Adobe has introduced a new ActionScript 3.0 client library to provide resources to developers who are using Flash on Facebook's developer platform and Facebook Connect product, and will be promoting the possibilities of integrating Flash with Facebook's API on its Web site.
Adobe has established itself as one of the leading forces in shaping Internet content, applications and development with technologies like Flash and PDF. While Adobe is not a full-fledged open source company today, the company argues that it is making "open" efforts for its Web technology -- and it sees active participation in the broader open source ecosystem a key way to spread its offerings.
Devices with Flash Player 10 are expected to hit the market starting in early 2010. About 40 percent of all phones that are shipped today use this version of its technology. But because Flash Lite doesn't allow for the same functionality as what's available on the Flash 10 desktop version of the technology, mobile users are missing out.
While Adobe calls the site a "marketplace," the applications on it are actually free for download and not for sale. Adobe has improved the search and download capabilities of the site, as well as added RSS feed and other features that make it easier for developers to share applications.
Adobe Systems Incorporated announced plans to publish the Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) specification, which is designed for high-performance transmission of audio, video, and data between Flash Platform technologies.
This center is your source for information, tools, and resources related to modifications to Internet Explorer that Microsoft has recently announced. These changes affect the use of active content like Flash, Shockwave, and Authorware in web pages.
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Available for download from Macromedia. As we expected, reception has been mixed. The jump from Dreamweaver 4 to MX was massive - it became almost a different product, with decent CSS support, Accessibility, and all the server-side options. This version is definitely an upgrade. The new FTP functionality should please many (including myself) who would be hurling things at the computer while Dreamweaver attempted to upload a site with all the ability and grace of a hippopotomas on a skateboard. The CSS support is excellent if you're doing most of your work in CSS now. Not everyone is pleased, though.
My friend Dierdre is a full-time DW and flash developer in Birmingham, UK. This morning she told me:
"Flash and Dreamweaver are still extremely buggy! Cowboys...whenever I close dreamweaver, it crashes everything else saying "DW exe has generated errors and will shut down". I know it will, that's what i'm trying to do! As for Flash, some really cool "unique features" that completely screw you up if you do a certain permutation of tasks using certain parts of the extensibility architecture, like the XML to UI API, some of it is just clinically buggy."
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The Flash Player 7 public Beta is said (by Macromedia) to have improved video performance by 15-20%; to have improved video quality concerning gradients, and better Actionscript performance for text scrolling and component initialisation.
It also checks for updated versions and offers the user a chance to download a new version: "On Window 2000 and XP systems, the notification leverages pop-up bubbles linked to system tray icons."
<rant> What does "leverages" mean that "the notification uses pop-up bubbles" doesn't? We give 9/10 for technical competance; 1/10 for gratuitously mangling the English language. </rant>
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Macromedia kicks of the Back to School season with new student contest.The contest is designed to inspire students to create digital experiences that challenge, provoke, educate, and entertain, while rewarding and providing exposure for student authors of outstanding content.
The Macromedia 2003 Back to School Student Contest features a People’s Choice Award and a Macromedia Expert Award for each of three categories – “Build Stuff,” “Create,” or “Not Normal”. Students compete against their peers and vote for their favorites in December. The deadline for submissions is November 15, 2003. Complete program information and submission instructions are at www.macromedia.com/go/studentcontest/.
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