First of all sorry for the missing post about MAX US keynote #2 but I was quite busy and there was already a lot of information on other blogs and on twitter.

Let’s start this first blog post from Milan. Peter Elst and me were lucky enough to be able to attend the Nokia OpenLab event on time : we had to run a bit from Malpensa airport, to the convention center to get our MAX badge, then we did a quick check-in at our hotel to finally reach Sophia’s Restaurant at 6.30pm. We didn’t really know what to expect from this event but it turned to be a really great idea :

teams of 2 needed to think about a “new” mobile application concept and present the idea to the others. Sounds pretty simple, no ? After all presentations, attendees needed to vote for their favorites 3 concepts and the best team will win a MacBook Pro and a CS4 Design Premium (for each teammate). There was several really great ideas unveiled during the evening, and at our own surprise, Peter and me won (thanks to Peter for putting the original idea on the paper) ! Our idea :

A Mobile Emergency Alert Service

I won’t give you more details at the moment on this concept: it’s something that I still need to discuss with Peter to see if we will try to make it something real or not. Anyway, I really want to thanks Nokia for organizing such event and it’s somehting that I really to see more often, even in the non mobile world. Pictures available here.

 

There’s currently many cool contests underway in the Flex community. To be sure that you won’t miss any of them, here’s a short list (let me know if I miss anything) :

• “Fleximagically Searchable” or the Flex SEO Contest
   
  

  From Ryan Stewart
  deadline : August 31 2008 but could be extended to end of 2008.
  1st prize :  a copy of CS3 Master Collection (or CS4) and Flex Builder 3.
  2nd prize : a copy of Flex Builder 3.

  You must create a Flex application that dynamically load the phrase “Fleximagically Searchable” : the first link must be deep linked directly into where you load that phrase and nothing in your code can dynamically load it, It has to be the result of a user interaction.

  More detail Announcing the Flex SEO Contest
  Update Update on the Fleximagically Searchable Flex SEO Contest

• Photoshop your way to Flash On The Beach
   
  

  From The European Flash platform evangelism team
  deadline : September 8, 2008.
  1st to 6th prizes : a full pass to Flash On The Beach 08.

  The only thing you have to do is get creative! Photograph or Photoshop yourself on the beach showing off your love for Flash, Flex, AIR, ColdFusion: It has to be a beach in the picture and a Flash, Flex, AIR, … logo somewhere. When you’re done, upload your entry (jpg, png or gif) using the form available at the link below

  More detail Photoshop your way to Flash On The Beach

• ScaleNine “Skin to Win Challenge”
   
  

  From ScaleNine.com
  deadline : October 10t 2008.
  1st prize : a MacBook Air, a ticket to MAX 2008, a feature on Adobe Developer Connection, a copy of CS3 Master Collection and Flex Builder 3.
  2nd prize : a ticket to MAX 2008, a copy of CS3 Master Collection and Flex Builder 3.
  3rd prize : a copy of CS3 Master Collection and Flex Builder 3.
  Spot prizes : a copy of Flex Builder 3.

  This contest is all about creating a custom theme for Flex. If you haven’t created any skins yet for Flex this contest is a great way to get up to speed on using Adobe Creative Suite 3 and Flex Builder to customize Flex and AIR applications.

  More detail Here’s what you need to know.

• the Flex Incentive Program
   
  

  From the Flex team
  deadline : none.
  every 3 bugs : purchase an Adobe-related book from your Amazon wish list.
  first two contributors to have 10 patches committed : a ticket to MAX 2008.

  For that one, the “game” is just to fix some bugs in the Flex3 SDK and be part of the next milestone releases.

  More detail Flex 3 Contributions

Good Luck !

 
Following the comments and concerns regarding SEOing Flash and Flex files, Ryan Stewart decided to launch a contest to learn the best way to expose data from a Flex application to search engines.

You can read the rules here and you can win great prizes : a copy of CS3 Master Collection (or CS4) and a copy of Flex Builder 3. Second place gets a copy of Flex Builder 3 and maybe more to come ! Note also that multiple entries are accepted.

So here are my first 2 “applications” – I had pretty much fun doing them

• App1 : an xml file containing the requested text and another text is loaded using HTTPService. Only the requested one is displayed in a Text control. The unused one contains the words “Fleximagically Hidden”.
• App2 : the same xml file is loaded this time using URLLoader and the text is splitted in characters before being displayed.

Thanks to Chet Haase for the Glow Image component, Narciso Jaramillo for the Reflector component and Sakri Rosenstrom for the Text Effect Explorer.