Discussing the Ribbit acquisition with Ryan Stewart
This video was broadcast live, yesterday, from Ribbit in Mountain View, CA. I really appreciated Ryan coming down for part of the day to discuss the deal first hand and find out the great things in store for the Ribbit and Flash/Flex developer communities.
Live Broadcast by Ustream.TV
Ryan did a great blog post on the news as well.
With Passion and Energy, you’ll make the time
As usual, I was recently inspired by Sir Keith Peters and a post he made entitled ‘Where do I find the time?‘. Keith’s post is in response to a question I have no doubt he gets asked a lot. If you’ve followed Keith’s career, and if you’ve been lucky to work with Keith, as I have, you could understand why. Keith continues to write amazing books for the Flash community. He continues to share amazing and inspiring code with other developers. His recent portfolio at Infrared5, especially his work on the Ribbit Flash components, proves Keith has no plans to let up anytime soon.
Where do I find the time? While I don’t get asked this question probably 1/10th as much, it does come up a lot. It was recently asked by a respected co-worker at Ribbit. I shrugged it off, simply not acknowledging nor accepting any over-achieving. They persisted, even proposing an answer. Their solution was simple… my passion and energy.
After I read Keith’s post and watched the brilliant video of Clay Shirkey, I realized that extra time for most isn’t enough. As a matter of fact, sometimes excess time works against you. The key is identifying projects and tasks that are a product of YOUR passion and energy. When you are able to channel those two forces together and point them at something, I bet you’ll be able to complete the task in stride. In fact, the more passion and energy you can dedicate to a task, the quicker it will get accomplished.
I’ve looked back at some of the cooler things I’ve been able to accomplish over the past 18 months and it is very true. Those tasks I’ve been passionate and energetic about were completed in no time, often well exceeding even what I had set out to do with them. I’m sure Keith probably realizes the same. Although, with limited time, perhaps we only make room for those tasks and activities we have the most passion and energy for.
Walking like a man
Chase is walking full time. It’s purely amazing human evolution right before my eyes!
My car is getting 41MPG
I filled my tank up recently and it occurred to me that I’m not filling up as frequently as I know others are. And believe me, at $60 per fill up, I am very aware when I visit the gas station. My car, a 2006 Acura TSX, has this ‘instant miles per gallon’ feature where it tells you what MPG the car is getting while you drive.
On a recent trip on CA Highway 101, down the Peninsula from San Mateo to Mountain View, I actually called up this feature on the dashboard just to see. Although the sticker on my car states the highway MPG at 30, I was shocked to see the car was actually getting over 41MPG.
I was driving about 65 over the 15.3 mile stretch, with the windows open. I should tell you that my car is not classified as a hybrid, and I don’t think Acura (made by Honda) features any hybrids – yet – in their lineup. Certainly, for a 2006 model car, this is pretty sweet news. You have to wonder if the car has reached some optimum performance level, or maybe it was just a fluke given the slope of the road, temperature and volume I was listening to XM at…
I guess I won’t be lining up at Toyota anytime soon.
Flash should be considered an Application Platform, not just a plug-in
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 at 360Flex >> Summer Spawn
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.
Recruiting with Trace Statements
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’s successful developer approach
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
And finally, this is super cool: Chumby Sensor API
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