Marco Casario | RIAvolutionize the web

AIR 1.5.1 maintenance update announced at FITC 2009 Amsterdam

FITC 2009 Amsterdam has started this morning and everything looks great ! Mike Chambers, Lee Brimelow and Serge Jesper presented the Adobe Keynotes showing some cool stuff on Flash CS4, AIR and mobile.
Mike Chambers announced the upcoming release  of AIR 1.5.1 as a bug fixing and maintenance update.

Aral, Ralph, Brenden, and Koen have just finished their talks and they were very inspiring (as usual).

My talk (Local Persistent Data with AIR and ActionScript 3) will happen in a few hours.
See you there.

Get inspired by FITC Amsterdam 2009 before being sold out

Don't loose the occasion to get inspired by cool speakers at the FITC  2009.
FITC returns to Amsterdam, The Netherlands with two days of presentations and one day of workshops focused on all aspects of Interactive design and development, February 22-24, 2009 at the Felix Meritis European Centre for Arts and Sciences. 

The much acclaimed two-day event includes over 40 presentations covering business, creative and technical subjects, plus pre-festival workshops, and nightly parties as only FITC can deliver. This is the second year for FITC Amsterdam, which last year sold out over a month in advance.
See you there !

Flash On The Beach Miami Super Early Bird pricing has been extended for Christmas

Today I've received the following newsletter from FOTB Miami:

We are delighted to announce that the Super Early Bird pricing has been extended for Christmas! FOTBM09 is on track to be another super cool FOTB, we have some of the best names in the web world speaking, and our pricing can not be beaten!

What are you waiting for ??? Get your  tickets here now!

Flash on The Beach Miami tickets on sale now at an incredible price

That's right, tickets for Flash on the Beach Miami 09 are on sale NOW! Do not miss out on the hottest Flash conference of 09, get your tickets now whilst they are at Super Dooper price! Tickets are live now.

Don't forget, the first 199 tickets are the lowest price around! As soon as they have gone, we are onto the next priceband. First come first served, the early bird catches the worm, if you snooze you lose, etc etc. Pick your own phrase for those missing out on one of the lowest price tickets for this awesome event ever! They will go fast! click here to get your tickets now.

Actually Flash On The Beach is the less expansive high level conference of its kind !

Want a chance to win a 3 day pass to Flash on the Beach Miami?

Just put one of the FOTBM09 badges below on your site, fire us an email at badges@flashonthebeach.com to let us know the URL and we'll enter you in a draw for a full 3 day pass!

Top 10 Flex Builder 4 features

The Flash Catalyst (formerly Thermo) and Flex Builder 4 session has just ended and Adobe's speakers presented us many cool stuff.
This is a top ten list of features of Flex Builder 4:

1. Package Explorer: it navigates into the ActionScript classes of a SWC file
2. File Template: finally we'll be able to create template files to use in our Flex 4 projects
3. Improved Refactoring: you can now move classes from different packages
4. Class code hints: mouse overing a class of the Flex 4 SDK you'll get the Livedocs hint for that class
5. Generate Getter/Setter: at least !
6. Generate event handler: as soon as you associate and event to a function, Flex Builder 4 will automatically autogenerates the event handler declared
7. Conditional Breakpoints for debugging
8. Improvements on Debugging
9. Flex Unit support
10. Network Monitor: yes it's back. If you were a Flex Builder 1.0 users you know how cool it is :)

MAX Day 1 has still to start but we have cool announcements: AIR 1.5, Flash Catalyst (formerly Thermo), CoCoMo

That's amazing. MAX Conference is about to begin this morning but we have some real cool announcements (thanks to Ryan for that):

Thermo is becoming a part of the Flash brand under the name Flash Catalyst: Adobe Flash Catalyst is a new professional interaction design tool for rapidly creating application interfaces and interactive content without coding. These can range from interactive Ads, product guides and design portfolios to user interfaces for applications. Flash Catalyst enables designers to start from static compositions created in Adobe Photoshop CS4, Illustrator CS4, or Adobe Fireworks CS4 and convert the artwork into applications and interactive content. (read more from Ryan Steart blog)

AIR 1.5 :  in this release, some of the additional capabilities now     available to AIR developers include the following:  

• Encrypted local database: By popular request from       developers, we've added a way of encrypting the         local database inside of AIR. While encrypting data in AIR has been       possible since AIR 1.0, using the Encrypted Local Store (ELS)—the new       encryption support—offers better support for encrypted larger data files and is       generally more convenient since many developers prefer to persist using       the local database.
• Flash Player 10 capabilities: Adobe Flash Player 10 is one of       the most significant releases of the player, with groundbreaking new       capabilities. We've updated the version of Flash Player included with AIR to       version 10. For example, it's now possible to take advantage of custom filters,       blend modes, and fills with Adobe Pixel Bender. AIR 1.5 also supports the new       3D effects, including perspectiv,e correct transformation, and animation of 2D       plans in a 3D space (also known as postcards in space). Rich media       enhancements include dynamic streaming to improve the quality of video playback       based on bandwidth availability as well as support for the Speex codec for       delivering high-quality audio at lower download speeds.
• WebKit update: The version of WebKit included in AIR has       been updated to a newer version. The updated version includes Squirrelfish, a       new bytecode interpreter that improves the execution speed of JavaScript for       common actions. Our internal tests show that HTML-based AIR applications run as       much as 35% faster for many types of operations.

