Wednesday, April 30, 2003
I haven't checked up on Josh Davis for a while but he reports that he and Branden Hall have finally got their studio up and running with new projects in the pipeline. This should be a very exciting collaboration!Jon 11:44 AM Permalink
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
I read a small article in the Sydney Morning Herald on saturday about Microsoft's development of a "Minority Report" style interface using 2 webcams and some voice recognition software to create a keyboard and mouse free environment. I have managed to unearth a photo of the setup at SermonAudio's website (odd site to find this kind of info I must admit).Jon 2:40 PM Permalink
Not sure if this is old news but I came across this site, Game Rival which has a few addictive flash games to help pass time!
Jon 12:53 PM Permalink
Monday, April 28, 2003
Samsung have issued a press release on their GPRS wristwatch phone. The phone supports WAP 1.2, Bluetooth and Speakerphone technologies, easy to read 256 OLED (Organic Light Emitting Display) colour screen that features generous 96 x 64 pixel resolution and 40 Polyphonic Ring Tones. What, no flash player?Jon 3:03 PM Permalink
Samsung have updated their Matrix Phone microsite. This odd looking phone is presented in a stylish flash site with nice navigation effects. The phone looks a little odd though!
Jon 2:56 PM Permalink
I just followed a lnk from John Dowell's site regarding the Embedded Systems Conference and was pleased to see that Gibson's MaGIC Digital Guitar has got a mention, this is probably the most significant development in guitar manafacturing since Les Paul created his first guitar 70 years ago.
Jon 10:33 AM Permalink
I just came across ViewSonic's range of wireless monitors. An interesting idea as you can use it as a conventional monitor and then just unplug and walk around with your monitor which has a stylus that lets you write on an on-screen keyboard or you can write freehand. The 802.11b wireless connection combined with the Nevo software you can control nearly everything in your home, from your TV to stereo to even remote-controlled lights. Nevo allows you to quickly connect to your device and then begin to interact with content through Favorites, personalized channel listings, and telewebbing.
Jon 10:07 AM Permalink
Thursday, April 24, 2003
I was reading an article on reality gaming on the BBC News site and it turns out Microsoft's UK research lab are developing image editing software."A technique called PatchWorks allows people to remove objects that have been loosely selected using a drawing tool. The computer can make a guess at how to fill in the background based on what is already there, saving the user time and trouble. The Blender tool allows users to change the content of a picture by inserting a new object or changing the colour or background of the original photo. Even transparent objects such as rainbows and clouds can be easily moved from one picture to another using the technique."
Watch out Adobe!
Jon 3:15 PM Permalink
I am currently trying to upload a new version of freaksauce. I am having a few problems so please bear with me while I get them corrected. The RSS feed will be the same although the page itself has moved to it's own directory, more news to follow once I can get Blogger to recognise my changes!!
UPDATE: success! Ok new lick of paint has been applied and under the bonnet I have switched to CSS from my unsightly nested table layout. My flash site will remain the same for the time being but I will get round to updating that as well eventually! I think the layout is much cleaner but if you have any suggestions I would appreciate your views. click here for mail address There are still a few issues with archives that I'll sort out soon.
OK I think it's all sorted. The new address for the weblog is http://www.freaksauce.com/blog
Jon 12:03 PM Permalink
Wednesday, April 23, 2003
I just read this interview with Martin Cooper, the inventor of the personal mobile phone."Even though I conceived of it, it really took teamwork and literally hundreds of people ended up creating the vision of what cellular is today, which by the way is not complete. We are still working on it and still trying to make it better." Martin is 74 years old and still developing mobile phone technology!
