Wednesday, April 30, 2008
1900xt is overheating
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
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The 1900xt card in my MacPro is starting to overheat quite a lot. Its out of warranty, and its $399.00 still for a replacement. A better card can be had for a lot cheaper:NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (1st Generation) Graphics Upgrade Kit for Mac Pro
Part Number: MB560Z/A
Is the new Java for OS X okay for Flex Builder?
1 Comments
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Design considerations in shrinking the iPhone
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
0 Comments
You can go and read the well thought out words and get a better understanding of the situation by the images prepared for the article. It really makes you think, which I love.
Installing Python's lucene on OS X
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Looking for Saffron UML news
5 Comments

Has anyone seen anything lately in regards to Saffron UML? I ask because I have been much too busy lately to be able to jet anywhere to attend a conference and I imagine the time when Saffron is unveiled or demo'd would be at such an event.
Monday, April 28, 2008
GTA IV. I'm going to pass on this one.
Monday, April 28, 2008
2 Comments
So I'd randomly jack cars, smash into people and things, get the cops after me, take them down, and then see how long I could run from the military helicopters, etc. Then I'd turn it off, after wasting a couple of hours doing basically nothing ;)
That was a long time ago, and now GTA IV is coming out tonight, and I know many who will be online running around finding prostitutes, whacking targets, role-playing, smashing into other cars, and all of that.
Since I have children now, I really can't say that I am interested in this in any way. Mind you, I do like a mean FPS still, so I'm not saying that I am above the moral fray of GTA as much as it seems way over the top for even me.
I get the premise, but I don't think I need to see 1/2 of the crap that is in GTA to have fun with a game. The language, the simulated sex, the random violence, etc. just doesn't end up being fun for me. Lots of people in lines already right now for this thing.
I'm sure lots will buy it, and many will buy simply because it's controversial. But I won't be buying this one.
Mac set up, right-click menu wonked
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But now when I bring up a contextual menu, and choose the bottom option More, I am greeted with a quick Finder crash & restart.
The More allows for Automator stuff, sending things to Bluetooth, enabling Folder Actions, configure Folder Actions, etc. Hmm.
Has anyone else run into this problem? Hopefully I can nail this dumb thing down.
GoLive deceased & new iMacs
1 Comments
Adobe is also offering a $199 upgrade for registered GoLive users to switch to Dreamweaver, nice.
Today Apple released some new iMacs, as predicted. You only need to head to Apple.com to see the homepage emblazoned with the news.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
svnX is pretty tight
Saturday, April 26, 2008
0 Comments
I ran into problems with that SCPlugin (too bad), but I have tried out svnX (0.9.13) for OS X and its pretty sweet.I don't get finder icons to show me status of files, but since I am not using SVN on a huge team of developers I'm pretty good.
And I always update the repository no matter what at the start of each session. And we always have diff. when needed.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Objective-C and the iPhone
Friday, April 25, 2008
1 Comments
Unfortunate quotes
0 Comments
redean: 3-0 damn, its over.
Joey704Calz: LMAO, whos loving this as much as I am?
redean: I know I am, chokefest.
Thank you Malkin and Crosby for teaming up for the winning goal this evening.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
SVN Finder integration on the Mac
Thursday, April 24, 2008
1 Comments

Status icons in the Finder, and integrated into Finder contextual menus! SCPlugin to the rescue. It's pretty close to Tortoise as far as I've seen using it. Command-line is the best, but for those who don't actually like that interface, this is pretty spectacular. Nice to see something like this on the Mac.
Update
After one day working, this thing has gone bad on me. If I try to access the contextual menu item "More" the Finder crashes and restarts itself. I can't get this to work at all anymore - so I am going to uninstall this. Thank God I didn't come to rely on this quite yet, or else I'd be a little screwed as I don't like the Terminal very much. SVNX I guess.
Oh well...
Question on iPhone SDK - loading remote data
1 Comments
Any devs out there have any quick example projects that show this? It could even be reading remote XML or something straight & parsing it. I'll be scouring the web for some examples as well.
The latest XCode is really pretty awesome - but I am no fan of all of the freaking windows and square brackets yet. There are tons of nice UI touches everywhere. It almost doesn't feel like an IDE.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
What a night... AXNA down & HDMI?
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
0 Comments
Weblogs is Temporarily Offline
We apologize for the inconvenience. We are aware of the problem and working on it.
Thank you for your patience.
Bummer. And then of course all of the sudden the HDMI from the cable box is absent, the television telling me there is no signal, but component is there. Crap. Better be a blip... cause that cable was expensive. Yesterday we didn't have Versus but it was there today. Now this. Ugh.
A StringFeeder class
0 Comments
TextMate - can it do AS3?
3 Comments
Netvibes upgrade
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Thank you for showing netvibes your love!Excellent :)
Due to tremendous demand, we're currently upgrading our servers to accommodate the increase in traffic. Rest assured, we're working diligently to have your favorite start page back online very soon.
Thanks again for your patience.
