
9. Web Service Introspection and Consumption
10. Exporting, Signing, Distributing and installing AIR applications
Extra projects (we may not get to these if time goes slowly)
11. MySQLite
12. Using NativeWindowing API's
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
How about a solution that benefits the people (gasp!)
I am angered today by the continuing rhetoric from Washington on how to solve the financial sector meltdown. The powers that be want to spend Americans tax dollars (hard earned by the average American) to bail out big Wall Street firms. Under the current plan, this includes paying CEOs multi-millions of dollars for running a business into the ground. Is this fair to the average person who works very hard? Will this even solve the problem (it really just transfers debt from one balance sheet to another). Luckily, several legislators have jumped in to question the bill before congress.
Why not give the money directly to the homeowners to pay their mortgages? If the big Wall Street firms still cannot survive, let them die but do not take money from Americans to give to companies who have flawed business plans. From my limited understanding, it appears that under such a plan, the average American would be able to keep their house, most of the big banks would benefit from lower foreclosure rates and not fall into chaos and the average American would then have extra $$ to further stimulate the economy. Note that the entire deal could be done via immediate tax cuts. After all, aren't Republicans supposed to be about small government and lower taxes? What sense does it make to have a big lender financially solvent while having millions of people out on the streets, no longer having a home?
There are lots of smart people in the financial sector. Warren Buffett warned of the time bomb the derivatives practices would have on the sector over five years ago. He called them financial weapons of mass destruction. Why did some chose to ignore him? What about those who did heed the warnings? There is certainly a lot of good opportunity to see which banks and mortgage lenders are left to take the business lost by their insolvent counterparts.
I need a beer.
Why not give the money directly to the homeowners to pay their mortgages? If the big Wall Street firms still cannot survive, let them die but do not take money from Americans to give to companies who have flawed business plans. From my limited understanding, it appears that under such a plan, the average American would be able to keep their house, most of the big banks would benefit from lower foreclosure rates and not fall into chaos and the average American would then have extra $$ to further stimulate the economy. Note that the entire deal could be done via immediate tax cuts. After all, aren't Republicans supposed to be about small government and lower taxes? What sense does it make to have a big lender financially solvent while having millions of people out on the streets, no longer having a home?
There are lots of smart people in the financial sector. Warren Buffett warned of the time bomb the derivatives practices would have on the sector over five years ago. He called them financial weapons of mass destruction. Why did some chose to ignore him? What about those who did heed the warnings? There is certainly a lot of good opportunity to see which banks and mortgage lenders are left to take the business lost by their insolvent counterparts.
I need a beer.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Recording of my SOA, Web 2.0 talk with HP's Jeff Myers
On Tuesday, Sept 9, Jeff and I presented a Webinar (1,000 registered) to discuss Web 2.0 and SOA in very pragmatic terms including establishing a comprehensive IT testing framework for enterprise adoptions of Web 2.0. The first part of the talk really focuses in on the definition of Web 2.0 and SOA. When you accept that Web 2.0 is a set of architectural, social, and design patterns that can be re-purposed for other enterprises, the question then becomes one of how to develop an orderly deployment, management, and testing strategy. Jeff addresses the latter.
The session is now available on demand at
http://www.eseminarslive.com/c/a/Service-Oriented-Architecture/HP090908/?partnerref=CL090908HP1
The first set of talks I did on this subject still remain popular. In fact, my presentation from last year on SlideShare has now garnered over 22,000 views. Here is the slide deck. Anyone is welcome to use this resource to help explain Web 2.0 to others.
The session is now available on demand at
http://www.eseminarslive.com/c/a/Service-Oriented-Architecture/HP090908/?partnerref=CL090908HP1
The first set of talks I did on this subject still remain popular. In fact, my presentation from last year on SlideShare has now garnered over 22,000 views. Here is the slide deck. Anyone is welcome to use this resource to help explain Web 2.0 to others.
Kraft to replace AIG on Dow?
I just saw a report from Forbes indicating that amidst the recent financial market turmoil, Kraft Inc will now replace AIG on the Dow Industrial Index. I guess this is only fitting as a lot more people will be dining on Kraft dinner given the recent market events. Maybe worth investing into?
Doing the Math:
Seriously, I think too many people are not appreciating the true gravity of the current economic situation. Is the United States of America potentially insolvent? This is a striking question. As of September 2008, the total U.S. federal debt was approximately $9.7 trillion, about $31,700 per capita (that is, per U.S. resident). Note that this figure is inclusive of children and retirees; the actual burden on working, middle class Americans is higher. Now add in the recent $4.4 trillion bailout of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac. This brings the total Federal debt to over $14 trillion USD. Given that only about 250,000,000 Americans work, this equals $56,000 per person. That figure is only the Fed's debt however. Now add in the average American's personal debt and the government's other debt and the numbers should scare everyone. The sum of all this is that even being taxed at close to 50%, the revenue from income tax alone might not be sufficient to pay off the interest alone (never mind the principal) of the debt if interest rates rise a modest 2%. Yikes!
