This video shows how to use the MXML syntax and the graphics package in Flash Builder 4 to create a rectangle using the new Spark graphic packages. This is part of the new fx package for declarative graphics. You can use Rect or Ellipse to make most shapes. A circle is a specialized type of ellipse with a constant radius, a line is a Rect with a very small value for one of the thicknesses, and a square is a Rect with 4 equal sides. As with all of these tutorials, if you want the source, email me: dnickull at adobe dot com.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Best Duane's World Episode ever
Thanks to the great acting of Marc Thiele, Serge Jespers and Tom Krcha, this turned out to be a great episode. The code and tunes bits involve Marc's German Metal band Spoiler (well worth checking out) as well as Flex 4 Data Paging using PHP on the back end.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Fastest Broadband Service in the UK?
Ahh – life as an evangelist. Conferences, fun, parties, music, snowboarding, code camps, cutting edge software *bla-bla-bla* not enough words for the fun I have in my life. Lately, I’ve been working in the UK quite a bit and want to get all the comforts of home. I’ll be there again Nov 7-11, right after my stint at SAP in Walldorf. As an Adobe Evangelist, working remotely is hard. I often forget to bring files with me or download software from a high bandwidth site. Last Thursday while waiting at the airport, it really sunk in. You can’t just depend on most Internet companies to provide a good quality of service. Fifteen minutes to upload a simple blog post really sucks. When you forget the latest build of LiveCycle ES and try it over a normal wireless while VPN’d, forget it! At over 2GB, it just doesn’t work.
When I travel for Adobe, I expect some minimal comforts. Good hotel, good food, good car (if applicable) and more. Good Internet is the least I expect so I set out on a quest to find the best broadband in the UK. Finding a good high bandwidth hotspot is hard though. Nevertheless, my googling fetched an availability checker. All you do is hit in your postal/zip code and get an immediate response with the best deals and offers for broadband service for individual ISPs. The availability checker coughed up a list of multiple, fast broadband connections, prices, terms etc. I checked out a broadband comparison between ISPs, read a couple of reviews. Finally found one that suits my needs (namely does not compromise on the speed).
If you live in the UK or are passing through for a couple of days, you may want to try the broadband availability checker.
When I travel for Adobe, I expect some minimal comforts. Good hotel, good food, good car (if applicable) and more. Good Internet is the least I expect so I set out on a quest to find the best broadband in the UK. Finding a good high bandwidth hotspot is hard though. Nevertheless, my googling fetched an availability checker. All you do is hit in your postal/zip code and get an immediate response with the best deals and offers for broadband service for individual ISPs. The availability checker coughed up a list of multiple, fast broadband connections, prices, terms etc. I checked out a broadband comparison between ISPs, read a couple of reviews. Finally found one that suits my needs (namely does not compromise on the speed).
If you live in the UK or are passing through for a couple of days, you may want to try the broadband availability checker.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Nokia Sponsors "Web Professional Minute" with me
Here is a very short interview I did with Bill Cullifer (always a treat to work with him!) during the recent Adobe MAX event in Los Angeles, CA. The entire interview can be heard or downloaded here. Thank you once again Bill!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
A tribute to my Great Uncle - one of the smartest people ever!
This is reprinted from the memorandum article from UCLA. Kenneth MacKenzie was my great Uncle and one of the world's greatest scientists. He came from very humble beginnings and taught himself a lot of what he knew. I plan to write a punk rock song about him as he was far more punk that Blink 182 ever will be.
Kenneth Ross MacKenzie
Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Emeritus
Los Angeles
1912–2002
Kenneth Ross MacKenzie, who made contributions to nuclear physics, particle accelerators and plasma physics, died July 3, 2002 at age 90, following complications resulting from a series of small strokes, at his home in Los Angeles, California.
Ken was born in Portland, Oregon. The family moved to Victoria, British Columbia when he was 10 years old. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of British Columbia, and began further graduate study at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1937.
The longstanding vacancy in the periodic table at element 85 ended in 1940. Carson, MacKenzie and Segre, in the Physical Review, reported "Artificially Radioactive Element 85". They bombarded Bismuth-209 with alpha particles to produce what was suspected to be element 85-211. Physical, chemical and even physiological evidence confirmed the assignment. After a reminder to do so, in a 1947 Nature article, they named the element "Astatine", which means unstable in Greek. All 31 of the isotopes of Astatine are unstable.
When Ken began working in the Radiation Laboratory, the 60-inch cyclotron was nearing completion. He became involved with the radiofrequency (RF) system which produces the D-voltage. With this beginning he became an authority on RF systems. He made a major contribution to the design of the system for the 184-inch cyclotron which was completed in 1947. It was the first machine capable of producing mesons. He also made significant contributions to the system for TRIUMF, the meson factory which was completed in 1974. RF systems can be temperamental. Ken had an uncanny knack in getting them to perform properly.
Ken contributed to the development of cyclotrons from day one. He was in Berkeley when the first tests of large-current Uranium mass spectrometry were made in late 1941. He participated in the full scale tests which were made in the recently completed 184-inch magnet, beginning in mid-1942. An accelerating voltage had to be held constant with great precision. The system developed, involving RF signals, is described in a chapter which he contributed to a book in the National Nuclear Energy Series, Manhattan Project. Ken also went to Oak Ridge where he participated in the process of getting the production plant into operation.
In 1964 Ken wrote a paper titled "Space Charge Effects and Cyclotron Beam Enhancement." Cyclotrons had been in operation some thirty years and this effect had been overlooked. Near the center of a cyclotron there can be appreciable loss of particles which are near the surface of the circulating current due to repulsion by those particles within the body of the beam. Once the effect was recognized, steps could be taken to reduce it. As a result, several large synchrocyclotron laboratories were able to increase their research output.
