FlashForward2008 – Keith Peters is keepin’ it real
Aug 20th
Keith Peters was given the difficult task of having to follow Miha’s riveting presentation, yet Keith managed to deliver a heartwarming retrospective on the evolution of the Flash Platform. He compiled an awesome reel of standout Flash sites from 1999 (ancient times in the Flash world) which invoked nostalgia within myself and I presume within the hearts and minds of the other creative thinkers who were fortunate enough to have lived through those times.
Keith also did a glorious job of ripping Jakob Nielson a new one, for lack of a better description. Yet somehow he managed to do so in a professional, and courteous manner… never directly insulting him. In order to illustrate Jakob’s obvious lack of artistic perspective, all Keith had to do was pull up Jakob’s notorious “Flash: 99% Bad” article alongside Jakob’s current site, useit.com; both of which were decidedly boring and virtually nondescript. Hardly the type of website that impresses even the most novice rich media artisan.
Keith’s talk wasn’t just a Nielson bashing session, he followed up by sharing his perspective on Flex, which can be summarized by his statement that, “Flex is very good for Flash”. Although he was quick to point out that he personally is more of a Flash nerd than a Flex nerd.
Lastly, he delved into some of the latest and greatest features available in Flash 10, including bones, which basically enable kinetic motion from within the IDE. Some other noteworthy features include: tweening enhancements, drawing API improvements, lightweight 3D (not a replacement for PaperVision3D, but a suitable approach for projects where PV3D is overkill), a new text engine, pixel bender, and sound API enhancements (create/manipulate sound in Flash, one could create audio synthesizers in Flash).
Live Blogging from FlashForward!
Aug 16th
The conference organizers have asked me to live blog from the upcoming FlashForward conference, and I have obliged. So, for those of you who aren’t fortunate enough to actually attend the conference, you can stay up to date with the topics covered in each session by following my blog, the FlashForward blog, and twitter.
If you are one of the fortunate attendees of this year’s FlashForward conference, by all means say hello if you see me 
This year, FlashForward is a single track conference, so that means I could potentially cover each and every seminar… I’m not promising that, but I will promise to keep you up to date on the items that are the most interesting (IMHO). I’ll be doing my best to invoke conversations with all of the speakers and many of the attendees, and I’ll be sure to take and publish plenty of notes, including of any interesting URLs or examples for people to try.
If anyone has any idea on how we might make the live blogging from the event more relevant or useful, please let me know ASAP. I’m often too busy writing code to stop and blog, but things are changing soon… in a major way. Stay tuned for updates 
Vuvox has been acquired by eBay
Jul 17th
Vuvox, the Flash/Flex/Ruby-based company for which I am the former Lead Software Engineer, has been acquired by eBay. I’ve seen several articles about the acquisition online, so apparently it’s public. I haven’t seen any posting about how much it was sold for, so I guess I’ll just keep that info to myself.
For those of you who don’t know, here’s the blurb on Vuvox:
VUVOX is an easy to use production and instant sharing service that allows you to mix, create and blend your personal media – video, photos and music into rich personal expressions.
http://ebayinkblog.com/2008/06/23/vuvox-on-ebay/
http://seekingalpha.com/article/82695-ebay-acquires-vuvox?source=feed
Congratulations to Brian, Jim, Belmer, and Luke… Great work fellas
Web/Flash based Photoshop is real … sorta
Mar 27th
Without much fanfare, Adobe launched a web-based Photoshop yesterday. However, it’s far from the Photoshop we all know and love… in fact, it’s reminds me more of Vuvox than Photoshop. As we would say in California, it’s lacking hella features…but hey, it’s still forward progress. Anyway, just wanted to make sure everyone got word.
http://www.photoshop.com/express/
Peace in the Middle East.
Lynda sold FlashForward.
Mar 11th
Let me send an official thank you and virtual hug to Lynda, who has been an excellent host for FlashForward and an inspiration to us all. She has given people like myself the opportunity to grow from conference attendee to conference speaker, but that’s not the only reason why appreciate her so much. Lynda managed to breach the sometimes cold, technological world of interactive technology with old-fashioned, sincere charm and an undying love for sharing and teaching. I know we can only expect great more wonderful things from her and the rest of the folks at Lynda.com for years to come.
Now teaching ActionScript at the Academy of Art MFA Program
Feb 4th
Well, it’s official; I am now faculty at the Academy of Art University. More specifically, I’m teaching a group directed study in the Academy of Art San Francisco’s School of Digital Arts + Communications MFA program.