As someone who has financial views closely aligned with the classical Republic platform of smaller government, financial responsibility, accountability and fiscal growth, I have found that the current administration's economics are far worse than any other administration in history. As someone who cares deeply for the USA, I am saddened to see what has happened and hope someone can turn it around for the sake of all Americans.
What pains me beyond belief is that if I ran a business into the ground, I would never ask taxpayers to fund my bad business decisions yet when the large banks and insurance companies do this, the government uses taxpayer money to bail them out. Think about this. The government is taking your tax money to give to banks to lend back to you at interest. This seems wrong IMO.
What happened to fiscal accountability? Why are people not being investigated for this? Better question- who can fix it? Obama? McCain? Certainly not Palin. Time to invest in food producing land and gold?
What to do?
The first thing I urge people to do is educate themselves. Watch this show on Google video. It is called the Money Masters. Do you know how your money is printed in the US? Do you know how money is created from debt? Where is the gold that used to back the US currency? This show has some of these answers.
Then go to the store and buy some Kraft dinner. Some things never go out of style.
Doing the Math:
Seriously, I think too many people are not appreciating the true gravity of the current economic situation. Is the United States of America potentially insolvent? This is a striking question. As of September 2008, the total U.S. federal debt was approximately $9.7 trillion, about $31,700 per capita (that is, per U.S. resident). Note that this figure is inclusive of children and retirees; the actual burden on working, middle class Americans is higher. Now add in the recent $4.4 trillion bailout of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac. This brings the total Federal debt to over $14 trillion USD. Given that only about 250,000,000 Americans work, this equals $56,000 per person. That figure is only the Fed's debt however. Now add in the average American's personal debt and the government's other debt and the numbers should scare everyone. The sum of all this is that even being taxed at close to 50%, the revenue from income tax alone might not be sufficient to pay off the interest alone (never mind the principal) of the debt if interest rates rise a modest 2%. Yikes!
As someone who has financial views closely aligned with the classical Republic platform of smaller government, financial responsibility, accountability and fiscal growth, I have found that the current administration's economics are far worse than any other administration in history. As someone who cares deeply for the USA, I am saddened to see what has happened and hope someone can turn it around for the sake of all Americans.
What pains me beyond belief is that if I ran a business into the ground, I would never ask taxpayers to fund my bad business decisions yet when the large banks and insurance companies do this, the government uses taxpayer money to bail them out. Think about this. The government is taking your tax money to give to banks to lend back to you at interest. This seems wrong IMO.
What happened to fiscal accountability? Why are people not being investigated for this? Better question- who can fix it? Obama? McCain? Certainly not Palin. Time to invest in food producing land and gold?
What to do?
The first thing I urge people to do is educate themselves. Watch this show on Google video. It is called the Money Masters. Do you know how your money is printed in the US? Do you know how money is created from debt? Where is the gold that used to back the US currency? This show has some of these answers.
Then go to the store and buy some Kraft dinner. Some things never go out of style.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Some thoughts on how to leave a smaller footprint
Since the whole "ecosustainabiodiversorganicgreenvironmentality" noise is rampant in Vancouver, I have been using some of my spare intellect cycles to put thoughts around how we can mitigate our footprints on this planet. Many of these ideas are unique to Vancouver but some of them might be useful outside of Canada. Not all of these ideas will necessarily be useful or good for all, but I do want to offer these to anyone who is in a position to make change.
Some of these ideas are not possible at the local level and require national leadership - likely chance given our current government.
1. Require all manufacturers who ship food in glass jars to use Mason-style canning jars or other re-usable glass shapes (such as drinking glasses) which can be re-used by consumers rather than recycled. It struck me as odd that only one or two companies (Catelli Pasta/Pizza Sauce and Kuhne Mustard) seem to have caught on to this trend. It makes no sense that consumers will buy a can of pizza sauce then go to another aisle to purchase canning jars if they could get both in one purchase and repurpose the container. Accounting for the unnecessary trips to buy canning/preserving jars and for trucks to deliver these items to store shelves and the energy savings can add up. The cost to existing manufacturers would be minimal - no losers here as the canning jar manufacturers would be selling to the food manufacturers.
Caveat: Vancouver alone will not be able to force change on this and lobbying other governments at a higher level will be necessary to invoke change.
2. Immediately ban the sale of the following items from store shelves within Vancouver:
a. Disposable razor blades. Alternatives – non-disposable razors. There are no valid use cases for disposable razors over non-disposables and the plastic in the handles can be reused if a consumer could simply fit in new blades.
b. Liquid plumber and all other dangerous chemical compounds for plumbing system cleansing. These are harmful to marine wildlife and compounds end up coming back into the food chain and being consumed by humans. Alternatives – compressed air, snake lines, calling a plumber.
c. Incandescent light bulbs (except certain types). Alternatives – compact fluorescent. Old style bulbs waste a lot of energy dissipating it as thermal heat and light that is beyond the visible spectrum.