[ via BBC ]
Jon 11:48 AM Permalink
I have to admit I'd heard of Firefly and probably in the past looked at the site to see what it was all about, but then as I didn't use it forgot about it. Well it seems those cheeky chaps over at Macromedia saw a lot of potential in this product and snapped it up! The result is that Macromedia are releasing a data connection kit which provides "prebuilt connections to web services, XML data, databases, and application servers so you can easily access, save, and display data" Check out the homepage here [ via What Do I know? ]
Jon 10:22 AM Permalink
I've always thought that those universal remote controls were a good idea but I'd never buy one, well Phillips seem to know my weakness for gadgets and have created the ultimate remote, ladies and gentlemen the iPronto. It works on any device that uses Infa Red for control and is also a wireless internet browser and an electronic program guide. The device also has a built-in microphone and stereo speakers which Philips says will allow users to listen to MP3s streamed from the Internet. You can set up 8 different layouts which can be toggled between, each having up to 4 applications running quarter or fullscreen. The iPronto makes use of a WiFi (802.11b) wireless ethernet connection to download the latest program information, access product databases and connect to the internet. Ultimately you could control everything in your house with one touch screen pad. There is also a software application which allows you to design and create fully customisable interfaces or just download someone else's creation! [ via Jeremy Allaire ]
Jon 9:38 AM Permalink
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
According the manufacturer, the vertical placement of the keyboard allows the user to type while keeping the forearms in a neutral position (with the thumbs up). With a standard flat keyboard, in order to type the hands are rotated so that the palms are parallel with the floor (this is called a "pronated" position). In the pronated position, the bones in the forearm twist with the wrist and scissor. This scissoring of the bones causes extra pressure to be forced upon the Carpal Tunnel.Check the picture here
Jon 12:46 PM Permalink
A technique developed by Microsoft has given unique access to the world of the Old Masters, allowing people to virtually explore every aspect of a painting such as The Flagellation of Christ by Renaissance master Piero della Francesca.
"A virtual museum on the web means you work around the corridors. We think this is a little boring," said Mr Criminisi.
"How much better to be able to walk inside the painting itself," he added. [ via BBC ]
Jon 10:53 AM Permalink
I have just watched the new presentation on Macromedia Central which is built with Macromedia Breeze, nice use of marketing for both products!
Jon 9:55 AM Permalink
After just checking Colin Moock's weblog I rushed over to play Whizzball produced by Andries Odendaal. It's quite brilliant!
Jon 9:41 AM Permalink
Thursday, April 17, 2003
I found a link to this article about the new NeoNode N1 mobile phone over at Gizmodo and although it looks very cool they are saying there could be possible software failures...hmm...Jon 4:05 PM Permalink
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
Just found this site, CommunityMX link over at flash-remoting.com it incorporates over 30 experts including Branden Hall! It is a subscription based service and a bit steep but there is a preview of the kind of articles and tutorials to expect. The Flash XML tutorial is very useful.Jon 12:12 PM Permalink
Last week I posted a link to Cyberfunk's FML specification. There is now a demonstrations designed to illustarate how Flash Markup Language (FML) can be used to create applications, click here to try out this fantastic little XML Editor app. [via Flash Tools ]
Jon 11:48 AM Permalink
After just reading Colin Moock's weblog I noticed his article on the USB Data Key. This portable diskOnKey is a small 1Gb USB drive that simply attaches to your key ring, you simply plug it directly into your USB port on your machine and away you go. What a fantastic idea!
here are some of the features:
Multiple certifications, including USB 2.0 Full Speed and WHQL for Windows
Automatic system detection as a removable disk
Fully plug and play operation with no driver required
No separate power supply or battery required
KeySafe data security application support
click here to view the website
Jon 11:29 AM Permalink
BBC have an interesting article on the increase of traffic to UK news websites during the conflict in Iraq. "These figures show the desire of British surfers to get a real range of informed opinion on the war," said Tom Ewing, a Nielsen NetRatings analyst. The BBC news website also offers day by day logs from various reporters currently risking their lives in the middle-east.These have a very personal feel and give a much more detailed insight into the current state of the war.
Jon 10:19 AM Permalink
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
I'm glad this wasn't around when I was a kid...they're watching...Jon 11:28 AM Permalink
With the imenent release of X-Men 2 the sponsorship deals have started to appear. Mazda have gone to town on the X-Men Car website , a nice flash site with good use of 3d and an interesting navigation!