McMillan and Veksler, during World War II, predicted means of increasing the upper energy limit of cyclotrons. The first test of the proposal was made in Berkeley in 1946. The 37-inch magnet was modified for the test. Ken participated, not surprisingly, in the design of the RF system, which now involved frequency modulation. The prediction was confirmed.
After World War II, UCLA was interested in establishing a program in nuclear physics. It was decided to move the 37-inch frequency-modulated cyclotron to UCLA to begin the new program. After a year at the University of British Columbia, Ken joined the UCLA faculty in 1947. Over the next 10 years he and his students performed positron-electron scattering experiments, stopping power measurements, precision range-energy relationships and a final increase of the "37-inch" energy to 20 Mev protons.
In about 1960, Ken initiated the UCLA Department of Physics program in experimental plasma physics. Over the next 15 years, with various colleagues, he published some 20 papers in this field, many involving various aspects of large quiescent plasmas. Early on, Ken and his students lined the walls of a vacuum chamber with permanent magnets of alternating polarity to suppress plasma electron losses. "MacKenzie buckets" are now universally used as plasma sources. He initiated an introductory undergraduate course in plasma physics and an accompanying laboratory (which used a restaurant size cooking pot as an ion bucket). He invented simple physical pictures for a number of plasma wave phenomena usually described in complex mathematical terms.
Ken can be given much credit for the impressive status of experimental plasma physics at UCLA today. Studies of plasmas in the ionosphere (Alfred Wong); the physically largest Electric Tokomak (directed by one of Ken's students, Robert Taylor); and physically large plasmas for wave studies (Reiner Stenzel and Walter Gekelman) are examples of important work in progress.
For a period of about two years Ken was the president of a small company, Meva Corp, which was formed to build cyclotrons. After producing one for an undergraduate laboratory at Pomona College, the company was sold to Hughes Aircraft.
After retirement, Ken continued a long standing interest in Special and General Relativity. Some results are described in an unpublished monograph titled Einstein's General Relativity in Three Dimensions. He also wrestled with the dark matter enigma.
Ken made very significant contributions to the Department. In a broad sense, being one of eight new faculty appointments following World War II, he participated actively and fully in every aspect of the Department's development. Over the years he saw to it that the electricity and magnetism laboratories were kept up to date. He introduced the plasma physics curriculum. He took the course in “Physics for Non-Science Majors” seriously, devoting a great effort to make special relativity understandable. In the mid-70s he served as chairman.
What kind of a physicist was he? He could of course use mathematics to formulate and solve problems. Beyond that, he could see through the most complex situations to their conceptualization and solution. As a person, he was gentle, kind, understanding, pleasant and modest to a fault. He rarely, if ever, raised his voice. He had a considerable range of interests outside of physics, both physical and intellectual. Verna, his second wife whom he married in 1981, gave him great care during his decline. Other survivors are his children, Robert, Maryann and Wallace. They miss him dearly as do all who knew him well.
Kenneth Ross MacKenzie
Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Emeritus
Los Angeles
1912–2002
Kenneth Ross MacKenzie, who made contributions to nuclear physics, particle accelerators and plasma physics, died July 3, 2002 at age 90, following complications resulting from a series of small strokes, at his home in Los Angeles, California.
Ken was born in Portland, Oregon. The family moved to Victoria, British Columbia when he was 10 years old. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of British Columbia, and began further graduate study at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1937.
The longstanding vacancy in the periodic table at element 85 ended in 1940. Carson, MacKenzie and Segre, in the Physical Review, reported "Artificially Radioactive Element 85". They bombarded Bismuth-209 with alpha particles to produce what was suspected to be element 85-211. Physical, chemical and even physiological evidence confirmed the assignment. After a reminder to do so, in a 1947 Nature article, they named the element "Astatine", which means unstable in Greek. All 31 of the isotopes of Astatine are unstable.
When Ken began working in the Radiation Laboratory, the 60-inch cyclotron was nearing completion. He became involved with the radiofrequency (RF) system which produces the D-voltage. With this beginning he became an authority on RF systems. He made a major contribution to the design of the system for the 184-inch cyclotron which was completed in 1947. It was the first machine capable of producing mesons. He also made significant contributions to the system for TRIUMF, the meson factory which was completed in 1974. RF systems can be temperamental. Ken had an uncanny knack in getting them to perform properly.
Ken contributed to the development of cyclotrons from day one. He was in Berkeley when the first tests of large-current Uranium mass spectrometry were made in late 1941. He participated in the full scale tests which were made in the recently completed 184-inch magnet, beginning in mid-1942. An accelerating voltage had to be held constant with great precision. The system developed, involving RF signals, is described in a chapter which he contributed to a book in the National Nuclear Energy Series, Manhattan Project. Ken also went to Oak Ridge where he participated in the process of getting the production plant into operation.
In 1964 Ken wrote a paper titled "Space Charge Effects and Cyclotron Beam Enhancement." Cyclotrons had been in operation some thirty years and this effect had been overlooked. Near the center of a cyclotron there can be appreciable loss of particles which are near the surface of the circulating current due to repulsion by those particles within the body of the beam. Once the effect was recognized, steps could be taken to reduce it. As a result, several large synchrocyclotron laboratories were able to increase their research output.
McMillan and Veksler, during World War II, predicted means of increasing the upper energy limit of cyclotrons. The first test of the proposal was made in Berkeley in 1946. The 37-inch magnet was modified for the test. Ken participated, not surprisingly, in the design of the RF system, which now involved frequency modulation. The prediction was confirmed.
