Ryan Stewart has posted an interview on blogs.zdnet.com/Stewart with Mike Melanson, the lead engineer for the Linux version of the Flash Player, expected to be released in early 2007. In the interview, Ryan asks Mike about the feedback he gets on his popular blog, Penguin.SWF, picking APIs, and supporting the many Linux distros.

I imagine (or rather hope) there is a large base of Linux users patiently following the blog, understanding that this development takes time, and that it’s fortunate that Adobe is treating Linux as a first-class operating system in supporting the Flash platform.

Check out the interview here.

Andy Riley and Adam Helfet-Hilliker from Euro RSCG 4D have written an article on the Adobe Developer Center that explains how to use the Flash authoring tool to create interactive comps for your design.

Using the Adobe Flash authoring tool for comping purposes makes a lot of sense. It all depends on the type of project you are working on and the amount of time you have to do it. In many cases, Flash is well suited for comping any project that includes a high level of interactivity, or any project where you create the final product using Flash—for example, websites, rich media applications, banner ads, forms, demos, character animations, and the like.

Check out the full tutorial here.

Shauna Rempel of the Toronto Star has written an article about how Flash has democratized animation on the web.

Animutation can justifiably be considered the kooky uncle with dementia at the Flash family reunion, although Flash itself has long been considered a poor relation in the animation family.

But it’s a black sheep no longer, says coldhardflash.com founder Aaron Simpson. The software, owned by Adobe Systems, turned 10 this month and it’s all growed up.

“Flash has come into its own,” he said.

Continue reading the article here.

Adobe’s Scott Fegette has posted a 1:20 min pre-recorded Breeze seminar on producing video for the Web. In it, Scott discusses the video production workflow, including topics like removing green screen from video in After Effects and encoding video to FLV.

In the following recorded presentation, I talk about workflows and best practices for producing online-delivered video using Adobe After Effects 7 and Macromedia Flash Professional 8 (see Figure 1). I step through video optimization tips across all phases of a production schedule: preproduction, principal photography, editing, postproduction, compression, and both progressive and streaming online delivery. I hope this presentation helps you visualize—and efficiently produce—rich, interactive, compelling video experiences for use in your Flash applications and projects.

Check out the presentation here.