lunedì, giugno 30, 2008

Ribbit - Flex and Flash Voice Components

Ribbit is a service that offers web-based calling. While there are several services experimenting in this market, such as YouMail and Google’s GrandCentral, this is the first application I’ve seen that has more of an open source approach. Of special interest to Multimedia and Developer types: they are working on a Flex API and Flash components!

http://developer.ribbit.com/

“Phones and computers are coming together, and it's happening faster than you think…with Ribbit, you can easily add voice components like calling and voice messaging into your Flash applications with drag and drop simplicity. We've created an open ecosystem for designers and developers to thrive in.”

venerdì, giugno 27, 2008

Flock: The Social Web Browser

Here’s another interesting innovation from the ever-evolving social web: a “Social Web Browser” based on Mozilla architecture:

“People use the Web today in extremely different ways than they did a decade ago. However, web browsers - the application at the center of all that we do online - has not kept pace with these changes in online behavior…every individual has their own unique preference for favorite sites, utilities, media and friends.”

mercoledì, giugno 25, 2008

The Interactive Playground of Paul Neave

BH pointed out a great (and hilarious) site of Interaction Designer Paul Neave. He even generously offers code samples from some of his awesome experiments.

http://www.neave.com/

BulkLoader

I ran across this impressive utility for loading multiple objects in ActionScript 3.

“BulkLoader tries to hide the complexity of loading different data types in AS3 and provides a unified interface for loading, accessing and events notification for different types of content.”

http://code.google.com/p/bulk-loader/

martedì, giugno 24, 2008

Ping.fm

As we adopt more and more online identities ping.fm seems like a service whose time has come!

“Use AIM, GTalk, iGoogle, WAP, iPhone/iPod Touch, SMS or E-mail and let Ping.fm relay your message to a multitude of social networking sites.”

CSS Support in Email Clients

MB pointed out this great chart! Extremely cool.

“I came across this comprehensive reference chart for CSS support in all major email clients. The chart is also available in handy PDF and Excel versions! It covers all possible style definitions and you learn some interesting things, like the fact that Hotmail doesn’t recognize the ‘margin’ property but can use ‘padding’ (???).”

http://www.campaignmonitor.com/css/

lunedì, giugno 23, 2008

Why Adobe?

BH pointed out this gentleman who has a series of silly and funny (well, to Adobephiles anyway) videos.


yahoorezinr

Poor Yahoo! I was just perusing the weekend wrap up at pandia.com and noticed this bit of sad humor among the articles:

“There is one hilarious website out there that helps Yahoo! employee’s writing their resignation letters. It is interesting also because it gives you an insight into what some Yahooers find disturbing, including the advertising alliance with Google….”

http://yahoorezinr.com/

Lego Death Star Diorama

Funny, nerdy, kinda cool…sorta. All that stuff.

From Gizmodo: Lego Death Star Diorama

venerdì, giugno 20, 2008

HTML E-mail: Windows Live Hotmail Bug

Perhaps bug is too strong a word. Browsers other than Internet Explorer logged into Windows Live Hotmail see a tiny space between images. This page on bestwebezy.com discusses the reason and solution.

“Windows Live Hotmail renders HTML in standard mode. Any inline element (eg. img) in a table cell will be aligned to the text baseline. This allows space for any descenders that extend below the baseline for some letters.”

The fix: add style=”display:block;” on img tags.

giovedì, giugno 19, 2008

XML Attribute: Do You Exist?

I was just wresting with how to deal with this conundrum. I found a posting by Senocular on UltraShock that explains it beautifully. You know, IMO Senocular has single-handedly raised the level of ActionScript help by leaps and bounds.

Q: is it possible to check if a XML node attribute actually exists when using the XML class in AS3? From what I can work out, there doesn't seem to be a way to tell if an attribute is empty (i.e. exists with no value.. an empty string) or if it is non-existent, in both cases a XMLList object is always returned containing an empty string as it's value.

A: when you get an attribute via @ property or attribute(), you're actually getting an XMLList. As a list, you can check for the existence of attributes by using length().

var xml:XML = <xml att="" />;
trace(xml.@att.length()); //
trace(xml.@foo.length()); // 0

HTML E-mail

MB passed along this article on coding HTML e-mails.

“The article also has some links to some great references for further reading on things like CSS use in HTML e-mail design and other ‘best practices’articles.”

Mystery on Fifth Avenue

I thought this was pretty cool. CC sent me this New York Times article about some affluent folks in New York City that hired a bunch of architects to turn their apartment into a "puzzle house" to amuse their young kids. The slideshow is beautiful.

mercoledì, giugno 18, 2008

Article: MySpace's New Look Helps Quell the Clutter

It looks like MySpace is finally getting a face(book) lift!

“After years spent living with its reputation for poor usability, garish widgets and eyeball-melting page layouts, MySpace has decided to rope things in a bit…. The redesign is the work of Adaptive Path, the small San Francisco user-experience firm with a long list of influential clients.”

