MDM Multimedia is celebrating its fourth birthday by hosting a Flash contest...actually TWO contests. They've set it up as a Designer Vs. Developer contest, but that's really not the case. It's really two different contests: one for designers and one for developers (a distinction that I've never really liked...I know that there has to be some division of duties in a business workflow, but the implication that a designer is the "creative" person and the developer is the "technical" person just doesn't sit right with me, nor has it ever been that clean-cut in my experience...end rant...).
The designer contest is for a marketing campaign and the developer contest is more application oriented. The new version of MDM's Zinc supports Flash Player 9, AS3 and Flex 2, so the idea that you didn't use for the Flex Derby would be a great fit here.
The prize packages top out around $1,000 worth of goodies, so take a look-see and show 'em your stuff!
Adobe is sponsoring a Developer Week (12-16 June). This is a free series of online presos aimed at developers. Lots of Flex stuff, an overview of the Adobe Engagement Platform, and AS 3.0 for Flash developers (in case you haven't started exploring AS3 in Flex). If you haven't had a chance to play around with Flex, this would be a good place to get an introduction so you know what's coming on deck.
Looks like there's some good information to be had here...and its FREE! So go sign up today.
Check out Kinglong's Gradient Explorer! (The link is directly
to the SWF file. If you'd can read Chinese or want to use Babelfish on Kinglong's post about the project, go here.) It's a great way to experience how code works in
real time. See how and where the little numbers change the way things look instead of just playing around with
sliders...and you can always cut and paste the code into your own Flash movies too!
NewsForge wrote up a quite PHP tutorial for displaying charts using the PHP/SWF Chart package from Maani. They take a few W3Schools stats and
generate some easy to use PHP code for quick insertion and even quicker modification for your site. The charting
package they use is an alternative to Flex for interactive chart creation and is a good package for individual sites
that may want to avoid a lot of code, but I think developers benefit from the use of these kind of packages to get
started if they plan on a stop gap solution only. These packages are good for an easy site throw up, but Flash
developers and even some regular coders should really take a long hard look into Flex before building a site around
this solution. If you don't want to learn Flex or ActionScript then stick with this solution otherwise take the chance
and jump into Flex.
I love it when technologies that some were
comparing as adversaries come together to make cool stuff. Not too long ago, the developer blogosphere was abuzz
wondering how Flash and AJAX could exist in the same universe. Luckily, that argument didn't last too long and some
creative folks started thinking about how they could play together and make great web experiences.
Christophe Coenraets is one of those
people and he's made a really interesting example using Flex, AJAX, and Flash Media Server. Christophe's Google maps
collaboration app shows just how the web is growing, from display technology to collaboration technology. I'm still a
little skeptical about the whole Web 2.0 thing, but there's something to be said about using great technologies to
enable people to communicate better.
Keep an eye out, I think we're going to see more of this stuff coming
out in the near future.
Looking for some Flex to fill out your Friday night? About a month ago (yes I know I'm behind, but I'm trying to
catch up) Mike Potter of Adobe post a quick Flex and PHP write up and included the code for a simple app to update a
SQL database via PHP from Flex 2.0. Check it out for yourself, but make sure you edit for functionality. One of his
commenters notes that the code's simplicity leaves open a security hole via SQL query injection.
Everyone's favorite home of the BOFH has been lucky enough to grab a newer-than-new copy of the coming Macromedia (guess we should say Adobe) Flex 2.0 ALPHA. The multi page review explores the product with a few screen shots for your viewing pleasure.
The review includes notes of interest on what looks to be a future site license option for Flex that should make the product more easily available. Also, they see Flex as being positioned to directly compete with .NET.
I just wonder how this application will play into the merger. Will Adobe be pushing this product as part of some gigantic bundle or Extra-Creative-Suite? Or will they group it with other application and web software?
Oh, there is a link at the end of the review to the download site so you can grab your own ALPHA to try.
The new Edge newsletter was emailed to all who wanted it this past Friday. For those of you who automatically delete it or just chose not to sign up for it when you registered your copy of Flash here is the unofficial FlashInsider.com summary.
The focus is on Flash Platform, of course, and various ways Flash is being integrated into Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) around the world. Amazon uses Flash to create an online movie theater with a film Festival. In LA (Los Angeles, not Louisiana) the local Flash MMUG is using Breeze to hold MMUGs online and allowing their members to relax by the pool while Flashing. Blast Radius tells us how they use Flash and Flex to create cool RIAs. CourseAvenue uses Flash to create eLearning. A whole bunch of people use Breeze to communicate like the LA MMUG. The Wharton School uses Macromedia based web-sims to teach. Lastly, get inspired with the Mr. and Mrs. Smith site.
MDM Multimedia is celebrating its fourth birthday by hosting a Flash contest...actually TWO contests. They've set it up as a Designer Vs. Developer contest, but that's really not the case. It's really two different contests: one for designers and one for developers (a distinction that I've never really liked...I know that there has to be some division of duties in a business workflow, but the implication that a designer is the "creative" person and the developer is the "technical" person just doesn't sit right with me, nor has it ever been that clean-cut in my experience...end rant...). 
NewsForge wrote up a quite PHP tutorial for displaying charts using the 
Everyone's favorite home of the 
The new Edge newsletter was emailed to all who wanted it this past Friday. For those of you who automatically delete it or just chose not to sign up for it when you registered your copy of Flash here is the unofficial FlashInsider.com summary.