After World War II, UCLA was interested in establishing a program in nuclear physics. It was decided to move the 37-inch frequency-modulated cyclotron to UCLA to begin the new program. After a year at the University of British Columbia, Ken joined the UCLA faculty in 1947. Over the next 10 years he and his students performed positron-electron scattering experiments, stopping power measurements, precision range-energy relationships and a final increase of the "37-inch" energy to 20 Mev protons.
In about 1960, Ken initiated the UCLA Department of Physics program in experimental plasma physics. Over the next 15 years, with various colleagues, he published some 20 papers in this field, many involving various aspects of large quiescent plasmas. Early on, Ken and his students lined the walls of a vacuum chamber with permanent magnets of alternating polarity to suppress plasma electron losses. "MacKenzie buckets" are now universally used as plasma sources. He initiated an introductory undergraduate course in plasma physics and an accompanying laboratory (which used a restaurant size cooking pot as an ion bucket). He invented simple physical pictures for a number of plasma wave phenomena usually described in complex mathematical terms.
Ken can be given much credit for the impressive status of experimental plasma physics at UCLA today. Studies of plasmas in the ionosphere (Alfred Wong); the physically largest Electric Tokomak (directed by one of Ken's students, Robert Taylor); and physically large plasmas for wave studies (Reiner Stenzel and Walter Gekelman) are examples of important work in progress.
For a period of about two years Ken was the president of a small company, Meva Corp, which was formed to build cyclotrons. After producing one for an undergraduate laboratory at Pomona College, the company was sold to Hughes Aircraft.
After retirement, Ken continued a long standing interest in Special and General Relativity. Some results are described in an unpublished monograph titled Einstein's General Relativity in Three Dimensions. He also wrestled with the dark matter enigma.
Ken made very significant contributions to the Department. In a broad sense, being one of eight new faculty appointments following World War II, he participated actively and fully in every aspect of the Department's development. Over the years he saw to it that the electricity and magnetism laboratories were kept up to date. He introduced the plasma physics curriculum. He took the course in “Physics for Non-Science Majors” seriously, devoting a great effort to make special relativity understandable. In the mid-70s he served as chairman.
What kind of a physicist was he? He could of course use mathematics to formulate and solve problems. Beyond that, he could see through the most complex situations to their conceptualization and solution. As a person, he was gentle, kind, understanding, pleasant and modest to a fault. He rarely, if ever, raised his voice. He had a considerable range of interests outside of physics, both physical and intellectual. Verna, his second wife whom he married in 1981, gave him great care during his decline. Other survivors are his children, Robert, Maryann and Wallace. They miss him dearly as do all who knew him well.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
San Jose Parking ticket scam?
I get the feeling that there are some crooked public servants policing the streets of San Jose, CA issuing parking tickets. Now don't get me all wrong before you judge. I have received parking tickets in the past. Plenty of them. I paid every single one of them because I deserved them. I have only fought 2 tickets that I can remember and both successfully (one was in error, another relied on a public servant judging my car too short for a "tall vehicle only" stall). I'm not the guy to cry over a simple ticket, except in this case.
What happened in San Jose, CA in July 2009 is an illustration of how flawed parts of the US justice system are. After a recent business trip, I was surprised to get a letter from Hertz in the mail claiming that I had received a parking ticket. My surprise came as the car had been driven from San Francisco to San Jose directly to the Fairmont valet stand and parked until the day I left. The day I left, I picked up the car and drove to return the car (after refueling) to the airport. The car was NEVER parked for even a second on any city street while in my possession. The valets also attest that it was parked underground the entire time.
My first impulse was to suspect that the valets had taken the car out but when I examined the time, it turns out that was not possible. Rather than repeating the facts, here is the letter I wrote to the City of San Jose:
"Re: Citation Number 90018947
Dear Sir/Madam:
I am writing to dispute a parking citation apparently issued to a car I had rented. This alleged violation was stated to have occurred on July 23, 2009 on or around 9:49 AM at or nearby South 125 Market Street. The vehicle in question was rented to me by Hertz and was in both my possession as well as the possession of the Fairmont Hotel Valet staff. It was never parked where the incident allegedly took place and I am writing to ask you to formally review this ticket and to formally dispute this matter.
I first saw the violation notice upon my return from a trip to Germany the week of September 14, 2009. I have enclosed a photocopy of my return flight boarding pass as per our conversation.
On the morning the alleged violation took place, here are the chronological sequence of events:
9:25 (Approximately) – I called the valet service to request the car be ready for me. They informed me it would be available in the underground parking lot of the hotel (NOT on the street level).
9:36 AM – I check out of the hotel via the front desk. I have attached a copy of the email verifying this from the hotel manager. I immediately walked out the south door to grab breakfast.
9:38 AM – I paid for my breakfast after ordering a toasted bagel. The clerk put the bagel into the toaster. I have attached the receipt for your perusal. The original is on file with Adobe systems as part of my expense reports.
9:44 (Approximately) I received my order and started to eat it.
9:47 (Approximately) I finished breakfast and walked to the valet station and took possession of the rental vehicle. You can verify this by requesting the video footage from the Fairmont Hotel.
After taking possession of my car, I drove directly out of the hotel parking lot, stopped at the red light to turn towards the Park Avenue, then proceeded to the 101 freeway via Guadalupe. I drove directly to Burlingame where my next stop was recorded before returning the vehicle to Hertz at San Francisco Airport. At no time did I stop or park this car. At no time did anyone put a parking ticket on the car. I was in the car the entire time. You can verify this by requesting video footage form the front facing cameras from the Fairmont hotel.
9:49 is the time of the alleged parking violation. The car was never parked.