Note that the initial net costs of the alternative items are higher but all pay for themselves over time.
3. Within Schools, ban the consumption of small (200 ml or less) juice or beverage packages and require parents to use a thermos or other reusable container. While tetra packs can be recycled, the evidence suggests that the net cost is still rather high in terms of forming the packaging and using extra packaging to aggregate multiple smaller containers. A better option would be to use reusable containers for all smaller beverages.
4. Lobby the BC liquor board to relax its monopoly over alcohol sales and allow sales of beer and wine in most grocery stores. Right now, many citizens are driving longer trips to get to the small number of liquor outlets in Vancouver. The driving that could be reduced is significant. If each citizen drove an average of 5 km less in a year, the savings of energy would be spectacular. The provincial government is stuck on this old school model of alcohol sales and BC remains one of the few locations in the world that does not allow beer and wine to be sold in grocery stores. It is time for this model to die in the name of the environment.
5. Add mandatory packaging material recycling stations to all Canada Post outlets where people can return Styrofoam chips, air packaging, boxes and other re-useable packing materials. The big loser here would be Canada Post as they cannot keep selling new packaging materials. Big winner – all people who need packaging materials and do not have to purchase them.
6. Build a gypsum recycling plant and mandate that all drywall and other gypsum board waste be recycled. Included in this idea would be a fuel efficient truck fleet to pick up gypsum waste by scheduling routes to avoid owners of waste having to drive long distances to recycle. The owners would pay a small fee to cover the charge or this could be billed with the sale of new drywall.
7. Expand the current car co-op/Zip car type programs to include more free parking spaces to encourage community car sharing. The city has opted to test a few of these by providing special parking spaces for community (“co-op”) cars. Encourage people to use these at least as a second vehicle rather than buy a second car for part time use. Note that some people use these as their primary cars.
8. Begin to adopt the Israeli electric car fleet idea with battery replacement stations. The Israeli’s have the most motivation to get off foreign oil of any country in the world. They have a great plan which seems to be making sense from a physics standpoint. The scheme involves consumers buying or leasing an electric auto with a quick change battery pack that can be replaced in minutes at service stations, allowing up to 125 KM per battery. Consumers will subscribe to monthly plans.
9. Mandate all new buildings must be certified LEED Silver or higher starting in 2009. Offer tax incentives and extra floor space for buildings that make the highest standards where the NET energy gains are greatest. Encourage innovation.
10. Increase the number of roundabouts where they can replace stoplights. Roundabouts do not require cars to come to a complete stop thus save energy over requiring cars to completely stop and re-accelerate. Cars also do not have to wait at red lights idling nor does the city have to provide power for the traffic lights and spend energy replacing bulbs etc.
11. (Note: this particular item is probably not going to work as a provincial level as people would cross provincial borders to procure cheaper items. This one needs to be implemented at a national level). Require every manufacturer who sells automobiles, major appliances, small appliances, utility vehicles and other consumer items within BC to certify their items will last at least 5 years (most warranties on items like microwave ovens are less than 1 year). This will initially be more expensive for manufacturers however the cost to the consumer will be less over time if appliances and other household items do not have to be replaced every two years. Furthermore, every manufacturer who offers their items for sale in BC must be required to supply parts for their items and make them repairable vs. throw away. All major components must be orderable by certified repair centres (items like Blender motors, microwave power supplies, etc.) at an aggregate cost of less than the original product cost.
12. Increase incentives for food bank trucks to pick up and distribute unused foods from conferences, restaurants, or other events where excess food is abundant and often wasted. Food that is made available at a buffet style event can often be reused by donation to the food bank for immediate consumption. There are liability issues which cause many restaurants to elect not to join these programs and government intervention might be worth investigating (similar to the good Samaritan act) to mitigate the risk to participating donors. A study to ensure a net gain in terms of energy used vs energy saved would be required before such a policy can be implemented.
13. Lobby the federal government hard to increase the fuel efficiency for ALL passenger cars imported and sold in Canada starting as soon as possible. Set maximum NET energy requirements for all cars and offer strong incentives to both consumers and industry to abide by these standards.
14. Plant fruit bearing trees in the boulevards and more coniferous trees in urban areas to help regulate heat, cold. The fruit trees help a domestic social problem by allowing those who cannot afford food free access to fruit at certain times of the year while taking no more resources than existing trees.
15. Bring back streetcars along strategic routes (Granville Street from Waterfront Station to 16th Avenue, Waterfront Station through Gastown around false creek to Granville Island and a branch line connecting to the Canada Line ALRT termination at Clarke, Denman Avenue from Stanley Park to Davie [loop], Canada Line to Stanley Park) with an eye to moving large numbers of people along corridors where foot traffic and shopping is high.
16. Impose a fee on plastic bags at grocery stores of $0.10 each to force people to think if they *really* need a bag after all. Too many times I have witnessed a person using one bag to carry a single item leaving a store. This behavior needs to change. It needs to be painful to not think.