- The netvibes team
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
New MacPro
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
0 Comments
I got it with that super-tiny wireless keyboard, but I hope I can KVM my current ergonomic mouse/keyboard instead. Yes, carpal tunnel syndrome has hit before and I don't want to go through that again, it was awful.
I'll be keeping my
Its time to remove power cables for things like my eMate, Newton, a Nokia N95 I never use, an external development drive that only has a SQL dBase on it that I don't need right now, etc. I sit atop a jumbled mess of cables and dust, but you wouldn't know that by how tidy I keep the desk surfaces.
Randomness:
+ Wow, this Sharks/Flames game is crazy good so far. One team takes a lead and soon™ the other team ties it up.
+ FiOS DVR kicks the snot out of TiVo Series3 in terms of ease of use.
AIR runtime now at 1.0 p4990
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The AIR runtime (at least for me) has been updated this morning (after running Twhirl the notification came up). Now at 1.0 p4990. I have no idea what changes are in the new runtime yet, but glad to see Adobe updating the bits.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Silverlight: 'sup?
Monday, April 21, 2008
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We saw some splash when you were announced, we saw Mano out and about, the AXNA even has a post every now and then about you. Kind of out of the blue each time.
You have a road map I think I stumbled into by accident not too long ago. But other than the dribbles of news & promises of impact, I haven't felt you at the door, let alone the same continent.
Now, I know you can do some pretty cool things. But I haven't seen many doing those cool things with you yet.
By the way, on my one XP box, I still cannot manage install you. I've tried more times than I have emptied the recycle bin. And you won't stick there. I hope your creators fix that. I have to be on one of my other boxes to see anything done with you.
Cya Bruins... and FiOS
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About FiOS, tonight our new HD-DVR can't tune in channel 75 (Versus). I got the game on NESN just fine, but man... wtf is up with FiOS this evening. That better be a blip, cause we had Versus this morning with the old box.
I just spent 25 minutes on hold with tech support ("speak with an agent") -- speaker phone makes that easy. But I ended up hanging up without speaking to anyone.
Anyone in the Boston area with FiOS having trouble with ch. 75 Versus?
FiOS HD box hidden menus
0 Comments
I found it online with a slew of other menu items. I post this for those with FiOS boxes, it's cool what kind of information you can display.
From the online forum post:
With your STB powered on, hit "Power, Select, Select" quickly in sequence from the front panel. To exit the menu, hit "Power" to turn off the STB. The next power up will be back to normal.
The setup menu is where you configure the display, 4:3 override, HDMI settings, etc. is accessed by hitting "Power, Select, Menu". That's different than the diagnostic menu described here.
This menu is how your STB tells you what's going on. Everything from signal quality to channel encryption status to it's IP address and who it's talking to over the MoCA ethernet. The Line Attenuator thread contains a link that describes what the screen looks like and how to find SNR and AGC: »cjhengineering.com/hdtv/cablehdt···diag.htm. However, it's old and Verizon's menu contains additional entries.
I don't think you can hurt anything as this menu doesn't allow for user entry. Read-only. I think...
d01 General Status: Displays a top level error code and lots of times and dates. Remod Channel might be the RF tuner output channel (3). One of the time formats is in "GPS" time. Sorry, it's called either "GMT" or "UTC" whichever is in use (they are different). Might want to report that as a bug, but it's been there since forever.
d03 OOB Status: Out Of Band. On Comcast, this was the RF channel for the program guide. 75.25 MHz. On Verizon, it's used for firmware and channel map and other items to allow you to see the video (and maybe the guide info?).
d04 Inband Status: The status of the current channel, from an RF perspective. WIth the STB ON, select the channel of interest, then access the diagnostic menu. The menu will report the channel it's currently tuned to.
Note: Be careful to note which tuner is in use. My HD-DVR has 2 tuners, the current channel was on Tuner 2, not Tuner 1. I did not enter the diagnostics menu while it was recording, but that shouldn't cause any problems (?).
I checked the SNR, AGC, and correctable errors for a few channels. SNR is >37 dB, AGC "Good", 0 errors. Helpful if you have pixelation errors (those that are not from Verizon) or lose a channel. I mapped a few channels:
Channel Name Frequency Modulation
03 CBS local broadcast 459 MHz 256-QAM
49 WeatherScan local 477 MHz 256-QAM
75 Versus SD 795 MHz 256-QAM
829 Comcast Sportsnet-HD 639 MHz 256-QAM
833 HDNet 501 MHz 256-QAM
846 Discovery HD 669 MHz 256-QAM
Notice that the STB is using the SD digital channels for 2 - 49, not the analog. Knowing the right frequency is very helpful if you think you are having signal problems. Like if you are having a problem on a channel at 800 MHz and not having problem at 100 MHz, check your coax. Or, if you are using a QAM tuner without an STB, you could map frequencies to channels.
d06 Current Channel Status: Displays info about the channel, but with a focus on the digital status. Contains details about the flags used to set copy protection. Those interested in recording over firewire may want to visit AVS forum to understand the DRM and CCI and other bits to determine if a program can be copied / recorded: »www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthre···page=148. The menu shown in the link above is old.
d07 Upstream Status: "Ethernet Return". Get your STB's IP settings and MAC address here. DHCP stuff, DNS enabled, RADD Name Resolved (?). Looks like the IP address is configured for IPv6: 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:192.168.001.100.
d08 Code Modules: The firmware versions. Compare this stuff to the reported IMG Settings.