Jon 11:00 AM Permalink
Monday, April 14, 2003
PSD2FLA - a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop that lets you save your layered Photoshop design as a Flash 5 .fla file- is now available for Mac OS X! . PSD2FLA saves as an editable Flash .fla file, as opposed to a .swf file. This means you can open your Photoshop design directly in Flash and begin to edit, adding animation, interactivity. [ via Swftools.com ]Jon 2:09 PM Permalink
Ditch your DAT! Core Sound are hoping to revolutionise the recording industry with PDAudio .Recording via S/PDIF onto Compact Flash, you will be able to use your iPaq or Zaurus alongside a decent A/D converter to portably get field recordings at up to 24bit/192kHz!!
[ via Slashdot ]
Jon 10:18 AM Permalink
Landmark Theatres and Microsoft Corp. announced that they are equipping 177 screens in all 53 Landmark Theatres across the United States with digital cinema playback systems based on Microsoft Windows Media 9 Series. This unprecedented agreement represents the largest digital cinema theater circuit installation to date in the United States. The newly outfitted theaters will be able to screen films encoded digitally in Windows Media 9 Series, which enables high-resolution, theater-quality experiences with up to 7.1 channel surround sound. The network rollout is expected to be completed by the end of this year. [via Yahoo Finance ]
Jon 10:00 AM Permalink
Sunday, April 13, 2003
I wondered how long it would take for someone to have the cheeky idea of turning a mobile phone into a 'vibrating massager'. Purring Kitty does just that, and for only £1.50 if you're in the UK!Jon 12:24 PM Permalink
If you are really bored how about making an x-wing out of an old floppy disk? Instructions here!
Jon 10:47 AM Permalink
The final theatrical trailer is available here and it is awesome. [ via James ]
No kidding!
Jon 10:41 AM Permalink
Saturday, April 12, 2003
Recently I've been working on a lot of Flash Advertisements for large clients in Sydney utilising the clickTag argument in the getURL method, so it came of great interest to me to see this article on validating the url to make sure it is an http request rather than a malicious javascript address.Thanks to John Dowell for pointing out this security validation procedure. Here is the original article from Macromedia.
Jon 12:25 PM Permalink
Friday, April 11, 2003
I regularly check up on what Eric Jordan's 2Advanced Studios is working on and whilst browsing the site found this FMV sequence they have created for FoundStone Inc to highlight the company's strengths, check it outJon 12:20 PM Permalink
Crazy as it sounds, Toshiba has figured out a way to make an LCD screen that doubles as a scanner. The Input Display, as they're calling it, has an optical sensor for each pixel. [via a href="http://gizmodo.net" target="_blank">Gizmodo ]
The company expects the technology to be used in security applications such as fingerprint authentification.
Jon 10:00 AM Permalink
Not exactly new news but last night I downloaded the free version of Trillian and it is quite literally the ultimate Instant Messenger app. It allows you to access your MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, IRC and AIM messenger accounts in one interface with all the same functionality of the individual messenger applications. Chexk out the feature list here
Jon 9:38 AM Permalink
Thursday, April 10, 2003
There is an interesting article on Mike Chamber's weblog about how to reduce the file size of your .fla files. Apprently Flash saves new data by appending it to the end of the FLA. If you remove something from the Flash movie (delete a Movie Clip), then Flash will just write a note in the FLA to not use that asset anymore. However, it is still contained within the FLA. Mike suggests using Save As with a new name forcing Flash to re-write the .fla only including current assets.Jon 1:56 PM Permalink
Wednesday, April 09, 2003
Having just got back into using winamp after many months in front of a mac I decided to look for a new skin, I found this and oh my god this guy really went to town! click here for more info on Sven Kistner's MMD3Jon 2:02 PM Permalink
NTT DoCoMo Unveils specifications of its new 505i mobile phones, a series of six enhanced-PDC (2G) compatible models equipped for advanced i-appli™ applications based on Flash™ and technology. Each 505i model also comes with a camera, infrared port and external memory slot. DoCoMo expects to introduce the models one by one beginning in mid-May.
