Did you know any member of an Adobe user group can get 20% off all products sold in the Adobe store? This promotion has been running for a little while and has been extended through May 31, 2009. If you are a member of a user group and want to make use of this offer simply contact your user group manager for details. Or, you can also contact me using the Contact Blog Owner link in the footer. The 20% discount will be applied to one online order and can only be used one time per member. Thanks to Adobe for making this offer available!

We've launched a new dealerskins.com Web site and I'm curious what you think! The new site has been live for about two weeks after a few select folks in the office slaved over building it for a month or so. Personally, I really like the new site. During my four and half years at Dealerskins I've seen five different versions of our site (four of which are shown below). It's always difficult to get the right mix of marketing, content, and design that demonstrates the skills of our staff. The latest iteration of our site does a good job communicating our message and detailing features of our product offering. Kudos to our marketing team, designers and developers who put together the best Dealerskins site yet! Check it out and leave a comment letting me know what you think.

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RIAdventure 2009 has been over for a few weeks now and I'm missing the sun and relaxation already. It was great to get away from the office and shut off the phone and laptops for a full five days. I enjoyed hanging out with those that came along and I want to give HUGE props to Joshua Cyr for arranging the trip. He was like a travel guide making sure everyone knew what was going on, where we were supposed to meet to not miss the shuttle ride to the ship and as always was a joy to hang out with. I'm definitely looking forward to the possibility of a second RIAdventure in 2010 but in the meantime I have some photos to help make the weight a little more bearable.

For those curious what RIAdventure was all about you can view all the Flickr group photos here. I've also posted my photos to Flickr as well as three videos (of a super awesome Segway tour!) in my RIAdventure Cruise 2009 set.

Here's a slideshow for those that don't want to manually click through photos on Flickr.

I've blogged before about embedding fonts in Flex applications by first creating an embedded font in a Flash movie. The process is pretty simple and works well with one large caveat, your final SWF is larger based on the file size of any embedded fonts. Why is this bad? If you've embedded four of your favorite fonts and your app is one big Flash movie or Flex application your overall app size is increased to include the font resources.

Wouldn't it be better if you could load the fonts at runtime only when they're needed? Well, you can! Lee Brimelow recorded a fifteen minute tutorial showing you how to use Flash CS4 and Flex SDK metadata to create runtime loaded fonts. He walks through the entire process including selecting a font, writing the ActionScript 3 code to embed a font, restricting the font to certain glyphs, and then embedding the external font movie into a new, separate movie at runtime.

As Lee points out towards the end of the tutorial, using runtime loaded fonts should be considered a best practice if you're using Flash CS4. You can do what we've always been able to do and embed a font directly in the Flash CS4 library, but why tax your entire application this way and why include all the glyphs if you don't need them?

A co-worker of mine, Andy Matthews, has released a new AIR application I think everyone should check out. Shrinkadoo, an HTML/Ajax/ColdFusion powered AIR application integrates with a slew of URL shortening services to bring the functionality to your desktop. Andy's app is super small and lightweight and makes it really easy to quickly shorten those nasty URLs you want to put in e-mail, blogposts, or on Twitter. Other than the URL shortening itself my favorite features so far are the integrated feedback form and the auto application updates. Andy has a ton of ideas on where he wants to take the application but be sure and let him know what you think after you install it. Simply hover over the minimize/close buttons to see a slide out menu of extra features (nice!). Press the envelope icon, type up your comments and press submit!

From time to time folks contact me about job openings wondering if I know anyone looking for work. Given todays economy I'm surprised I don't know more folks who are looking! I received another job opening today and wanted to blog it since I don't know of anyone who's immediately available. If you are interested in this senior designer / developer job that requires skills in planning, conceptualizing, and creating interactive projects please contact Chris Spintzyk at cspintzyk [AT] everestusa [DOT] com. In the interest of full disclosure, Everest is a recruiting firm and other than phone calls here and there I have no direct experience with them.

Basic information about this opportunity:

• Flash and Web site design skills are necessary
  
• A strong eye and skill for design for the Web is a plus
• A high level of object-oriented ActionScripting, HTML, CSS, XML
  
• Experience in design implementation into interactive projects with an eye for detail.
  
