Flash-MX: News

Public Service Announcement

1) Remember to update your forum software.
2) Remember to make backups of your forums regularly instead of sporadically.

Luckily we only lost a week of posts after www.flashmx2004.com/forums was recently hacked. All the posts were gone one evening, but thank goodness we restored most of them after a day or two. And while we were at it, paid for the latest version of invision power boards (as opposed to continuing on with the freebie version).

Definitely worth it - the forums are much better now, and safer (well, as much as a forum can be). A few bugs are gone, the UI is a bit better.

So...
Back up your forum posts, update your forum software. And, the new version of invision is nice.

Anyway, on with helping people learn Flash!

//end of public service announcement.

Jen d.

mail order chickens - check it.

Best Flash site I've seen in a looooong time. Check it out:

http://www.mailorderchickens.org/

Real sweet use of video and techniques to mimic and minimize that bandwidth. Absolutely hilarious to boot.

PSP Review

Although we've only had it for a couple days, I am absolutely LOVING the new Sony PSP. If the Sony PSP was a 10/10, I'd have to say that the Nintendo DS is probably a 3/10, (4 tops). Everything seems to be good on the PSP. Of course, that isn't saying that it couldn't be better... I find that the console is a little bit awkward for some games. For example, if you're playing Wipeout Pure, and trying to use the top triggers and the thumbstick and the X and O buttons, the console feels like it could just pop out of your hands at any moment. There were a few times that I felt like I was almost going to drop the PSP on the floor by mistake. Personally, I prefer the Nintendo DS's sliding volume control rather than the up and down buttons. I'm sure most people don't care, or disagree with my slider preference, but sometimes it is just nice to see how high the volume is before you turn on the console, or want to quickly change the volume without having to move your hand over and press some buttons until you get the perfect volume. But apart from those minor things, I have to say I am extremely happy.

]]> Currently we only have 3 games; Wipeout Pure, Spiderman 2, and Need For Speed Underground. I strongly feel that Sony's launch titles were years ahead of what is available for the Nintendo DS. I believe that the Sony PSP launched with about 13 games, whereas I doubt that the DS has many more than that. I also find the graphical abilities between the two recent handhelds to be worlds apart. Whereas the Nintendo has two pretty decent screens (one regular screen, one touch screen) the Sony has one VERY nice (and very large!) screen. I much prefer looking at the Sony screen over the Nintendo. The Sony definitely feels a lot bulkier in your hand and bag or whatever, whereas the DS probably travels a lot nicer (plus, it folds closed, so you don't have to worry as much about the screens getting damaged.

As for the games, we've only tried the 3 games we purchased so far, although the console DID come with a sampler disc and a copy of the Spiderman 2 movie (which we haven't bothered checking out yet). Out of the three games, I think I'd say that Wipeout is the best. It has beautiful graphics, and the sound is pretty addictive after a while (if techno doesn't make your ears bleed). I found Wipeout to be a game that you could pretty much just pick up and play, although I've logged MANY hours on Wipeout XL and previous versions on my old original Sony Playstation. Of course, being able to play and being GOOD are worlds apart in this game. Sure, your first time out you can probably rank 6th (of 8) or higher, but I find that getting in the top 2 or 3 is a lot more challenging. You have to learn to master drifting around the corners at just the right spot. I'd definitely give this game a 4.5 out of 5.

Next I'd have to say that Need For Speed (NFS) is the next best game. Again, I find that the graphics are outstanding, especially considering the size of the PSP. I think that the Nintendo DS graphics were fairly mediocre after playing with it for a bit. Most games we have or have tried at EB or Gamestop felt more like playing the Gameboy Advance, but with a larger screen. After playing with the PSP for a couple days, I have to say that the Nintendo's graphics are almost embarssingly bad. It's like comparing a Xbox to a NES. After a few hours at Need For Speed, I managed to finish a few races in top spot, unlock a few extras, and find a few "hidden" shortcuts on a few of the tracks. Much like Wipeout, the sound was very good (although a bit "club" like). This game seems to have a very large amount of unlockables. I'd say this game is probably a 4/5.

The last (and somewhat least) of the three games is Spiderman 2. I've played a few previous Spiderman games (mostly on PC or on the Xbox), so I somewhat knew what to expect when I bought the game. You have a fair bit of freedom to swing around a city, and the graphics are definitely impressive for a handheld gaming console (especially after a couple years playing with the Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS). Ultimately though, the game felt a bit "gimmicky", and the controls were a bit sloppy. I'd say this game is probably a 3/5, and I'd definitely recommend renting the game before buying it.

