domenica, aprile 30, 2006

Google + Firefox

Interesting...I was just reading that Google is promoting the first non-Google product on its Home page. Firefox! Sure enough, it's there. I just hadn't noticed.

Opera 9 Beta

I was just reading Opera's latest Press Release, and what especially caught my eye is that they will feature support for BitTorrent.

Instead of having to use a separate BitTorrent application for downloading large files, users can now simply click a torrent file and start the download

Sounds like a pretty neat feature....

FlashObject is now...wait for it...SWFObject

E pointed out to me the annoying change that Adobe is forcing Geoff Stearns to change the name of his JavaScript Flash embed code from FlashObject (see this entry) to SWFObject.

Adobe is really clamping down on people using the word “Flash” in their projects, even if they are open source.

The link to the full explanation can be found here. Regardless of the name, it's still a very cool bit of code.

Flash Player 8.5 renamed to Flash Player 9

Colin Moock is always a great resource. This blog entry talks about how FP 8.5 is now FP 9!

Flash Player 8.5 renamed to Flash Player 9
Last friday at FITC Adobe
announced that the next Flash Player's version number will be 9, not 8.5 (the previously announced version number). The version number change reflects the vast amount of new functionality that will be added to the next player, including the new ActionScript 3.0 programming language.

Flash Player 9 will mark the first time a major Flash Player release has been made available before its accompanying Flash authoring tool. The next Flash authoring tool, code named Blaze, is expected to target Flash Player 9. Blaze does not yet have a release date, but a preview release that supports ActionScript 3.0 is expected to be made available through Adobe Labs.
Hence, developers wishing to produce Flash Player 9 content in ActionScript 3.0 will be able to choose from three development options:


* Flex Builder 2
* Free Flex SDK (Standalone Compiler)
* Blaze Preview

Mike Chambers, of Adobe developer relations, has a good overview of how ActionScript 3.0, Flash, Flex, and Flash Player 9 all fit together.

AE and Flash

I just stumbled across Steve Kilisky's After Effects Blog. The latest article describes a way to preserve keyframe data between After Effects and Flash. This relatively inexpensive component sounds like it has some interesting potential (at least until Adobe better integrates Flash and AE!) J

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a way to preserve keyframe data when moving between AE and Flash instead of having to be limited to SWF or FLV as the interchange format? Now that Adobe and Macromedia are one company, we can begin to address these needs similar to the way AE began to integrate in a rich manner with Photoshop (and later Illustrator, Premiere Pro [and LiveMotion :-o]) when Adobe acquired After Effects via Aldus (the hidden jewel in that transaction in my opinion of course).

In the mean time,
Drew Trujillo (dr. woohoo) emailed me to let me know about an After Effects 2 Flash transform keyframe converter he developed.

Cinescore Soundtracking

Cinescore might be an interesting product to investigate!

Sony Media Software, a leading provider of professional video and audio editing software applications, has announced the launch of Cinescore™ software, a new concept in music creation technology that automatically generates complete custom soundtracks for movie makers, audio producers and other content creators who require royalty-free music to enhance and enrich their work.

Excel Viewer 2003

Seems like a useful download in a pinch. Although who doesn't have Excel these days?

With Excel Viewer 2003, you can open, view, and print Excel workbooks, even if you don't have Excel installed. You can also copy data from Excel Viewer 2003 to another program. However, you cannot edit data, save a workbook, or create a new workbook. This download is a replacement for Excel Viewer 97 and all previous Excel Viewer versions.

Goowy

I couldn’t resist a quick “test drive” and was very impressed. Since it is a Flash-based application, it’s very easy to use and quite aesthetically pleasing. As Goowy states on its site:

Goowy [has] developed a Flash-based "webtop" that offers e-mail, video games, and robust customization options for power users. The goal, said CEO Alex Bard, was to design a Web-based system that wouldn't just be a start page, but an immersive online environment.

sabato, aprile 22, 2006

Continuous Partial Attention

I was just reading an interesting Newsweek article, entitled "(Some) Attention Must Be Paid!" The article discusses the key note speaker, Linda Stone, at the '06 Emerging Technology Conference and her very salient point that many of us experience a phenomenon called "Continuous Partial Attention."