That's all for now. If you have other ideas, I invite you to post them here.
Some of these ideas are not possible at the local level and require national leadership - likely chance given our current government.
1. Require all manufacturers who ship food in glass jars to use Mason-style canning jars or other re-usable glass shapes (such as drinking glasses) which can be re-used by consumers rather than recycled. It struck me as odd that only one or two companies (Catelli Pasta/Pizza Sauce and Kuhne Mustard) seem to have caught on to this trend. It makes no sense that consumers will buy a can of pizza sauce then go to another aisle to purchase canning jars if they could get both in one purchase and repurpose the container. Accounting for the unnecessary trips to buy canning/preserving jars and for trucks to deliver these items to store shelves and the energy savings can add up. The cost to existing manufacturers would be minimal - no losers here as the canning jar manufacturers would be selling to the food manufacturers.
Caveat: Vancouver alone will not be able to force change on this and lobbying other governments at a higher level will be necessary to invoke change.
2. Immediately ban the sale of the following items from store shelves within Vancouver:
a. Disposable razor blades. Alternatives – non-disposable razors. There are no valid use cases for disposable razors over non-disposables and the plastic in the handles can be reused if a consumer could simply fit in new blades.
b. Liquid plumber and all other dangerous chemical compounds for plumbing system cleansing. These are harmful to marine wildlife and compounds end up coming back into the food chain and being consumed by humans. Alternatives – compressed air, snake lines, calling a plumber.
c. Incandescent light bulbs (except certain types). Alternatives – compact fluorescent. Old style bulbs waste a lot of energy dissipating it as thermal heat and light that is beyond the visible spectrum.
Note that the initial net costs of the alternative items are higher but all pay for themselves over time.
3. Within Schools, ban the consumption of small (200 ml or less) juice or beverage packages and require parents to use a thermos or other reusable container. While tetra packs can be recycled, the evidence suggests that the net cost is still rather high in terms of forming the packaging and using extra packaging to aggregate multiple smaller containers. A better option would be to use reusable containers for all smaller beverages.
4. Lobby the BC liquor board to relax its monopoly over alcohol sales and allow sales of beer and wine in most grocery stores. Right now, many citizens are driving longer trips to get to the small number of liquor outlets in Vancouver. The driving that could be reduced is significant. If each citizen drove an average of 5 km less in a year, the savings of energy would be spectacular. The provincial government is stuck on this old school model of alcohol sales and BC remains one of the few locations in the world that does not allow beer and wine to be sold in grocery stores. It is time for this model to die in the name of the environment.
5. Add mandatory packaging material recycling stations to all Canada Post outlets where people can return Styrofoam chips, air packaging, boxes and other re-useable packing materials. The big loser here would be Canada Post as they cannot keep selling new packaging materials. Big winner – all people who need packaging materials and do not have to purchase them.
6. Build a gypsum recycling plant and mandate that all drywall and other gypsum board waste be recycled. Included in this idea would be a fuel efficient truck fleet to pick up gypsum waste by scheduling routes to avoid owners of waste having to drive long distances to recycle. The owners would pay a small fee to cover the charge or this could be billed with the sale of new drywall.
7. Expand the current car co-op/Zip car type programs to include more free parking spaces to encourage community car sharing. The city has opted to test a few of these by providing special parking spaces for community (“co-op”) cars. Encourage people to use these at least as a second vehicle rather than buy a second car for part time use. Note that some people use these as their primary cars.
8. Begin to adopt the Israeli electric car fleet idea with battery replacement stations. The Israeli’s have the most motivation to get off foreign oil of any country in the world. They have a great plan which seems to be making sense from a physics standpoint. The scheme involves consumers buying or leasing an electric auto with a quick change battery pack that can be replaced in minutes at service stations, allowing up to 125 KM per battery. Consumers will subscribe to monthly plans.
9. Mandate all new buildings must be certified LEED Silver or higher starting in 2009. Offer tax incentives and extra floor space for buildings that make the highest standards where the NET energy gains are greatest. Encourage innovation.
10. Increase the number of roundabouts where they can replace stoplights. Roundabouts do not require cars to come to a complete stop thus save energy over requiring cars to completely stop and re-accelerate. Cars also do not have to wait at red lights idling nor does the city have to provide power for the traffic lights and spend energy replacing bulbs etc.
11. (Note: this particular item is probably not going to work as a provincial level as people would cross provincial borders to procure cheaper items. This one needs to be implemented at a national level). Require every manufacturer who sells automobiles, major appliances, small appliances, utility vehicles and other consumer items within BC to certify their items will last at least 5 years (most warranties on items like microwave ovens are less than 1 year). This will initially be more expensive for manufacturers however the cost to the consumer will be less over time if appliances and other household items do not have to be replaced every two years. Furthermore, every manufacturer who offers their items for sale in BC must be required to supply parts for their items and make them repairable vs. throw away. All major components must be orderable by certified repair centres (items like Blender motors, microwave power supplies, etc.) at an aggregate cost of less than
12. Increase incentives for food bank trucks to pick up and distribute unused foods from conferences, restaurants, or other events where excess food is abundant and often wasted. Food that is made available at a buffet style event can often be reused by donation to the food bank for immediate consumption. There are liability issues which cause many restaurants to elect not to join these programs and government intervention might be worth investigating (similar to the good Samaritan act) to mitigate the risk to participating donors. A study to ensure a net gain in terms of energy used vs energy saved would be required before such a policy can be implemented.