Platform Built: Version: 19.38, Nov 15, 2007 13:36:00 (Guessing this is the firmware release date, time is usually a version number. Not in the IMG.)
Code objects: fios_0064 version 5.68 (IMG Build Number), odc_0064 version 8.68 (IMG data object filename)
d10 Audio/Video Status: Use this to check the audio and video formats.
Audio: Surround, Video: 16:9 1920 x 1080i 30 (also 4:3 528 x 480i 30 for local SD). The "30" means 30 Hz refresh.
d11 Interface Port Status: All things digital plugged in. Displays status of firewire (1394), USB, MoCA. Like if the firewire port is enabled (Y) and active (N). Page 2 is the display EDID data. It's a map of supported video resolution formats. Helpful for debugging 480i vs. 480p vs. 720p vs. 1080i.
- Page 3 contains details about the 1394 copy protection status, e.g. 5C implementation. Same as D06 menu, but in E-Z read format.
d13 DVR/HDD Status: Hard drive central. Like size (160 GB), disk space, IDE, model, etc. The bottom of the screen contains the hard drive temperature. Temp: 100F 38C, Max: 113F 45.0C, Over Temp: No, Count: 0 (Current temperature 100 deg F or 38 deg C, maximum was 113 deg F or 45 deg C, is not over temperature now, has been over temperature 0 times).
d16 Connected Home: This is how your STB talks to the ActionTec router (that's not my real MAC address). RF Freq: 1150 MHz, MoCA 10/10, RF Password: (blank), MAC/IP: 01:23:45:67:89:AB, 169.254.001.209.
You can match this to the ActionTec router:
Network Status menu: Device: IP-STB1, Connection Type: Coax, IP Address: 192.168.1.100, IP Address Allocation: DHCP, MAC Address: 01:23:45:67:89:AB.
"MoCA Diagnostics Information". Channel: 1 - 1150 MHz, MAC address of the STB (device 1): 01:23:45:67:89:AB, IP Address of the STB: 192.168.100.1. There are other views that show the information a bit differently.
The ActionTec MoCA channels: 1 - 1150 MHz, 2 - 1200 MHz, 3 - 1250 MHz, 4 - 1300 MHz, 5 - 1350 MHz, 6 - 1400 MHz. Don't know if Verizon uses anything other than Channel 1. (Use good coax and splitters that go to at least 1 GHz).
Remember: Do NOT change any parameters that deal with the STB- you may lose your program guide, etc.
I haven't found where the 169.254.001.209 is on the ActionTec, but I'm not expecting to. That's a reserved address that didn't find a host device. Probably for something else, but don't know what.
Back to the STB:
Page 4 (scroll up/down) shows the STB's TX data rates, in Mbps. I think it might be useful for those with home media DVRs that transfer their videos around the house. I don't know, as I don't have one. But it looked interesting. My data rate is around 230 Mbps.
AS3 dispatching events with arguments...
5 Comments
Office 2008 12.0.1 Crashing
0 Comments
However, when she launches Excel, most of the time it just beachballs on her. If it manages to launch without crashing or hanging, she can't work in it for long before it does crash. Word is the same way. Its actually difficult to ForceQuit the apps, as the Finder gets hung for a while during all of this. What a p.o.s.
Now, we can always go Open Office, iWork, etc. but wouldn't you think Microsoft's flagship software suite outside of an OS would actually work? The 12.0.1 update was supposed to fix hanging and crashing, but guess what... it didn't.
I don't think its too much to ask to get a working software. How did QA let this out the door? I'm seeing tons of people via Google having the same problems... and switching to other things.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack
Saturday, April 19, 2008
0 Comments
Labels: Halo3
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Peter Elst on AIR and mySQL SQLite
Thursday, April 17, 2008
5 Comments
Once you get going, you might want to have a little SQL statement guide (although there really aren't that many statements to remember are there?) You'll be using mySQL regardless of need... just because it's so cool to use.
Disgusting.

A truly tasteless cover.
Quick test post. Apologies.
