On The SURFACE with Microsoft

A Coffee table-shaped computer called "Surface".

Direct Link To The SURFACE Flash Website

Envision a time when surface computing technologies will be pervasive, from tabletops and counters to the hallway mirror

Designed to do away with the need for a traditional mouse and keyboard, users can instead use their fingers to operate the computer.

Also designed to interact with mobile phones placed on the surface, Microsoft says it will initially sell the unit to corporate customers. These will include hotels, casinos, phone stores and restaurants.

So-called "multi-touch" interfaces - which allow the user to move several fingers on a screen to manipulate data, rather than relying on a mouse and menus - have been making waves in tech circles for some time.

Apollo FLASH RIA and AIR

Adobe Systems has officially branded its rich Internet application (RIA) technology known as "Apollo" with the name Adobe Integrated Runtime, or AIR. The new brand name accompanies the first public beta, being released today (JUNE 11th 2007)

AIR is a runtime like Flash, Adobe's widely-used Web animation technology. Flex is the developer framework, which works in Adobe's DreamWeaver authoring software. Developers will be able to write one set of source code that can be executed within a browser using Flash, or on a desktop as an AIR applications.

All developers will need to do to enable their application to run in both environments is repackage it for AIR deployment. "That opens up a whole new set of capabilities that can be done on the desktop that couldn't be done in a browser," said Dave Gruber, group product marketing manager for Flex at Adobe .

Public beta 1, out today, is almost feature complete, but some features are not yet enabled, according to Mike Downey, evangelist group manager at Adobe. This beta includes features like much more support for AJAX developers thanks to full HTML support.

The HTML engine in the first public release was not even halfway complete, according to Downey. "It will be a huge improvement over what we did in beta 1," he told internetnews.com.

Public beta 1 will also support transparency in the app, so developers can build an HTML desktop app with its own custom chrome and transparency. It will also support PDF files and thanks to a partnership with Google , AIR will include support for the SQLite database.

The AIR runtime will be about nine megabytes in size, according to Gruber.

Adobe is also working on extensions to its authoring tools to publish AIR installer files, starting with DreamWeaver CS2. A CS3 version will follow shortly.

Flex is also being updated, with the third beta available today. Adobe is promising nightly builds of the Flex SDK, so people can get latest builds. Among the new features are support for AIR debugging, application packaging and signing, and integration with Adobe's suites, like Illustrator and Photoshop.

This beta separates the application logic from the frameworks. Previous releases forced developers to embed the Flex framework into the application, which made it fat.

Ray Valdes, research director for Gartner, thinks Adobe is taking the right steps. "There needs to be reduced discontinuity between browser and desktop apps through common programming models and tools. I would worry if adobe were not doing these things because all of these things are needed," he told internetnews.com.

He noted that while Adobe is going from the browser to the desktop, Microsoft is going in the opposite direction with Silverlight.

"That of course means a collision course. I think in some sense it's all good in that there are more choices for the developer and the user. I think that anyone who wants to compete will need to execute well, look at competitor offerings, realize it's a dynamic space and everything is a moving target," he said.

Source: www.internetnews.com

Stop All Movies :: AS2 Helpful code

//enter the movieclip you wish to stop this will stop the movieclip and all nested instances
//e.g if we enter stopAllMovies(_root) this will stop every movieclip. Of course if you are wokring
//with levels and have external swfs, then you can use levels instead e.g
//stopAllMovies(_level5);

stopAllMovies(movieclip);

function stopAllMovies(movie:MovieClip):Void {
movie.stop();
for (var i:String in movie) {
if (movie[i] instanceof MovieClip) {
movie[i].stop();
stopAllMovies(movie[i]);
}
}
}
About Stopping All Movieclips:
This snippet builds upon the last 'banner' snippet. Sometimes you not only want to stop the banner from looping anymore, but you need to also stop all the movieclips which are playing as well. This kind of functionality is ideal for use of a recursion. The following script will stop all movieclips in their tracks(of course you need to make sure if any of the movieclips are running due by virtue of a setInterval on onEnterFrame you will have to clear or delete them):



Explanation:
We call the function stopAllMovies sending it a reference to a movieclip (i.e the movieclip which we wish to stop as well as all the nested movieclips within it ). We stop this movieclip and then we loop through each variable i within the movieclip and then check if movie[i] references a movieclip. If it does we stop this movieclip. Now since this is a movieclip it can contain more nested movieclips, hence we need to call the function again, sending it this movieclip as a reference, and the process repeats until we have stopped all the movieclips. Calling a function from within itself is called 'recursion'. The name sounds scarier than it is!! Many times newbies to flash use recursion without even knowing they are doing so!

