Quite a variety of Flash tools, stories and articles to report on, so without further to do, it’s time for another round-up of Flash-related news with News Flash!

Open Source “Page Flip”

Last month I posted a roundup of “Page Flip” tools built in Flash that simulate turning pages in a book. Well, it turns out (yes, pun intended ) that there’s another amazing tool available developed by a German developer called Florian Nücke. It’s called Megazine, and not only does it look terrific, but it also features extremely well thought-out usability, deeplinking, page caching, image zoom, a full API, and one import thing: It’s totally free and open source! View the Megazine demo.

SWFObject and Best Practice Implementation

For most Flash designers and developers, using SWFObject to embed Flash content on Web pages is a pretty straight forward task. However, understanding some finer details might help you to better understand the best practices of implementing SWFObject and to take advantage of some SEO techniques. Read TechLabs’ tips on implementing SWFObject.

Reversing Audio in Flash Player 10

I’ve always (fondly) thought of Flash legend Lee Brimelow as one of those kids that dismantled all of his toys as a kid to see how they worked before putting them back together afterwards. In stark contrast, whenever I dismantled my toys, they were broken for good! Some things don’t change as Lee tinkers with audio in his latest blog post called Manipulating mp3 Speed and Direction and explores various ways to manipulate audio using Flash Player 10.

Photo Diary

You know, you can never have too many photo galleries. Especially ones developed in Flash! Photo Diary is an interesting twist on Flash galleries as its PHP back-end allows visitors to add comments on each photo by attaching a sticky notes with a message on it. The gallery also features a useful admin console to manage all the image assets and comments. View the Demo or check out the admin console.

De MonsterDebugger

If Web applications could be judged by name alone, then the De MonsterDebugger would win every time! Originating from The Netherlands in Europe, De MonsterDebugger is an open source debugger for Adobe Flash, Flex and AIR. The application was made in Flex and AIR and allows developers to debug their code in a more efficient manner. For a full set of the many features and to download the AIR app yourself, click here.

Microsoft Silverlight 3 challenges Adobe AIR

No, Microsoft have still not given up chasing Adobe’s tail. Silverlight 3 promises to challenge Adobe AIR by now allowing Silverlight applications to run on the desktop. This infoworld.com article is a first look at the forthcoming version of Silverlight from Microsoft. Read more.

The big Flash news this week occurred yesterday as Adobe mobile phone designer HTC announced the new HTC Hero as the first Android phone to ship with support for Adobe® Flash® Platform technology.

Mobile Flash

Android, an operating system for mobile devices initially developed by Google, allows developers to write Java code to control Android devices via Google-developed Java libraries.

Unlike Apple’s iPhone, the HTC Hero will allow applications, games and utilities developed in Flash to run on its operating system. That’s great news not only for Flash developers, but for consumers wanting to access Flash Web sites and Flash-based video.

“The collaboration with HTC offers people a more complete Flash based Web browsing experience today and presents an important step towards full Web browsing with Flash Player 10 on mobile phones in the future.”

David Wadhwani, VP and general manager, Adobe Platform Business Unit

Note that David mentions that this is just the first step towards accessing 100% Flash content on mobile technology. The HTC currently only supports files developed in ActionScript 2, but as soon as Flash Player 10 for mobile phones is complete, all Flash content, including more recent files developed with ActionScript 3, will become supported.

See for Yourself

Watch the video below featuring Adrian Ludwig from Adobe as he shows off some Flash Web sites on the HTC Hero, the first Android smartphone with Flash:

More Information

• Adobe Press Release
• Engadget HTC Hero review
• Gizmodo HTC Hero review

Adobe released Acrobat.com Tables yesterday which promises to be “a simple way to share data.”

Sexy Spreadsheets

Built in Flex and delivered through Flash Player, Acrobat.com Tables is the interactive Adobe equivalent of a Google Docs Spreadsheet or a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, but with the following advantages:

• Real-time, simultaneous editing. No-one is locked out of the table while others are making changes.
• As tables are always available online, data can be accessed from anywhere, at any time of day or night.
• One spreadsheet without the need for multiple versions and certainly no need to e-mail spreadsheets back and forth.
• Ability to personalize the display of shared data. Private views can be used to display the information most important to you without affecting others working in the same table.

