Ben Forta's Blog - AdobeMAX08

Now Available, New York Times Reader Powered By Adobe AIR

Mon, 11 May 2009 09:45:00 -0400

It reads like a newspaper. Updates like a Web site. And delivers like The New York Times. The new Times Reader 2.0 delivers the entire day's Times (including an interactive version of the crossword) in seconds, so you can carry it wherever you go. And it's all powered by Adobe AIR. We first sneaked this app at MAX 2008 in San Francisco, and now it's available for you to download. Oh, it's worth noting that Microsoft built the initial WPF based version of the Times Reader application for the Times three years ago, but that version is no longer available for download.

Why Major League Baseball Benched Silverlight For Flash

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:32:00 -0400

At MAX 2008 in San Francisco, Kevin Lynch announced that Major League Baseball was going to be using Flash for broadcast video. What he did not say at the time is that MLB had been using Silverlight, which they were abandoning for Flash. Greg Sandoval has posted a story on CNET explaining what he's learned about why Silverlight is out, and Flash is in.

MAX MegaLab Assets

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:48:00 -0400

I presented a MegaLab hands-on session in San Francisco and Milan, and introduced lots of developers to data-services powered Flex and AIR apps. The session walked Windows and Mac developers through a dozen hands-on apps that started with basic data integration and worked all the way up to data synchronization and offline support and more. Unfortunately, due to a corrupt ZIP file, Mac users were unable to follow along in San Francisco. If you'd like to try the session yourself, here is what you need:

RealTimeDS.zip [400MB] is the complete server containing TomCat, LCDS, ColdFusion, a database, and more.
RealTimeDS.pdf [200KB] is the student hand-out.

All of the instructions are in the ZIP file. Enjoy!

100,000,000 AIR Installs Announced

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:03:00 -0400

During the MAX Japan keynote we announced that Adobe AIR has been installed 100 million times since it's release less than a year ago! We also announced that Flash Player 10 had been installed on 55% of computers in its first two months! TechCrunch also just reported the story.

Behind The Scenes With Fiat's AIR Based EcoDrive

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:01:00 -0400

EcoDrive is an AIR based application that uses data collected by your Fiat car to help drivers adjust their driving style so as to improve fuel efficiency. The app was shown during the keynote in MAX Milan. Andrew Shorten and Serge Jespers recently spent some time with Fiat and with AKQA who built the app, and have posted this video report. The video runs about 20 minutes, and is well worth watching.

CF9 Enhancement Slip

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:06:00 -0400

While demoing the ORM features in Centaur (CF9) and Bolt (the CF IDE) during the MAX keynote, I showed and executed some code, and this snippet appeared on the screen for a short time:

I have now received three e-mails asking if that code was real or not. And the answer is yes, that is real code generated by Bolt, and it really was running in Centaur. Really! And yes, I know the code is not great (heck, it's not even that good, good thing we're not shipping yet). But, you have to wonder, what made them ask? And did we inadvertently let a CF9 enhancement slip out of the bag? ;-)

Check Out Adobe Hair

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:34:00 -0400

No, that's no a typo, Adobe Hair it is.

Adrian Bridgwater On MAX Sneaks

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:38:00 -0400

Adrian Bridgwater attended MAX Europe in Milan, and comments on our sneaks session.

MAX Europe Pics

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:34:00 -0400

I've posted some pics of MAX Europe in Milan, Italy, last week.

Simon Bisson On The Future Of ColdFusion

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:51:00 -0400

I got the chance to chat with Simon Bisson at MAX Milan, and he shares his thoughts over at IT Pro on the future of ColdFusion in a piece entitled The ColdFusion Renaissance.

RTMFP Explained

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:31:00 -0400

RTMFP (Real Time Media Flow Protocol - yep, we've moved from 3 and 4 letter acronyms to 5 letter acronyms!) was demonstrated at MAX, both in the Day 2 keynote and in the Sneaks. As demonstrated by Agent Steve in Milan and Agents D & D in San Francisco, RTMFP provides the ability to do direct client-to-client streaming. But what exactly is RTMFP? How does it differ from what was available in Flash Player previously? And why is yet another protocol needed? If you want to know the answer to these questions and more, check out Nigel Pegg's post entitled Try RTMFP and Client-to-Client Direct Streaming, With FP10 and Cocomo, Today!.

What Happens When Serge And Andrew Play With Photoshop

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:46:00 -0400

I mentioned the Cocomo app created by Serge Jespers and Andrew Shorten. The app was "Paparazzi Central" to be used by paparazzi to share tips with colleagues and upload photos to share with publishers all over the world. And of course Serge and Andrew created a series of images for use with the app. This is one of them, check Serge's site for the others. ;-)

MAX Milan Thus Far

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:10:00 -0400

It's early Tuesday morning in Milan. MAX Europe started yesterday with a keynote by Michele Turner and Mark Anders. The content was similar to the U.S. keynote, but with local partners and examples highlighted. The Fiat AIR app in particular was a thing of beauty, and the crowd loved the Cocomo demo by evangelists Serge Jespers and Andrew Shorten (I'll post links to those doctored images when I get them). I presented my 3 hour hands on Flex/AIR/ColdFusion/DS lab yesterday, and this time all worked flawlessly. Phew! We're now backstage prepping for the Day 2 keynote. Tim Buntel and I are reprising The Agency, slightly modified for the local audience, and with local agents recruited to join the fun.

Lights, Camera ... MAX - Round 2!

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:19:00 -0400

You'd think a keynote is a keynote is a keynote. Once it's been done once, then recreating it elsewhere should be a cinch, right? Unfortunately, it never works that way. And right now folks are scurrying around backstage, checking and testing and tweaking and fine-tuning and ... 15 minutes or so to go! In San Francisco, Serge Jespers and Andrew Shorten provided live blogging of both Day 1 and Day 2. Both Serge and Andrew will be on stage during the keynote today, and so the live blogging will be performed by evangelism team members Mihai Corlan, Tom Krcha, Piotr Walczyszyn.

Buon Giorno From Milano

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 10:52:00 -0400

I am in the Milano Convention Centre here in Milan, Italy, location for MAX Europe 2008. We're sitting backstage, working on keynotes, tweaking demos, figuring out staging, and waiting (MAX keynote prep work involves lots of hurry-up-and-wait time). MAX Europe attendance has exceeded that of last year, just as we did in the U.S. this year. It's going to be a fun MAX!