MAX US keynote #1 etc…
WednesdayNov 19,2008
Even if I’m not attending MAX US, I wanted to share what I’ve heard from my twitter friends and the live coverage done by Serge Jespers and Andrew Shorten (special thanks to them!) and give my first thoughts.
Even if it has been already used during presentations for at least 2 years now, the branding is now official : under the name Flash Platform you will find “everything you need to create and deliver the most compelling applications, content, and video to the widest possible audience.”: CS4 suite, Flex framework, Flash player, AIR Runtime, ColdFusion, BlazeDS etc… That’s cool!:
It will be easier for me now to say that I’m a Flash Platform consultant than an AIR-Flex-CF [...] consultant 
Flash Catalyst enables designers to start from static compositions created in Adobe Photoshop CS4, Illustrator CS4, or Adobe Fireworks CS4 and convert the artwork into applications and interactive content. The output can be a finished Flash SWF or AIR application ready to be published or project files that you can import into Flex Builder.
I’m curious to get my hands on it – what I will do at MAX Europe. Now on a personal thought it’s easier for me to pronounce Catalyst then Thermo! Vdeos of the introduction session here.
public beta of Cocomo is available on labs
Codename “Cocomo” is a Platform as a Service that allows Flex developers to easily add real-time social capabilities such as collaboration apps, audio/video chat, Real-Time File Sharing into their RIA using a hosted services infrastructure (Acrobat.com).
Really, really interesting stuff. I greatly encourage you to try it and share your thoughts on the official forums (or here if you prefer). There’s no details yet on the pricing (free with limited features and a pro or enterprise version ?) but already interesting questions arose like:
The potential for Cocomo for corporate/enterprise applications is substantial, but many (most) corporations will want to host the infrastructure behind its firewall for performance, availability, and security reasons. Are there plans to provide a mechanism for hosting/license the server-side infrastructure for enterprise applications?
FlaCC is now Alchemy and is available on labs
Codename “Alchemy” is a research project that allows users to compile C and C++ code that is targeted to run on the open source ActionScript Virtual Machine (AVM2). The C/C++ code is compiled to ActionScript 3.0 as a SWF or SWC that runs on Adobe Flash Player 10 or Adobe AIR 1.5.
It won’t be the project that I will look into in priority, but I understand that it’s opening new doors to Fash Platform developers and I know some people who are really enthusiastic about it.
Wave is available in the pre-release program
Adobe Wave is an Adobe AIR application and Adobe hosted service that work together to enable desktop notifications. It allows consumers to opt-in to receive desktop notifications from their favorite publishers. Each notification carries a call-to-action: clicking directs users to a publisher-specified URL, driving traffic back to their site. Unlike e-mail, Adobe Wave has been architected to be a trusted communications channel and consequently minimizes spam and phishing concerns.
Of course, you can implement this in any of your AIR application, but if you don’t have a need for a n application and just want to give desktop notifications, Wave sounds cool. It seems that there’s a market for that (ie. Stitcho).
Tour de Flex is a desktop application for exploring Flex capabilities and resources, including the core Flex components, Adobe AIR and data integration, as well as a variety of third-party components, effects, skins, and more. It includes over 200 runnable samples, each with source code, links to documentation, and other details. There’s also an Eclipse plugin available that provides a search interface.
Tour de Flex is a really cool application, a mix of all existing “Flex explorers” with tons of extras. A must-have application on your machine! And the best part is that it could be updated, maybe with your own content because anyone can contribute. Nice work to Greg Wilson, Christophe Coenraets and James Ward.
In this release, additional capabilities are available :
- Encrypted local database: the new encryption support offers better support for encrypted larger data files.
- Flash Player 10 capabilities: For example, it’s now possible to take advantage of custom filters, blend modes, and fills with Adobe Pixel Bender. AIR 1.5 also supports the new 3D effects, including perspective, correct transformation, and animation of 2D plans in a 3D space (also known as postcards in space). Rich media enhancements include dynamic streaming to improve the quality of video playback based on bandwidth availability as well as support for the Speex codec for delivering high-quality audio at lower download speeds.
- WebKit update:The version of WebKit included in AIR has been updated to a newer version. The updated version includes Squirrelfish, a new bytecode interpreter that improves the execution speed of JavaScript for common actions. Internal tests show that HTML-based AIR applications run as much as 35% faster for many types of operations.
I think that’s all for the products mentioned except maybe Flex 4/Gumbo. The first keynote focused on the mobile side with Flash Player 10 running on several mobile devices - including Android - and a version for the iPhone that just need a final approval from Apple.
Posted in AIR, Conferences, Flex