0 Comments
TypeDescriptor 2
1 Comments
package
{
import flash.utils.describeType;
public class TypeDescriptor
{
public function TypeDescriptor()
{
}
public function getType( sValue:String, value:* ):String
{
var varList:XML;
var result:String;
switch( sValue )
{
case "typeName":
varList = describeType( value );
result = varList.@name.toXMLString();
break;
case "typeBase":
varList = describeType( value );
result = varList.@base.toXMLString();
break;
case "typeIsDynamic":
varList = describeType( value );
result = varList.@isDynamic.toXMLString();
break;
case "typeIsFinal":
varList = describeType( value );
result = varList.@isFinal.toXMLString();
break;
case "typeIsStatic":
varList = describeType( value );
result = varList.@isStatic.toXMLString();
break;
default:
result = "error";
break;
}
return result;
}
public function getExtendsClass( value:* ):String
{
var varList:XML = describeType( value );
var result:String = varList.extendsClass.@type.toXMLString();
return result;
}
public function getImplementsInterface( value:* ):String
{
var varList:XML = describeType( value );
var result:String = varList.implementsInterface.@type.toXMLString();
return result;
}
}
}
Need help with Digital Editions
0 Comments
"Can't find Digital Editions folder."
And that's it. I have uninstalled and installed again, and I get the same error. Obviously Add/Remove isn't removing a prefs file someplace or something related to that. So for now I can't use it, and I finally have enough PDFs, etc. that I think it would be really useful. I've pinged the Support Forum for DE too, hoping someone can clear this up.
A TypeDescriptor class for designers
0 Comments
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Penguins sweep the Senators
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
0 Comments
Tonight, despite the valiant efforts of the Ottawa Senators, my Pittsburgh Penguins brushed them aside by applying the broom. As Mike Lange said, "The kitchen is closed."The Senators threw the kitchen sink at the Pens there at the end. Congratulations to the Sens for the effort. Maybe you can hang a mural of the handshake on the other side of the arena, this time the Penguins winning (to match the mural of the Pens losing last year that you put up). Even after that, I respect your players.
Bitten and healed by describeType
0 Comments
ASDoc & IDE-generated Classes problem
1 Comments
While I am on my PC (and thus cannot use Visdoc to generate AS3 documentation for my packages), I am using ASDoc. While normally this is great, I've run into a large issue.
Apple TV's "All HD" section updated
0 Comments
Before the "All HD" section just used to be a distributed grid of items.
Now we get subheadings like in other areas of the system and we have cover-flow there too. A small, but welcome change. I hope they keep rolling out updates.
I have a few UI ideas for the device (such as themes, wrap-around menus, and more). I hope we get some of them.
Flashpitt 2008 Announced!
0 Comments
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New Media conference announced for Pittsburgh
Another push for Pittsburgh’s new media and web technologies market: a conference that will bring some of the big names in the national Flash community to the “Steel City” in October.
PITTSBURGH, PA [April 15, 2008]
Flashpitt 2008 is for the Pittsburgh region’s designers, artists, students, and developers working with Flash, Flex and AIR. Two tracks of sessions will run from 9am until 6pm. The day will be finished off with an after party full of fun and networking opportunities.
Visit www.flashpitt.com to sign up for the event notifications mailing list and to be notified when tickets for the event go on sale.
FlashPitt 2008 – Dates, Times and Location:
Friday, October 10, 2008. 9:00am – 6:00pm
Sheraton Station Square Hotel 300W Station Square Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15219
TweenMax released
0 Comments
Now, TweenMax has been released. Here is a detail statement from the site itself:
TweenMax builds on top of the TweenLite core class and its big brother, TweenFilterLite, to round out the tweening family with popular (though not essential) features like bezier tweening, pause/resume capabilities, easier sequencing, hex color tweening, and more. TweenMax uses the same easy-to-learn syntax as its siblings. In fact, since it extends them, TweenMax can do anything TweenLite and/or TweenFilterLite can do, plus more. So why build 3 classes instead of one? Good question. The goal was to maximize efficiency and minimize file size. Frankly, TweenLite is probably all most developers will need for 90% of their projects, and it only takes up 3k. It's extremely efficient and compact considering its features. But if you need to tween filters or rich imaging effects like saturation, contrast, hue, colorization, etc., step up to TweenFilterLite at 6k (total). Still need more? No problem - snag TweenMax to add extra features jam-packed into 8k (total). See below for a chart describing the differences between the classes. TweenMax introduces an innovative feature called "bezierThrough" that allows you to define points through which you want the bezier curve to travel (instead of normal control points that simply attract the curve). Or use regular bezier curves - whichever you prefer.
Bezier tweening | |||
Bezier "through" tweening (define points to hit instead of just control points) | |||
Pause/Resume capability | |||
Easier sequencing | |||
Tween multiple objects with a single call, including a special "delayIncrement" property that staggers the starting time of each tween | |||
isTweening() function for easily determining if an object is currently tweening | |||
Jump to any point in the tween using the "progress" property | |||
Tween any number of hex color properties | |||
Get an array of all TweenMax (and TweenLite and TweenFilterLite) instances that are currently affecting a particular target object. |
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
8800 GT for 1st gen Mac Pros is out
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
0 Comments
If you have one of the 1st Generation Mac Pros & you've run into problems with your video card (ATI XT1900) like horizontal rules in windows, etc. you can now finally get a NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT upgrade card that will work. $279.00 isn't too bad either!Overview
For advanced graphics performance, choose the latest-generation NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT with 512MB of GDDR3 video memory. With a unified shader core and massive memory bandwidth, the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT brings advanced performance to graphics-intensive applications like motion graphics, 3D modeling, rendering, and animation. It features a PCI Express interface for a high-bandwidth connection to the Mac Pro and two dual-link DVI ports for connecting up to two 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Displays.
