Posts Tagged ‘Flash’

MY OPEN LETTER TO STEVE JOBS

Friday, May 7th, 2010

My Open Letter to Steve Jobs

As some of you may already know, Apple Computer has decided to block the Flash plugin from all their mobile devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod), which in-turn blocks any content currently being broadcast over the web in Flash – which is a whole lot of voices, music, photos, video, opinions, etc.  This decision has the potential to put me and other small Flash developers out of work.  Please take a moment to visit the link below and read my letter to Apple CEO, Steve Jobs.  If you agree with my position or have reasons of your own to want Flash on these devices please sign the online petition I’ve started.  And please feel free to pass this link along to anyone you know – especially if they own Apple products.
Thanks in advance!

SKATEBOARDS AND LEARNING CURVES IN 2010

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I’ve finally gotten back from a long and much needed break and I’m ready to tackle this twenty-ten thing head-on.  I’ve set two resolutions for myself this year – one for fun, one for work.

Resolution #1:  Start skateboarding again.

Yes, I’m turning 37 this year and I somehow think it’s a good idea to jump onto a small wooden plank on wheels and launch myself into some concrete hole in the ground.  I was inspired by a film my brother insisted I watch called ‘Rising Son: The Legend of Christian Hosoi’ – IMDb Link – and from scene one I was back in 1988 tooling around New Hampshire pretending to be Tony Hawk.  My brother and I had loved skateboarding and were avid skaters from about age 12 to 18 and we’ve both occasionally gotten back on ‘the horse’ from time to time over the years, but I’m making a concerted effort this year to make it a larger part of my life again.   Why, you ask?  Simply put, because I miss it – it’s also a pretty good workout and exercise is something I could use a more of.

I’ve chosen a Stereo deck designed by Chris Miller as my ride into this closing-in-on-mid-life adventure.  My very first deck was a G&S Chris Miller ‘Faces’ model and my last real deck before my ‘retirement’ was a Schmitt Stix Miller model too, so it seemed logical and in the interest of good luck to stick to what worked in the past.

Wish me luck.

Ain't She a Bute!

Ain't She a Bute!

Resolution #2: Finally learn Actionscript 3.0

Actionscript is the programming language that runs all Flash applications including website like the ones I build.  Most of the website I make have literally thousands of lines of code the tell the site what to do and when – it’s what allows Flash to be interactive and fun.  When I began this career AS2 was the current standard language but has since been replaced by AS3 – much to the chagrin of all the design-minded ‘programmers’ out there.  I’ve made a few pathetic attempts to learn and work with it over the past year but always found myself frustrated and abandoning it for the soft and comfortable embrace of AS2.  But in 2010 I am making it a rule to not program anything in AS2 and just jump head-first into AS3 and get it over with.  It’s the same language obviously, but the subtle (and not subtle at all) differences with how it is written are mind-boggling frustrating.

Of my two resolutions this year the one I feel most likely to kill me is this one.

Wish me luck!

The Nightmare that is AS3

Well, that’s it for now.  I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday.

P.S. Oh and I’m moving into a real office next week – so that happened.  Pictures and info coming soon!!

NEW ACTIVEDEN ITEM NOW AVAILABLE

Monday, November 9th, 2009

I’m happy to announce that I’ve just had another file approved for sale on ActiveDen.net.  This one is a drag and drop mp3 player set-up as a retro 80s style tape cassette.  It’s a build off a player I created a few years ago for another project but updated and snazzed up for the 21st Century.

TAPE_PREVIEW

The player allows anyone with a website (or without one actually) to insert the player into their page and change the look, music, albums and the rest all from an outside XML file – so there is no need for the buyer to know Flash at all.  You can check it out here.