Saturday, July 31, 12:30PM PT

Flügtag means “flying day” in German, but more importantly, it’s American for a bunch of creative geniuses strapping themselves to totally outrageous home-made, human powered flying machines and launching themselves off a 30-foot ramp into the wild blue yonder, or alternatively straight into the water.

For the first time, Flugtag will also be broadcast live over the Internet. Utilizing the interactive features of Flash Video and streaming through the Flash Video Streaming Service powered by VitalStream, viewers will be able to switch between camera angles of the event in real time. They will also be able to select from amongst a number of prerecorded video vignettes about the teams and the competitors. After the event, the video will be archived and available on-demand.

This will be the first large-scale implementation of the just-announced Live version of the Flash Video Streaming Service, powered by Vitalstream.

Event information: http://www.redbullflugtagportland.com/

Live Streaming Site: http://www.redbullflugtagportland.com/webcast.php

Great movie, great web site! I think this very clearly illustrates the unique value that Flash brings to web video. Check out the “interactive trailer” at this site. It’s really one of the most innovative movie sites that I have ever seen. If anyone knows who the developer was, please let me know.

http://www.thebournesupremacy.com

I try to avoid off-topic stuff on this blog, but it’s Saturday and I’ve already posted a bunch of Flash-related stuff today, so…

My Tivo has done me well for many years now. I often tell people that it has been the best electronics purchase that I have ever made. However, my first generation Sony SVR-2000 and it’s puny 30GB HD has lead me to search for a replacement (*sniff*). My archive of “The Simpsons” episodes has grown so large that I have no space left. Deciding which episodes to part with is more difficult than doing my taxes, so I am instead going to seek out a Tivo-to-DVD solution. I’m going to try the Canopus ADVC-100 Analog/DV Converter to get the video off of my Tivo and on to my Mac for easy archiving. Once I have protected my episodes, I will seek out a replacement.

So I’m looking for suggestions on a replacement. Tivo has been great for me, and the new Series 2 Tivo’s remote access feature sounds really useful (if it works). However, I recently read in Wired that long-time second-placer ReplayTV has a good offering now.

I’m really looking for HD recording, but it looks like the market hasn’t quite caught up yet. DirecTV is offering the DirecTV HD DVR, which seems to be selling for $999 in most places (ouch!). The 250GB HD sounds great, but I’m curious to see what kind of space an HD recording actually takes up. Plus, it seems that I could build a PC and make my own HD DVR for less than $999.

Anyone care to make a suggestion?

I just found this cool app from Kinoma called “Kinoma Producer”. It lets you convert a wide variety of digital media formats, including Macromedia Flash, to their Kinoma format for playback on Palm OS devices using the Kinoma player.

I’m going to try this out to see if I can convert some of my DVDs for playback on my Treo 600 to give me something to do on my upcoming trip to Tokyo with the rest of the Flash team. My only worry is that almost every third-party Palm OS app that I’ve installed on my Treo has lead to a major OS crash - forcing me to do a full reset (ouch!). I’m not sure if it’s the GoodLink software that our IT department installs on our Treos to give us secure access to our Enterprise Exchange servers (great capability for us, by the way), or simply a problem with the Treo, but I have my fingers crossed.

I’m so excited about the upcoming release of my favorite video game franchise, Madden 2005! I own every single release of the best-selling franchise in video game history, now in it’s 15th year. As I mentioned in a previous post, one of my favorite features of Madden 2005 is the Flash-based menu system.

I’ve just discovered that August 10th is National Madden Vacation Day! Go here to download your “Get out of work” form. Downloadable forms include “Jury Duty“, “Chicken Pox“, and “Sick Day“.

Pure marketing genius! I’ll have to make a note to have a few forms ready to post when we release “8Ball”. ;- )

In this press release embedded software engineering service provider, Vibren Technologies has announced a deal with Macromedia to license the Flash Player to embedded systems developers to build Flash support into their devices.

This seems to be a growing market. The Flash Team recently visited EVB, a Flash development shop in San Francisco that built the interface for the extremely popular children’s learning toy Leapster.

I’ve often been quoted saying - quite enthusiastically, “Flash is everywhere!” I’ve seen it in places like the United Airlines gates at Chicago O’hare and SFO (powered by Flash!), numerous billboards in New York’s Times Square (also done with Macromedia Director), the iPosters (digital posters displayed on plasma screens) at Border’s Books, but I was a bit surprised when I learned that the mega-game developer, Electronic Arts uses Flash to create the menu systems and in-game overlays for their new generation of market-leading video games such as Madden 2005, the number 1 selling video game franchise in history!

Sweeeeeeet!!!

Yet another cool portion of the Macromedia site that I have just discovered. If you develop online ads be sure to check out the “Ad Creative Gallery” on macromedia.com. It’s full of great examples and notes about how and who created them.

I just discovered this article in the Macromedia Edge by Yahoo! Streaming Center Creative Manager, Christopher J. Mancini, who writes about incorporating streaming video in your online advertisments through Yahoo! AdVision.
It’s a very interesting look at the impact that Flash and streaming video has had on the online advertising industry.

March 2004 Edge Article

You can also learn more about Flash-based advertising by checking out the Flash Ad Kit.

I can’t believe I didn’t know this one until one of our engineers pointed it out during a customer visit last week.

You can use the Movie Explorer to step through all of the textfields in your FLA and change the text.

Just do the following:
1. Open the Movie Explorer from Window > Other Panels > Movie Explorer
2. Make sure that the “Show Text” button is checked.
3. Check the following options from the “Options Menu” in the upper-right-hand-corner of the Movie Explorer -
- Show Movie Elements
- Show Symbol Definitions
- Show all scenes

Now you can browse to any textfield, double-click on the text, and edit it right there…

Enjoy!

You have probably noticed lately that Mike Chambers and I are starting to post some of the little (sometime hidden) “Flash gems” that tend to make users’ lives so much better. The idea was sparked after we visited with a designer who was importing dozens of PNGs onto the stage and then manually copy/pasting them on to seperate layers. I just pointed out the “Distribute to Layers” command and the response was something like, “Oh my God, that is going to save me so much time!”.

So, on that note, we’ve decided to run a little, unofficial contest. Basically, we’d like all of you to post little tips and tricks that may be unknown by a lot of users. These can be workflow related, hacks to overcome limitations, better ways of doing certain common practices (ie: importing an .AI file instead of exporting to SWF from Illustrator, or something of that nature).

Mike Chambers and I will be the judges and will post the finalists some time in the coming week or two. The person that we determine to have the best “Flash Gem” will win a box of Flash MX 2004 books and perhaps a few other goodies.

Let the games begin!