- Requires Mac Pro (bus speed 1.33GHz) with PCI-Express
- Includes a DVI to VGA connector for easy connection to VGA-based displays
Note to owners of Mac Pro (early 2008): Please select the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (early 2008) Graphics Upgrade Kit for Mac Pro.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Thank you AS3
Monday, April 14, 2008
0 Comments
It was a lot of code.
Transitioning to AS3 today, I was able to rip out tons of methods, and pare it all down, while using TweenLite, and completed it in only a few hours. Today I am even more thankful for AS3. I know this post is useless, but I just had to get it out there with everyone else's kudos.
AIR Launch TShirt
2 Comments

I am a little uncertain why the guy in the graphic has a "$0" emblazoned on his t-shirt, but I imagine it is supposed to be really cheap to get up to speed and start deploying AIR (not needing to learn brand new technologies, etc.)
But it's a pretty sweet pixel art shirt for sure. Got mine at the last Boston Flex Platform user's group meeting.
Test output from Mike Chamber's code beautifier
0 Comments
package net.ericd.utils
{
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.net.LocalConnection;
import flash.events.StatusEvent;
import flash.text.TextField;
import flash.utils.Timer;
import flash.events.TimerEvent;
/**
* This SWF will reside in a web page.
*/
public class LocalConnectionSender extends Sprite
{
private var conn:LocalConnection;
private var myTimer:Timer;
private var circle:Sprite;
private var marker:Sprite;
public function LocalConnectionSender()
{
conn = new LocalConnection();
conn.allowDomain( "*", "localhost" );
conn.allowInsecureDomain( "*", "localhost" );
conn.addEventListener( StatusEvent.STATUS, onStatus );
myTimer = new Timer( 500, 0 );
myTimer.addEventListener( TimerEvent.TIMER, ping );
marker = new Marker();
marker.x = 12;
marker.y = 15;
marker.alpha = 0;
addChild( marker );
myTimer.start();
}
private function onStatus( event:StatusEvent ):void
{
switch( event.level )
{
case "status":
am_txt.text = "Yes";
//marker.alpha = 1;
break;
case "error":
am_txt.text = "No";
//marker.alpha = 0.3;
break;
}
}
private function ping( event:TimerEvent ):void
{
conn.send( "_lifeConnection", "lcHandler", "hello" );
}
}
}
Saturday, April 12, 2008
FiOS outages in Boston
Saturday, April 12, 2008
2 Comments
How am I blogging this? Neighbors without WEP turned on and obviously no FiOS service. I tried the ones for FiOS and they didn't have internet either (you can tell which routers are Verizon but the names of the things).
This sucks. We called and we'll get a call back sometime by tomorrow around noon or something.
UPDATE:
Service has been restored. In fact, I think we had it back before we actually knew it. A breaker switch was thrown, and the whole back-up battery and unit were plugged into it. So the box shut down, and the reserve power kept the phone alive until the battery finally ran out. The woman I spoke with at Verizon was very nice about it I must say. Checking the battery back-up clued me into the whole situation. Whew.
Friday, April 11, 2008
AIR Application presence and a web SWF
Friday, April 11, 2008
3 Comments
You should see a SWF above, and it is looking for the presence of an AIR application. You can download that .zip of it here. Not enough time before the weekend to make a badge or icon for it.
Run the AIR application and the SWF above should detect it's presence. Like on Parleys.com.

Trying to mimic a part of Parleys.com / AIR integration
1 Comments
Update:I am an idiot. Rich Shupe pointed out to me on FlashCoders that I forgot the underscores in the connection name strings.
You see, that's important to supply when the SWFs are running in different domains, etc. Its a flag for the VM. Doh! And it's all specified there in the online documentation too. So please disregard the post from this point on...
After a bunch of playing around, I think I may be going about something the wrong way. Or else I'm simply missing something fairly simple.
This is what I am trying to do:
I would like a SWF in a web page to be able to detect and respond to a SWF running locally on a client's machine (standalone or an AIR application). Like what happens on the Parley's website with its AIR client (BENZ also known as Benjamin Dobler)... maybe I'll email you a link to this post.
The first thing I thought to try was localConnection and some polling (not efficient but its a proof of concept only for me).
When both SWFs are run locally or online, things work perfectly. When I try to do what I want, it fails. I am wondering if I'd need to use an online socket server to get this to work right (I hope not).
Anyway, here are my two classes, a Sender (web page) and receiver (localhost):
package net.ericd.utils
{
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.net.LocalConnection;
import flash.events.StatusEvent;
import flash.text.TextField;
import flash.utils.Timer;
import flash.events.TimerEvent;
/**
* This SWF will reside in a web page.