The 505i series incorporates Macromedia Flash in its browser, allowing users to access a broad range of rich content and applications enhanced with highly fluid animation.
The 505i series is equipped for "i-appli DX," a new service from DoCoMo, to handle a wider range of Java-enabled content. A 200K Scratch Pad, double the size of Scratch Pads in the former 504i and 504iS models, enables more data to be downloaded at one time, thus reducing required number of connections.
Jon 10:40 AM Permalink
Tuesday, April 08, 2003
Cyberfunk this morning has posted his new mark up language called Flash Markup Language (FML) which is a suite of XML formats that allow Flash content to be created on the fly with very little programming within Flash. FML aims to enable the complete separation of the Model (data / data structure), View (look and feel) and Controller (events and interaction). [via Granato ]take a look at the site it's pretty clever stuff!
Jon 12:46 PM Permalink
Found this article over at Actionscript.com and after a recent inspection of Screenweaver and SWF Studio this would seem to make an interesting and powerful cross-platform alternative:
If it can run as a computer application, Revolution can help you create it.
Revolution automatically displays controls with the appropriate appearance and behavior for the target platform. Even menu bars created with Revolution's Menu Manager operate appropriately depending on the platform your application is running on.
Jon 12:34 PM Permalink
Sony is developing a plasma screen television set that's intended to tune in streaming video from home networks and the Internet as easily as regular TV programs, according to sources familiar with the plans.
The new Sony TV will include a built-in Internet connection and tuners for receiving broadcasts from cable, satellite and over-the-air transmissions, according to sources.
The TV is expected to include a Web browser but is not envisioned as a run at Web TV. The device will be manipulated by a remote control rather than a keyboard and will use the Internet primarily as an alternative way to deliver video to the TV screen. Sony has formed partnerships with several streaming-media companies, including chipmaker Equator, On2 Technologies, RealNetworks and Secure Media, to help deliver that video.
Read the full article here
Jon 12:24 PM Permalink
Monday, April 07, 2003
And I thought the internet fridge was a weird idea!An internet toilet roll browser and a net-enabled chopping board are among cutting edge designs at the Ideal Home Show.
A unit installed in front of a toilet on the cubicle wall provides up-to-the-minute information on products, stocks and shares and lottery results. People can even print off the information on a standard toilet roll.
Although many products profess to be embedded internet devices, they are often little more than PCs packaged in other cases, such as a fridge door. Brunel graduate Charly Ingrey-Senn hopes his internet-enabled cutting board will be different. It contains a microprocessor-controlled system capable of browsing the web. It can download recipes and display them on a screen within the board itself providing inspiration for even the most uncreative cook. [via BBC]
Jon 12:35 PM Permalink
Hydra has been developed with the developer in mind. It has features that support your all day coding work, like syntax coloring, indenting, etc. and can be used as editor for Apple's Project Builder. While it works perfectly well as a traditional editor, its real power unfolds when programming in teams. Pair programming or extreme programming are taken to the next level with multiple input foci, text coloring and other cool awareness features.
Hydra is not just for developers. With its highly adjustable architecture it can become the central tool of your group activities. Imagine meetings with collaborative minute taking or writing your TV/film script or book together with your co-authors.
Jon 9:59 AM Permalink
Friday, April 04, 2003
DENG is a modular Actionscript class library, turning the Macromedia Flash Player into a webbased, zero-install, crossbrowser, crossplatform, modular and standards compliant XML/XHTML/CSS2 browser.The clever thing about this is the fact it renders XML and XHTML using a standard Style Sheet. The final version will support XForms as well.
You can view Claus' site here
Jon 3:23 PM Permalink
Digital Element, an Oakland-based software developer and publishing firm specializing in art tools, announced today the release of Easy Interface, a brand new palette management plugin which helps users hide the toolbars and palettes in their favorite graphic applications.
With Easy Interface, palettes and toolbars hide off-screen in locations set by the user and appear when the mouse is moved close to them. With tools hidden off screen, users have their full screen to work on their projects. Easy Interface works with the following graphic applications: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe ImageReady, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Pagemaker, Adobe Premiere, Adobe Go-Live, QuarkXPress, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Fireworks, Macromedia Director, and Macromedia Freehand.
