The Associated Press just announced a new video streaming service this week and has totally screwed the pooch with it. They are using the now popular Microsoft video DRM format that has taken hold of other services like Vongo, Comedy Central and VH1. Unfortunately this means they are going to make it harder for their users and in turn the viewing public to see their content. Use of Micorsoft video (specifically WMP10 based video) cuts out all non-Windows, non-IE users. Why not follow the better trend in web video? Why not call up Adobe and see about hooking into one of the better ways to serve up streaming video, Flash. Sure you could choose, Real or Quicktime video, but Flash video can be edited to include custom look and feel that doesn't change based on Operating System or Web browser. But this would require opening up to a new standard and would mean conforming to your user rather than forcing the user to conform to you... Personally I see this as useless. Consider the fact that AP video is currently displayed by the Washington Post within a Flash-based player.

via Romenesko

On Monday Adobe grabbed a DRM company that creates lock downs for PDF files via a client-server method and document encryption. This seems old hat in the textbook and business documentation world, but I wonder if Adobe will use this method to create a new SWF based DRM. For more clues I sat at work listening to the Gillmor Gang discuss DRM and video. They brought up the new Google Video store and how Google is using Flash (7 if you must know) to display its videos. One member of the gang (I forget his name) said (aroung the 18 minute mark) that Adobe and Macromedia's merger should bring DRM to Flash in the future so Flash can become a more viable content distribution model. I'm all for it... er let me clarify, I'd prefer DRM free content for ease of use etc, but if it must be there I want cross platform content, like Flash. In order words, that new VH1 video site and the new Comedy Central video service are closed to my iBook due to lack of vision on the part of their developers (and the music industry, but that's another story), but if the content was Flash based (like CNN's free in page video) then the content would be semi cross platform (sorry Linux, wait for 8.5). The only question is: Is SWF (and On2 by association) better than WMV and M4V?

image from video for Flash

It's always nice with a new marketing campaign starts to get us to set to companies get it on... er the Sprint-Nextel merger, oh why didn't they change their name to the obvious S--tel... Well Sprint is getting the marketing into full swing with new commercials portraying how the merge will not effect you, but will give you new options and possibly better service. The videos are being distributed via your favorite format (mine too), Flash Video. Check out the fun for yourself.

via SprintPCSInfo.com

Latest Katrina update: My best friend is found alive and well with his boss in Donaldsonville.

Quick how do you make a Flash video player? Easy... Open Flash MX 2004 change your stage to 300 x 200 pixels. Open Components and the Media Components list. Drag the MediaDisplay component to the stage. Open the Align panel and re-align the component to the center (no borders here). Select your MediaDisplay on the stage and open the Component Inspector. For URL type theVideo.flv. Select Automatically Play and Use Preferred Size. Save and Publish to SWF. Now you have a very quick, very dirty FLV player of your own. Place in a directory with any Flash Video file. Re-name said video to theVideo.flv. Open the quick and dirty player in Flash player (or the web browser of your choice). Since the video player isn't wrapped in HTML, it has no size set. The size of the movie is the default size now, but zoom in an boom you have the possiblity of full screen video.

Other ideas... Add a bit of actionscript to the beginning of the player to ask for the file location of the video the user wants to play. Use the MediaPlayback Component instead to utilize Flash's default player properties. Press Ctrl+F or Apple+F to automatically fullscreen the player in Flash Player, repeat to bring back to normal size. Add your new video player to Google Sidebar and watch TV on your Desktop.

From the annals of the Macromedia Flash Support Forums comes something really scary, a broad patent. New user Jimbo is worried that Acacia Technologies’ patent on a ‘Audio and video receiving and transmission system.’ Basically they have a patent on streaming video, music compression technologies, digital signal processing and transmission of that stream over cable or satellite. The abstract seems to refer to things like Tivo, MythTV, VCRs and On Demand video. Supposedly Acacia purchased the patent in 2001 and started going after small tech firms using similar tech and they may start threatening Flash-based sites next based on the use of Flash video and the ability to cache that compressed video and play it back on demand.

What can you do to help? Well check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation page on the patent for more information and ways to submit example of prior art, similar works created before 1991 when the original patent was filed. The worry here is one company will try to claim ownership over an extremely broad idea and then try to stifle innovation similar to what Epicrealm is currently trying to due with its patent on dynamic webpage creation.

The Studio 8 update comes with a few changes, including the end of the Flash standard or professional choice. Studio 8 will only be bundled with professional and designers who don't need the full package can choose to only buy the stripped down Flash Basic 8. Flash Basic has only a subset of Flash 8 features available and is meant as a starter Flash that will allow everyone to get animated. Basic does not include Flash Lite (Flash for cellphones, smartphones and pdas) export support and has stripped down video manipulation capabilities.

I think the seperation of Flash Basic from the studio package creates a non-developer option for bloggers and vloggers who want to start creating their own Flash but don't need the full Studio package. Plus younger designers will be able to step into Flash early and then step up to a professional package later on.

With the release of Studio 8, Dreamweaver gets an upgrade to Dreamweaver 8 with new functionality including: collapsable code fragments, new CSS visualization, easy XML feed drag and drop integration and new Flash video integration.

Now the code view of you webpage in Dreamweaver includes the option to collapse code fragments by tag. Plus a new code toolbar has been added to allow easy commenting, tag collapsing and code selection collapsing. The new CSS visualization gives designers a new way to edit and view CSS based pages with color coded regions and properties. Dreamweaver also includes a new CSS panel that consolidates all CSS functions into one easy to use property pane. Dreamweaver's upgrade includes easy XML drag and drop workflow that allows you to bring news feeds and basic XML into you site via the design view. Web developers can also drag and drop Flash video straight into their designs for quick integration inside web sites and applications. The upgrade also makes Dreamweaver the first web design tool to include CSS and web accessibility standards checking, which will help all developers become compliant developers.

It's great to see some of the W3C standards being enforced by this new upgrade, plus I really like the fact that Macromedia has decided to include the drag and drop XML feeds and new CSS integration. I found CSS really hard to handle in older versions, but I think this upgrade with bring more of us into the future, plus those blog designers out there won't have to hand code everything anymore.