*/
public class LocalConnectionSender extends Sprite
{
private var conn:LocalConnection;
private var myTimer:Timer;
private var circle:Sprite;
public function LocalConnectionSender()
{
conn = new LocalConnection();
conn.allowDomain( "*", "localhost" );
conn.allowInsecureDomain( "*", "localhost" );
conn.addEventListener( StatusEvent.STATUS, onStatus );
myTimer = new Timer( 500, 0 );
myTimer.addEventListener( TimerEvent.TIMER, ping );
circle = new Sprite();
circle.graphics.beginFill( 0xFF6600, 1 );
circle.graphics.drawCircle( 50, 50, 10 );
circle.graphics.endFill();
circle.alpha = 0;
addChild( circle );
myTimer.start();
}
private function onStatus( event:StatusEvent ):void
{
switch( event.level )
{
case "status":
circle.alpha = 1;
break;
case "error":
circle.alpha = 0.3;
break;
}
}
private function ping( event:TimerEvent ):void
{
conn.send( "lifeConnection", "lcHandler", "hello" );
}
}
}
And now here is the receiver:
package net.ericd.utils
{
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.net.LocalConnection;
public class LocalConnectionReceiver extends Sprite
{
private var conn:LocalConnection;
/**
* This SWF will reside on the desktop, local.
*/
public function LocalConnectionReceiver()
{
conn = new LocalConnection();
conn.allowDomain( "*", "localhost" );
conn.client = this;
try
{
conn.connect( "lifeConnection" );
} catch ( error:ArgumentError )
{
trace( "Can't connect, name already in use." );
}
}
public function lcHandler( msg:String ):void
{
trace( "received data: " + msg );
}
}
}
So that's it really. Seems simple enough, but I'm not getting the love right now. I thought i had set this thing up correctly, and the whole "*" and "localhost" would get around the local or network only things in the Publish Settings. I played with those and didn't get different behavior.
I also mucked with "flash.events.SecurityErrorEvent" and didn't get any security setting errors reported back to me. Is this kind of thing simply impossible with the new security models?
Flash web video job(s) in Boston
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When I get a call at work from a recruiter (which I pretty much despise, I'm never sure how they got the number unless they used the switchboard or something), it's almost always about web video. I ask if its ultimately about Brightcove (one of the biggest consumers of Flash/Flex talent in the area) and sometimes it is. Sometimes its not, its for other startups. I know of a few other shops working in the space, and they all seem to be thriving.
I seem to remember hearing a story from someone at Macromedia (at the time) who told me that web video was a little experiment some engineer threw together over a weekend at home. And look what has happened with that!
If you're into web video and Flash/Flex, and you're in the Boston area or would like to move here, you should have no trouble finding work. That is if you like the whole start up thing.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
(Yahoo!+TimeWarner) / (M$+NewsCorp)
Thursday, April 10, 2008
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Bitten by uint
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It's indeed white ale and coding season
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Now, around here people like to think Sam Adams (Boston Beer Company) makes good beer. You can find Sam Adams White Ale, but I honestly don't know why you would subject yourself to that kind of humiliation. It's completely unmemorable. And watery. It's not horrible, but it is a distinct waste of time.
Hoegaarden. Get some. Seriously.You will not be sorry. You'll pay a little more, but you'll actually enjoy it. The aroma is right, the balance is quite good, the color is spot on, and you'll be able to down more than three before getting bored, like you will with Sam Adams.
URLs and Flex
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&symbols to
&and you'll be good to go.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Microsoft answers the Yahoo!-Google thing
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
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Any definitive agreement between Yahoo! and Google would consolidate over 90% of the search advertising market in Google’s hands. This would make the market far less competitive, in sharp contrast to our own proposal to acquire Yahoo! We will assess closely all of our options. Our proposal remains the only alternative put forward that offers Yahoo! shareholders full and fair value for their shares, gives every shareholder a vote on the future of the company, and enhances choice for content creators, advertisers, and consumers.
- Brad Smith
I wish I could feel sorry for Microsoft. I really do. But I don't.
I am a fan of Benjamin Dobler
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The on Air Weblog has various videos. I hadn't been there for some time, and stopped by to see a recording Serge Jespers made of Benjamin Dobler. We get a sneak-peak of the next RichFLV application (which is quite nice), but then Benjamin starts talking and showing the Parleys.com AIR application and how it ties into the site.
Watch that video. The UI seems to be really good, there are lots of elements that are available, lots of smarts in the handling of states, etc. Inspiring stuff.
The overall UI of the Parleys.com AIR application I like more than the Adobe Media Player (although the AMP has a much smaller visual footprint... so perhaps I shouldn't be making a comparison like that).
Benjamin's blog can be found here. I've run into mentions of him before, but this is the first time I've paid enough attention, the attention he deserves. Killer work Benjamin! I am a fan.
What's up with the NHL?
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The only opportunity I have to watch the Penguins is Versus (which I have through Verizon FiOS), CBC (I don't like in Canada), RDS (French-Canadien? I don't have it), or FoxSports Pittsburgh (I'm a little too far to run a cable). WTF happened between ESPN and the NHL?