From her key note summary:

Continuous Partial Attention describes the behavior of continuously monitoring as many inputs as possible, paying partial attention to each. We keep what we consider to be the highest priority contact or activity in greatest focus and constantly scan the periphery to see if something more important should be displacing our current top choice.

From the Newsweek article:

Stone first noticed the syndrome a decade ago when she was creating a product for Microsoft that let people interact in a "virtual world." She found that her test users wanted to fade in and out while conducting other activities. This turns out to be the way most of us work—and live—today. With an open communications channel the e-mail keeps flowing, the instant messages keep interrupting and the Web feeds keep coming. CPA stems from our desire, Stone says, to be "a live node on the network."

Migrating Flash Projects to Video

A great summary of the process of converting Flash projects to video.

Update: Internet Explorer and ActiveX controls

It sounds like June will be the time that Microsoft permanently implements the change to Active-X behavior that E pointed out so many months ago! Interestingly, they are including it in their latest update, but immediately disabling the behavior until the June update.

Compatibility Patch – To help enterprise customers who need more time to prepare for the ActiveX update changes discussed in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 912945 and included in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-013, Microsoft is releasing a Compatibility Patch on April 11, 2006. As soon as it is deployed, the Compatibility Patch will temporarily return Internet Explorer to the previous functionality for handling ActiveX controls. This Compatibility Patch will function until an Internet Explorer update is released as part of the June update cycle, at which time the changes to the way Internet Explorer handles ActiveX controls will be permanent. This compatibility patch may require an additional restart for systems it is deployed on. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 917425.

Visual Studio Express

"Free, lightweight, easy-to-use, and easy-to-learn tools for the hobbyist, novice, and student developer." Seems neat. Free for a year, as well.

IE7 Developer and Web Developer Checklist

Here is Microsoft’s recommended checklist for changes that may impact Web sites after the release of IE7.

Also, in the document available for download, there’s an interesting blurb about the upcoming ActiveX Opt-In:

“ActiveX Opt-In automatically disables entire classes of controls — all controls the user has not previously enabled — which greatly reduces the attack surface. This new feature mitigates the potential misuse of preinstalled controls. Users will now be prompted by the Information Bar before a previously installed but as-yet unused ActiveX Control can be accessed.”

Net Neutrality

Here's a scary thought: what if your broadband company gave preferential treatment as to which sites you could access quickly, or access at all? A link for your consideration:

http://www.savetheinternet.com/

And for a more conservative viewpoint, BusinessWeek comes to the same conclusion.

Oh! And this primitive, but informative Flash movie.

domenica, aprile 16, 2006

Apple Retro


Retrospective, that is. Colleague E pointed out these fun links:

Take a quick trip through some of Apple's promos.

The Macintosh was introduced in the legendary "1984" television commercial during the 1984 Super Bowl, and a lengthy 16-page insert in Newsweek magazine, which even featured Microsoft's Bill Gates.

Get lost in a monster gallery of almost everything Apple's ever made: 30 Years of Apple Gear

Loads of good guys and bad guys animate the company's 30-year history: Apple Heroes and Villains
It seems like June will be the time that Microsoft permanently implements the change to Active-X behavior mentioned in this blog entry. Interestingly, MS is including it in their latest update, but immediately disabling the behavior until the next update.

Check out this article, which includes the portion quoted below.

Compatibility Patch – To help enterprise customers who need more time to prepare for the ActiveX update changes discussed in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 912945 and included in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-013, Microsoft is releasing a Compatibility Patch on April 11, 2006. As soon as it is deployed, the Compatibility Patch will temporarily return Internet Explorer to the previous functionality for handling ActiveX controls. This Compatibility Patch will function until an Internet Explorer update is released as part of the June update cycle, at which time the changes to the way Internet Explorer handles ActiveX controls will be permanent. This compatibility patch may require an additional restart for systems it is deployed on. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 917425.