The 13 games that Sony had at launch?:

Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade (SONY)

Ridge Racer (NAMCO)

Metal Gear Acid (KONAMI)

NBA (SONY)

Twisted Metal: Head On (SONY)

Wipeout Pure (SONY)

Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower (CAPCOM)

Dynasty Warriors (KOEI)

Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix (ACTIVISION)

Need For Speed Underground Rivals (ELECTRONIC ARTS)

Spider-Man 2 (ACTIVISION)

World Tour Soccer (SONY)

And, according to EBGames.com, Sony has quite a few more top quality games supposedly coming out in the upcoming months. Games like Midnight Club 3, ATV Offroad Fury, NBA Street Showdown, and Grand Theft Auto.

I'd definitely give the Sony PSP at least 9.5 out of 10. On the other hand, I don't see much of a compelling reason to keep the Nintendo DS around, unless Nintendo starts getting some decent quality games for it sometime soon (which means graphics that are somewhat better than the Gameboy!). After browsing through EBGames.com, I managed to find about 18 Nintendo DS games, which doesn't sound TOO bad, until you realize that the console has been out for 4-5 months. That doesn't even take into account that a lot of the Nintendo DS games are just crappy. I honestly find a lot of my Gameboy games to be funner than the DS games (oddly enough).

Oh, one last thing. I was flipping through a Mac magazine the other day (MacAddict -- Apr 2005 issue) and they have a brief look at some software (iPSP) which allows you to use PSP with your Mac. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but apparently the software lets you play music and movies on the go. They claim you can make an iTunes playlist, copy photo albums from iPhoto, or dump all of your videos into iPSPs conversion queue. You can even use iPSP to back up your save'd games. I wonder if that means people can put their saved games online for other people to download. Instead of actually finishing Need For Speed, you could just download a finished game and play with all the fully loaded cars. Check out iPSP (free!) at http://www.kaisakura.com/.

Check out Sony's PSP mini-site at http://www.us.playstation.com/psp.aspx
Check out Nintendo's Offical site for Nintendo DS at http://www.nintendods.com/

New Halo 2 Multiplayer Maps in June

Microsoft and Bungie announced today that they're releasing some new multiplayer maps for Halo 2. So if you're a diehard multiplayer person and may be willing to drop some of those hard earned dollars, read up!

You can check out the press release over at Xbox.com; Newsflash:
Halo 2 Multiplayer Maps in June! and sports this little quote (among other details and screenshots):

The retail version of the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack carries a suggested retail price of $19.99 (U.S.). More information about Halo 2 is available at http://www.halo2.com/.

If you want more info, head on over to Bungie's site and read their top story; Halo 2 Multiplayer Madness. Bungie offers the following handy bulleted list:

So the basic details for the new map release plan go like this:

We're releasing a total of nine new multiplayer maps.

All nine maps will eventually be available as Live downloads and as a normal boxed game disc - available at retail for $19.99 (US).

The release on Live will be staggered, some paid, some free!

The first two maps are free and coming in a few short weeks. (late April)

The same day the 2 free maps are released, 2 additional maps will be available for purchase.

The remaining 5 maps will be made available as a paid download on the same day the retail package goes on sale.

The retail disc will contain extras, including a documentary, a cool project from our cinematic and animation team, every Halo 2 update released so far and possily one or two other little treats.

By late summer, ALL the maps will be available for free.

Rockstar Games releases "groundbreaking real-time music sequencer and sampler"

Sorry about the long title or if this has already been blogged to death (didn't see it during a quick search of Fullasagoog), but I just noticed that Rockstar has released Beaterator, their online real-time music sequencer.

I only played with it briefly, and it can take up a fair bit of CPU to run, but it is pretty impressive! Sure, it isn't as good as say, Garageband, but it's free and online and built in Flash. Great work!

Check it out at beaterator.rockstargames.com.

It came from the internet.

Been busy lately, so here's a few entries from around the internet the past

Cute little lego version of Steve Jobs (of Apple fame):
PodBrix Minifig - Keynote [PodBrix via Gizmodo]

The XMLHttpRequest object is a handy dandy JavaScript object that offers a convenient way for webpages to get information from servers without refreshing themselves:
Guide to Using XMLHttpRequest [WebPasties via Gadgetopia]

Interesting article by Spaceship No Future (SNF) on how they replaced the Movable Type login system with their own custom solution:
Integrating custom authentication into Movable Type [Spaceship No Future via Six Apart]

Halo 3 scheduled for 2006 release

Word on the street is that Bungie is hard at work on Halo 3 (no surprise there), but Kotaku is reporting that they're (Bungie/MS) apparently is targetting the Sony Playstation 3's release date.

Yeah, I found that funny too.

Halo 3 in the Works [Kotaku via Gizmodo]

Apple's new iPod mini

OK, so Apple announced newer versions of the iPod mini and iPod photo yesterday, and although the mini's didn't include a color screen or bluetooth abilities like many speculated, they did include a moderate increase in storage space (4GB up to 6GB) and a massive increase in battery life (8 hours up to 18 hours). Other great news on the iPod mini front was that they lowered the price from $249 US to $199 for the 4GB model. But, what I did find curious, is that they also removed some of the bundled accessories, and force you to buy them separately now.

