Digital Walkabout

MAX 2008 Call for Topics is open

The official Adobe MAX 2008 Call for Speakers and Sessions has been opened - the best and most innovative topics and presentations are being sought for MAX 2008 in North America, Europe, and Japan. The event will take place in San Francisco, Milan and Tokyo. This is a great opportunity to present and discuss the bleeding edge in Adobe RIA, Web and SOA technologies and their application. As such, post a session that you would like to present or attend at Adobe MAX 2008.

Thanks for helping making Adobe MAX 2008 a success.

WebManiacs 2008 - Early Bird Ending Soon

Building on the success of last year's FlexManiacs, the new WebManiacs, to be held May 19-23 2008 in Washington, D.C., is 2 events in one - CFManiacs and FlexManiacs,. With more than 50 speakers, 200 sessions, hands-on sessions, and more, WebManiacs is an excellent opportunity to get the latest on ColdFusion, Flex and AIR. Early-bird discounted pricing closes on March 14th, so register now. Meanwhile I'll refrain from any Early Bird humour. :-)

WebManiacs - ColdFusion, Flex and AIR conference

I will present at WebManiacs in D.C. this year - WebManiacs is an expansion of the 2007 FlexManiacs conference, to now include 2 days of CFManiacs for ColdFusion content. The FlexManiacs portion (which includes Flex and AIR content) will run for 3 days as with the 2007 conference.

The 2008 conference will run from May 19 - 23, with registration is $649 for all 5 days. Also, one can attend the 2 days of CFManiacs for $299, or the 3 days FlexManiacs for $449.

I will present on "What's New with Flex 3" on May 20th. I am looking forward to see everyone in D.C. this May.

Flex Camp in Chicago - Jan 2008

A Flex Camp will be held in Chicago on January 18, with a keynote by Bob Tierney and presentations by Josh Berling, Jeff Tapper, Mike Labriola, Mike Nimer and Shashank Tiwari. Cost is $20 for the entire day of Flex training, which includes lunch.
URL: http://flexcampchicago.com/

Flex.org and AIR Showcase highlighted at Adobe Sales and Marketing conference

Attending the Adobe's annual sales and marketing conference, I was pleased to see Flex.org and the AIR showcase highlighted - these are splendid resources for understanding the capabilities of these technologies and how they can be used in your organisation. Some of the most interesting apps include:

• eBay Desktop: a dashboard for your eBay account replete with alerts, offline capabilities and an easily reconfigurable and organisable interface
• Anthropologie: the catalogue is driven by AIR and the site links to a demo
• MySecondLife.com: a search portal for SecondLife residents or Scrapblog to easily create stunning online scrapbooks with your photos, transitions and music
• Glass Flash: an easy and fun game to play with excellent graphics

For more on AIR, take a decko at the examples in the showcase.

Ribbitt Release Party

Ribbit is having their Platform Release Party in San Francisco this Thursday. They are doing some splendid work and Adobe RIA evangelist Ryan Stewart will present as part of the event. If you're in San Francisco on Thursday, take some time to pop in:

What: Ribbit Platform Release Party
When: Thursday, December 13th, 19.00 - 22.00
Where: 535 York St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Interview with the Thermo dudes

Julie Campagna from the Edge Newsletter recently interviewed Mark Anders and Steven Heintz on Thermo. Fairly early in its cycle, Thermo doesn't have much information available, so have a decko. Also see the high-resolution demo posted by Ryan Steward on the Thermo page (Facebook).

Adobe 25th anniversary

Adobe was founded 25 years ago today - December 2nd, 1982. The organisation has come a long way from printing, PostScript, PDF, acquiring its way to building a platform, from Aldus (Framemaker), to Accelio (Forms Server), to Macromedia (everything from Flash to DW to Flex to AIR) and Virtual Ubiquity (Buzzword). While this may over-simplify things it is a good illustration of how Adobe has evolved while maintaining a consistent message and focus.

Martin LaMonica's article (courtesy of JD) is a good read - Adobe's focus on engagement has been the product of a rich history, and while the business model may change (OEM sales to shrinkwrap to services), the approach has been consistent: invest in new capabilities and provide value-add by making them  easier and more economical to use.

New Adobe AIR logo unveiled

Mike Chambers unveiled the new Adobe AIR Logo on his blog. For the full story see his post. With respect to the thinking behind the logo:

Adobe AIR is built on top of three core web technologies (HTML, Flash and PDF), and we wanted the logo to represent this. Thus, each corner of the logo represents one of these core technologies.

I like the logo, in particular because the core technologies can be seen as micro (HTML, Flash and PDF) or macro (text content, video/audio and rich mixed (what with 3D)).

W3C Lightning Talks

My lightning talk on Web 2.0 as Architecture was accepted for the W3C TPAC 2007. I'll present it Wed Nov 7 (time TBA). I'm looking forward to spreading the news on what Web 2.0 really means to W3C efforts.

w00t!

http://www.w3.org/2007/11/TPAC/overview.html