• Looking for a real problem solver, nothing is impossible attitude.
  
• Any additional technical skills will be a major consideration for this job role.
  
• Key Performance Areas include ActionScript, Flash IDE, HTML, CSS, Client satisfaction, commercial procedures

This time next week my wife and I will be somewhere in the North Atlantic on our way to the Bahamas. It's been a couple of years since our last cruise so we're pretty excited for the chance to hit the seas again. The particular cruise we're going on is part of the RIAdventure social/tech gathering. I've always enjoyed hanging out with other programmers and tech folks at conferences, but the conference always occupies most of our time. This cruise is all about the social aspects but I'm sure there will be loads of conversations on ColdFusion, Flex, AIR, and rich Internet applications in general. When you get a bunch of geeks together you can be there will be lots of tech talk.

I believe there are upwards of 30 people going including Joshua Cyr, Dan Skaggs, Dan Wilson, Yancy Wharton, Jared Rypka-Hauer, and Todd Sharp. Since I'll be arriving a day before the ship sets sail, I thought it'd be nice to have dinner with anyone else that's already in Miami. If you're going to be in Miami on Sunday the 8th and you want to have dinner, give me a ring (just press the "Call Me" button in the right margin). Or, you can always leave a comment on this post or e-mail me.

Mike Chambers has created his first iPhone application and it's been approved by Apple. If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch and you write ActionScript 3 for Flash CS3 or Flex 3, you need to cruise on over to iTunes and download (iTunes link) his ActionScript 3 API reference guide!! It includes documentation on AS3 for Flash Player 10, Flex 3.2 and AIR 1.5.

Thanks for putting this together Mike.

I was reading through the latest blog posts aggregated by ColdFusion Bloggers and noticed someone writing about the oldest file they had in their home directory. I switch laptops every three years, but thought it'd be an interesting exercise even if I don't typically respond to memes.

I thought it would be pretty easy to determine my oldest file using OS X's Spotlight. After a minute or two I realized Spotlight wasn't going to be much help so I dipped into my ninja command-line skills and attempted to use *nix's find, and ls commands. I was able to make some headway but wasn't too sure of my results so I followed links from Jehiah's post to Craig Rhodes' blog. Craig provides a Python script that seemed to do the trick (code and instructions on how to do this yourself are below). The absolute oldest file on my Macbook Pro is a font called Optim which was created on June 25, 1987. Yikes! Scrolling through the list of files (ordered by oldest first) there were tons of fonts which have probably been forgotten for ages.

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The brand new Nashville ColdFusion User Group Web site has launched! Here's an excerpt from my official announcement...

I am completely, unbelievably, indubitably, fantastically excited to announce and SHOW you the brand-spanking new Nashville ColdFusion User Group Web site!!

Launching a new Web site has been "in the works" in one way or another for over two years. Not long after I took over the group from Tony Bradshaw (January 2005) we all decided it was time for a new Web site and thus started a journey that took much longer than anyone anticipated. In some ways it's embarrassing how we didn't buckle down and just get the job done. But when I think of all the things that have taken place over the last three years, from the babies, job changes, contract and consultant work many of us do etc., I'm not too surprised. And after spending most of my waking hours over the last week working on the new site with J.J., I'm even less surprised.

Read the full announcement here:
http://www.ncfug.com/go/newsdetail/newsID/07876921-9A0A-C748-B5F4C4D2771267BA/

As of 23 minutes ago Adobe has officially released Flash Player 10. It's great to see the new player finally get released after being available in one alpha/beta form or another for over a year. Go get it while it's hot and read more on the release while you're at it.

I was talking recently with Matt Wallace, the Nashville Flex User Group manager, about switching Flash Player versions in OS X. He had found Mike Chambers bash script but was having problems getting Mike's code to work. Matt eventually developed his own solution and while he did an excellent job his utility has a few annoyances that I don't want to deal with. I'm sure he'll get all these fixed but currently you must empty the trash to clear unwanted Flash Player files that appear every time you switch FP versions. You also have to edit his Automator script every time you want to add a new Flash Player to the switching ability.

So I dug into Mike's code to see why folks were having problems getting it running. I didn't have any issues but that's because I was able to figure out a few steps Mike left out. I also made his bash script a little better eliminating the need to create a linked file to get around bash's nuances with spaces in directory names.

