Just got an email from one of my past instructors, Lonnie (aka CyberSorcerer) that he’ll be hosting an online radio show every Saturday at 4PM called Internet Marketing – Under the Hood. He tells me you can chat and “call in” through your computer’s mic, so it could be pretty interesting. If I’m not juggling a baby and a 2 year old at 4 on Saturday, I’ll definitely participate. Here’s the details on the radio show.
Developer News
So says the beginning of this USA Today article. And that by 2015 mobile apps will overtake all other forms of business software. Which is so odd because in Back to Future 2 when they went to 2015, I don’t remember seeing a lot of iPads and other tablets but maybe if I look closely enough in the background there’s something I missed. Because I definitely missed this in my first 100 viewings…
I can take no credit for spotting this.
Below is a video from Rob Bateman at InfiniteTurtles.co.uk showing off what he put together for the Nexus one using that new AIR to Android extension.
Thanks for sending this Tibi!
Okay webheads, this article is a must-read…. http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/01/the-internet-is-cyclical/ … And yeah, I know its longer than a few paragraphs, but here’s some reasons to read it… it starts off with a quote from the Matrix (the best Matrix movie) with a picture from the Matrix, somewhere in the middle of the article is this juicy thought morsel “HTML5 leads to the fall of the App Store model.” (say whaaat!?!), and it ends with a quote from Battlestar Gallactica (the best Battlestar Gallactica, the one with a sexy Starbuck).
Since some of you will hopefully be developing apps over the next few weeks, this is relevant news. Apple chucked out 5000 apps recently for racy content like bikinis, tight shorts, cleavage, or anything sexy that you might regularly see in a movie, TV ad, supermarket magazine stand, billboard, or in “real life” like on vacation or at school or the mall or looking out the window while in the car… Anything a boy’s eye might venture toward, is gone. More details here.
A developer from ChilliFresh was able to speak with someone at Apple and got back this list of “don’ts”…
- No images of women bikinis or ice skating tights.
- No sexual connotations or innuendo, signifying sex etc.
- Nothing that is sexually arousing.
- “No skin (he seriously said this. I asked if a Burqa was OK, and the Apple guy got angry),” added blogger Jonau at ChilliFresh.
So to everyone participating in my iPhone tutorial series, keep this in mind for your apps later on. And for the rest of you, the consumers of such products as the iPad, iPod, or iPhone, to make your day a tad sexier just look up. There’s even some constellations that get pretty, pretty wild.
Here’s another kick. This time coming from Adobe aimed at the shins, so its more like a sweep than a real high kick, as AIR is set to arrive on Android and Blackberry phones. AIR is that handy-dandy format that Flash or Flex can export out to, basically its an application, you just need to have the AIR program to run AIR apps. And calling an AIR file an application is often times a stretch. If you wanted to launch Flash, draw a square onstage, and publish an AIR file, you could.
And to reiterate my feelings on all this Adobe/Apple stuff: I don’t see any of it mattering in the long run. 10 years from now, Apple will still have its App Store packed to the brim with new apps and Adobe will still have Flash as its flagship program which publishes to a dozen formats for the web and otherwise. The fun part of this fight is reading the articles of tech-guy and gals which I would have thought had more common sense than to say things like “Flash is in its death kneel”. But take note of anyone claiming epic defeats like that, because their prediction-meter is set to “Nostra-dummy”
I’ve read a lot of stats recently about percentages of sites that use Flash as a factor in this issue. And duh, it is. But I haven’t really read anyone talking about Flash thriving as a development tool. Sure, I’ll bitch when it crashes, but its a damn good piece of software. And it fills a massive void in Adobe’s suite of tools. Without Flash, what in Adobe’s product line would replace it? After Effects? No, thats overkill for web work. Photoshop or Illustrator? Both underkill. What Flash does quickly, and cleanly for web animation, gaming, and simple-t0-advanced interaction isn’t available anywhere else. And is Apple going to offer up an alternative, hugely-liked development tool because its products don’t play Flash content. No.
Remind yourself how smart Adobe was to buy up Macromedia a few years ago. They certainly didn’t buy Macromedia for Director, Fireworks and my precious little Sound Edit 16. They bought Macromedia for Flash, and Dreamweaver sweetened the deal. And why is Flash such a great program? It satisfies three types of users really quickly …
- Dummies can amaze themselves with it.
- Super-smarties can amaze others with it.
- Everyone in the middle can do a little of both. “Ohh” and “aww” at some easy animation they made, or feel super smart for a day or two when they code something they didn’t think they could.
