Chuck Freedman

Stop asking yourself when Flash will be on the iPhone. Apple's winning strategy has been to CONTROL everything about their products, from the hardware it’s built on to the software it operates and runs. For as long as Apple controls the pieces of the device, they have complete accountability for its performance and functionality. It's really not evil. Their success goes from quality to business with a similar practice. Through iTunes, Apple figured out how to make money not just on selling you the hardware, but using the hardware as a simple conduit to selling you the media. The iPhone represents a similar model. Sell you the hardware and then exclusively control the software you can put on it, software that can only be purchased through a store that Apple controls.

[It's not just Apple, rather any manufacturer of a closed system. Try writing a game for the Wii or Playstation. You've got to go through the owners of those respective closed systems to get your software out. However, for the purposes of Flash, I'm focusing on the mobile device.]

Now, if Flash were simply a plug-in, then Apple would have no issue loading it on the iPhone. The fact is, Flash is really an application platform, capable of opening up any system it runs on to any skilled developer. Once opened, the developer can present a full range of content, games and functionality (limited to the hardware capabilities, i.e. microphone/speaker/touchscreen/etc) through the application. What's more, Flash content accessed through a web site is freely distributable -- meaning there's little way to restrict who can access what.

I'm happy to see that Techcrunch, who recently and boldly called for an affordable Web tablet, has included the requirement of Flash to be part of the device. They clearly understand that Flash opens the door for the developer to provide the user with anything they could possibly want to access online (or locally on the device, should the tablet sun AIR), including music, video, written content, photos, games, productivity tools, map and location tools, and yes, a robust communications suite including phone call and voicemail ability.

My recent contact with the Chumby has further taught me that Flash, acting as the application platform that it is, can sustain a device with more than enough content – not too mention create the ideal environment for hundreds of developers, designers or animators (as Chumby calls them) to build fun, portable apps/widgets for everyone.

I could easily make this a technical argument, breaking down the specs of Flash; The fact that it has one of the most mature OOP languages in ActionScript 3; The fact that Flash universally accesses more native features of most devices than any other runtime of its kind; The fact that it’s distribution rivals that of any other single software entity.

Of course, I’ll be much happier when a single version of flash dominates across all devices, as opposed to present-day, weaker mobile variations. Between Apple’s lockout of Flash on the iPhone, Techcrunch’s inclusion of it on their tablet and the tens-of-thousands of developers pushing swf-based content and functionality over the web, Flash is truly an Application Platform and not just a plug-in.

Ribbit will own Day 0 (Sunday, August 17th) of this summer's 360 Flex as we deliver another exciting seasonal Spawn event.
We're covering so much, including a sneak peak at our Beta 2.5 release, plus our brand new Voice components for Flex.
You can't miss it.

It's all FREE for you to attend. If you are attending 360|Flex then you can join us live in San Jose, Ca. Register for 360|Flex tickets here.

For those who cannot attend in person, we will be broadcasting this live so you can get all this great information from the comfort of your own home. Visit http://developer.ribbit.com/spawn2008/ to learn more.

Congrats to the team at Blip.tv for reaching qualified Flash developers in the most unique, yet possibly effective way I have ever seen. I just caught this set of trace statements in Flash Tracer on Firefox:

I wrote about trace statements over a year ago, and while so many errors still show up, it's cool to see someone using trace statements creatively.

Chumby is the super-cute night table device that could be our gateway to finally having the all-time most useful interface known to man -- the console on the refrigerator that allows us to scan our food going in and prompts us (as well as automatically places a food order) whenever we're running out of milk.

OK, maybe that's a stretch, but I do see a lot of future uses with the Chumby technology as it evolves from simple LCD-touchscreen-on-beanbag state to a more flexible and wider-implemented hardware form. The Chumby and I first encountered each other at a Yahoo! internal hack day, and 2 years later, I still find myself wondering when I'll put forth the $180 and get one for myself. Hopefully that day is coming soon...

I recently took a closer look at Chumby's developer program, the heart and soul of their community turned Widget factory. See, to date, Chumby's real value is not in the hardware, but rather the plethora of widgets that proud Chumby owners can install. To fuel this creation of content, Chumby engages would-be developers with a simple call to action: "Are you a Flash animator? We like to think of a chumby as a Flash showcase and encourage Flash artists to spread their talents through our network."

