to be removed
(Via adobe) Prior to Adobe AIR 3 release candidate, only Adobe could add core features to the runtime. Developers requiring new features could only wait. Now developers can extend the runtime themselves. This new capability allows developers to:
Rest of the post is here.
Most of us being Actionscript 3 or Flex developers, very often require quick access to adobe documentation. After CS4, the docs don’t come along with the IDE. Although some of the reference can be obtained from intellisense and code hinting, very often I am in real need for complete docs. Today I was suggested by my friend about AS3.0 Chrome Extension. It caches all as3 classes the first time (first time alone it performs index retrieval and takes two or three seconds), and after that you get search suggestions of the classes you type in no time. It is very handy and I would recommend it to all AS3/ Flex devs.
Install it from Chrome Store.
just wanted to pass some infos of a conference: Android Open Conference Looking for Speakers.
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Hi there,
We wanted to ask you to share some information about our new Android Open Conference happening October 9-11 in San Francisco, CA. We’re currently looking for speakers for the inaugural event and wanted to see if you can help us get the word out.
Android Open is for the whole ecosystem – from app developers creating next cool apps to OEMs and carriers hacking the platform for their specific business needs. This is one opportunity to meet and learn from some of the most brilliant minds on the frontier of mobile computing. Our tracks include App Development, Platform Development, and Business & Marketing.
Here is the link to the CFP, deadline is June 1st: http://post.oreilly.com/rd/9z1zkl6ak398qr2eplknjc4u55kdkj3h78s5ts77nu8 and here is some discount info to share:
O’Reilly Android Open Conference
October 9-11, 2011
San Francisco, CA
Get 20% off any pass with code an11ug
http://post.oreilly.com/rd/9z1zj8grl0j0rp0f8lahhuffht6bvt20ete9dhd59ng
So after using the Playbook for nearly one month, I thought I shall list down some interesting apps and games built in AIR that caught my eye.
GeeReader and Pipeline
Both these RSS readers have Google Reader synch options which is very important to me. Similarly I know most of you would also be using Google Reader for managing the several blogs you would follow everyday. Both these apps are free. GeeReader comes with the conventional blog reader UI, but Pipeline has little more electrifying UI though the Google Reader synch option is only valid for 14 days in the Free version. Pipeline also offers offline reading of feeds which is very important.
Scorekeeper
Easily the best UI of any party / family boardgame scorekeeping application. The app focuses on tiny-mini aspects that scorekeeping becomes such a pleasure. You should watch this video ..
Conqu
This is a task management software built on Adobe AIR. This same app is also available on Android marketplace and I saw it being demo’ed by one of the Adobe Evangelists. It comes with a very smooth and sleek UI. Having a task manager with a great UI is very important, when you admire the UI you tend to open the app more frequently and you hence get to check your To-Dos.
Await for another post on my fav games very soon..
Most of you would be knowing about the latest vocabulary game on the Ovi store – Happy Sun. I last week got my hands on the brand new Nokia E7, the business phone. Here is a photo of Happy Sun running on both Nokia N8 and E7.
I have been quite busy over the last 1 month that I couldn’t spare sometime on blogging. The reason can be attributed to a lot of things
1. Rapid innovations and new toolkits in the Flash platform.
2. The new Nokia Microsoft deal
3. Cricket World Cup 😉
There are a lot of good reasons to develop for the Playbook. One is that, all SWFs that run on the computer / web can be wrapped into an application seamlessly. And Playbook’s hardware and initial showcases have been impressive. The device seems solid. Blackberry has been encouraging developers to code for their platform and have been offering a free playbook upon a successful submission. Blackberry understands that apps in the marketplace are essential for the success of a platform. And to overtake Apple’s iPad, they need to have a launch with a marketplace ready with diversified content. One also has to remember that Playbook is equivalent to iPad 2’s hardware (has dual cameras) and is hence not behind in the race.
Anyways, so I created an app for the Playbook that can be used to watch TED videos. I used the TED RSS and it’s published for free. In future, I will be adding newer features to it. Previously, there were loose ends in the process of testing and signing the content for the Playbook. The toolchain has been improving and we are now seeing more blogs writing about it (one is this by Hemanth). Adobe will shortly be releasing a more streamlined process for development. Additionally, Blackberry was taking quite some time to give any response on the submission of apps. It took me 30+ days for the TED app to get approved. Now the approval times have been drastically reduced to nearly 1 week only. Since, my content has been approved I will be receiving a Playbook after its launch. I shall later attach screenshots of my app.