13. Lobby the federal government hard to increase the fuel efficiency for ALL passenger cars imported and sold in Canada starting as soon as possible. Set maximum NET energy requirements for all cars and offer strong incentives to both consumers and industry to abide by these standards.
14. Plant fruit bearing trees in the boulevards and more coniferous trees in urban areas to help regulate heat, cold. The fruit trees help a domestic social problem by allowing those who cannot afford food free access to fruit at certain times of the year while taking no more resources than existing trees.
15. Bring back streetcars along strategic routes (Granville Street from Waterfront Station to 16th Avenue, Waterfront Station through Gastown around false creek to Granville Island and a branch line connecting to the Canada Line ALRT termination at Clarke, Denman Avenue from Stanley Park to Davie [loop], Canada Line to Stanley Park) with an eye to moving large numbers of people along corridors where foot traffic and shopping is high.
16. Impose a fee on plastic bags at grocery stores of $0.10 each to force people to think if they *really* need a bag after all. Too many times I have witnessed a person using one bag to carry a single item leaving a store. This behavior needs to change. It needs to be painful to not think.
That's all for now. If you have other ideas, I invite you to post them here.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
How to run LC ES 8.0 and 8.2 on the same machine!
Okay - if you read the headline and are now reading this, you are a geek, a developer or both. There is no way normal people would read up on this topic. What about me though - I wrote it. Dang!!
About a week or two ago on the Google LiveCycle Developers list, Jochem van Dietem posted a question asking if it was possible to run two versions of LiveCycle ES (8.0 and 8.2) side by side. After some preliminary advice from members, we basically realized this was new ground and Jochem graciously agreed to be a guinea pig and see if it was possible. Not even Adobe Product Management had done this (to be fair, there is not really any valid use case for this other than developers who want to write and test Adobe LiveCycle applications on two different versions).
Jochem got both the install done and then documented how to install and run the two versions. The articles are here:
http://jochem.vandieten.net/2008/09/15/installing-multiple-versions-of-livecycle-es/
And the followup article about running them simultaneously:
http://jochem.vandieten.net/2008/09/16/running-multiple-versions-of-livecycle-es-simultaneously/
About a week or two ago on the Google LiveCycle Developers list, Jochem van Dietem posted a question asking if it was possible to run two versions of LiveCycle ES (8.0 and 8.2) side by side. After some preliminary advice from members, we basically realized this was new ground and Jochem graciously agreed to be a guinea pig and see if it was possible. Not even Adobe Product Management had done this (to be fair, there is not really any valid use case for this other than developers who want to write and test Adobe LiveCycle applications on two different versions).
Jochem got both the install done and then documented how to install and run the two versions. The articles are here:
http://jochem.vandieten.net/2008/09/15/installing-multiple-versions-of-livecycle-es/
And the followup article about running them simultaneously:
http://jochem.vandieten.net/2008/09/16/running-multiple-versions-of-livecycle-es-simultaneously/
Monday, September 15, 2008
A way to get into MAX 2008 for free
One lucky person is going to get into Adobe MAX 2008 for free. Adobe and ZIO Pro are offering an exclusive opportunity to send a Creative or IT Director to Adobe’s MAX 2008 conference in San Francisco.
Registrants will be entered for a chance to win a trip to Adobe MAX 2008 in San Francisco. The winner will receive a free all access pass to the event as well as free air travel to San Francisco and free hotel stay. No obligation and no credit card information necessary.
In addition, every registrant for ZIO's contest will get access to a 30 Day 10 Seat software training license for their team - absolutely free – including full length training courses on Dreamweaver CS3, Flash CS3, and Photoshop CS3. Every qualified registrant will also receive a free e-Book – ‘Adobe Air with Ajax’ or ‘Presentation Zen’.
To register for this limited time offer:
IT Directors/Managers can go to: http://www.zoom-in.com/promo/30daytrial-usergroups.html?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=IT&utm_campaign=adobe
Creative Directors/Managers can go to: http://www.zoom-in.com/promo/30daytrial-creative.html?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=creative&utm_campaign=adobe
Registrants will be entered for a chance to win a trip to Adobe MAX 2008 in San Francisco. The winner will receive a free all access pass to the event as well as free air travel to San Francisco and free hotel stay. No obligation and no credit card information necessary.
In addition, every registrant for ZIO's contest will get access to a 30 Day 10 Seat software training license for their team - absolutely free – including full length training courses on Dreamweaver CS3, Flash CS3, and Photoshop CS3. Every qualified registrant will also receive a free e-Book – ‘Adobe Air with Ajax’ or ‘Presentation Zen’.
