I love it when technologies that some were
comparing as adversaries come together to make cool stuff. Not too long ago, the developer blogosphere was abuzz
wondering how Flash and AJAX could exist in the same universe. Luckily, that argument didn't last too long and some
creative folks started thinking about how they could play together and make great web experiences.
Christophe Coenraets is one of those
people and he's made a really interesting example using Flex, AJAX, and Flash Media Server. Christophe's Google maps
collaboration app shows just how the web is growing, from display technology to collaboration technology. I'm still a
little skeptical about the whole Web 2.0 thing, but there's something to be said about using great technologies to
enable people to communicate better.
Keep an eye out, I think we're going to see more of this stuff coming
out in the near future.
Macromedia announced today the release of Flash Media Server 2 (formerly known as Flash Communication Server). The new FMS2 takes advantage of the new video codec packaged with Flash 8 (the on2 codec), so the video should scream and look great to boot.
Flashcomguru.com's, Stefan Richter, has some interesting comments about the new pricing structure though. No more bandwidth limits, but there's no more Personal Edition (not to be confused with the Developer's Edition which is still freely available, but only for dev purposes), only a $4500 Professional version which limits the total number of simultaneous connections to 100. So if your application is a low bandwidth, high usage app, then you may have a few issues with the new price. Check out Stefan's ruminations.
I think its going to take some time to see how the market shakes out on all this. The business models at various hosting services may become more important as individual developers (or even companies) decide they can't host FMS2 applications on their own.
Well sort of. First up, Macromedia announced about a week ago that the new version of Flash Communication Server is coming down the pipe and along with a bunch of new features it has gotten a name change to fit in with the Flash Platform. Now called Flash Media Server 2, the new and improved server will give users and web administrators (not to mention aspiring teleconferencers) easier access to Flash-based video conferencing via the web using the new On2 video codec included in Flash 8 plus better server farm capibilities and new W3C compliant logging. But what does this have to do with Google and GTalk? Well the new server has support for extended remoting (can you say Flash-based admin interface), File objects (trade files via the server), and XML web services. The XML web services include support for Jabber based XML streams and, since GTalk is Jabber based, an enterprizing developer could create a teleconferencing application that integrates with GTalk to mimic Apple's iChat. It could be possible to even extend the usefulness to allow more full screen streaming video than Apple could ever imagine.
Just attended a great panel on ubiquitous music which not only refers to music being everywhere but whole gamut of apps and hardware that facilitate the social network of listening, creating and sharing music. Another way of thinking about it: "devices and applications that allow people to express their musical identity." A lot of the ideas here are also bound with mobile computing.
Interesting presentations by folks from Nokia, American University (the guy who does the "Walkman Busting" radio show for NPR). Atau Tanaka from Sony CSL Paris and Layla Gayle from Viktoria Inst. in Sweden showed off their next gen devices, one which allows people to create music in realtime through a network (Tanaka) and one which makes music as the user walks through the urban environment.
One of the most interesting was a social application for Pocket PC, called tunA, which allows users to listen to their own music or see playlists from other users with a WiFi network and listen in to what others are hearing. There was a messaging component as well. I don't know what the app was written in, but I could totally see something like this written in Flash and using Flash Com Server to maintain the connections.
In sum, a really thought-provoking panel on social computing with music as the target medium. I' still have some things to digest here. Looking forward to exploring the sites I've posted above!
FlashMagazine has posted an interview with Doug McIntyre, CEO of On2. Maelstrom utilizes the On2 video codec, so if you want to get an under-the-hood look at the next generation of Flash video, you'll find this an intersting read.
The
paper has 3 chapters, in the first I introduce the basic international
standards for video compression (H.261,H.263), in the second I analyse
the Flash implementation (Flash codec derives from H.263), and finally
in the Third chapter I describe 2 optimization strategies I have
developed in the past to improve the Flash real-time video compression
of around 20-30%.
Looks like interesting stuff. I'm looking forward to reading Fabio's blog! Put this one in your feed!
John Dowdell posted a list of links that show and tell the history of various Macromedia and Adobe products, including Flash. It's interesting to consider the parallels and diversions of the UIs as they've changed over time. It's also pretty cool to read Jonathan Gay's history of Flash (even if the URL does mis-spell his name...).
When I was still in school as an art major I discovered an undocumented feature (or bug) in the Camera() class that allows Flash to take a still photo of a user and then manipulate that photo. This class is normally used in connection with a Flash Communication Server to create a teleconferencing application with integrated streaming video. A video feed is grabbed from a user’s computer, with their permission, and streamed to an external server. At the same time the feed can be displayed in for the user in the Flash project they have opened. When the feed is disconnected it leaves a residual image that can be manipulated within a movieclip and possibly printed via the user’s computer.
I love it when technologies that some were
comparing as adversaries come together to make cool stuff. Not too long ago, the developer blogosphere was abuzz
wondering how Flash and AJAX could exist in the same universe. Luckily, that argument didn't last too long and some
creative folks started thinking about how they could play together and make great web experiences.
Well sort of. First up, Macromedia announced about a week ago that the new version of Flash Communication Server is coming down the pipe and along with a bunch of new features it has gotten a name change to fit in with the Flash Platform. Now called Flash Media Server 2, the new and improved server will give users and web administrators (not to mention aspiring teleconferencers) easier access to Flash-based video conferencing via the web using the new On2 video codec included in Flash 8 plus better server farm capibilities and new W3C compliant logging. But what does this have to do with Google and GTalk? Well the new server has support for extended remoting (can you say Flash-based admin interface), File objects (trade files via the server), and XML web services. The XML web services include support for Jabber based XML streams and, since GTalk is Jabber based, an enterprizing developer could create a teleconferencing application that integrates with GTalk to mimic Apple's iChat. It could be possible to even extend the usefulness to allow more full screen streaming video than Apple could ever imagine.
FlashMagazine 
Fabio Sonnati of 
When I was still in school as an art major I discovered an 