What I came up with is not much different than what Mike originally created, it's just more refined. If you're interested in my version read on for download and installation instructions.

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Earlier today Adobe announced a public beta release of Flash Player 10. Some of the new features include 3D visual effects, a new text rendering engine, and changes to how the player handles dynamic sound loaded at runtime. If you are interested in learning more about the significance of FP10, check out the current blog buzz by visiting the links below. I've trolled through the latest content and hand selected some of the most informative and interesting blog posts.

Flash Player 10 available on Adobe Labs
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/

Public Bugbase powered by JIRA
http://bugs.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Flash Player team member Tinic Uro takes us on a tour of the new features
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Wired magazine covers the release (by Scott Gilbertson)
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2008/05/flash-player-10.html

FlashMagazine.com on FP10's new text engine
http://www.flashmagazine.com/news/detail/flash_player_10_feature_new_text_engine/

FlashMagazine.com on using FileReference to load and save files
http://www.flashmagazine.com/news/detail/flash_player_10_new_feature_load_and_save_files_using_filereference/

FlashMagazine.com on PixelBender (formerly known as "Hydra")
http://www.flashmagazine.com/news/detail/flash_player_10_feature_pixel_bender/

FlashMagazine.com on Dynamic Streaming in FP10
http://www.flashmagazine.com/News/detail/flash_player_10_feature_dynamic_streaming/

FlashMagazine.com on Dynamic Audio Generation
http://www.flashmagazine.com/News/detail/flash_player_10_feature_dynamic_audio_generation/

FlashMagazine.com on 3D support in FP10
http://www.flashmagazine.com/News/detail/flash_player_10_feature_3d_support/

Grant Skinner on building FP10 demos
http://www.gskinner.com/blog/archives/2008/05/building_the_fl.html

The first official day of the Adobe Community Summit was packed full of interesting talks from several key product players. This years summit is my third and every year it seems to get a bit better. The time spent with Adobe folks is invaluable and the information shared allows members of the Adobe community (Adobe Community Experts, User Group Managers, and Adobe Champions) to prepare for the future in ways not quite possible in the past.

The first person on the podium was Michele Turner, manager of the Adobe Technology Platform. She gave the keynote address discussing Adobe's general technology strategy. She also covered an overview of Adobe's 2 year technology roadmap. There are certainly some exciting things coming in the future.

Following Michele, was Scott Fegette, a long time Dreamweaver user, and video/audio production god. Scott talked about what we're likely to see in the next version of Dreamweaver. His talk was very well received as he is a dynamic speaker and always a crowd favorite.

Mike Chambers, another crowd favorite, took the stage next to walk through the current happenings with Adobe AIR. Most of what he covered is already public knowledge and just a recap what has occurred over the last 3 months since the launch of Flex 3 and AIR 1.0. He did share a few new tidbits indicating AIR has a bright future ahead.

After Mike's talk we broke for lunch. During lunch I had some great discussions with Peter Bell, Bernie Dolan, and David Harris on all things ColdFusion. Peter has walked through the fire of what is application generation and has an unbelievable amount of experience in this area. When he talks, I listen.

Kicking things off after lunch, Doug Winnie discussed how Adobe really has a strategy for reaching both the designer and developer and the workflows that integrate the two.

Next up was Steve Heintz who talked about Flex, both today and in the future. I couldn't remember if I had heard Steve speak before but he did a really nice job talking (conceptually) on what Adobe plans to do with Flex in the future.

One of the most impressive presentations was by Jen Taylor and Doug Benson who showed off some of the new features in the next version of the Flash Authoring tool. There were several jaw-dropping moments that caused me to "double-take" to be sure I wasn't seeing things. About all I can say, is Adobe has been busy on the Flash Authoring tool!

After we all wiped off the drool, Steve Heintz joined us again to talk about Thermo. Thermo's been a seemingly super secret tool with very little information about it shared with the community. That didn't change much with Steve's presentation, but he did give the impression Thermo has a clear focus and purpose which. It will be interesting to see how the community takes to Thermo as more information is shared in the future. I'm hoping this years MAX conference will bring more news on Thermo.