Jon 3:11 PM Permalink
Had to post this as I was just amazed that a Collosal Squid can take on a sperm whale!
Jon 9:44 AM Permalink
Thursday, April 03, 2003
I love pixel art so I was amazed when I saw this [via Josh Dura]Jon 9:34 AM Permalink
innovative highlight of CeBIT 2003 is the “paperlike display” that can be integrated into the smallest phones. The screen is flexible, rollable and with just half a millimeter it is extremely thin. It is therefore ideal for displaying street maps, mails or electronic newspapers. See the pics.
Jon 9:29 AM Permalink
Wednesday, April 02, 2003
BBC reports that Dell have to decided to banish 3.5" disk drives from their higher spec machines, this apparently will spur on a market trend. All the Mac users are probably wondering what all the fuss is about.funniest tribute:
Alas, poor floppy is now a stiff.
Dave, UK
Jon 3:21 PM Permalink
'IndyJunior is a fully customizable map which you can use to easily display your geographic location.'
This is a downloadable flash app which seems pretty easy to configure and set up on your own web site and then you just update the xml file with co-ordinates of your current location and it updates the map with date and info.
Jon 12:05 PM Permalink
Finally I have managed to get round to re-designing this template 2 days late, this was due to problems with Blogger's server.
Jon 10:08 AM Permalink
Could this be true?
The low-fat, high-bandwidth solution to your networked cooking needs is finally here. The George Foreman USB iGrill conveniently connects to your home or office PC using USB 2.0 technology, and provides a sophisticated web-based cooking interface.
Jon 9:25 AM Permalink
Peter Joel caused quite a stir with his April Fool's prank!
Macromedia has not yet released a statement after ASV author, Burak Kalayci, found erotic JPG images embedded in the Flash Player yesterday. The pictures amount to nearly 150Kb of file size and all feature images of women in various poses and states of undress. A hidden ActionScript function starts a slideshow, and works in all versions of the Flash 6 player, though I only tested from r40 onwards.
I believed it!
Jon 9:22 AM Permalink
Internet Explorer 7.0 will be based on... Gecko! Not sure how much truth is in this report but:
"Our next Internet Explorer 7.0 will be simply the browser from Mozilla.org, but with the MSIE theme from themes.mozdev.org and some plugins, such as ActiveX and .NET libraries runtime environment.
Jon 9:20 AM Permalink
There's a new wonderful-waste-of-time in town! It's called blogshares and it's a virtual stock market for blogs. You can trade shares of blogs which has the nice side-effect that it plots a picture about which sites are currently interesting. If you are a blog-owner yourself you can claim your site and you will get a package of shares for it. [via Quasimondo ]
Jon 9:10 AM Permalink
Tuesday, April 01, 2003
I want one of these!'A video camera behind the coat is linked to a projector, which bounces the image off the front of the coat's reflective surface. Because there is no time lag between what's happening behind the wearer and the image cast on the front of the coat, the viewer has the illusion he is seeing straight through the coat.' [via Wired]
Jon 3:45 PM Permalink
Everything evolves. ECMA development work on ECMA-262 Edition 4 (a.k.a. ECMAScript Version 2) is nearing completion, and on the net xml is getting mainstream. On the news on the ECMA site is now a new technology, ECMAScript for XML (E4X) [via web-graphics.com]
Jon 3:38 PM Permalink
When Troika Ranch performs, sensory devices worn on each dancer’s body link the performer’s actions to interactively controlled video, sound and light. A bending arm can warp a video image, the kick of a leg can recall a musical phrase. [via Apple.com ]
Jon 1:45 PM Permalink
Alex Wright discusses the potential of Macromedia Central and why it won't be replacing our browsers just yet.
Jon 9:46 AM Permalink
I just found these two sites on Macromedia's groundbreaking sites section and think they are worth a look in.
Volvo XC90
Sony Classical
Jon 9:26 AM Permalink