The highly satirical folks at JibJab have a pretty intresting idea going on at their site, their polital animations generate a ton of traffic, they’re bandwidth pigs as well.. why not offer folks the ability to watch them offline, and at full screen… and why not charge them as well,

I’m a fan, it works for me.. and so much simpler than asking for donations or selling sponsorships

Think you’ve seen every possible interface for an image gallery?
Think Again
It’s kind of like a hyperactive viewmaster on steroids… the photography doesn’t suck either.

In true MM fashion,  they’ve formed an alliance with Yahoo to push the Yahoo Toolbar on unsuspecting web users, if you happen to use IE and go to the Macromedia Download Center you see that you can download Flash player 7 with Yahoo! Toolbar Free (silly me I was prepared to pay for it) I don’t have major issues with Macromedia lining their pockets with some yahoo! money, but maybe a press release or a blog post or somethingf so when our clients call we know what the hell they’re talking about.

I have no opinion on Yahoo’s toolbar, it maybe great, it may be spyware, I really have no idea, but I do know that when go to install a plug-in, I only expect a plug-in

decent thread on Slashdot about this

The whole thing smells like yesterdays fish.

Macromedia announced today that Amazon.com has chosen Macromedia Flash as as its exclusive online video format for the Amazon Theater (TRIBECA) Short Film Competition, which will showcase up-and-coming filmmakers. I must say that I’m not particularly suprised.

Just 4 months ago Amazon used flash Video for their ‘Amazon Theater’ and I’m assuming that the number of ‘technical emails/phone calls and complaints’ was fairly minimal, this saves them from having to choose Windows Media format over Quicktime, and possibly alienating potential consumers.

Grant skinner has an excellent article on the the pros and cons of _root and _global over at gskinner.com, I KNOW you have an opinion on this topic so lets hear it.

Brajeshwar questions if _root is evil?

I know that I personally start projects with the intention of not using either…

If you’re an illustrator user or a freehand user your probably familar with the concept of ‘selecting’ items via attributes (like ‘same stroke’ or ‘same fill’ etc.) I know I am, and I’v always though Flash could benefit from that functionality.  Seem Patrick Mineault agrees with me cause he went ahead and wrote a JSFL to do just that.

Thanks Patrick!

This article by Timothée Groleau has been around for almost two years and quite honestly as on-point today as ever..  IMHO the three most common flash development gotchas are

1. Variable scope
2. Paths (either to mcs, or to code)
3. Execution order and timing

and all three issue an fall under ‘inadequet planning’ .
I’m as guilty as anyone.

I have fond memories of running a ‘virtual’ lemonade stand in 5th grade to learn basic math and some simple business theory, seems like the lesson hasn’t changed much, kids still sell lemony sugar water, but it’s gotten much flashier.

pretty neat, but IMHO kids are way beyond lemons these days, maybe a virtual stock portfolio would make more sense.

Some nice, clean, well designed interactive figures going on over at annenberg CPB learner.org. Great examples of how interactive toys can also be visually pleasing and user friendly.

Noteable examples here, here and here

Well Designed, highly usability, tons of great free content, IMHO this is what the internet is all about.

If your a regular reader you know that I’m as much a fan of math as I am a fan of Flash and I must say the interactive math toys over at Teachlink.org  are maybe the best examples of both I’ve seen in years..I’m particularly fond of Quincunx/Random Walk.

go forth and learn

I recently went searching for optimization techniques and stumbled onto Glen Rhodes optimization presentation for last years Flash in the Can. his suggestions went a long way, but what realkly helped was his information on pre-calculating arrays

If you read this, I think you’ll agree that even though the nctm illuminations math site is really exceptional, some added flash here and there would not only improve their interaction, and raise the entertainment value (which, at least in theory should make the content more retainable).

someone should pitch them.

Fun little toy over at the highly prolific zeFrank — the perfect distraction to come down from the post-oscar champagne buzz. Aslong as your their don’t miss this, this or this
(you need a mic for the last one)

It’s always a good idea to keep links like ’Ten Ways to Improve E-Commerce Site Usability around, not only do clients love this kind of stuff, but it provides a nice checklist when your in the  ‘design stage’ of a project.

Convinced that V2 components are the devils work? that they’re ugly? that their heavy and clunky, hey you won’t get an argument from me, but the people who built beatport may have a different opinion, they totally rocked the house on this site..

great job!