Last Friday, I taught my first ActionScript class to graduate students working their way towards a Master’s degree at the Academy of Art. I must say, I’m very excited about the class of students that I have and the class of projects they are bringing along with them.
The class is diverse, offering a rich variety of projects and cultural perspectives. Yet since it is a group directed study, it is also small and intimate (8 students), a nice quality for any academic environment. All of my students want to learn ActionScript and programming in Flash, and for the most part they are all daunted, or at least put off in some sense, by the prospect of learning ActionScript 3. I look forward to helping them learn to love the joys and rewards of adhering to best practices (most of all, keeping it simple) on the way to developing fun, interactive applications in Flash.
If any Flash superstars or evangelists are planning to be in the Bay Area anytime within the next 14 weeks, and have an interest in stopping by the class to inspire the next generation of Flash developers, by all means drop me a line so that we can plan accordingly.
got work?
Jan 16th
If you’re a Flash/Flex or WPF/Silverlight engineer with some availability and are looking for interesting projects to work on, please get in touch with me. Metaliq, the place of my employment, is searching for talented engineers with experience creating rich, engaging user experiences. I am also personally interested in talking to prospective Flash/Flex/Silverlight contractors who are interested in working with me directly on smaller side projects.
The opportunities are various, and span the gamut of cool things happening in the Bay Area’s technology space, but don’t let geography be a barrier… we can and will either relocate you or work with you remotely if need be.
Following is an excerpt describing the Interactive Software Engineer position(s) we have available, extracted fromthe original posting on the Metaliq web site:
Metaliq is looking for a highly creative, flexible, and skilled Interactive Engineer to be part of a dynamic team of industry leaders.
Applicant must have 5+ combined years of engineering for interactive applications. Ideal candidate will have strong skills in one or more of the following technologies: ActionScript 3 (AS3), .NET C#, Java, or comparable OOP language. Applicant should also have a base knowledge and understanding of Internet based applications (including XML and SQL/relational databases) and some hands-on experience with Silverlight, WPF, XAML and/or Flash.
As an Interactive Engineer you will be part of the Metaliq engineering team, primarily focused on Microsoft and Adobe related technologies as they specifically relate to Rich Interactive Application Development. This role will also incorporate the integration of high levels of data specifically as it relates to connecting to backend data services.
… for more info, please see the original posting.
The industry is really bubbling right now. By that I mean that it is hot, moving, lively, etc. I hope that it’s not the prerequisite for some inevitable burst as some “experts” seem to be convinced of. Again, please get in touch with me if you have any interest in the above job posting, or in working with me on smaller side projects which are nevertheless interesting and lucrative.
Interested parties may contact me at caleb.org or caleb at metaliq.com
Flex Elections Analytical Tool
Jan 4th
Today CafePress Meter™, a quick project I have been working on that kicked off just weeks ago has gone live. You can check it out for yourself at: http://www.cafepress.com/cp/buy/elections08_meter.
It’s a tool built in Flex that allows you to view a “real-time look at what’s selling at CafePress, the colorful marketplace brimming with millions of user-created products that express your passions and points of view.”
This project, which is conceptually very simple, is testament to the rapid development one can achieve with relative ease using Flex and the Flash Platform. There’s not much eye candy, but nevertheless it’s launch is a feat that shows how quickly a large company can get cutting edge projects out the door using Adobe® technologies. The tool is totally customizable due to it’s content model which is largely XML based and thus can be customized by non-technical people w/ ease. Also, I think it’s cool that this project will continue to take shape over the next year as the elections progress.
A big thanks to all the folks at CafePress who helped make this happen
Happy New Year …
Jan 1st
My New Year’s resolution is simply to once again become an active blogger.
So in 2008, you can expect to hear the following from me:
- Of course, whatever Flash/Flex/Silverlight trickery I find worthy of public mention
- The latest and greatest news from my adventures working at Metaliq, and getting my RIA consulting business “Fire, Inc” off of the ground (2007 was a great year)
- Job/project offers to aspiring RIA engineers and/or designers (full-time or contract)
- Updates as to my speaking engagements
- Random Bullshit
I’m looking forward to it, and I hope you are too…
Peace
Do you Twitter?
May 14th
If you haven’t yet experienced the online phenomenon known as Twitter, then by all means check it out at Twitter.com.
On the other hand, if you’re an avid Twitterer, check out my profile and add me!
Cheers