To register for this limited time offer:
IT Directors/Managers can go to: http://www.zoom-in.com/promo/30daytrial-usergroups.html?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=IT&utm_campaign=adobe
Creative Directors/Managers can go to: http://www.zoom-in.com/promo/30daytrial-creative.html?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=creative&utm_campaign=adobe
Friday, September 12, 2008
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”.
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”.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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?
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
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!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Flash FireFox 3 Bug - Please help us!
People - we need your help on this one. The issue:
There are reports from various parties on a Firefox 3, Flash bug pertaining to video playback. A post on the Fireox Bugzilla site by Kirsten sums it up nicely:
Rafe Needleman made a fairly interesting post about how this problem has been known about since May yet neither Adobe nor Mozilla seem to be able to fix it. We actually have not even determined what causes the behavior or where it originates from. Rays post was very well balanced although the Mozilla spokesperson Mike Beltzner's quote really made me twitch when I read it. A very myopic mind might be inclined to blame Adobe solely for the purpose he views us as "proprietary" based on his narrow definition of "Open Source" (Adobe has moved a lot towards open source in the last 3 years and we love open source). I would rather avoid finger pointing and concentrate on how we (all of us) work together to solve this issue.
So what is the real problem? Why can this bug not be squashed? How can you help?
Kudos to John Dowdell who took the time to really illustrate the difficulties in tracking it down and document his thoughts (linked to from Rafe’s page). Before you read the rest of this, you might want to read John's post.
Additionally, since this is a non-fatal error, it does not generate one of those system snapshots and send it back to us or anyone else. This means we do not have a very good picture of what is exactly happening.
Conclusions?
I would like to invite all invite people to contact us who can produce this bug on demand. As John states, you cannot fix something you cannot see and it seems no one has been able to produce this behavior on demand in a sandbox. Since we (Microsoft, Adobe, Mozilla, Users) cannot produce this bug on demand, it is not possible to fix. John also notes that it might be a mistake to assume this is only "a" bug; it may be several.
Here are some clues:
1. It (apparently) only appears on XP and Vista with FF and FP9. Since I am on a Mac, I have never noticed this.
2. Many people seem to note that Java somehow has an influence. It seems to be possible but there are not yet consistent patterns.
3. While running Windows XP/Vista in Safe mode, the bug does not happen. Note that this is possibly due to coincidence and if you have managed to encounter it in safe mode, please drop a comment here to tell us so we don't look up the wrong tree.
4. Many people report they only encounter it only after FF has been running for a while (>60 min).
Here is what you can help with.
- if you encounter this bug, please note the following:
1. What specific version of FF and Flash Player are you on?
2. What specific version of Windows are you using?
3. how long has FF3 been open before the crash occurs?
4. What specific video are you trying to play?
5. What language settings do you have?
Bonus points for the following:
6. How many tabs did you have open? Are any of them also playing video or Flash content?
7. Can you capture your system memory profile?
8. Check your system error log and note any peculiar information.
9. By taking the exacty same steps, can you reproduce it?
Be vigilent for any extra bits of details to help notice the pattern. Are you VPN'd when it happens vs direct connection? What other applications were open?
Most important - if you can produce this on demand, please contact us directly (email me at dnickull at adobe dot com) and we can rush it to the right people.
There is a page set up to collect input. While you can post relevant information here to help others out, please don't forget to tell the Adobe and others teams working on this:
https://bugs.adobe.com/jira/secure/IssueNavigator.jspa?component=10640&sorter/field=priority&mode=hide&reset=true&pid=10080&sorter/order=ASC
That's all for now - thank you in advance.
There are reports from various parties on a Firefox 3, Flash bug pertaining to video playback. A post on the Fireox Bugzilla site by Kirsten sums it up nicely:
Sadly, today this has not been solved. WHY? It is not as easy to solve this as it appears.Googling this problem, I've seen it's a persistant and ongoing problem for a lot of people, but I don't see that it's been addressed anywhere by firefox.
I've noticed since the latest update that sometimes (not all the time) flash audio/video will load and look as if it's starting to play, but then will freeze at two seconds. Even if you open a new browser, or tab, the problem persists. I will then have to close all currently open firefox windows and tabs, start again, and then (usually) videos will play.
This is a persistent, frustrating problem. IE will play these vids/audio no problem. It's a bummer. I certainly don't want to go back to go back to IE. Yuk.
Firefox, Help!!
I have the latest versions of both Firefox, Flash (and java). And I don't have the ActiveX plugin.
Rafe Needleman made a fairly interesting post about how this problem has been known about since May yet neither Adobe nor Mozilla seem to be able to fix it. We actually have not even determined what causes the behavior or where it originates from. Rays post was very well balanced although the Mozilla spokesperson Mike Beltzner's quote really made me twitch when I read it. A very myopic mind might be inclined to blame Adobe solely for the purpose he views us as "proprietary" based on his narrow definition of "Open Source" (Adobe has moved a lot towards open source in the last 3 years and we love open source). I would rather avoid finger pointing and concentrate on how we (all of us) work together to solve this issue.