I must also say about 2 things that has not been highlighted adequately
1. There is a package of UI, media and other components that have been designed and developed by Adobe + Blackberry to suit the Playbook and the QNX platform. It is better to use these components when targeting the playbook.
2. The community at Blackberry developer site is hyper brisk. I think there are people answering queries with sleepless nights ! You generally get answers in less than 20 mins time. I used these, when I had initial difficulty with signing and packaging and found them to be really useful.
With Nokia going into deals with Micrsoft, it means that Flash Lite’s future in diminishing. Symbian had good support for Flash Lite. But I do believe that Flash Lite is a good platform to target the millions of devices that are today in the market and more that will continue to ship over the next few years. My latest game on the Ovi store, HAPPY SUN has been doing very well. It is also being featured by the Ovi store. Being a Forum Nokia Champion and an avid Flash enthusiast, I hope that Flash soon makes its way into WP7.
I am also attending the Adobe Refresh Singapore event tomorrow. Really hoping to catch up with dev friends.
While my primary involvement at Adobe happens to be around the ActionScript language, I also have some background in security, and recently I have been thinking about channeling some of that into designing and implementing tools for secure programming in ActionScript. ActionScript programs are compiled to run as Flash applications (on the web) or as AIR applications (on the personal computer / mobile device); as such, they are run on platforms with security models, and their security on those platforms is controlled by various security mechanisms, both at the language-level as well as at the platform-level. (More here.(Adobe blogs)….>)
My latest Flash Lite game HAPPY SUN is out on the Ovi store. Its available for all touch phones including the S60 5th edition and Nokia S^3 phones. You can download it for free from the Ovi store. Here are some screenshots of the game … Its a very exciting word game and created after working closely with Mellisdesigns.
Facebook Graph API Development with Flash: Beginner’s Guides by Michael James Williams, his twitter ID:@MichaelJW (Published by Packt Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-849690-74-4, with TOC and Index) is a surprisingly comprehensive how-to book that should be on the book shelf of all levels of flash Developers, especially those who starting to work on Facebook API Development with Flash.
This work includes some of the topics that are covered in “Accessing the Graph API through a Browser,” traversing the Graph and other instances. But it goes well beyond that. Although I’ve been in writing my tutes in several flash websites for long time, I was delightfully surprised to read about some interesting topics that are rarely talked about in books of this kind. In Chapter 5: Search Me; in Chapter 6: Adding to the Graph; quite interestingly in Chapter 7: FQL Matters (Yes, it is FQL, Facebook’s version of the database language SQL) and a lot more.
The scope and quality of this book is no doubt directly related to the excellent credentials of its author. Michael James Williams is a technical concept writer and freelance Flash developer. He is the technical editor for the tutorial website “Activetuts+” and also runs his own blog about Flash game development. He currently lives in England, in a nice little town that has both a river and a canal. As per his say, he has been using Facebook since it was just some site that his American housemate wouldn’t stop talking about.
His method of delivery is to introduce the main idea, the concept of a writing category, and then take the structural components of the document in question and explain each action component in detail. We can feel the patient hand of a well-seasoned developer leading the reader chapter by chapter towards knowing in detail.
For example, before explaining the individual components of this book (Abstract, Introduction, Body, Conclusion, pop quiz), the author first explain the major steps involved in approaching and researching. Much forethought and planning went into the preparation of this 324 pp. Beginner’s Guide, obviously.
Those who’d like to do some developing Facebook apps in Flash will be delighted by the chapter 6 devoted to “Adding to the Graph.” I found the list of topics of “Putting it online” on p. 265 very useful too.
Every chapter is capped by “Topics” section, which presents many visual elements that the reader/student is asked to cope with by coming up with the correct solution, as explained within the chapter.
The book is so thorough that even topics such as how to use Facebook features, what’s that got to do with the Graph API, and the basic rules of Facebook’s security restrictions and its access are also covered. Oh, let’s also not forget the delightful support of Packt Publication and others that adds a welcome light touch to this serious volume.
Highly recommended e-book for anyone who works or intends to work on Facebook applications as well as those learning in a classroom settings.
Experience Design 