More info after the jump.

]]> iPod mini (1G)

4GB (1,000 songs) for $249.

Up to 8 hours of battery life.

5 colors: silver, gold, pink, blue, and green.

includes a belt clip. All iPod minis include earbud headphones, an Apple iPod mini power adapter, a 1.2m 30-pin to FireWire� cable, a 1.2m 30-pin to USB 2.0 cable and a CD with iTunes 4.6 for Mac and Windows computers.

Optional accessories with the following suggested retail prices include the iPod mini Dock for $39 (US), in-ear headphones for $39 (US) and arm band for $29 (US).

iPod mini (2G)

4GB (1,000 songs) for $199 or 6GB (1,500 songs) for $249.

Up to 18 hours of battery life.

4 colors: silver, blue, pink, and green (minus the gold option from the first generation lineup).

iPod mini includes earbud headphones, a belt clip case, a USB 2.0 cable, and a CD with iTunes 4.7.1 for Mac and Windows computers.

An optional USB power adapter is available for $29 (US) which easily charges iPod mini when traveling. Other accessories include the iPod Dock for $39 (US) for desktop syncing and charging, in-ear headphones for $39 (US), an arm band for $29 (US), a lanyard for $19 (US) and FireWire� cable for $19 (US).

So, the migration from 1G to 2G iPod mini, you benefit from a significant increase in battery life (8 hours versus 18 hours, a 225% increase!) as well as the obvious jump from 4GB to 6GB (150% increase) for the same price point. But, what really interested me, apart from the price drops was the fact that they did so at the expense of the accessories. The first generation iPod mini included a belt clip, earbud headphones, power adapter, FireWire cable and USB 2.0 cable, and iTunes 4.6. The second generation iPod only includes the belt clip, earbud headphones, USB 2.0 cable, and iTunes 4.7.1 (a mere 1.02% increase in iTune version numbers). If you want the missing power adapter or FireWire cable that came bundled with the first generation iPod mini, you got to pony up $29 US and $19 US respectively. So, although they reduced the price of the 4GB iPod mini from $249 to $199, they seemingly removed about $48 worth of accessories, which isn�t a horrible deal as you can choose which accessories you�d really use and only pay if you needed them. The only other mysterious change between first and second generation iPods is the mysterious disappearance of the color "gold", which no longer seems to be an option.

The new iPod mini seems like a fantastic improvement. Although you get less bang for your buck, unbundling the accessories allowed Apple to introduce the iPod mini at a lower price point.

Microsoft unveils MS SQL Server 2005

OK, not Flash related, unless you're into RIAs or ever need to use a database, but it would appear that Microsoft has lifted the lid on SQL Server 2005.

This may have already been blogged to death, but I just noticed the info on my Google News homepage. Microsoft is now offering four versions of SQL Server 2005, ranging from a free "Express" version, all the way up to their $13,500 (or $25,000 per processor) "Enterprise" version.

Check out the Microsoft site for all the details. You'll be glad you did. Or maybe you won't, what do I know?

SQL Server Home [Microsoft]
Expanding the SQL Server Product Line [Microsoft]
SQL Server 2005 Features Comparison [Microsoft]

Photographing America, one mile at a time

Unfortunately, the story seems a lot more interesting than the actual pictures, but it appears that some enterprising fellow decided to drive from New York to San Francisco, and take photos every mile. Sounds like a great idea, albeit after about 6 days and 3,304 photos, I'm betting it wasn't oodles of fun in the end.

Matt began his roadside tableau in New York City, where he framed the Statue of Liberty and shot his first photo. Then he headed west to San Francisco on as straight a line as possible, a camera at his side clicking away at precise one-mile increments, for 3,304 miles.

And:

When Matt got to San Francisco and shot the Golden Gate Bridge at mile 3,304, he celebrated with a pizza and a beer. It was a Friday, six days after he left New York. He dismounted the camera, drove home, and was back in his office on Monday morning.

Check out his photos (in a not half-bad (or half good, I guess) Flash thing-a-ma-jig. Kodak also has a QuickTime movie of all 3304 stills in what must be the biggest slideshow ever.

Check out the photos and "Meet Matt", over at Kodak's site. The "Meet Matt" bit is actually a lot more interesting than the title suggests. It is more of a "How'd they do that" bit, explaining how he automated his SLR (yeah, it wasn't even a digital camera!) to take shots every mile.

Taken On The Road-American Mile Markers [Kodak via Lifehacker]

Macromedia: new MX products in late summer

I'm sure this has already made the rounds, but I just noticed it in my Google Alerts email folder from last Friday.