And with good software like Flash, the circle of learning goes like this… dummies get smarter, the mid-level users eventually become super-smarties. And new dummies discover the program everyday.
Plus it exports to every damn format in the world. Swf, Pict, Jpg, Gif, Animated Gif, Illustrator, PNG, Quicktime, Image sequences, Windows Projector (.exe), Mac Projector, AIR, and soon-to-be-tested iPhone App. It is the Swiss-Army knife of Adobe’s creative products.
So for anyone out there writing “Flash is on its death-bed”, you are out of touch. Also if anyone wants to learn Flash, here’s a great website.… =)
Check out what my buddy John wrote back in April 17, 2009 about Apple and a possible tablet…
vs.
He nailed quite a lot. Even the price being more like $400 instead of the much predicted $1000. And while some folks back in April were saying Apple wasn’t even considering making a tablet, he was dreaming up the accessories…
"Thanks for the ideas John!" - Steve
Anyway, so who of my readers is going into further debt in a couple months to get an iPad? I’m already standing in line.
So the big news yesterday was that Flash CS5 (or Flash 11 for those like me still waiting for a strictly numbered comeback) will export to a native iPhone app. I heard that word “native” a few times in Adobe’s demo video, so I’ll use it too. What’s implied is that this export from swf to App won’t be like some floral pattern knee-patch job on your coolest pair of jeans. Apparently you’ll actually get a real iPhone app not a self-executing swf that launches like an app. Which if true, would be fantastic. Of course us animators all know how well Flash’s export frame-skippy-record to Quicktime can behave at times, but honestly I have a better feeling about this. Code converting to other code seems possible. Although I’ll admit when I read this announcement today my mind-pants exploded a little. If Adobe can really make this happen, they can do anything.
So what about this pile of Objective C and iPhone books on my desk? Are they headed to the shelf? Which in my world is akin to putting Woody’s Roundup Gang back in storage. A lot of sad unplayed-with training books are looking at the back of my head right now. A Guide to Flash MX never even got the binding cracked . Well the answer is no, these iPhone books are still on the desk. In fact I just got done with another chapter. It’ll be interesting to see how this Actionscript-export handles things like the accelerometer, multi-touch swipes, location tracking, and other functions that are somewhat unique to the iPhone. But I did read some rumors today that Adobe is planning some workarounds for things like the swipes. What will be nice though is creating quick & easy apps that a lot of us Flash folks already know how to do, like galleries, micro-sites, music players, and games.
And a little side-announcement is that Flash CS5 is still using Actionscript 3. Hooray for everyone busting hump to learn As3! Double-hooray for slackers like me that still have hours and hours of AS3 training to sell for another 18 months or more!! Actionscript does not equal Actionscrapped, for at least one more upgrade. One love, people. One love.
No definite word yet on when Flash CS5 will be released though (another reason those books aren’t shelved yet) But for those looking for Flash and Actionscript 3 training right now, like TODAY, (here’s my chance to pounce >) go to CartoonSmart’s Actionscript 3 section
Click here for more on Flash CS5′s new features (like an improved Actionscript editor!)
Or click the pic below to watch a demo of some Flash-made apps ALREADY in the App Store….
I’m convinced that every few years the most basic shapes go back to looking cool just because they are 3D. Its like the 3D version of Moore’s Law. Except instead of the coolness of 3D trending upward in some way, it just reverts back to simple shapes. Such is true with what lies ahead in an HTML5 enabled browser. If you saw a rotating teapot in Terminator 5: The Rise of Teapots, it would suck, but the same teapot rendering natively in a browser (without a plugin) is pretty killer…
More info (but not much) is at TheNextWeb.com .
Pixar is coming your way… http://news.awn.com/index.php?ltype=top&newsitem_no=27612
Probably wouldn’t hurt to start checking Pixar’s official site too for more info in their jobs section if you do live in that neck of the woods. Or if you are in the Emeryville, CA area and want a Pixar job now, here’s a cool one rendering very, very realistic 3d coffee…
This position is responsible for taking food orders, operating the cash register and point-of-sale systems, preparing coffee-based beverages, serving various prepared food items, and providing pleasant and professional customer service. The person in this role will maintain the front of the house, dining room, and drinks preparation area of Luxo Café. This will include cleaning, re-supplying condiments/supplies, and stocking prepared pastry cabinet. Other duties may be assigned by the manager or supervisor to whom this position reports.