So what is the real problem? Why can this bug not be squashed? How can you help?
Kudos to John Dowdell who took the time to really illustrate the difficulties in tracking it down and document his thoughts (linked to from Rafe’s page). Before you read the rest of this, you might want to read John's post.
Additionally, since this is a non-fatal error, it does not generate one of those system snapshots and send it back to us or anyone else. This means we do not have a very good picture of what is exactly happening.
Conclusions?
I would like to invite all invite people to contact us who can produce this bug on demand. As John states, you cannot fix something you cannot see and it seems no one has been able to produce this behavior on demand in a sandbox. Since we (Microsoft, Adobe, Mozilla, Users) cannot produce this bug on demand, it is not possible to fix. John also notes that it might be a mistake to assume this is only "a" bug; it may be several.
Here are some clues:
1. It (apparently) only appears on XP and Vista with FF and FP9. Since I am on a Mac, I have never noticed this.
2. Many people seem to note that Java somehow has an influence. It seems to be possible but there are not yet consistent patterns.
3. While running Windows XP/Vista in Safe mode, the bug does not happen. Note that this is possibly due to coincidence and if you have managed to encounter it in safe mode, please drop a comment here to tell us so we don't look up the wrong tree.
4. Many people report they only encounter it only after FF has been running for a while (>60 min).
Here is what you can help with.
- if you encounter this bug, please note the following:
1. What specific version of FF and Flash Player are you on?
2. What specific version of Windows are you using?
3. how long has FF3 been open before the crash occurs?
4. What specific video are you trying to play?
5. What language settings do you have?
Bonus points for the following:
6. How many tabs did you have open? Are any of them also playing video or Flash content?
7. Can you capture your system memory profile?
8. Check your system error log and note any peculiar information.
9. By taking the exacty same steps, can you reproduce it?
Be vigilent for any extra bits of details to help notice the pattern. Are you VPN'd when it happens vs direct connection? What other applications were open?
Most important - if you can produce this on demand, please contact us directly (email me at dnickull at adobe dot com) and we can rush it to the right people.
There is a page set up to collect input. While you can post relevant information here to help others out, please don't forget to tell the Adobe and others teams working on this:
https://bugs.adobe.com/jira/secure/IssueNavigator.jspa?component=10640&sorter/field=priority&mode=hide&reset=true&pid=10080&sorter/order=ASC
That's all for now - thank you in advance.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Eine neues Web Zwei-punkt-null Filme mit Tim und Duane?
Hier, ein neuer Web 2.0 Film aus dem Netz mit Tim O'Reilly, mir und anderen. Wir sprechen nur Deutsch (Berliner Akzent?) aber es ist fuer alle ein guter Film. Wir fragen "Was ist Web 2.0".
Unendliche Weiten, jeder redet darüber, aber die wenigsten wissen überhaupt, was sich hinter diesem Bergriff versteckt: Web 2.0. Ein Erklärungsversuch ist vielleicht die Definition, dass man viele bekannte Web-Programmiertechnologien intelligent zusammengefügt hat, um die Benutzung des Internets einfacher zu machen.
Tim ist ganz Kool!
Unendliche Weiten, jeder redet darüber, aber die wenigsten wissen überhaupt, was sich hinter diesem Bergriff versteckt: Web 2.0. Ein Erklärungsversuch ist vielleicht die Definition, dass man viele bekannte Web-Programmiertechnologien intelligent zusammengefügt hat, um die Benutzung des Internets einfacher zu machen.
Tim ist ganz Kool!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Duane's World 9 - Tim O'Reilly and John Markoff @ FooCamp
This episode of Duane's World is by far my favorite and has two spectacular interviews. One is with Web 2.0 guru and media mogul Tim O'Reilly (founder - O'Reilly Media); the second interview is a killer exploration of the new media with New York Times Reporter John Markoff. During this interview, we discuss the Iranian Missile test Photoshop debacle and the importance of a free, independent press for any democracy. John raises some great thoughts on why we might be in ambiguity for a few years. Tim provides some interesting thoughts on the future of technology as well as mind-body hacking and what Foo Camp is all about.
BitPakkit (a.k.a. Ben Watson) provides the mix for Code and Tunes. The Code and Tunes segment is based on fault event detection and handling as submitted by Matt MacKenzie. Very worthwhile for anyone who wants to learn how to interact with remote resources in Flex or AIR.
I have to say that Duane's World has been more successful than I ever imagined and I am honored by the guests who are willing to be interviewed for the show. This is truly a humbling experience. Enjoy!
BitPakkit (a.k.a. Ben Watson) provides the mix for Code and Tunes. The Code and Tunes segment is based on fault event detection and handling as submitted by Matt MacKenzie. Very worthwhile for anyone who wants to learn how to interact with remote resources in Flex or AIR.