The Semantic Web

I thought this was an interesting article about the “Semantic Web” – an initiative led by the creator of the current Web, Tim Berners-lee.

The goal of the Semantic Web initiative is to create a universal medium for the exchange of data where data can be shared and processed by automated tools as well as by people. The Semantic Web is designed to smoothly interconnect personal information management, enterprise application integration, and the global sharing of commercial, scientific and cultural data. We are talking about data here, not human documents

The Semantic Web is not about the meaning of English documents. It’s not about marking up existing HTML documents to let a computer understand what they say. It’s not about the artificial intelligence areas of machine learning or natural language understanding -- they use the word semantics with a different meaning.

It is about the data which currently is in relational databases, XML documents, spreadsheets, and proprietary format data files, and all of which would be useful to have access to as one huge database.

lunedì, aprile 10, 2006

Captivate, 8 is Enough?

Captivate was only designed to export to Flash MX 2004 (thus far - an Adobe rep recently told me that Cap will probably have a new version by the end of the year and is likely to be Adobe's first new release of a product developed under Macromedia).

Here's a workaround in the meantime. Cap seems worth the effort!

Flash Develop

A friend was just telling me about a new open source application for developing Flash content.

FlashDevelop is a .NET open source script editor designed mostly for Actionscript 2 development. FlashDevelop is very quick to setup and easy to use as an external editor for the Flash IDE or as a complete open source development environment.

There is a glowing review of it on Flashmagazine.com.

Vis Vis Visio 2003 Viewer

If you ever need to view a Visio file, but do not have Microsoft Visio, Microsoft provides a Visio viewer program free of charge. It can be downloaded here.

martedì, aprile 04, 2006

XML and XSLT in Dreamweaver

Hm...I'll have to make a point of reading this at some point. Bookmark!

Gotta Love Slides

We've come a long way since the noisy proector and kodak slides, haven't we? (Actually, that was fun...but this is fun, too!) Here are some neat slide show links I've been meaning to post.

Kirupa has a great article entitled Photo Slideshow Using XML and Flash.

SlideshowPro is a neat one. It creates a nifty Flash component (and it's only a $20 purchase). My buddy also likes FXWitz, which does a lot of the work for you, but also embeds the image inside the SWF rather than reference it.

*

For non Flash solutions, Jalbum is a nice bit of free software.

domenica, aprile 02, 2006

The Spotlight on 2.0

The Web 2.0 discussion is becoming more mainstream! Newsweek has several articles talking about the next wave of Internet. I liked this one:

Who's Building the Next Web

Detecting Pop-Up Blockers

I thought this was an interesting approach to detecting pop-up blockers. This bright fellow uses JavaScript to access the ID of the window that was opened. If his script determines that the pop-up was blocked, a message appears in a div alerting the user to allow pop-ups.

To see the script in action, click here.

Branding in SharePoint

Microsoft has a pretty good article (actually part of a series) on branding in SharePoint. It's not as user-friendly as I would have liked, but it does thorougly step through how to change various default page elements.

One other interesting tidbit, is that I had always heard that Frontpage is the premier HTML editor to use for designers, as hinted at in these bullet points from Microsoft:
  • Full Web Part management, including adding, removing, deleting, and moving.
  • Wizard-based development of dynamic data based on the Data View Web Part and connected Web Parts that use data from a variety of sources.
  • Look and feel page customization, including styles and layout.

All pretty cool to be sure. But Microsoft also offers this important warning:

Using FrontPage to modify SharePoint pages is relatively simple, but may have some impact on ongoing supportability of the portal site. Pages you customize in FrontPage cannot be replicated across a portal site or enable a single maintenance point because the page, after it is customized, is handled differently from pages that are based on the template (described in the following section).

For this reason, FrontPage is a great customization tool for team sites, but you should restrict its use in customizing enterprise portal sites. We strongly recommend that you customize SharePoint templates when branding portal site pages, which keeps the SharePoint page from being customized, or ghosted, and enables global changes to a portal site's look and feel.