Feb 25 2008

I’m gasping for AIR

Recently, Adobe Systems released a new, and very innovative piece of free software called AIR. As far as I can tell, this program seems to be a synthesis of the concepts driving Java and already-existing web technologies like Flash and Shockwave. As I just found out about AIR, I haven’t really had enough time to give a test-drive on my Windows machine. The interesting thing, in my opinion, will be to see if it is truly cross-platform. The AIR FAQ indicates that version 1.0 doesn’t support Linux, but that subsequent versions may. I found this lack of support to be perplexing given the superficial similarities between the AIR concept and Java, the latter of which is cross-platform and does support Linux.

Again, I have not had enough time to really investigate AIR, but it does seem quite interesting to offer a runtime environment which utilises already-existing web-based technologies. Some sites (like AOL, eBay, and Nickelodeon) have already come up with AIR desktop programs. To see more about these implementations, visit the respective Adobe case study pages:

AOL
eBay
Nickelodeon

For a basic overview of the new runtime environment, Adobe AIR, see the AIR: Get Started page.

|:| Zach |:|

Feb 22 2008

Talking photo booth

I received this funny video via email today, and thought I would share it with all of you. Just think about this one before the next time you decide to go into a photo booth at an amusement park. How would you react?

Talking Photo Booth:

If you want to watch it multiple times, you will need to download the FLV Player by clicking the link on the right-hand panel. Once you have that player downloaded and installed, you can save a copy of this video to your computer by right-clicking the link below and hitting “save as.” I hope to upload an MPEG copy of the video in the near future. 🙂

Right-click to save a copy

|:| Zach |:|

Feb 21 2008

New FLV Player

Hello all,

After many months, I decided that it was time to update the FLV Player software that I keep linked in the right-hand bar. I found that the FLV-S Player is no longer the most functional (in my opinion). After having tried out a few of them, I found that the player (for Windows anyway) that is the best is the one made by Martijn de Visser. He has done exceptional work, and I suggest that you check out his website for further updates, and some other cool stuff. However, I have uploaded his copy of the player to the Z-Issue so that you readers can easily download it.

Take care,

|:| Zach |:|