10:27 (Approximately) I had stopped at the Burlingame gas station (34.7 miles from the hotel) to refill my rental car before returning it. I arrived, walked inside, provided $40 cash to the attendant, went back outside, fueled the vehicle, then returned inside to pay. To cover the distance between the Fairmont Hotel and the Gas station, the calculations reveal a person averaging 45-50 MPH would take approximately 45 minutes to cover the distance. At 60 MPH, a person would cover 45 miles in the same time. Keep in mind the time – post rush hour on a weekday on the 101 and the fact there were traffic lights at each end. 45 minutes is probably a BEST CASE scenario. It is highly unlikely anyone could make the trip faster, which is what would have been required should parking a car be included.
10:33 I paid for the gas AFTER refueling. The receipt (enclosed) shows a time stamp of 10:33 AM July 23. It took approximately 5 minutes to refill and the fact this was in post morning rush hour traffic.
~10:50 The car was then returned to Hertz at SFO.
I never stopped anywhere during this trip as I was focused on making my flight to return home to my family.
I also took the time to contact the hotel to see if perhaps one of their staff temporarily parked the car outside on the street. They reviewed their security tapes and have verified the car was only in the hotel basement. In any event, they store the cars underground in the valet parking area so it would not have been on the street.
You can see why a prudent individual might question the validity of this ticket. I wish to ask you to please investigate this matter further and let me know what you can find out.
I also hereby swear and will swear under oath that I did not park the car anywhere on my trip to the airport, other than to stop at red lights. I certainly would not have picked up the car only to park it somewhere on the same block I had just walked past. It does not make any sense.
Sincerely
Duane Nickull"
Please note that copies of all of the receipts with the time stamps were sent back to verify the times. The result? I got a letter saying "We are unable to verify your claims the alleged infraction never occurred". Idiots!! First off, according to most law books, is the onus not on the accuser to prove the allegation? How can someone logically defend themselves from something they did not do? If I was not there, what possible evidence can exist to allow me to clear my name (other than receipts at the same time showing that I was in different areas, which I had sent)? It only shows that the city of San Jose parking enforcement division is staffed with simians who fail to comprehend basic logic. I really hope someone grasps this concept and can turn things around. How can the people of San Jose let their public servants drop to such a low standard???
If I had to try again to defend this, I guess I could start with the basic items that come to mind. First, there was NO PARKING TICKET placed on the car. Yes - this is true and was admitted to me by the city of San Jose. Apparently the person issuing the ticket was not able to place the ticket on the car. Hmmm - could this be a strong indicator that the car was never parked and was in fact in motion??
Second, perhaps we should examine this from a "what if" point of view. If I had forgotten something at the hotel and wanted to go back, what option would I take?
1. leave my car on parked on the street outside the hotel where it risks getting a ticket; or....
2. Give it back to the valets, who would look after it and not charge me anything for such a service as I had just paid them? I am a President's Club member at the Fairmont too.
My bets would be on number 2. Since the car was never parked, this is all moot anyways.
Third, would it be conceivable that some public servant in San Jose is issuing bogus tickets to rental cars as they drive out of the hotel driveway so they can fulfill their daily quota then simply lay around in the sun the rest of the day and not work, thus wasting taxpayers' money? Would that be a likely scenario?
I leave it for you to judge. In the mean time, I have a bitter taste in my mouth after realizing the effort and expense to fight this is not worth it and I have to pay.
It's the perfect system:
- Guilty until you can prove conclusively you are innocent (logically impossible).
- The cost of exposing the truth is far too expensive compared to the cost of admitting to do something you never did. (inconvenient at least).
- The truth will never be exposed since no one is likely to look into it.
Land of the free? I hope someone from the city of San Jose reads this and decides to investigate the person who issued the ticket.
I was not even allowed to discuss it with them. I have no rights in the United States of America. After all - I am a Canadian.
What happened in San Jose, CA in July 2009 is an illustration of how flawed parts of the US justice system are. After a recent business trip, I was surprised to get a letter from Hertz in the mail claiming that I had received a parking ticket. My surprise came as the car had been driven from San Francisco to San Jose directly to the Fairmont valet stand and parked until the day I left. The day I left, I picked up the car and drove to return the car (after refueling) to the airport. The car was NEVER parked for even a second on any city street while in my possession. The valets also attest that it was parked underground the entire time.
My first impulse was to suspect that the valets had taken the car out but when I examined the time, it turns out that was not possible. Rather than repeating the facts, here is the letter I wrote to the City of San Jose:
"Re: Citation Number 90018947
Dear Sir/Madam:
I am writing to dispute a parking citation apparently issued to a car I had rented. This alleged violation was stated to have occurred on July 23, 2009 on or around 9:49 AM at or nearby South 125 Market Street. The vehicle in question was rented to me by Hertz and was in both my possession as well as the possession of the Fairmont Hotel Valet staff. It was never parked where the incident allegedly took place and I am writing to ask you to formally review this ticket and to formally dispute this matter.
I first saw the violation notice upon my return from a trip to Germany the week of September 14, 2009. I have enclosed a photocopy of my return flight boarding pass as per our conversation.
On the morning the alleged violation took place, here are the chronological sequence of events:
9:25 (Approximately) – I called the valet service to request the car be ready for me. They informed me it would be available in the underground parking lot of the hotel (NOT on the street level).
9:36 AM – I check out of the hotel via the front desk. I have attached a copy of the email verifying this from the hotel manager. I immediately walked out the south door to grab breakfast.
9:38 AM – I paid for my breakfast after ordering a toasted bagel. The clerk put the bagel into the toaster. I have attached the receipt for your perusal. The original is on file with Adobe systems as part of my expense reports.
9:44 (Approximately) I received my order and started to eat it.
9:47 (Approximately) I finished breakfast and walked to the valet station and took possession of the rental vehicle. You can verify this by requesting the video footage from the Fairmont Hotel.