MapQuest Launches ActionScript API

MapQuest has launched a new, Adobe ActionScript API that will allow developers to use a robust toolset with the benefits of ActionScript 3.0.

Developers will be able to build rich applications with Adobe Flex or Adobe Flash software using a native API for ActionScript for better developer productivity.

"As an industry leading provider of geospatial web services, MapQuest has created a foundation for developers to bring a rich multi-media experience to end-users. Future enhancements will open up the possibilities even further, ultimately allowing developers to customize location-based applications that offer significant end-user control," said Christian Dwyer, Vice President of Business Solutions and Operations for MapQuest.

"Created to offer more choice, the new ActionScript API offers the possibility of enhanced interactivity, lower development costs and faster time to market while providing all the same great mapping, routing, geocoding and search feature sets that customers rely on from MapQuest."

MapQuest says because Adobe's Flash Player is available to 97 percent of the world's Internet-enabled desktops that developers will spend less time on cross-browser support and more on building applications.

"The API developed by MapQuest for ActionScript opens up new avenues for the Web 2.0 developer ecosystem, especially those who use Flash, Flex and Apollo to build rich Internet applications (RIAs) in the browser or right on the desktop," said Jeff Whatcott, Vice President of Product Marketing, Enterprise and Developer Business Unit at Adobe.

"Now, RIA developers can quickly and easily integrate MapQuest's mapping services into their Web 2.0 mash-up applications, enabling them to go beyond simple HTML to create more engaging, data-rich and interactive mapping applications."

Source: www.webpronews.com

Adobe holds the FUTURE of WEB Video

Adobe announced an expansion of its Flash Media Solution Provider (FMSP) program. They are going after content publishers by offering recommended partners to help those creators distribute their videos.

Those creators likely have in-house talent already working in Flash and other Adobe technologies, but the leap into distribution and hosting may be one that requires assistance. A Flash Video Streaming Service program would handle the hosting side, with delivery taking place across distribution networks.

Adobe's list of cohorts reads like a who's who in up and coming multimedia plays: Blip.tv, Motionbox, Podbridge, FeedBurner and Reality Digital. Plus, Adobe already has Brightcove, Maven Networks, and others in its FMSP program.

Between the ubiquity of the Flash player on computers, and the broad adoption of Adobe's other creative tools, the company could be positioned to steer some king-hell distribution business to its partners.

The launch of Adobe Media Player will have elements of control that content creators desired. That control, including the ability to keep advertising elements with videos if and when they go viral, presents a potent combination.

Adobe appears to have all the pieces in place to be the dominant force for enabling video content across a broad audience. Between creation tools, content servers (hosted or on-site), a media player, and distribution partnerships, it's tough to see Microsoft's Silverlight and Expression tools, or anyone else's, challenging Adobe today.

Tomorrow, who knows?

Source: www.webpronews.com

After Effects 2 FLASH Transform properties

WDDG and James 'Baker 1-9' recently launched its killer new site using
an early version of After Effects 2 Flash: Transform Properties for the jitter effect.

After Effects 2 Flash-Transform Properties is an Extension with
the objective of enhancing the integration between After Effects (AE)
and Flash by enabling you to export Transform Keyframe data out of
AE as an XML file, automatically import and parse that data, and map
it to properties of MediaClips in Flash. This version allows you to
export Position (x, y, z), Rotation (degrees), Scale (xscale, yscale),
Opacity (alpha) and Anchor values and map them to MovieClip Properties
(_x, _y, _rotation, _xscale, _yscale and _alpha) in Flash. For example:

You can export Position data out of After Effects - using a
custom script, AEKeyframes2XML_Transform.jsx and map the X and Y values to a MovieClip in Flash.
Publishing the file animates the MovieClip
along the exact X and Y coordinates.

Tooltips and the Help files are included with this installation.
The tutorial, including the script for After Effects, can be downloaded
at http://www.drwoohoo.com/store/AE2Flash-Transform/Tutorial.html.

WANT MORE...check out these links and try it out!

GET IT FROM ADOBE HERE

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