Given the necessary (but certainly not limiting skillset) needed to code a Chumby app, I'm not sure many would-be Chumby developers ever consider themselves 'Flash animators' or 'Flash artists'. What the call to action does is create the perception that building a Chumby app requires a low barrier of entry, which I like. I also like the fact that the Chumby team lists out some ideas to get you started. Best of all, they provide a virtual Chumby interface for testing your widget. The only thing missing here is that you won't be able to test Chumby's accelerometer feature!

Chumby's widget gallery serves up over 700 widgets to users. There is no immediate incentive to build a Chumby widget, other than to share your work in a gallery. If mass adoption and innovation are enough for developers to spend cycles coding, Chumby seems to know how to tap it.

Articles for getting started:
Adobe Developer Center article, by Phillip Kerman

CS3 Device Profile, by Scott Janousek

Chumby Wiki

Chumby Develop Template

And finally, this is super cool: Chumby Sensor API

If you're a Flash nut, it's hard not to get excited to see what Sprout continues to do. Their latest and greatest ploy for world web widget domination is a clever little contest with Universal Studios. They have a contest running now (and through June 30) that will award the best "Hellboy 2" widget designed with SproutBuilder.

The prize consists of two rewards. 1) $500 cash prize and 2) the widget will be featured on the official Hellboy 2 site. The latter is just too cool. Those that know a bit about web traffic know that movie sites are some of the top attracting sites out there. This contest could take the most unknown or beginner level Flash designer/developer and turn them into one of the most visible, overnight.

The best part about it is, because of Sprout's abstraction of Flash, the winner of this contest will likely never have used Flash CS3 in the past.

At Yahoo!, I tried very hard to get maps and movies to mate. It wasn't easy. I commend Sprout for forming this, and I'm sure many other, key relationships with the movie industry. Super cool.

More on the contest:
http://sproutbuilder.com/blog/2008/06/18/announcing-sprout-build-hellboy-ii-widget-contest

The 17th Championship run of the Boston Celtics came with it the early emergence of my 15-month-old son into the world of basketball. Watching most of the 26 playoff games the Celtics had to play to win it all, my brother, wife and I watched Chase begin to pay attention and even pick up the ball.

It began with some throwing and catching. Chase brought me his ball and then sat a few feet away with his hands out. He wanted the pass...

Next was shooting. My wife actually installed the Nerf hoop to help my brother and I dispel some game 7 tension by firing shots from the couch. However, one game we noticed Chase had pulled himself up and was trying to shoot the ball just like daddy and Uncle Nate...

So, I picked him up to see what he would do. And he knew exactly what to do, as he dropped the ball right in the hoop and watched it fall.

The shooting continued, and my wife bought Chase his very own hoop. Little KG, as we began calling him, began dunking the ball right away and eventually started making lay-up shots. It was so cool to watch, we had to get some video...

Championships are always special. This was Chase's 2nd Boston sports team to win in his short life so far. I hope it provides for a solid foundation of interest as it did for me just over 20 years ago.

Sergio Pinheiro and I were roommates in college for 2 years, while attending Boston University. Both of us majored in Film at BU's College of Communication. Sergio ventured 'out west' shortly after graduation to purse a film career.

His hard work and persistence has earned him what I'm sure is just the first of many awards. Serg's short film, a thriller in the intriguing mold of a Twilight Zone, is called 'The Procedure'. Sergio produced, wrote and directed the film and assembled a very talented cast and crew. The film is visually stunning, well acted, well shot and the sound and effects are mind-blowing - all extensions of Sergio's incredible talent.

Sergio entered the film in the Beverly Hills Shorts Film Festival. I am proud of Serg for winning not one, but two awards: "Best Horror Film" and "Best Sound Design".

You can watch the trailer for the award-winning 'Procedure' here: http://www.thedonnybrook.com/movies/TrailerfullLO.mov
You can read more about the awards it won here: http://www.thedonnybrook.com/

Serg's next project entitled "Duck n Cover" has a new site with trailers here: http://www.duckncovershow.com/

Sergio and I have remained great friends and were able to hang out most recently for a few Dodgers - Red Sox spring training games in LA. Keep up the great work Sergio and I can't wait to join you on the set one of these days!

So many know me as a die-hard Red Sox fan. After the Sox won the World Series this past season, many were kindly contacting me with congrats. They knew how special that was for me!

Now that the Celtics are in the Finals, my place as a Boston basketball fan has been called into question. It's true that for the better part of 15 years, I haven't really followed the team. But back in the 80's, growing up near Boston, it was everything Celtics.

