One thing that I’ve struggled with a lot over the 8 or so years that I’ve been self-employed has been taking time off when you get sick. Especially if you do a bulk of your work remotely from a home office, it’s easy to soldier through in your PJ’s and still wrack up considerable hours in front of the screen. This week I’m doing something I haven’t done for, well, as long as I can remember – I’m taking time off to get better, so please understand if things are slow on email replies, blog posts or training video releases. I’ll be back on deck before you know it.
Archive for July, 2009
New Training Video – OOP Architecture for Flash Mobile Applications
A new video in the “Developing for Flash Lite” series has just been posted – “OOP Architecture for Flash Mobile Applications“.
Object Orientated Programming (OOP) is going to become more relevant, and required, for Flash mobile developers once Flash Player 10 and AS3 (plus AIR and Flex) arrive on the mobile platform. ActionScript 3 requires that you use a class-based OOP methodology, and for many Flash Lite developers who have been happily living with AS2, this is the time to start getting into it. In this episode, I walk through extracting code from the timeline and placing it into classes, and some of the things you might encounter along the way (the Delegate class, etc).
Links to all the videos in this series can be found on my Training page, on the Adobe Flash Lite Vimeo homepage, and soon through Adobe TV. Don’t forget you can subscribe the RSS feed on Vimeo for updates, or follow @flashmobile on Twitter.
Developing with Flash Lite – OOP Architecture for Flash Mobile Applications from Adobe Flash Lite on Vimeo.
Ovi Reports are Back – New Moket Ovi Sales Figures
A little while back I suggested that I would try and be forthcoming with our sales numbers through Ovi so that the Flash development community could see what was happening behind the scenes with us on this new sales channel. This certainly wasn’t to say that I thought Moket’s content would be the biggest selling through the store (far from it) but I thought it would be helpful since we have been in the Ovi Store from the start.
As some of you will know, Ovi’s reporting screens were removed for quote some time while they were “fixed”, and have just become available again over the weekend. Here’s what I can show you now in terms of how things have been progressing for us: Read More
FITC Mobile 2009
There’s a great new conference on later this year which you should all know about and consider attending – FITC Mobile in Toronto. FITC (or what started as “Flash in the Can”) has a long and rich history in hosting some of the most talented and inspirational speakers on the Flash Platform and rich media, and they’ve now (correctly) recognized the importance of mobile in this space.
FITC Mobile includes two full days of presentations, plus an optional pre-conference workshop on Saturday, September 12, 2009. Sessions will cover a variety of topics related to platforms (Android, Flash Lite, OpenGL, Windows CE), applications (SMS, QR codes, video) and devices (BlackBerry, Palm, iPhone). Some of the speakers confirmed are:
- James Eberhardt (Technical Director and Content Developer)
- Mark Doherty (Mobile Evangelist, Adobe Flash Platform)
- Brandy Gilchrist (Executive, Investor, Mobile Evangelist)
- Martin Barclay and Robert Burdick (Nokia)
- Scott Janousek (Flash Mobile Design & Development Expert)
- Thomas Joos (Mobile Consultant, Flash Lite Specialist)
- Colin Mook (ActionScript Expert and Author)
- Dom Sagolla (iPhone App Developer)
- Tony MacDonell (Teknision)
FITC Mobile
September 13 – 14, 2009
Metro Toronto Convention Center, 255 Front Street West, Toronto, Canada
Tickets
Ticket prices range from $69 (CdN) for an Early Bird Student Conference Pass to $399 for a Regular Conference + Workshop Pass. Discounted early bird prices are in effect until July 17, 2009 after which time the price goes up. Go to http://fitcmobile.eventbrite.com/ to purchase tickets.
This will hopefully be the start of another great annual mobile event!
Robert Scoble interviews Adobe on Digital Home and Mobile
Here’s an interesting video with Robert Scoble talking to Anup Murarka (Dir. Technology and Strategy at Adobe) about Flash on TV (Digital Home). In it they discuss the Flash player and Flash Media Server as a platform for delivering full HD video to TV’s over the internet, combined with of course other content and web applications to create the next generation of home entertainment (or as Robert suggests, the 2010 web). Jump in around 12:20 to hear them start talking about Flash Player 10 on mobile devices.
I think it’s interesting to hear Anup talk about the change in direction for Flash on mobile over the past 12 months or so. When he describes the shift from a mobile-specific player (Flash Lite) to parity with the desktop version, it really sounds like something they should have been doing years ago. However obvious it sounds, devices have had to evolve a lot before this could be started and so I think the timing is definitely right to be on this path now.
The Open Screen Project gives me hope that what we’re seeing demonstrated now on the TV with Flash won’t be the same as Flash on mobile 4 years ago – so much promise but the commercial realities of getting the technology to market was never going to allow it to be a straightforward as was being said. With all of the vendors involved with OSP, the Flash Platform has a greater chance of success than with Adobe trying to shoehorn it into the market through specialized players and the promise of great content.
And while we continue to work in an industry that thrives on the “excitement of what is just around the corner next year”, there’s no doubt to me that there’s certainly some exciting opportunities opening up.
