Adobe is accepting submissions to the 2006 Adobe Digital Video and Audio Customer Reel. We’re also going to allow Flash users to submit their Flash work for the contest. More below.

Adobe invites you to submit your work for possible inclusion in the 2006 Adobe Digital Video and Audio Customer Reel. This is a chance to showcase the work you produce using Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Encore DVD, Adobe Audition, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and other Adobe products. We want to see your work and show it to others in the industry so they can see how creative you are — and see the possibilities of Adobe’s Digital Video and Audio products.
Get great exposure

Adobe will introduce the reel at SIGGRAPH in Boston this August. Over the next year Adobe will also present the reel at tradeshows (including IBC and NAB), seminars, and industry events worldwide. This reel also proudly plays in the lobby of Adobe’s headquarters — reminding all that some of the coolest products at Adobe are the ones that make images move.

If you are able to grant us the additional right to distribute your materials as part of the Reel for the purpose of promoting Adobe products and services, your work may reach an even wider audience!

More info here:
http://www.adobe.com/motion/customerreel.html

We have recently released security updates to the Flash Player. If you are using Flash 8 or Flash MX 2004 you can get updaters for the test movie player here.

Critical vulnerabilities have been identified in Flash Player that could allow an attacker who successfully exploits these vulnerabilities to take control of the affected system. A malicious SWF must be loaded in Flash Player by the user for an attacker to exploit these vulnerabilities. Users are recommended to update to the most current version of Flash Player available for their platform.

Read the full details in the security bulletin:
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/security/security_zone/apsb06-03.html

Scott Byer, an engineer on the Photoshop team, has written a nice post on the challenges involved with moving to xcode and the universal binary. He also explains why it wouldn’t make sense for Adobe to spend a tremendous amount of time moving the current CS2 release to universal binary when we really need the time to get the CS3 release right for our customers. The same is true on the Flash team.

Now, I’m an engineer, and I’m all for getting products out in front of customers so they can use their machines to their fullest as soon as possible, but there is just no way putting out a Universal Binary of Photoshop CS2 would make any sort of sense. If you think about switching tool sets, with the resulting huge amount of work for both engineering and quality engineering, if you think about how far past the Photoshop CS2 release we already are, and if you include not having the workstation-class machines ready yet, I think you’d have to agree - far better to focus on making sure Photoshop CS3 is able to absolutely squeeze every ounce of power out of what I’m sure will be pretty spankin’ Intel-based towers by that point than to do tons of work moving an old code base to new tools.

Read Scott’s post here:
http://blogs.adobe.com/scottbyer/2006/03/macintosh_and_t.html

Mike Chambers and I returned last night from Microsoft’s MIX06 conference in Las Vegas. We had a great time hanging out with all of the Flash users that were flown out and put up in order to see what Microsoft has been working on. I also enjoyed learning more about Microsoft’s upcoming creative tools and their Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) platform. Of particular interest to me were the sessions dedicated to explaining WPF/E (E = Everywhere, according to the PMs). WPF/E will be a stripped-down subset of the full WPF which will only be available for Win XP and Win Vista. It will be Microsoft’s browser plugin that will allow Windows developers to move subsets of their WPF apps into the browser and deploy to other platforms (including Mac and Linux via plugins developed by third-parties, according to the product team).

Microsoft had been quiet about the details of their plans for WPF/E until this week so I was very curious to hear what it would include. The Product Managers and Program Managers told the audience that WPF/E would not include hardware acceleration, 3D support, or DRM for video in its first release - for example.

For more details on the conference you can read Robert Reinhardt’s take: http://blogs.flashsupport.com/robert/archive/2006/03/23/595.aspx

You’ll notice Robert’s comment about many of the Flash developers enjoying the Xbox tournament that Mike and I set up. It was a blast. Kudos to Guy Watson who took first place in the Halo 2 tournament followed closely by Grant Skinner! If you were at the conference and didn’t get to attend be sure to come find us next time. We opened it up to anyone who wanted to come have some fun with us.

I just figured out where the IE7 beta site is and noticed that they were using Flash for a simple intro animation to the site. The SWF doesn’t appear to really do much other than zip some text across the screen but it does make for a slightly more engaging experience than a static screen.

In any case, IE7 looks pretty slick. I’ve been an avid Firefox user since it was released but, after playing with IE7 at the Microsoft Mix 06 conference this week, I’m fairly impressed. I may end up switching (on my PC anyways) if it ends up being stable, secure, and fast like Firefox.

Then again, I’m so attached to my Firefox extensions that it would be tough to switch.

Get IE7 beta here.

I just noticed this sweet contest. It looks like the Flex team wants you to build a great Flex app - and they’re going to reward the top six entries with some fantastic prizes!

Information:

Build the coolest Flex app and win more than just bragging rights.

Flex your developer skills, showcase your killer apps, and you might win great prizes by entering the Flex Developer Derby. Enter now through May 1, 2006.

Prizes:
Six winners will each receive:

* A 42-inch Samsung plasma TV plus a Microsoft Xbox 360. See TV specs.
* Your application showcased on Adobe’s website, along with an application name and description and a link to your personal website or blog (if applicable)
* Your application showcased in Adobe’s booth at the JavaOne Conference, May 16–19, 2006, in San Francisco

Early bird submission prizes

In addition, the first 25 developers who submit applications that are chosen to be posted in our online showcase gallery will receive a US$50 electronic gift certificate to Amazon.com. Applications must meet eligibility requirements set by the Terms and Conditions.

http://labs.macromedia.com/showcase/special/flexderby/

This site is nicely done. It’s nice to see a great example of mixing Flash content (a rich stock chart in this case) with AJAX-style functionality. In this case, when you select an item in the Flash chart it highlights the corresponding HTML.

http://finance.google.com/finance?q=adbe

This is a nice Flash piece designed to help aspiring photographers (like me) learn more about photography and how Canon digital imaging products work.

http://www.photoworkshop.com/canon

This Public Beta is a pre-release version of the next release of Flash Player software. It is being made available for developers and consumers to test their content to ensure existing content plays back correctly and that there are no compatibility issues.

The purpose of this beta is to gather your feedback so that Adobe® can verify that:

• The new Flash Player is compatible with existing content.
• Developers have an opportunity to test their content and applications prior to the product release to help identify bugs on a variety of machines and configurations.

This release is for Windows® 98 and later and Mac® OS X 10.1 and later (see the System Requirements). Please help us ensure that this release will be of the highest quality by installing and using these players.

http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashplayer/public_beta/

I just stumbled across this old article written in 2001 by Flash creator Jon Gay. It’s a very interesting read if you’re a Flash enthusiast and your curious as to how all of this Flash goodness came to be.

http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/events/john_gay/index.html

From the article:

Microsoft, Disney and Macromedia Flash 1.0

Our big success came in August of 1996. Microsoft was working on MSN and wanted to create the most TV-like experience on the Internet. They became big fans of FutureSplash and adopted the technology. I’m still amazed that they made their launch of MSN dependent on a new animation technology from a six-person company!

Our other high-profile client was Disney Online. They were using FutureSplash to build animation and the user interface for the Disney Daily Blast. Disney was also working with Macromedia Shockwave.

In November of 1996, Macromedia had heard enough about us through their relationship with Disney and approached us about working together. We had been running FutureWave for four years with a total investment of $500,000. The idea of having a larger company’s resources to help us get FutureSplash established seemed like a good one. So in December 1996, we sold FutureWave Software to Macromedia, and FutureSplash Animator became Macromedia Flash 1.0.

UPDATE: I also just found another great article on the history of Flash at flashmagazine.com
http://www.flashmagazine.com/413.htm