Tasks such as adding, removing, or simply repositioning columns/rows has never been easier through the drag and drop interface. Basic formulae are also permissible, all bundled inside a clean and responsive interface.

Online and Offline Office Suite

With the release of Acrobat.com Tables, it would seem Adobe are doing two things. Firstly, they are heavily investing in and promoting Flex as a viable solution to developing Rich Internet Apps (RIAs). This is great news for Flex developers. Secondly, Adobe are slowly but surely building an online range of office suite applications to rival Google Docs.

Through the combination of Flex, Flash and Air, Adobe have the potential to quickly consolidate their applications into both an online and offline world of collaboration and success. Acrobat.com Tables joins existing apps Buzzword (Word Processing) and Presentations (a competitor to Microsoft’s PowerPoint) into the steadily growing collection of Adobe online productivity apps.

A few weeks ago, FlashDen gave away 2 tickets to the WebDU Web Technology Conference held in Sydney, Australia.

One of the winners, Peter Moricz (Flashden user liquid_media), who incidentally is a freelance Flash designer and developer living and working in Sydney, Australia, was kind enough to answer a few questions we asked about the conference. You know, just to make sure he actually went and all.

Read More …

As the years pass by, Flash becomes faster and more powerful when it comes to rendering 3D. You only need to look at the effect Papervision3D has had on the Web industry to see how well suited Flash is for 3D.

There’s always been a gap in the market however for a true 3D engine able to render fully immersive 3D scenes inside the browser via Flash. Well, that’s getting addressed right now with an extremely compelling 3D platform known as Alternativa3D.

Free Non-Commercial 3D Engine

The 3D engine is distributed as a SWC library and the best part is that it is totally free for non-commercial use as long as you link back to the Alternativa Platform from within your work. All that is required is to register an account for free. Commercial licenses are also available, so once you’ve honed your skills with the free version, it’s just a matter of time before you can use the technology to attract large clients and earn some serious dough!

Stunning Examples

You only need to look at the examples on the Alternativa3D Web site to see how this cross-platform engine is perfectly suited for virtual tours, entire online worlds and also gaming. Click the images below to see how Alternativa3D can be applied in a multitude of ways:

3D Web Sites

Alternativa 3D is also being used in the Web industry for navigable 3D Web sites such as online casino BuzzLuck:

But it’s not just large scale e-commerce sites that are using the open source 3D engine, even developers are using it for their portfolios such as the site below:

For more information and to get started, check out the online tutorials and documentation and a bunch of other great tutorials over at TechLabs. Who knows, this time in a few months, you could be living in your own, custom-made 3D world!

With only four more months to go until one of the biggest and most popular Flash conferences in the UK kicks off, now might be the time to sign-up for Flash on the Beach 2009.

Event: Flash on the Beach
Where: Brighton, England
When: September 20 - 23, 2009

What’s the deal?

The Flash on the Beach conference, now in its fourth year, is one of the best conferences to go to to be inspired and to learn more than you could ever want to know about Flash, Air, Flex and even other design related platforms such as Adobe After Effects and Adobe Photoshop.

This conference is suited to both new and old/existing Flash designers and developers whether you work with Flash full-time as part of your job, or if you’re a student, or if you are totally new to Flash. There really is something for everyone.

This year’s conference features 3 full days of inspirational and educational sessions, plus an extra day for in-depth workshops from some of the world’s best speakers. Nothing like being taught by experts, right?

Who will be there?

Tickets went on sale last week and will be sure to sell quickly so you really must act fast if you plan on attending this year’s conference. The line-up this year is incredible, and features almost 50 rockstar Flash designers and developers from around the world. Here’s just a smattering of who will be attending and presenting at this year’s event:

Craig Swann, Rich Shupe, Seb Lee-Delisle, Hillman Curtis, Mike Chambers (Adobe), Dr. Woohoo!, Grant Skinner, Joshua Davis, Lee Brimelow, James Paterson, Colin Moock, and many, many more!