The Flash Platform has released  CoCoMo, one of the coolest products at Adobe. CoCoMo is basically a framework that lets you add collaboration to any Flex application out there. It comes with a few basic components like video chat, text chat, and whiteboards, but it also includes hooks so that you can build your own real-time collaborative application. Codename "Cocomo" is a Platform as a Service that allows Flex developers to easily add real-time social capabilities into their RIA (rich Internet applications). Comprised of both Flex-based client components and a hosted services infrastructure, Cocomo allows you to build real-time, multi-user applications with Flex in less time than ever before. And because Acrobat.com hosts the service, issues like deployment, maintenance, and scalability are taken care of for you.

Stay tuned because more news have to come at the Adobe MAX Keynote in less than one hour.

What's happening today at MAX San Francisco

Yesterday night I've received an interesting email from Adobe  that updates me what's happening on MAX on a daily basis. So this is what I should expect to see today :

Register Early to Avoid the Rush!
Registration opens today for all MAX attendees at both the Marriott San Francisco, Yerba Buena Level and Moscone West, Level 1. Both registration areas will be open from 7am to 7pm today so beat the Monday rush and register early. If you are registered for a pre-event lab please come and register at the Marriott San Francisco location so you can get to your class early!

                MAX Playground
Hang out in the MAX 2008 Playground and try your chops at Guitar Hero, Halo 3, or Wii Sports. If you prefer classic games, check out the “retro” video games and foosball tables as you catch up with your peers at the Moscone West, Level 2, from 7am to 7pm.

                MAX Store
Be the first to visit the MAX Store and pick up MAX 2008 and Adobe branded clothing and collectibles, as well as books from some of our publishing partners. It’s located at the Moscone West, Level 2 and is open today from 7am to 7pm.
               
                Discount on ALL Adobe products and training
We are proud to offer all MAX attendees 10% off your next Adobe Store purchase. To take advantage of your savings, visit the Adobe Store online at www.adobe.com/go/max2008. This offer is only good till December 4, 2008 so buy now!
   
                MAX on Adobe TV
Adobe TV is your free, online video source for expert insight, instruction, and inspiration on Adobe tools and technologies. Following MAX, we will be posting session content on Adobe TV. Visit tv.adobe.com to catch any sessions you may have missed, and to view a vast collection of over 1,000 videos featuring tutorials, tips & tricks, and demos.

                Pre-event Attendee Reception
A special reception for MAX 2008 pre-event attendees, hosted by Intuit, will be held this evening. This reception is exclusively for those who are attending ADIM @ MAX, pre-event labs and the pre-event session. Refer to your final details email for your invitation to attend an evening of food, beer, shooting pool, and great fun with friends. The first 500 attendees to arrive will receive a limited edition, customizable t-shirt.

My MAX 2008 personal schedule

Two days are missing to the MAX Conference so it's time to share with you my agenda of sessions. This year was very complicated to choose from several cool speeches. And I'm sure I'll pass from one to another :)

The only sure panel is mine on November 19, Wed, at 5 pm : Inside the Adobe AIR Cook-off: The Best Show Off Their Winning Chops

If you want to meet or go out for a drink,  you now know where to find me:

November 17, 2008

Looking Ahead to the Next Version of Flex     11:30 am - 12:30 pm

The Flex Architecture Faceoff     2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Advanced Tips and Tricks for Flex Builder 3     3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Introduction to Thermo and the Next Generation of Flex     5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

November 18, 2008

Creating New Components in Flex 3 and Beyond     1:30 pm - 2:30 pm

A Deep Dive into the Flex 3 Framework     3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Building Applications with Thermo     4:30 pm - 5:30 pm

Best Practices for Developing with Flex in a Team     9:00 am - 10:00 am

November 19, 2008

Architectural Best Practices for Flex and LiveCycle ES Applications

Flex Framework Features to Support Large Applications     11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Agile Testing of Enterprise RIAs with Flex and LiveCycle ES     2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Data Visualization with Flex     3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Inside the Adobe AIR Cook-off: The Best Show Off Their Winning Chops     5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Early bird pricing for FITC Amsterdam 2009 is now open

After the sold out success of FITC Amsterdam 2008 , FITC is repeating the move.

The combination of unbelievable presenters from around the globe, incredible networking opportunities, and the infamous FITC parties, all with the amazing backdrop of the city of Amsterdam, creates a stage set for the unexpected.

Preregistration for FITC Amsterdam 2009 is now open and the  Early bird pricing ends on Dec 10.

So don't miss the chance to to grab a ticket before they're gone.

I'll be there talking on Persisten Storage tecniques in Adobe AIR (more details soon).

LiveCycle Data Services and Flex Best Practices Development event in Milan

Comtaste and Adobe Italy are organizing a series of  events dedicated to the Enterprise RIA development using Livecycle Data Services and BlazeDS with Flex 3 and AIR.
On November 5th in Milan, there will be  one of those meetings titled:

Creating Enterprise RIA with Livecycle Data Services and Flex

In this event Comtaste will show some of their projects we're working on in the Enterprise contexts (an Enterprise Dashboard application, a multimedia recruiting system, a customized start-page library and many other).

This is the agenda of the event:

09.30 - Registration
10.00 - Presentation of Comtaste's RIA showcases
10.15 - LiveCycle Data Services installation Best Practice 
10.30 - Architectures, Framewors and Design Patterns
11.00 - Integrate LiveCycle Data Services in J2EE architectures
11.30 - Coffee Break
11.45 - Enterprise LiveCycle Data Services Application development with Flex
12.00 - Desktop applications with Adobe AIR
12.15 - Integrating LiveCycle Data Services with AIR
12.30 - Q&A  

The event is totally free but you need to register from the Adobe Tech Connection site.