After taking possession of my car, I drove directly out of the hotel parking lot, stopped at the red light to turn towards the Park Avenue, then proceeded to the 101 freeway via Guadalupe. I drove directly to Burlingame where my next stop was recorded before returning the vehicle to Hertz at San Francisco Airport. At no time did I stop or park this car. At no time did anyone put a parking ticket on the car. I was in the car the entire time. You can verify this by requesting video footage form the front facing cameras from the Fairmont hotel.
9:49 is the time of the alleged parking violation. The car was never parked.
10:27 (Approximately) I had stopped at the Burlingame gas station (34.7 miles from the hotel) to refill my rental car before returning it. I arrived, walked inside, provided $40 cash to the attendant, went back outside, fueled the vehicle, then returned inside to pay. To cover the distance between the Fairmont Hotel and the Gas station, the calculations reveal a person averaging 45-50 MPH would take approximately 45 minutes to cover the distance. At 60 MPH, a person would cover 45 miles in the same time. Keep in mind the time – post rush hour on a weekday on the 101 and the fact there were traffic lights at each end. 45 minutes is probably a BEST CASE scenario. It is highly unlikely anyone could make the trip faster, which is what would have been required should parking a car be included.
10:33 I paid for the gas AFTER refueling. The receipt (enclosed) shows a time stamp of 10:33 AM July 23. It took approximately 5 minutes to refill and the fact this was in post morning rush hour traffic.
~10:50 The car was then returned to Hertz at SFO.
I never stopped anywhere during this trip as I was focused on making my flight to return home to my family.
I also took the time to contact the hotel to see if perhaps one of their staff temporarily parked the car outside on the street. They reviewed their security tapes and have verified the car was only in the hotel basement. In any event, they store the cars underground in the valet parking area so it would not have been on the street.
You can see why a prudent individual might question the validity of this ticket. I wish to ask you to please investigate this matter further and let me know what you can find out.
I also hereby swear and will swear under oath that I did not park the car anywhere on my trip to the airport, other than to stop at red lights. I certainly would not have picked up the car only to park it somewhere on the same block I had just walked past. It does not make any sense.
Sincerely
Duane Nickull"
Please note that copies of all of the receipts with the time stamps were sent back to verify the times. The result? I got a letter saying "We are unable to verify your claims the alleged infraction never occurred". Idiots!! First off, according to most law books, is the onus not on the accuser to prove the allegation? How can someone logically defend themselves from something they did not do? If I was not there, what possible evidence can exist to allow me to clear my name (other than receipts at the same time showing that I was in different areas, which I had sent)? It only shows that the city of San Jose parking enforcement division is staffed with simians who fail to comprehend basic logic. I really hope someone grasps this concept and can turn things around. How can the people of San Jose let their public servants drop to such a low standard???
If I had to try again to defend this, I guess I could start with the basic items that come to mind. First, there was NO PARKING TICKET placed on the car. Yes - this is true and was admitted to me by the city of San Jose. Apparently the person issuing the ticket was not able to place the ticket on the car. Hmmm - could this be a strong indicator that the car was never parked and was in fact in motion??
Second, perhaps we should examine this from a "what if" point of view. If I had forgotten something at the hotel and wanted to go back, what option would I take?
1. leave my car on parked on the street outside the hotel where it risks getting a ticket; or....
2. Give it back to the valets, who would look after it and not charge me anything for such a service as I had just paid them? I am a President's Club member at the Fairmont too.
My bets would be on number 2. Since the car was never parked, this is all moot anyways.
Third, would it be conceivable that some public servant in San Jose is issuing bogus tickets to rental cars as they drive out of the hotel driveway so they can fulfill their daily quota then simply lay around in the sun the rest of the day and not work, thus wasting taxpayers' money? Would that be a likely scenario?
I leave it for you to judge. In the mean time, I have a bitter taste in my mouth after realizing the effort and expense to fight this is not worth it and I have to pay.
It's the perfect system:
- Guilty until you can prove conclusively you are innocent (logically impossible).
- The cost of exposing the truth is far too expensive compared to the cost of admitting to do something you never did. (inconvenient at least).
- The truth will never be exposed since no one is likely to look into it.
Land of the free? I hope someone from the city of San Jose reads this and decides to investigate the person who issued the ticket.
I was not even allowed to discuss it with them. I have no rights in the United States of America. After all - I am a Canadian.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
RIA Radio, Live at Adobe MAX - Duane Nickull - InsideRIA
Here is an interview I did with the InsideRIA guys (Garth, Zach, Leif et al). This is probably the best and funnest interview I have done lately. I hope you enjoy it. RIA Radio, Live at Adobe MAX - Duane Nickull - InsideRIA
Monday, October 12, 2009
New Video: 22nd Century performing in Los Angeles, CA
This video was shot Oct 6, 2009 when 22nd Century played at Adobe MAX 2009 in the LA Live Plaza. This was a great night for us to be privileged to perform at such a great venue in front of thousands of people. The song in the video is called U Generation, an assault on the lost generation between baby boomers and Gen X. The sound is totally raw (recorded on a video camera with one mic) but it turned out not too bad.
The first CD is starting to pick up in sales @ http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/22ndcentury. Only buy it if you really want to support the band. You can also download the 22nd Century MP3s from our MySpace (free). The CD offers far better quality in AIFF format.
Either way is cool with us. We don't do music for money but totally appreciate people who support the band via buying CDs.
22nd Century - U Generation (live) v2
22nd Century|MySpace Music Videos
The first CD is starting to pick up in sales @ http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/22ndcentury. Only buy it if you really want to support the band. You can also download the 22nd Century MP3s from our MySpace (free). The CD offers far better quality in AIFF format.
Either way is cool with us. We don't do music for money but totally appreciate people who support the band via buying CDs.