Why should I go to a conference?

We recently posted an article from a FlashDen competition winner who attended a similar event earlier this year. If you missed out first time, we suggest you go back and read the article to find out why it’s such a fantastic networking, learning, and inspirational opportunity to attend a Flash-based conference.

I want to see a trailer!

Funny you should ask…

Visit the official Flash on the Beach Web site for more information.

Flex Builder is no more. The new name is Flash Builder. Same app, different name. News of the rebrand broke this weekend and an explanation of why Adobe chose to do this was best explained by Adobe platform evangelists Lee Brimelow and Ryan Stewart. I recommend you read Lee’s blog post called Flash Builder rebrand FAQ for a lot more detailed information.

But for those of you short on time or can’t get your head around what’s going on with the name change, here’s a simple summary to make things extremely clear and simple:

• 1. Why the change?

  It seems that both Flex and Flash developers are now using Flex Builder to develop ActionScript projects. So the onus on “Flex” is no longer necessary. Adobe wants the Eclipse-based IDE to stay around because people are finding it very useful to develop ActionScript, but they have decided to change the name to Flash Builder. The first beta release under the new name Flash Builder will arrive in Summer 2009.

• 2. Is Flex going away?

  Nope. Flex is here to stay. It’s a framework. The name change from Flex Builder to Flash Builder pertains to the IDE only.

• 3. Is Flash going away?

  No. There will still be the same Flash IDE as you know and love today. The next version of Flash will be called “Flash CS5″, continuing where it left off from CS4. There will also be Flash Catalyst for designers. But now there will also be Flash Builder for developers.

We have all grumbled and complained about many of the bugs with Adobe Flash CS4. In fact, we’ve even had a little fun along the way with the Dear Adobe outlet.

But after many months of hard work, Adobe have finally made an impressive list of bug fixes with the release of the 10.0.2 update for Adobe Flash CS4 Professional.

Richard Galvan, Product Manager for Adobe Flash CS4 posted an article on his blog yesterday giving full details of all the fixes and updates. These include:

• Improved performance issues with large project files using nested symbols, large libraries, dragging objects and scrubbing the timeline.
• Addressing crashes pertaining to text fields and the use of corrupt fonts.
• Putting back the JSAPI that allows users to publish FLA files without opening them.
• In a FLA with lots of library items, double clicking a symbol “in the edit mode” hangs Flash on Mac.
• Text with device font disappears when it is selectable
• Optimize opening and closing FLA files, frame manipulation for FLAs with many frames
• Performance is slow after double clicking movie clip to enter edit mode and exit
• Crash when selecting text field on stage with many fonts on user’s system.
• Mac IDE flashes when right-clicking on Library after doing Test Movie
• Breaking apart a nested movie clip erases instance name of child movie cli
• Flash crashes when double clicking a fla to open while a current fla is opened with text block selected
• Crashing when re-opening FLA after canceling publish.
• 3D tools appear incorrectly to a child movie clip when applying skew and rotation to the parent 2d movie clip.

Hopefully the issues with CS4 and the passionate and concerned community reaction will be a much-needed wake-up call for Adobe to be more thorough in the future.

“We made many significant changes to the tool in this cycle and unfortunately this time we ran into a few issues. The changes were necessary to continue to have a framework to work on and make Flash a next gen tool, but you have my commitment that we will do better next time.”

Richard Galvan, Adobe Flash CS4 Product Manager

If there are any Flash Lite developers out there who want an opportunity to take home part of a $250,000 prize fund, and get international recognition for your work, then Nokia may have the answer for you.

Calling All Innovators Competition

Nokia are currently holding a competition for Flash Lite developers to create a brand new application for their S60 or Series 40 Nokia devices, using either a Symbian Signed .SIS format (for S60 devices) or .NFL format (for Series 40 devices).