ESPN used to televise tons of hockey during the playoffs. I know that changed a few years back. Was it over ratings or simply money? What will they broadcast instead? Lumberjack contests, Rome's show, lame basketball, April meaningless baseball, ...
At least I get a few on Versus which is better than nothing. Internet radio and highlights on the Pen's website will have to tide me over I guess. And I'll be forced to watch the Bruins.
Crazy cool AIR tool: Nemo 440
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Anyway, there is an even easier way to use the tool, doesn't require ANT for a compile of source, etc. And it comes to us as an AIR file to provide the GUI. "Hello Nemo440 by Vadim Melnik." Yes, you can dump to a file too.
Quick small example.
dynamic class Base extends flash.display::MovieClipThat's pretty slick, it works with compressed and uncompressed SWF, with SWC and also ABC.
{
function Base():* /* disp_id -1*/
{
// local_count=1 max_scope=1 max_stack=1 code_len=6
0 getlocal0
1 pushscope
2 getlocal0
3 constructsuper (0)
5 returnvoid
}
static function Base$cinit():* /* disp_id 0*/
{
// local_count=1 max_scope=1 max_stack=1 code_len=3
0 getlocal0
1 pushscope
2 returnvoid
}
}
Adobe Media Player released
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Adobe® Media Player software provides control and flexibility to view what you want, when you want — whether online or offline. You can queue up and download your favorite Internet TV content, track and download new episodes automatically, and manage your personal video library for viewing at your convenience.
Adobe Media Player enables businesses to create, deliver, and monetize high-quality content using a variety of new business models. The customizable, cross-platform player leverages existing Adobe Flash® technology and supports downloaded and streamed media of up to full-screen HD resolution.
There are some pretty decent participating networks out of the gate too.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Boston Flex Users Group Meeting was nice
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
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Tonight was the first Boston Flex User Group meeting, and it was held at Adobe Newton. The scene is familiar to many of us in the area... through reception to the stairwell on the right, up, passcard through a door on the right at the top of the stairs and into the common area on the second floor. Garage door partitioned presentation area, ping pong table, booth seats, and a large kitchen. The waft of freshly baked Bertucci's pizza. Lots of refreshments, lots of chairs, and lots of Adobe folk presenting code to the masses.And tonight was no exception. There were TONS of people who attended. Which surprised me because the meeting was about the Flex 3 open-source SDK. Developing for it, against it, fixing bugs in the branches (the trunk is Flex 4 (Gumbo)), and there was a whole of very technical talk going on.
For whatever reason, its always 8,000,000• in there, and the screen goes a little fuzzy on me. Gave me a headache when studying the code on the screen. Maybe its just lack of caffeine or its late in the day and my eyes are tired and the room is dim with slightly flickering lighting?
Eclipse was the
Would you like to contribute to the SDK source code? Help fix bugs? Get really dirty in the bowels of the compiler (requiring ANT to compile)? Then this meeting was for you. It could have gotten even more technical, but I think tonight the amount of glazed eyes probably served as a warning to not go that much further down the rabbit hole.
I enjoyed the session quite a bit, although I won't be downloading the SDK to any local SVN repository any time soon. At the end we were served some useful tidbits for use without having to worry about ANT or breakpoints in SDK source code, etc. The turnout was fantastic... to guess I'd say there were probably nearly 100 people. Not nearly enough pizza, but I think the people who rolled in late probably already ate.
Nice meeting. I'll be at the next one. Oh, I saw you Scott Janousek on my way out, but the door was already closing behind me.
Phil Andrews on the air DJ
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"live at http://kzsulive.stanford.edu/"
So I pop on over to the radio site, and they have several options of streams, pick one, and bam! There is my buddy broadcasting live to sunny California.
I send a twit about a shout-out and a minute later in a break he gives me and the Pittsburgh Penguins a shout out.
- "Phil Andrews" you rock, we miss you but glad that you're happy.
- The internet continues to amaze as I am able to experience this on the other coast of the U.S.
- You have an interesting show. I would never have experienced this kind of music on my own, and it's not bad. Thanks for broadening my listening experience as I slog code around in my office.
Cornershop playing in Palo Alto for me. Norwegian Wood. Thanks for that.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Theban Mapping Project
Monday, April 7, 2008
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Saturday, April 5, 2008
Cya Naymz
Saturday, April 5, 2008
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LinkedIn is my networking tool of choice. You spammed me with emails all the time, and I just canceled my account. My rep score was 10 or something but who really cares. I'll keep my LinkedIn stuff up to date and tidy instead. Cya.
Friday, April 4, 2008
OLAP and AS3
Friday, April 4, 2008
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Wikipedia: Online Analytical Processing, or OLAP (IPA: /ˈoʊlæp/), is an approach to quickly provide answers to analytical queries that are multi-dimensional in nature. OLAP is part of the broader category business intelligence, which also encompasses relational reporting and data mining. The typical applications of OLAP are in business reporting for sales, marketing, management reporting, business process management (BPM), budgeting and forecasting, financial reporting and similar areas. The term OLAP was created as a slight modification of the traditional database term OLTP (Online Transaction Processing).