22nd Century - U Generation (live) v2
22nd Century|MySpace Music Videos
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Video Tutorial - 3D effects in Flex/AIR in 5 minutes
This is a very focused video tutorial to help developers understand the basics of X, Y, and Z axis rotations of graphical components while programming in Flash Builder 4 (Flex 4 framework) and using AIR.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Adobe MAX Sleeper News? RIM!
While many people were focused on the iPhone announcement yesterday, a bigger story was emerging. Both Google and RIM not only joined the Open Screen Project, but RIM and Adobe announced they will bring support for Adobe's Flash Player to the Blackberry platform. This is a huge story for business users as RIM is still the SmartPhone of choice for many business users.
Via the OSP, 19 out of the top 20 mobile handset manufacturers are now collaborating with Adobe to integrate Flash technology into their devices. MAX's mobile story gets even better when you consider Adobe and Nokia are jointly announcing the funding of more than 35 multi-screen applications as part of the Open Screen Project Fund.
Now to go and teach the 4 hour AIR/Flex Boot Camp!
Monday, October 05, 2009
Flash - iPhone announcement.
So today at Adobe MAX a huge announcement came out. We now have special tooling that allows you to use the Flash Platform to build applications for the iPhone. Flash developers will be empowered to use their existing skills to construct applications for iPhone that can be distributed through Apple’s App Store. No promises but the betas of this (CS5) should be available by the end of this year.
This caps a long running stealth like program code named "notus" within Adobe. While we just announced this today, there are several apps available today via the App Store. There are details published at adobe.com/go/iphone.
Does this mean iPhone supports Flash? No. Apple has not yet announced support for Flash on the iPhone. So what does this really mean? It means there are hundreds of thousands developers who can use their existing skills to build iPhone apps via CS5. From a consumer/user perspective, these applications appear and work just like any other iPhone application. Users cannot easily determine which applications were built with CS5, native objective C code, or even using something advanced like Nitobi's PhoneGap.
Will we use this exclusively? No. Many developers use whatever makes them productive. Another major announcement today was the addition of an iPhone mobile client for Adobe LiveCycle ES. This was built using objective C. Developers who have ActionScript skills though will be able to build applications using a language and IDE they are familiar with and not be forced to learn another application programming language. This is huge IMO and will help both the Apple and Adobe developer ecosystems.
Adobe has not yet made any breakthrough WRT to getting Apple to put the Flash player natively on the iPhone. I don't work with the people who are having the talks but I get the feeling (mine - not necessarily the truth) that Apple and Adobe haven't made much progress on this front. I do know there are tons of people who want this so I am not sure what is going to happen. I have heard that much of the issue is licensing. By the same token, PhoneGap also ran into issues with licensing. I hope Apple listens to their developers.
I am going to build an application later this month to try it out. In the meantime, if you go out and build one, please leave a shout here to tell others.
This caps a long running stealth like program code named "notus" within Adobe. While we just announced this today, there are several apps available today via the App Store. There are details published at adobe.com/go/iphone.
Does this mean iPhone supports Flash? No. Apple has not yet announced support for Flash on the iPhone. So what does this really mean? It means there are hundreds of thousands developers who can use their existing skills to build iPhone apps via CS5. From a consumer/user perspective, these applications appear and work just like any other iPhone application. Users cannot easily determine which applications were built with CS5, native objective C code, or even using something advanced like Nitobi's PhoneGap.
Will we use this exclusively? No. Many developers use whatever makes them productive. Another major announcement today was the addition of an iPhone mobile client for Adobe LiveCycle ES. This was built using objective C. Developers who have ActionScript skills though will be able to build applications using a language and IDE they are familiar with and not be forced to learn another application programming language. This is huge IMO and will help both the Apple and Adobe developer ecosystems.
Adobe has not yet made any breakthrough WRT to getting Apple to put the Flash player natively on the iPhone. I don't work with the people who are having the talks but I get the feeling (mine - not necessarily the truth) that Apple and Adobe haven't made much progress on this front. I do know there are tons of people who want this so I am not sure what is going to happen. I have heard that much of the issue is licensing. By the same token, PhoneGap also ran into issues with licensing. I hope Apple listens to their developers.
I am going to build an application later this month to try it out. In the meantime, if you go out and build one, please leave a shout here to tell others.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
List of Adobe Evangelist Twitter handles
Adobe Evangelists (this list is not complete so please add yourself via comments and I will check back and update). List is filed in alphabetical order by handle (except Ted who likes to use non-alpha numeric characters).
@ashorten - Andrew Shorten
@Beatlejase - Jason Levine
@BenForta - Ben Forta
@duanechaos - Duane Nickull
@ddura - Daniel Dura
@garazi - Greg Rewis (Web Standards)
@gregorywilson Greg Wilson
@jlward4th - James Ward
@karlsoule - Karl Soule' (Video)
@LeeBrimelow - Lee Brimelow
@mcorlan - Mihai Corlan
@markadoherty - Mobile and Devices
@Mesh - Mike Chambers
@parkerkrhoyt - Kevin Hoyt
@pburnett - Paul Burnett
@rufusd - Rufus Deuchler
@RyanStewart - Ryan Stewart
@SJespers - Flash Platform
@_ted_ - Ted Patrick
@tomkrcha - Tom Krcha
@tpryan - Terry Ryan
@adrocknaphobia - ColdFusion
@ashorten - Andrew Shorten
@Beatlejase - Jason Levine
@BenForta - Ben Forta
@duanechaos - Duane Nickull
@ddura - Daniel Dura
@garazi - Greg Rewis (Web Standards)
@gregorywilson Greg Wilson
@jlward4th - James Ward
@karlsoule - Karl Soule' (Video)
@LeeBrimelow - Lee Brimelow
@mcorlan - Mihai Corlan
@markadoherty - Mobile and Devices
@Mesh - Mike Chambers
@parkerkrhoyt - Kevin Hoyt
@pburnett - Paul Burnett
@rufusd - Rufus Deuchler
@RyanStewart - Ryan Stewart
@SJespers - Flash Platform
@_ted_ - Ted Patrick
@tomkrcha - Tom Krcha
@tpryan - Terry Ryan
@adrocknaphobia - ColdFusion
LiveCycle ES Pre-Conference Session at Adobe MAX
Every MAX is come with a belief that I will achieve at least 5 hours of sleep per night. Inevitably, the one last drink turns into two then suddenly it is 2:00 AM and sleep is limited to less than 4 hours. Normally I just roll with the punches but today I really wished I had been up an hour earlier to do the entire LiveCycle ES training. I missed the first hour. This class is nothing short of excellent!