For those who are unfamiliar with Adobe’s Flash Lite technology, it is a mobile-optimized version of Flash offering a quick and effective way of building on your existing skills to create mobile content. Flash Lite is supported across all Nokia S60 and most Series 40 devices, and it is widely integrated with Nokia’s mobile WebKit browser. For more information, check out the useful Flash Lite QuickStart Nokia have produced.

Prize Fund

There are several overall categories (Internet Innovation, Flash, Emerging Markets & Mobile Necessities, Apps on Maps), but the Flash category is obviously what the FlashDen community and other Flash readers reading this will most be interested in.

The top three submissions in each category will receive cash and prizes that include:

• Grand Prize winner: $30,000 USD in cash; “Spotlight” placement featuring the winning application for 4 weeks on the top page of Nokia’s newly announced Ovi Store, where consumers will find the best mobile applications and content for their Nokia devices; and paid travel to demo the winning application at a Nokia-specified event in the Fall 2009.
• 2nd Place: $15,000 USD in cash; “Spotlight” placement featuring the winning application for 3 weeks on a relevant category page in Nokia’s newly announced Ovi Store, where consumers will find the best mobile applications and content for their Nokia devices.
• 3rd Place: $10,000 USD in cash; “Spotlight” placement featuring the winning application for 2 weeks on a relevant category page in Nokia’s newly announced Ovi Store, where consumers will find the best mobile applications and content for their Nokia devices.

Special Prize for Flash Developers

There is an additional price in the Flash category of an extra $10,000 USD, for a winning entry that also receives funding from the Open Screen Project Fund this year. More information about how to get this funding is right here.

Types of Applications

The Flash Lite application can be just about anything, but here are some categories that might give you an idea of what Nokia are looking for:

• Communications – Flash applications to enhance mobile messaging, instant messaging, e-mail, and communities.
• Entertainment - Flash applications that are more than simply distractions, including games, video, music services, or social networking.
• Life Balance - Flash applications for health advice/guidance, health monitoring using sensors, route-planning (such as for exercise routines), “brain” games for mental exercise.
• Personal Information Management - Flash applications that integrate contacts and/or calendar functionality of the device. Using the capabilities of the Nokia Flash Lite Platform Services.
• Social Responsibility - Flash applications that aid environmental and ethical decision making, such as a “quiz” based on scenarios (right or wrong choices).

The applications are not just about personal productivity. Think entertainment, creativity and fun. In fact, all types of applications that incorporate Flash Lite from Adobe are considered, but those that have broad appeal and make the most of Nokia’s platform capabilities are most likely to catch the interest of the judges. Flash applications that make the most of touch-based input methods should be your number one priority.

When’s the Homework Due?

Submissions for the contest will be accepted until 30 June 2009, so you have over 7 weeks as of today to concept and develop your ideas. Winners will be announced by Nokia in September 2009. Good luck to all those that enter!

Community Spirit

Let us know in the comments if you have already experimented with Flash Lite or if you are thinking of entering the competition. Maybe even leave some feedback if you have Flash Lite running on your mobile phone and want to talk about some of the best applications you’ve seen/used so far. If you don’t have time to enter the competition, perhaps you could think about some really cool and useful concepts and leave them in the comments so that someone reading can run with your idea and make it a reality? How awesome would it be for a FlashDen author to win this competition?!

Extra Links

Here’s a roundup of all the information you need to get cracking with your Flash Lite application:

• Flash Contest Overview
• Check out the 2008 winners
• Official Rules
• Frequently Asked Questions

The FITC Toronto event in Canada concluded last week after a packed 3 days of presentations, panel discussions and some serious partying! Back in the beginning of April, FlashDen gave away two tickets to FITC to two lucky winners, FlashDen members pablokreative and morellothegreat. pablokreative kindly answered a few follow-up questions we sent to find out more about the event, so in his own words, here’s Pablo’s first-hand review of the FITC event.

Did you enjoy the conference?

