Loving the profile editor at the ADC introNetwork

Today was the day I wanted to log my first Flex bug on the Flex Bug and Issue Management System (crikey, that’s a mouthful). However, I got beaten to it by Ryan Gardner who posted it yesterday. (ahh, the power of open source!) Anyhoo, I started browsing the new devnet trying to find the ADC desktop so I could see how handy it would be in watching the progression of the bug (Mike Potter mentioned the new ADC desktop app during his recent talk at the London Flex User Group)

While trying to find the app I stumbled on the ADC introNetwork, a social network for members of the Adobe Developer Connection. I decided to check it out. This is when I discovered the profile editor while setting up my account. It’s a great use of Flex and Im sure we’ll be seeing this type of thing start to appear in other more “traditional” social networks. It lets you drag certain keywords to an area at the top of the screen and order them according to how important they are to you. It’s a great way of creating a custom profile that matches you with people who have the same type of skills or interests. Here’s a screenshot for your viewing pleasure:

The ADC profile editor (click for large version)

New London Flex User Group

It looks like London is a Flex User Group richer.

We already have a great monthly Flash Platform User Group in London which will likely retain its crown as the king of all things Flash/Flex/AIR in London, but it’s good to see a user group dedicated to Flex too.

The first informal meeting will be held in a pub (this is England after all) and is imaginatively titled “Flex in the Pub.” You can RSVP for the event on the London Flex User Group page on meetup.com. As this is the first meeting it’s difficult to say what the turnout will be, but it has been filling up quite quickly over the last couple of days.

No Flash for the Apple iPhone?

MacRumors is currently running an article claiming there will be no Adobe Flash support for the Apple iPhone. You can find the full article here.

It was revealed yesterday at the WWDC, the Apple Developer conference, that the iPhone would include “support for Web 2.0 applications.” I guess we will just have to wait and see if Apple’s definition of “Web 2.0 applications” includes HTML and JavaScript, but not Flash.

Apollo sessions at RailsConf 2007

Adobe will be presenting a couple of Apollo sessions at RailsConf 2007, the Ruby on Rails conference. Adobe is also a gold sponsor of the event.
The two session are entitled “Engaging with Web 2.0 outside the browser” and “How We Used Apollo and Rails to Build an Agile Project Management Application.”

Both the sessions will be presented by Christopher Haupt and Chris Bailey and are to be held on Friday May 18th.

I can’t make it out to Portland myself, so I’m hoping (glad) we’ll see a repeat of the RailsConf Europe event held in September of last year, although I haven’t heard any news on that quite yet; the site is still displaying the 2006 event. Edit: Thanks to Don for pointing the new site out.
You can find the RailsConf 2007 schedule here or just browse the RailsConf 2007 main site.

CS3 Video Workshop

I just saw that Adobe have put up a great new learning resource for the CS3 suite; the Creative Suite 3 Video Workshop. You can find it in the design center section on the Adobe website, and there are already quite a few videos available.

Go check out the CS3 Video Workshop now.

Apollo giving Flex 2 new traction

(a pic of my inbox this afternoon)

A couple of guys at the office have started getting into Apollo, and what’s the first thing they want to do? Thats right, they want to start using Flex 2.

My inbox had a bunch of new messages from colleagues this afternoon, all expressing interest in Flex 2 training after one of them sent off a studio wide email. (We have a mail account that forwards mail to our studio members)

Now I think I did a pretty good job of championing Flex and Apollo where I work, but I have to say this amount of interest still surprised me, especially as we dont really produce too many RIA’s.

I can also say, without a doubt, that Apollo is behind this new drive of interest in Flex 2 and, so it seems, Adobe’s Apollo strategy is already starting to work.

CS3 says ‘ello and good morning

Adobe have updated their site with the new Creative Suite 3 tools, head over now for a peek at all the new features!
The launch site looks pretty sweet and is mainly focusing on the integration between the different tools.

I think I’ll be holding out till July to get my hands on the Production Suite though. It looks like I should have a lot more time to play around with the new tools around then.

I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of guys come out of the woodwork and really start getting into ActionScript 3 with Flash CS3. A lot of devs have moved to macs over the last year (myself included; just go to any random conference to witness this phenomenon) so I imagine many haven’t played as much with ActionScript 3 as they would like. With Flash Player penetration now so high, this is going to be an amazing release as people adopt the new tools faster than ever before.

Apollo lifts off

The Apollo SDK is now available for download on Adobe labs.
I’ve had a quick look at some of the example Apollo applications (they’re tucked away a bit) and amazingly, I’ve already been able to use one at work this morning: the Pixel Perfect example.

I’ve also been on the lookout for a nice RSS reader as I haven’t been able to find a suitable Windows alternative for Vienna, my RSS reader of choice on Mac. I’ll be giving the Fresh RSS reader a go over the next couple of days.

Who cares about the release date of the release date?

Today the web was afire with news that Adobe soon plans to announce the latest cycle of their Creative Suite products; but who really cares about the release date of the release date?
Sure, you’re probably going to be pretty amped to know when you’ll be able to get your hands on a shiny new set of CS3 tools, but how well will they fit into your existing plans for world domination? A lot has happened since last round, and with the acquisition of Macromedia Adobe has bought itself a whole new box of tricks. I for one will be pretty interested to see what the bundles look like, especially with a number of new products that have not yet had the chance to be released in a package; either at Macromedia or Adobe. Im looking forward to seeing a web/video bundle, as well as one geared towards rich (internet) application development that could also lay a good foundation for Apollo.
It’s going to be fun watch this time round, the strategy Adobe employs when bundling the new tools will likely shape their future, as well as yours, for quite some time.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 Beta

Adobe just released the public beta of Photoshop CS3, which is great news for any Intel Mac users out there. This is a key move by Adobe as it will let thousands of Photoshop professionals benefit from the speedier universal binary as soon as possible. Congratulations to the Photoshop team.

I was pleasantly surprised by the installer requesting Flash to be shut down before installing; probably due to the integration between the old Macromedia technologies and those of Adobe. Product integration and workflow optimizations have been one of the key drivers in the development of the CS3 suite.

Click here to find out more.

Tip: Once installed, click on the workspace dropdown and select “What’s new in photoshop CS3″ to let the ui highlight some of the new features.