The room is SRO with 80 strong in attendance. This session has more attendees than Russell Brown's Photoshop session! This goes to show that Adobe's enterprise story is stronger than ever and starting to really pick up in the mainstream.
Oh - if you're not coming to MAX, you can still get the materials from the course. Stay tuned here for more updates. Gotta get back to Workbench now.
Ciao!
The room is SRO with 80 strong in attendance. This session has more attendees than Russell Brown's Photoshop session! This goes to show that Adobe's enterprise story is stronger than ever and starting to really pick up in the mainstream.
Oh - if you're not coming to MAX, you can still get the materials from the course. Stay tuned here for more updates. Gotta get back to Workbench now.
Ciao!
Friday, October 02, 2009
Rules for denying people fun!
Surely a little breathing wouldn't hurt?? I guess you are expected to stand absolutely still and keep your eyes fixed straight ahead?? I really like how it starts out. Can you define "Enjoyable for everyone"?
Thursday, October 01, 2009
SmartForm from Avoka
One of the coolest things we are witnessing at Adobe is the community and ecosystem growth around LiveCycle ES. With major announcements just days away, I wanted to bring people's attention to a new entry from a well-established company called Avoka.
SmartForm Composer is a web-based Flex application that makes it really easy to build high quality forms. With Composer, you simply select one of the pre-defined Smart Templates, and you’ll end up with an intelligent and interactive Adobe XFA compliant PDF SmartForm that looks great, no matter what your design skills. SmartForm Composer makes SmartForm creation:
- Easier – people without programming skills can create them
- Faster – form creation time drops from days to hours
- Cheaper – driving SmartForm costs down by an order-of-magnitude
SmartForm Composer will be demonstrated at the Adobe MAX User Conference October 4–7, Los Angeles, CA. If you are planning to attend MAX this year, come and see SmartForm at booth number 434 for a demonstration.
For more information about Composer visit: http://www.avoka.com/composer
For video demos, please visit: http://www.avoka.com/composer/youtube_main.shtml
SmartForm Composer is a web-based Flex application that makes it really easy to build high quality forms. With Composer, you simply select one of the pre-defined Smart Templates, and you’ll end up with an intelligent and interactive Adobe XFA compliant PDF SmartForm that looks great, no matter what your design skills. SmartForm Composer makes SmartForm creation:
- Easier – people without programming skills can create them
- Faster – form creation time drops from days to hours
- Cheaper – driving SmartForm costs down by an order-of-magnitude
SmartForm Composer will be demonstrated at the Adobe MAX User Conference October 4–7, Los Angeles, CA. If you are planning to attend MAX this year, come and see SmartForm at booth number 434 for a demonstration.
For more information about Composer visit: http://www.avoka.com/composer
For video demos, please visit: http://www.avoka.com/composer/youtube_main.shtml
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Flex/AIR Video Tutorial - working with Audio
This tutorial will show you how to build a simple MP3 player in Flex and manipulate an audio stream by coding play, pause and stop buttons. For the source code or project, please email me at dnickull at adobe dot com.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Duane's World Episode 23 - Adobe MAX Part 2
Season II continues with part two of the special series on Adobe MAX. This episode features interviews at Adobe MAX with Bola Rotibi (Macehiter Ward-Dutton) and Steve Jones (Capgemini). Steve discusses using SOA patterns and Adobe AIR to increase user experience, something Capgemini has repeatedly excelled at.
The code and tunes segment features a new tutorial on Flash Builder 4's Wizard to connect to Web Services using the Flex 4 framework. (Flash Builder 4 is the new revision of the product formerly known as Flex Builder. Flex 4 is the new generation of the framework).
The code and tunes segment features a new tutorial on Flash Builder 4's Wizard to connect to Web Services using the Flex 4 framework. (Flash Builder 4 is the new revision of the product formerly known as Flex Builder. Flex 4 is the new generation of the framework).
Thursday, September 17, 2009
LiveCycle Sessions at MAX Update
There are a lot of changes and a few surprises for this year's Adobe MAX in Los Angeles. The biggest and coolest of which is that the LiveCycle ES pre-conference session has SOLD OUT faster than Russell Brown's Photoshop session! Not to diss Russell (he is a very talented individual) but this really shows that LiveCycle ES is getting serious marketplace interest.
This blog post is intended to be an update to reflect some of the latest news. For starters, I want to highlight a sleeper session that I think will be really cool:
Harnessing the Value of User-Centric Applications
See how Deutsche Telekom is using Flex + Adobe LiveCycle in combination with its enterprise systems to streamline and improve HR communications with over 100,000 employees and retirees. Learn about Adobe’s vision for user-centric computing and see an in-depth demonstration that illustrates how the Flash Platform + LiveCycle ES2 together improve customer experience and employee productivity.
Why is this cool? Nothing tells a story like a customer use case. An independent third party who can share their triumphs with LiveCycle ES. I'm going if I do not have conflicts.
