Russdesigns » Flash

the iPad vs Flash: A tragic tale of hope lost

russ — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:14:31 +0000

Apple product launch days always start with a wave of crazy anticipation; tech fans hold their collective breath when Steve Jobs is launching a new mysterious product. But really the only things still mysterious about Apple’s new tablet computer were the finer points: Would the iPad have a webcam for video chat? Would it run Adobe Flash? Would it give you the best web experience ever, with 10 weeks of battery life, all while curing world hunger and giving your car 75 miles to the gallon? Was it going to revolutionize the way we compute? I was hoping for a yes on at least one of those; then I might be able to justify buying one. And I really want to have a reason…

I haven’t been able to find a reason yet, which makes me a little sad because this tablet looks awesome. The biggest deal-killer for me: It can’t run Adobe’s Flash plug-in. You know, the one most video players on the web are using? The little plug-in that 99% of the U.S. has installed on their computers? Yeah that one. It isn’t on the iPhone either, which I’ve learned to live with. The iPhone screen real estate is small, and Flash can be a real memory hog; both of which are in short supply on most smart phones. But the iPad is supposed to show the full web, the real web, not some downgraded mobile version. It is supposed to be the slayer of netbooks, but I could get a netbook with a webcam, flash support, and a complete operating system for $300 bucks… last year.

So why no Flash support on the iPad? In my opinion it’s all about the money. Apple has positioned themselves deep in the digital distribution game, and they don’t make a dime when you listen to music on Pandora, catch TV shows on Hulu, or watch movies with Netflix. Steve Jobs says HTML5 is the future, and he is right. But it isn’t now, and it won’t be for quite some time. The big browsers can’t even agree on which codec to use with the video tag. So Jobs is hoping I wont mind dealing with the watered-down web, but when you are trying to convince me I need to buy a tablet computer to do what I’m already doing on my laptop or iPhone, it at least should let me use the web the way I want to.

Back from Adobe MAX 2009

russ — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:16:59 +0000

Got to go to AdobeMAX again this year. Took some arm-twisting by some co-workers to get the expense approved, but it probably helped that it was here in L.A. this year. As expected, it was a total nerd-fest, and as expected I loved every minute of it. I got to go to Flash classes taught by my idols, including Joshua Davis, Lee Brimelow, Colin Moock and Seb Lee-Delisle. John Mayer made a guest appearance. Probably to collect his giant bag with a dollar sign on the side. Even Mark Hamill was there as a presenter (yes, Luke Skywalker), and it looked like he was only there because he heard a rumor there was an open bar. He was looking more like William Shatner.

There were quite a few cool things announced on the horizon for interactive web developers like myself, including Adobe Flash CS5. Custom code hinting, integration with Flash Builder 4, the 10.1 player for every mobile phone under the sun (except the iPhone, of course), and the fact that it would just run a lot less processor power under 10.1. All good news for me. Oh, and the ability to create iPhone apps out of flash! Job security is always good.

All in all, MAX was a good time and a worthwhile investment as a web developer. Can’t wait for next year!

Outside the Nokia Theater

Mark Hamill collecting checks for his alimony

Avatar 3D sneak peak was awesome

Nerds love their Teslas!

White Void helps Fill the 3D… uh, void

russ — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:48:30 +0000

In short? The White Void portfolio is sick. It’s a simple site in function, but the way it’s implemented is really slick. Using Papervision 3D, they give you a limited camera pan and a sense of depth for each level you open up. You’ll find yourself wanting to explore the whole site. A site like this is a clear example of how good implementation is key.

AS3 Event Generator panel

russ — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 02:55:30 +0000

Unfortunately for me, it seems like the whole Flash world has ditched me for ActionScript 3.0. It’s middle school all over again! Feeling constricted… hard to breathe! Last night, at the L.A. Flash Users meeting, everything was in AS3. So a special thanks needs to go out to Lee Brimelow for making that transition a little bit easier with his Event Generator panel, which lets you pick the events you want and – boom – they are saved to your clipboard. Definitely making my life that much easier. Maybe now I won’t get picked last for dodgeball.

Super Famous

russ — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:10:56 +0000

Their designs are super clean, unique and they cling to decidedly Euro stylings, which in a post-Ikea U.S., Americans are finally catching onto. Superfamous is a refreshing portfolio site and reminds me that websites can be just as fun to look at as they are functional.

A leg up on animation

russ — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 17:40:52 +0000

Over the last couple weeks/months, Three Legged Legs has been blowin’ up.
Lots of great work from this animation shoppe. And they are in Santa Monica to boot.

Adobe Max 2007 Wrap Up

russ — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 06:07:11 +0000

Last week we got back from Adobe Max in Chicago.
It feels like it took a week to decompress all the info we took in. A lot of big things are happening with Flash, and it’s pretty exciting. Some of the most exciting stuff:
1. Adobe Air: Imagine any Flash or Flex web application. Now imagine it running natively on the desktop with no browser, on either Mac or PC.

The only caveat is that the Air runtime environment needs to be installed first, but once a major company or web app (i.e. Facebook) pushes out an Air version, people will adopt this quick. Ebay’s app is a great example.
2. Future versions of the Flash player: Hot. That sums it up. I mean, .h264 HD video support, custom filters and (simple) 3D support? And thats just the Flash 9 player updates. The Flash 10 sneak peeks were out of this world. Although Flash’s current video codec of choice (on2vp6) is fantastic and allows for transparent video backgrounds, the .h264 codec supports much higher quality video while still keeping the bandwidth relatively low.
Flash Lite 3: The Flash Lite plugin has always come across as too weak for Flash devs, yet on most phones always ran kinda slow. With the advent of more powerful cell phones and the new flash lite plugin, things are getting closer to mimicking the web, like .flv video support. Youtube for the masses’ cellphones will finally be here, not just for iPhones anymore ha ha.