DataGrid Text - Now You See It, Now You Don't

This problem was frustrating me this morning, and I thought it might be worth jotting down the solution. Have you ever tried applying an alpha effect to a Flash CS3 DataGrid component? (Or, perhaps any symbol/component that utilizes a dynamic text field?) You will notice that the text does not react to alpha properties. For example, consider this data grid:


If I set the alpha to zero in ActionScript 3 (myDataGrid.alpha = 0) I get the following result:



Now, it turns out there are two methods to make the text completely invisible.

  1. Set the visibility of the data grid to false: myDataGrid.visible = false. This is fine if the only goal is to toggle whether it is able to be seen. However, if any cool alpha transitions are desired (and why wouldn’t they be?), the next method is preferred.
  2. The key is to embed fonts! This is the case with all dynamic text. However, it’s a little trickier when using a component, such as a datagrid. Luckily, Peter deHaan has this excellent article on his blog: “Using embedded fonts with the Flash CS3 DataGrid component.”
    Note: you might also want to make note of this article if you wish to manipulate the font used in a data grid.

martedì, giugno 17, 2008

Endless Fun!

http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/

(Well, endless fun if you’re a Photoshop nerd.)

Flash Context Menu

A nice code example I adapted from a larger masterwork Filippo Lughi. I highly recommend checking out his awesome site: http://www.FlepStudio.org.

It’s sometimes a great feature to be able to redefine the context (right-click) menu in a Flash project.

import flash.events.ContextMenuEvent;
import flash.ui.ContextMenu;
import flash.ui.ContextMenuItem;

initMenu();

function initMenu():void
{
var contextMenuStr:String='Mr. Entropy';
var cm:ContextMenu=new ContextMenu();
var item:ContextMenuItem=new ContextMenuItem(contextMenuStr);
cm.hideBuiltInItems();
cm.customItems.push(item);
item.addEventListener(ContextMenuEvent.MENU_ITEM_SELECT,itemHandler1);
this.contextMenu=cm;
}

function itemHandler1(event:ContextMenuEvent):void
{
var url:String='http://www.mrentropy.com/';
var request:URLRequest=new URLRequest(url);
navigateToURL(request,'_parent');

}

JavaScript and VBScript Injection in ActionScript 3

Heady stuff. The title says it all, doesn’t it? Of course, it would be easy to imagine how nefarious types might abuse this…

“In AS Script Injection, complete and unmodified JavaScript and/or VBScripts are stored inside AS3 files using XML, and are then parsed and sent to the browser, typically using the ExternalInterface class."

venerdì, giugno 13, 2008

Tao of the Windows Installer

A “best practices” for the Windows Installer written in 2006, but it still seems helpful/applicable today.

Viral Marketing Insights From WillItBlend.com

Wordtracker.com has a fun success story about viral marketing.

“For years I’ve been doing a test where I start the motor and jam a piece of timber into the blades and test the strength of the drive component, the electronics, and the blade itself. We thought it might be fun to try out some other things that people might find amusing. “

As their videos on YouTube grew in popularity, Blendtec found their online sales grew by 500%.

giovedì, giugno 12, 2008

ASP Upload

A wonderful – and free! – upload script for classic ASP:

http://www.freeaspupload.net/

SharePoint Central Administration

A note for myself on how to open Central Administration.:

Start > All Programs

Microsoft Office Server > SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration

If prompted, type the administrator username and password

The Big Picture

The latest “Photojojo” newsletter has a link to a news site with some amazing photographs: The Big Picture

“Every day there’s a photo essay on a different news story. One day it’s the Olympics, the next it’s the shuttle launch. With ginormous pictures. The biggest you’ve ever seen on a news site!”

Sprout!

ER pointed out this EXTREMELY application. Shall we start the countdown clock for how long it takes Adobe to purchase them? JIt would be a good fit with their other online offerings….

Sprout Builder is a web-based widget development application (or authoring platform) that enables anyone to quickly and easily build interactive content. Users create sprouts by combining text, shapes, and prebuilt interactive content, and then generating a SWF file that can be embedded within any website, blog, or social networking site.”

mercoledì, giugno 11, 2008

Venture Capital for Developing iPhone Applications

This is interesting. I was just perusing the Apple Developer Connection, reading about the iPhone Developer Program. Then I noticed this item in the bottom right corner: the iFund!

“The iFund™ is a $100 million venture capital investment initiative that will fund innovators developing applications, services, and components for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch platform.”

martedì, giugno 10, 2008

Bonjour

Bonjour everyone! I’m experimenting with shutting off “Bonjour.” What am I talking about, you ask? From Adobe:

“When you install any edition of the Adobe Creative Suite 3 family or a Creative Suite 3 component on Windows, Bonjour for Windows is installed as a service on the machine. Bonjour is Apple's open source implementation of zero-configuration networking software. It is used by Adobe Version Cue CS3 client applications to dynamically discover Version Cue Servers on the local network.”

Why turn this off? I’ve been reading on several forums that users have experienced slower computing after installing CS3 products, and have elected to uninstall this service; so far I have just stopped it from running automatically – and I’ve noticed a significant improvement! Perhaps this is merely coincidence. I’ll give it a day or two.

*

So, how do you view or change the setting?

Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services

You’ll see a list of Windows services. A known bug is that the name used by Bonjour for Windows in the Services control panel is a bit freaky:

##Id_String2.6844F930_1628_4223_B5CC_5BB94B879762##

More from Adobe’s Tech Note: “Removing Bonjour prevents Version Cue clients (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, Bridge) from automatically discovering Version Cue Servers and Version Cue projects in your local network. You will need to connect manually using Connect to Server and the URL or IP address of the machine running Version Cue Server instead.”

À la prochaine!

lunedì, giugno 09, 2008

Microsoft COFEE

Microsoft has developed COFEE! I wonder how many investigations will have to pause for a Windows update? ;)

“The COFEE, which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, is a USB ‘thumb drive’ that was quietly distributed to a handful of law-enforcement agencies last June…the device contains 150 commands that can dramatically cut the time it takes to gather digital evidence, which is becoming more important in real-world crime, as well as cybercrime. It can decrypt passwords and analyze a computer's Internet activity, as well as data stored in the computer.”

Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 Beta

I was just reading about “Stiletto” (the Dreamweaver CS4 beta, code name) at the Adobe Developer Center. It sounds like it will be a cool update. One nerdy tidbit that caught my attention was that it sounds like Adobe may be moving to recommend SWFObject as their embed method of choice! Either that, or there are some rebellious folks on the Stiletto team.

“Working with Flash or Flex SWF files in your projects? The newly updated Insert Flash feature of Dreamweaver CS4 beta now uses the popular open source SWFObject 2.0 codebase for embedding SWF-based content. This allows you to visually preview your SWF file in context using Live Preview, and even design the static, no-Flash alternative HTML/CSS content right in Design view, as well. Get complete control over your hybrid HTML/Flash projects and every aspect of their visual characteristics.”

venerdì, giugno 06, 2008

Mozilla Firefox 3.0 Is Best Browser -- For Now

Walt Mossberg’s latest column.

“This situation may change. Microsoft is working on a new version of IE, scheduled to be unveiled later this year, with some impressive new features. And Apple is always working on new iterations of Safari, though it is secretive and hasn't disclosed its plans. But for now, in my view, Firefox 3.0 rules on both Windows and Mac.”

mercoledì, giugno 04, 2008

Nasa TV

This could be addictive!

NASA TV provides live coverage of missions and other agency events as well as resources for news media, educators and students, and the general public.”

Another Cool Papervision 3D Component: 3D Sphere

Displays images on an interactive 3D Sphere using the Papervision3D engine. Includes different opening animation effects as well as full mouse interactivity. Thumbnails can zoom in towards the camera when clicked or the camera can zoom in towards the thumbnail. Seamless transitions between thumbnails and large images. Built-in preloader, rollover displacement and tooltips. Available for ActionScript 3.0 (Flash CS3) only.”

martedì, giugno 03, 2008

Google's Answer to the iPhone = Android

Click Heat

A cool link from RR:

ClickHeat is an open source visual tool for showing “hot” and “cold” zones of a web page. It allows you to see which spots users click on most, and which spots are being ignored.”

http://www.labsmedia.com/clickheat/index.html

lunedì, giugno 02, 2008

Pixel Perfect: Pascal Dangin's Virtual Reality

A neat article in the New Yorker – go Photoshop!

“…The obvious way to characterize Dangin, as a human Oxy pad, is a reductive one—any art student with a Mac can wipe out a zit. His success lies, rather, in his ability to marry technical prowess to an aesthetic sensibility: his clients are paying for his eye, and his mind, as much as for his hand. Those who work with Dangin describe him as a sort of photo whisperer, able to coax possibilities, palettes, and shadings out of pictures that even the person who shot them may not have imagined possible. To construct Annie Leibovitz’s elaborate tableaux—the “Sopranos” ads, for example—he takes apart dozens of separate pictures and puts them back together so that the seams don’t show. (Misaligned windows are a particular peeve.) He has been known to work for days tinting a field of grass what he considers the most expressive shade of green. ‘Most green grass that has been electronically enhanced, you know, you look at it and you get a headache,’ Dangin said recently. He prefers a muted hue—‘much redder, almost brown in a way’—that is meant to recall the multilayered green of Kodachrome film.

Defy All Challenges - Microsoft Visual Studio

MBM pointed out this cool Visual Studio Promotional page. It even features guest appearances from Halo characters.

http://www.defyallchallenges.com/

They let you make your own mash-ups, too. Very well designed site – surprisingly (or not) still in Flash, though!

Microsoft Pushes Devs With Wider IE8 Beta

Matt F pointed out this article on Internet News.

“The company plans to let end users kick the tires on IE's next release, prompting Web developers to get busy revamping their sites.”

Adobe's Acrobat.com could be an Office killer; Will interface matter?


Adobe's Acrobat.com could be an Office killer; Will interface matter?
Originally uploaded by Mr. Entropy

I know we've seen most of these applications separately, but it's
interesting to see them all together on acrobat.com.

"Adobe has tied together its online office suite with the beta of
Acrobat.com and the user interface is the big differentiator. What
remains to be seen is whether online office users care about
aesthetics."