Macworld UK (who seemingly sports ColdFusion!) reports that Macromedia is expected to debut new products in its industry-standard MX range by "late summer" (or so says an analyst).

Macromedia - new MX products in late summer [Macworld UK]

So remember folks, you heard it here... errr... last, probably. Yes, Flash-MX, bringing you yesterday's news today!

Macromedia to include Flash technology in Samsung and Nokia cell phones

Big news coming out of the Macromedia camp as they ink deals with Samsung and Nokia to include Flash on certain high-end phones.

BusinessWeek has an interesting article which posts some numbers and figures (if you're into that kind of thing), but they also had those juicy bit:

So what does that amount to? To get an idea, consider Nokia's smart phone, the Series 60, which has 20 million customers, and whose sales are growing 100% per year, says Antti Vasara, head of Nokia's mobile-software sales and marketing.
Before these deals, Flash was on about 20 million phones, the bulk of which were part of NTT DoCoMo's (DCM ) network in Japan, a Macromedia partner since 2003. In Macromedia's fiscal third quarter, which ended in December, it made $5.9 million from the inclusion of Flash in mobile devices.

While that sounds like a small amount, consider the massive market opportunity on the horizon. Nearly 200 million handsets shipped in the fourth quarter, according to market researchers at IDC. And for the year, shipments were up 30% from 2003. Some analysts estimate nearly half the phones shipping next year will have enough memory to run Flash. If current growth rates keep up, that's roughly 500 million phones with Flash potential.

Wow! It looks like Flash and mobile devices are set to [finally] take off over on this side of the ocean! Now would be a good time to head over to the Macromedia store and pick up that developer release of Flash Lite 1.1!

Macromedia Looks Flash in Cell Phones [BusinessWeek]

In-product advertising, an open plea to Macromedia

OK, this news seems to be making the rounds today on ye jolly Interweb, but it would seem that Sony is about to add a new feature to its popular Everquest II game:

You're in luck - pizza is just a few key strokes away! While playing EverQuest II just type /pizza and a web browser will launch the online ordering section of pizzahut.com. Fill in your info and just kick back until fresh pizza is delivered straight to your door.

The idea itself is genius, and seemingly the way that the industry (at least gaming industry) is heading. With in-game billboards and all sorts of advertising throughout a lot of current games.

What I think would be nice would be if Macromedia started following suit. For example, how about typing //pizza in your Flash Actions panel and having a "Pizza Hut panel" appear? Macromedia could build a fancy Flash/Flex based ordering system where you could drag toppings onto your pizza and then possibly collect commissions/kickbacks from Pizza Hut. Heck, we could even assign the panel a keyboard shortcut! WHO'S WITH ME??!

EverQuest II - /pizza [Sony via Boing Boing]

Google Toolbar 3 (beta) released

The best just got, well, incrementally somewhat better-ish.

I noticed on Gadgetopia (yay FeedDemon!) that Google has released a beta of their ever-so-popular browser Toolbar. New features include (but not limited to):

SpellCheck
Check your spelling whenever you type in web forms.
WordTranslator
Translate English words into other languages.
AutoLink (US only)
Turn street addresses into links to online maps.

Sounds pretty cool, although AutoLink sounds a bit sketchy, but I'm sure it can be disabled (or just never click the button). The features page offers a bit more info on AutoLink:

New! AutoLink
The online review of a great new restaurant has the place's address but no map. You could type the restaurant's street, city, and ZIP code into the search box, but why bother, when clicking the Toolbar's AutoLink button will automatically create a link to an online map (US addresses only)? AutoLink can also link package tracking numbers to delivery status, VIN numbers (US) to vehicle history, and publication ISBN numbers to Amazon.com listings.

So there you have it.

Google Toolbar 3 beta [Google via Gadgetopia]

TinyApps - a guide to very small software for your PC (or Mac or Palm)

Found this link on Gadgetopia today, TinyApps is a nice little site dedicated to small programs that specialize in one single task, and do it well.

The site is also lite on content to quote, so here's a large portion of the front page:

Welcome to TinyApps.Org, a guide to very small software for your PC. Virtually all of the programs listed here are free of charge and for use under Windows (Palm and OS X pages also exist). If this is your first visit, please read the FAQ.

If we do stroll over to the FAQ, we see a bit more info:

To qualify for TinyApps, a program must:
* Not exceed 1.44mb
* Not be adware
* Not require the VB/MFC/.NET runtimes. Also, preference is given to apps which are 100% self-contained, requiring no installation, registry changes, etc.
*Preferably be free, and ideally offer source code. Shareware will only be listed if there is no freeware alternative.

It is a pretty good list of software, I noticed a few apps that I've been using for years (yay LeechFTP -- a great FTP client which is known to sometimes return all your error messages in some foreign language -- possibly German).

TinyApps.org [via Gadgetopia]