My Uncle Alan, with season tickets, was great enough to take me to A LOT of games -- and I was a Celtics fan long before I fell in love with Fenway Park and the Red Sox. A huge contributing factor to me being a Celtics fan was a rare and valuable connection my uncle had at the old Boston Garden. He happened to be very good friends with the late, great Celtics court side photographer Dick Raphael (who sadly passed away just last year). Mr. Raphael, who ended up being one of my first paying customers when I started out doing web design in 1996, was also gracious enough to take a few 'special' photos of me.

This photo, recently dug up from the Chuck Freedman archives, is of me at the age of 10 with then Celtics shooting guard, #44 Danny Ainge. The photo was taken on the historic parque floor of the old Boston Garden in December 1987, the last year the Celtics were in the Finals. Danny Ainge is now the Executive Director of Operations for the Celtics and is credited with building the championship caliber team that is the 2007-08 Boston Celtics.

By producing this 21 year-old photo as evidence, I hereby establish my true Boston sports heritage and prove, once and for all, my status as a true Boston Celtics fan. Thanks to Uncle Alan for making sure of that.

If you are a Yahoo! user, like me, you may be wondering why none of the dozens of killer AIR-app conversions that SHOULD BE available by now are nowhere to be found. I'm talking about a cool suite of Flickr, Maps, Upcoming, Del.icio.us, Mail, Sports and Answers that I've wanted but have yet to see. Having no idea what Yahoo! has under development (I doubt very much), an announcement recently came to suggest that the arrival of any cool Yahoo! AIR apps may never happen.

Both Yahoo!'s Next blog AND their Developer Network site are reporting that a new 'BrowserPlus' platform is in the works.

According to the site, BrowserPlus™ is a technology for web browsers that allows developers to create rich web applications with desktop capabilities. Sounds like AIR to me... but in another form, a system Yahoo! can deploy to exploit their existing products.

I have ideas as to why Yahoo! went this way. I sort of had a front row seat, before leaving just over a year ago, to discussions on what potential 'desktop' solution would be pursued. (That's a whole other blog post in itself, I probably should never write.) Yahoo's history is with the browser -- they owe much of their early success to it. Nearly everything they do is on or about the browser. So it's logical that they would go to the desktop through the browser.

Another big contributing factor is the rarity of AIR-capable talent available. This kind of talent has been streaming out of Yahoo! long before the threat (or promise) of Microsoft coming in. Only 2 people from both my Maps and Flash Platform teams still remain (that I know of).

So, I guess if we really want to see Yahoo! products/services in AIR, it's up to us to build them. Most of the services I listed have APIs. Are there any AIR apps out there? Anyone got something in the works. Let me know. I'd love the combination of AIR and Yahoo!. I wish they did too.

I am happy to announce that For Those About to Code, a new training series my wife and I have started, is launching today! The first course will feature world-renowned Flex expert instructor Mike Kollen and me, Chuck Freedman, teaching Flex and AIR.
Here are the details:

For Those About to Code: Flex & AIR
Featuring: Mike Kollen and Chuck Freedman
Dates: July 19-20
Location: Silicon Valley, CA (likely the Domain Hotel, Sunnyvale, CA)
Price: $675

We've got high hopes for this innovative training series, and why not? The demand for talented Flex/Flash/UI/AIR talent in the Bay Area (a.k.a Silicon Valley) has never been bigger.

For Those About to Code is a new kind of training company. Our goals are simple:
- Bring in the world’s best instructors and Flex/Flex/UI/AIR talent to teach you!
- Provide you with a relaxed and optimal training environment using the best published materials possible.
- Offer affordable pricing so that any developer, at any level, working for themselves or any size company, can benefit from our training.
- Ensure your time with us is most productive, by offering training exclusively over the weekends. You won’t miss any work time and be back in the office on Monday ready to code!
- Keep classes small and intimate. Courses require a minimum of 25 students and will be capped at 50.
- Nurture the community by encouraging instructors to engage and support students before, during and after every course through our custom support forums.

If you are in the area and interested in getting started and/or beefing up your skills in building Flex and AIR apps, you should us!
If not, please help spread the word! We've got an excellent course lineup over the next few months (more Flex, including UI/skinning, as well as Flash) and are talking to some pretty exciting and well-known instructors.

Lastly, join me in congratulating my wife Jamie and an outstanding job setting all of this up. With her at the helm, I'm looking forward to doing whatever I can to make For Those About to Code very successful.