I had an awesome time at FITC. The whole conference was buzzing with flash developers as well as many people from the design industry. It was a huge networking opportunity with everyone willing to talk to you. The conference really got me excited about flash. I came out of Lee Brimelow’s, Bytearrays For Beginners presentation, wanting to go home and program. The conference almost seems like a blur. The whole conference is so fast paced and full-on it’s hard to find time to breathe! It was pretty much 9 a.m. - 1 a.m. the next day. Everyday. I told myself to take in as much as I can and then catch up with sleep the following week!

How well organized was the event?

The conference was very well organized. Not only were all the speakers awesome but they all attended the evening parties. It gave you an opportunity to go out and chat to some of the flash rock stars out there. At the Influx party on Sunday night I sat down and played poker against, Mario Klingemann (Quasimondo), Jim Corbett (Flash Player Developer) and Shawn Pucknell, the organiser of FITC. I managed to take $60 away from the table. It is refreshing to see how friendly the Flash community is all over the world and how willing everyone is to take the time to talk to you.

Was there anything you didn’t like about the conference?

I think the only thing that kind of sucked about the conference is that you often found yourself trying to decide which speaker to see. That said, we were told that all the videos of the speakers were going to be posted online which will be great for everyone who wanted to go but missed out. It’s definitely not the same as being there but I’m glad that I will be able to see some of the stuff I missed out on.

I think the most disappointing presentation was probably the Adobe Keynote. It felt like they didn’t show or announce anything new that we don’t already know about. I guess with the Internet now we get to see everything as soon as it’s announced and things fly past us very quickly.

What did you learn?

Some things that I learned at the conference were: The flash community is awesome and I really want to go to more conferences like this. Every speaker at FITC is using AS3, so everyone should get off their butts and learn it already! Networking is the key to getting your name out there and last but not least, Toronto is a BIG city.

What appeared to be the most popular Flash-related topic of conversation?

It’s hard to say what the most popular topic of conversation was. Everyday you would come away excited and talking about what we saw. Some things that really seemed to stand out were: Joshua Davis on “Space” - turned out to be very funny and fasted paced. “Cool Japanese Flash” was pretty nuts to see what they are doing, MK12’s presentation on the Quantum of Solace title sequence seemed to be a very hot topic (although not Flash), and probably the most inspirational to me was The Cool Sh*t Hour which showed off work from all the Flash rock stars.

What was your favorite presentation?

My favorite presentation probably was Lee Brimelow’s, Bytearrays For Beginners. It was all about low level programming using bytes and how it can optimize your Flash applications. Not only can you optimize with byte arrays but it also gives you the ability to import any file into Flash. All you need to do is know a bit about byte arrays and also look at the file types description of how the bytes are structured. With one of his examples he showed us how to import PSD’s into flash. In another example he showed us how to encrypt messages into bitmaps and audio files. It really opened up the possibilities of Flash in my mind.

Did you meet anyone from FlashDen at FITC?

While at FITC I did not meet any other FlashDen authors and I think that these conferences would be a great meeting spot for it. It would be awesome to meet and see other FlashDen authors here and be able to bounce ideas off each other.

Many thanks again to pablokreative for answering our questions, and congratulations also to morellothegreat for winning the other ticket in our FITC competition. Oh, and if you were wondering who won the FITC Flash Awards, here they are!

Best In Show
GE Augmented Reality

Best Experimental Flash
GE Augmented Reality

Best Flash Visual Design
GE Smartgrid

3D Flash
NVIDIA Speak Visual

Audio in Flash
Happy in Greenville

Flash Advertisement
Wario Land Shake It!

Flash Animation
White Gold

Flash Game
James Bond: Quantum of Solace Multiplayer Game

Flash Motion Graphics
40|30, The Gherkin, 30 St. Mary Axe

Flash Narrative
Secret Location - Portfolio Site

Flash Self-Promotion
Thank You Begins With a T

Flash Usability
Michener Interactive Patient Record

Technical Excellence in Flash
Noteflight