Okay, but still... wtf. Multi-dimensional arrays. I am not sure if I will ever really need to use OLAP in my own work (I do use multi-dimensional arrays all the time though)... but I figure I should probably at least become familiar enough with it so I can make better educated design decisions should the need arise that might benefit from using the power of OLAP and AS3/Flex.Update:
Through that GTalk mechanism I have on my blog, Daniel from onrails.org contacted me. He has a lot of experience using OLAP and Activewarehouse. It seems on the surface that I simply may never need to consume as much data as OLAP makes it easier to get lots of data in a condensed way.
He mentioned that the Flex implementation is still a bit slow, and mentioned throwing all the data at a OLAP cube wouldn't be the optimal way to do things.
Well, I remember that Live Cycle Data Services page data... and I imagine that this would tie right into the Advanced DataGrid?
So you could combine OLAP and the paging of LC for snappy interogation and display? You could have a set of data a million rows deep and your grid would only be as slow as the connection buffer to the server to the data. If I am off-base here, forgive me. I am still reading up on this and going through what Daniel IM'd me... and its all a little abstract until I actually play with some code and data and see for myself the interactions.
3G iPhone with black back?
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3G iPhone假想合成圖... 而真正看過的,往往因為NDA(保密協定),而不會多加宣揚
尤其Apple最善於此道,君不見每次只要有新產品上市,你不晚上半夜不睡覺在那裡守著keynote,不然不到最後一刻,你永遠猜不到Steve Jobs蘋果裡賣甚麼藥
而更厲害的是,在此之前,產品研發所需的一兩年時間,居然沒人可以從各種角度看到任何東西
這就是NDA的用途
尤其以apple這種每次發表產品,就造成轟動的狀況更彰顯NDA的重要
不然就像iPhone在去年初發表要6月才上市
不到五月就有仿冒的出來了不是嗎?
所以3G版的iPhone,一定會有!!只是甚麼時候會出來?!
是不是只有白色與黑色?!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Leopard Screensaver
Thursday, April 3, 2008
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In OS X Leopard, if you go to your Screen Saver Preferences panel, below the Apple-provided savers, you'll have Pictures (some Apple provided, the rest from iPhoto, etc.) Now, below the image Preview window you'll see 3 view types.
Fade (Ken Burns), Zoom spin and drop individual photographs, and photo mosaic.
Photo mosaic is actually stunning... you've seen those poster images of an image that is actually made up of tons of smaller photos... this screen saver view duplicates that, but it zooms all the time (except a brief pause to show you the original photograph that was re-created).
The zoom spin and drop is pretty elegant too.
I haven't heard anything about these different views, give them a shot. Although when they are running you'll be impressing others, its good to know when your machine isn't being used and almost sleeping, its still beautiful. AND you can display a clock on top of all those photographs during the animations.
Weighing in on the Adobe, Apple, Pshop CS4 64-bit
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While I use Photoshop every single day for something or other, I'm not entirely up in arms over this fact.
- I am not a complete power user working on ginormous hires files
- I only have 6GB of RAM right now
The rewrite of Photoshop for 64-bit OS X will be an insanely large task to complete. Perhaps they are already porting it, or have been in the process for a long time already. We simply don't know.
Would I like a 64-bit Photoshop for the Mac? Of course. Are the bulk of those using Photoshop using OS X? I'd guess yes. Is this in oversight by Adobe? I don't think so.
We've heard Photoshop CS5 should support 64-bit OS X. So we have to wait a bit until we all get it. A downer: No WAY I'd buy a XP/Vista version to run in BootCamp just to take advantage of 64-bit addressing. Too bloody expensive.
32-bit for me please, but when the pie is baked, I'd like the whole pie.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Flashpaper used at NHL.com
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
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Button your code up at day's end
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Throughout a typical day I get requests to make changes to prototypes and simulations. However sometimes the changes are requested not by email, phone call, but in person. Which means I normally am editing class files with the requester over my shoulder.I end up commenting a lot of stuff out (especially since the AS3 compiler really wants things to be tidy), slapping in semi-stub code, perhaps a magic™ number here and there, and I end up with something that maintains the requested changes, but leaves the code overall in a shaky state.
I don't know about you, but when I leave for the evening and my code isn't buttoned up to a certain degree, I won't be able to sleep. I don't even like to keep commented code in my sources for long either (that's why we have version control right? If I need to resurrect a method then I can use Subversion to get it).
It's easy to say, "I'll get to it tomorrow." But we all know that doesn't always happen. And if you get rounds of changes, and you don't keep up on things, it gets harder and harder to go back and do things correctly. It takes some dedication to do it, especially if you're tired out at day's end. But you'll thank yourself later for it, even if you are getting change requests, it's good to keep your code really clean as often as you can.