The LiveCycle numbers continue to grow, and we now have more sold out sessions. Yes, a VERY NICE surprise for us after 3 years of constant promotion.
LC Pre-conf training:
SOLD OUT
But in the famous words of Douglas Adams, "Don't Panic"! There are still plenty of sessions left. Just don't leave it too long if you don't want to have to wait until next year to find out why LC ES skilled developers are in super high demand. Register today!
LiveCycle Developer Sessions (repeat twice) with spaces left as of today:
What’s New in LiveCycle ES Next
Effective Form Design for Developers
How to Architect Adobe LiveCycle ES into your Enterprise Solutions
Understanding the Building Blocks of Adobe’s Solution Accelerator Program
Developing for Information Assurance with LiveCycle ES
LiveCycle Community Resources Uncovered
LiveCycle Developer Labs (repeat twice) with spaces left as of today:
Developing Applications using LiveCycle ES Workbench Next
The Next Generation of RIA’s in the Enterprise (UPDATE: JUST SOLD OUT!)
Advanced Process Design using LiveCycle Workbench ES
LiveCycle Guides Next – A Common Data Model Applied
Developing Enterprise Solutions using Adobe Solution Accelerators
LiveCycle Envision Sessions with space left as of today:
Harnessing the Value of User Centric Solutions
Enterprise Apps that Work the Way People Work
Next Generation Clinical Trial Apps
Business Value of User Experience
Partnering to Deliver User Centric Solutions
SOA and Services Camp Developer Labs with spaces left as of today:
LiveCycle ES for Service Orchestration (Hands on Lab)
Building AIR LiveCycle Desktop (Hands on Lab)
SOA and Services Camp Developer Sessions:
Enterprise Cloud Computing: LiveCycle Express
Adobe Services, SOA, and Cloud Roadmap
Flex/LC DS Developer Sessions:
High-Performance Real-time Messaging with Flex and LC DS
Introduction to BlazeDs and LiveCycle DS
Integrating Spring with BlazeDS and LC DS
Flex/LC DS Bring Your Own Laptop lab:
Making Real-time data Come alive with Flex Data Services
Flex/LC DS Developer Labs:
Model-driven Development with Flash Builder and LC DS:
BlazeDS and LiveCycle DS in the Cloud
Flex/LC DS Pre-conf Lab:
Using Data Services to Power Flex Applications
Accessibility Developer Session:
Building Accessible LC Forms
ColdFusion Developer Session:
Making the most of CF and LiveCycle
Platform Roadmap: Flash Platform Servers and Services: 25
Register today! Come to MAX. Learn, drink, party!
This blog post is intended to be an update to reflect some of the latest news. For starters, I want to highlight a sleeper session that I think will be really cool:
Harnessing the Value of User-Centric Applications
See how Deutsche Telekom is using Flex + Adobe LiveCycle in combination with its enterprise systems to streamline and improve HR communications with over 100,000 employees and retirees. Learn about Adobe’s vision for user-centric computing and see an in-depth demonstration that illustrates how the Flash Platform + LiveCycle ES2 together improve customer experience and employee productivity.
Why is this cool? Nothing tells a story like a customer use case. An independent third party who can share their triumphs with LiveCycle ES. I'm going if I do not have conflicts.
The LiveCycle numbers continue to grow, and we now have more sold out sessions. Yes, a VERY NICE surprise for us after 3 years of constant promotion.
LC Pre-conf training:
SOLD OUT
But in the famous words of Douglas Adams, "Don't Panic"! There are still plenty of sessions left. Just don't leave it too long if you don't want to have to wait until next year to find out why LC ES skilled developers are in super high demand. Register today!
LiveCycle Developer Sessions (repeat twice) with spaces left as of today:
What’s New in LiveCycle ES Next
Effective Form Design for Developers
How to Architect Adobe LiveCycle ES into your Enterprise Solutions
Understanding the Building Blocks of Adobe’s Solution Accelerator Program
Developing for Information Assurance with LiveCycle ES
LiveCycle Community Resources Uncovered
LiveCycle Developer Labs (repeat twice) with spaces left as of today:
Developing Applications using LiveCycle ES Workbench Next
The Next Generation of RIA’s in the Enterprise (UPDATE: JUST SOLD OUT!)
Advanced Process Design using LiveCycle Workbench ES
LiveCycle Guides Next – A Common Data Model Applied
Developing Enterprise Solutions using Adobe Solution Accelerators
LiveCycle Envision Sessions with space left as of today:
Harnessing the Value of User Centric Solutions
Enterprise Apps that Work the Way People Work
Next Generation Clinical Trial Apps
Business Value of User Experience
Partnering to Deliver User Centric Solutions
SOA and Services Camp Developer Labs with spaces left as of today:
LiveCycle ES for Service Orchestration (Hands on Lab)
Building AIR LiveCycle Desktop (Hands on Lab)
SOA and Services Camp Developer Sessions:
Enterprise Cloud Computing: LiveCycle Express
Adobe Services, SOA, and Cloud Roadmap
Flex/LC DS Developer Sessions:
High-Performance Real-time Messaging with Flex and LC DS
Introduction to BlazeDs and LiveCycle DS
Integrating Spring with BlazeDS and LC DS
Flex/LC DS Bring Your Own Laptop lab:
Making Real-time data Come alive with Flex Data Services
Flex/LC DS Developer Labs:
Model-driven Development with Flash Builder and LC DS:
BlazeDS and LiveCycle DS in the Cloud
Flex/LC DS Pre-conf Lab:
Using Data Services to Power Flex Applications
Accessibility Developer Session:
Building Accessible LC Forms
ColdFusion Developer Session:
Making the most of CF and LiveCycle
Platform Roadmap: Flash Platform Servers and Services: 25
Register today! Come to MAX. Learn, drink, party!
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