I have to say that Duane's World has been more successful than I ever imagined and I am honored by the guests who are willing to be interviewed for the show. This is truly a humbling experience. Enjoy!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
SMX - the premiere Search Engine Optimization event
SMX East, scheduled for Oct 6-8, 2008, is fast approaching. I have only been to one SMX event, but I believe it is the premiere Search Engine Optimization event in the world. SMX East is 3 days long and holds more than 50 sessions and keynotes.
SMX is the brain child of two experts in SEO: long time SEO guru Danny Sullivan (formerly of www.searchenginewatch.org) and Vanessa Fox. Most of the SEO tips and tricks I learned in the 1990s were gleaned from Danny's writing and research. I consider both of them formidable experts on the subject of SEO. Google's Tim Armstrong will also be on hand to present.
I have posted some recent tips for Flash SEO and will be speaking at the Web 2.0 event with an all new presentation in Berlin called "Search Engines and Flash: Secrets, Tricks, and Black Magic". The talk will cover several key workarounds for better SEO results on Flash and new technical developments that have made new functionality available to search engines and developers alike. I will showcase some advanced tips and tricks to give you the edge over the competition as well as share some secrets so attendees will learn how to increase initial page rankings as well as monitor and increase dynamic page ranks.
Oh yeah - get to both of these events if you want to know more about Flash and SEO.
SMX is the brain child of two experts in SEO: long time SEO guru Danny Sullivan (formerly of www.searchenginewatch.org) and Vanessa Fox. Most of the SEO tips and tricks I learned in the 1990s were gleaned from Danny's writing and research. I consider both of them formidable experts on the subject of SEO. Google's Tim Armstrong will also be on hand to present.
I have posted some recent tips for Flash SEO and will be speaking at the Web 2.0 event with an all new presentation in Berlin called "Search Engines and Flash: Secrets, Tricks, and Black Magic". The talk will cover several key workarounds for better SEO results on Flash and new technical developments that have made new functionality available to search engines and developers alike. I will showcase some advanced tips and tricks to give you the edge over the competition as well as share some secrets so attendees will learn how to increase initial page rankings as well as monitor and increase dynamic page ranks.
Oh yeah - get to both of these events if you want to know more about Flash and SEO.
Friday, August 22, 2008
An Adobe LiveCycle ES course not to be missed
At Adobe MAX 2008, Bob Bailey is going to teach a full day long course on LiveCycle ES. Adobe's LiveCycle ES has been heralded by many architects as the best SOA platform for business process automation and is driving a resurgence in service bus thinking. The key platform has all the core tenets of the OASIS Reference Model for SOA baked in as well as a rich business process modeling and deployment toolset.
The Abstract is reprinted here for your information.
You may register here:
http://max.adobe.com/na/experience/#?s=3&p=0
The Abstract is reprinted here for your information.
LiveCycle ES: Building Applications
Learn how to develop and deploy applications with Adobe LiveCycle ES (Enterprise Suite). By enabling service-oriented architecture (SOA) and business process management (BPM), LiveCycle ES allows both business and IT professionals to visually assemble end-to-end processes that unify systems, people, business rules, and web services quickly and flexibly. We'll develop a LiveCycle based application using LiveCycle solution components and determine how to implement business rules in a process. We'll also cover process deployment and the LiveCycle workspace and use the record and playback feature to debug an application.You may register here:
http://max.adobe.com/na/experience/#?s=3&p=0
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Whistler Mountain Bike Park Video
The last two days I did some mountain bike filming for an upcoming video. This is a sample of the rider's point of view of the run "Crank it Up" on a pace of around 8 minutes. The rider ahead of me is my son Chris Nickull; I am wearing a helmet cam. For a greasy, muddy day it was a lot of fun.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Functional Testing Framework for AIR AJAX from Mihai!
My friend Mihai Corlan has written a great post on a project in which they have modified Selenium so you can run automated / functional tests on AIR applications developed with HTML/JS. This is a must read!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Duane's World Episode 8 - Foo Camp, Dries Buytaert, Bob Glushko!
Duane's World Episode 8 launched today. This episode is one of a two part series with great coverage of O'Reilly's Foo Camp, interviews from Drupal Founder Dries Buytaert (yes - he talks about his new venture with Jeff Whatcott), and Berkeley Professor Dr. Bob Glushko. The second part will air in two weeks with interviews with John Markoff (New York Times) and Tim O'Reilly.
Enjoy!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Mike on AIR on Linux
Once again Mike Chambers, guru of all things AIR, has made a great tutorial on getting started with AIR on Linux. Since a lot of readers of Duane's World poked me about posting more on Linux and Mike has prepared this, I wanted to make sure it gets some airtime (yeah it is a pun).
You can read Mike's Post here:
http://www.mikechambers.com/blog/2008/08/11/getting-started-with-adobe-air-on-linux-video/
You can read Mike's Post here:
http://www.mikechambers.com/blog/2008/08/11/getting-started-with-adobe-air-on-linux-video/
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