Adobe Flash Platform User Group of Atlanta - Flex 3

February 2009 Meeting Recap: Kenny Bunch Blew Our Minds

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 10:27:00 -0400

At last night's meeting I described Kenny Bunch of Dreamsocket as having a larger brain than the rest of us. His response was "Well, I don't know about that." Then he proved that, even if his brain isn't larger, it certainly has a lot more knowledge in it than most people when it comes to delivering content on the Web. Kenny walked us through the ins and outs of delivering slide shows, audio and video (and any combination of those) to the Web, and then showed us how he's helped CBS, Disney, Cartoon Network, and CNN coordinate media delivery, bandwidth management and advertisement insertion.

Kenny has been working in technology for more than 20 years and has been working with these media giants for the past seven years. His work with the Cartoon Network's Ben10 PS3 game that he demoed at our meeting has earned him a seat at an interactive video panel at this year's NAB conference. Kenny is always a big draw for our user group and I am happy to say that he attends the group regularly, making the group that much better.

Although the focus of the meeting was media application, Kenny was also giving us a glimpse into something that makes media applications easier to build and maintain: the Dreamsocket Media Framework. Kenny built this framework over the last few years to make it easier to provide the depth of support that his clients have required. The Dreamsocket Media Framework was released last month, but Kenny is trying to find a way to make it possible for the framework to be freely licensed for non-commercial work. We'll let Kenny announce his licensing plan when he finds the right licensing solution for everyone.

At our next meeting on Tuesday, March 24 we have another advanced topic as Andrew Westberg from Simplified Logic will be discussing "Digital Rights Management and the Flash Platform." We hope that you will join us.

January 22 Meeting Location Changed!

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:43:00 -0400

As an update to my previous post, the Flex and AIR Pre-release Tour's Atlanta stop received so many RSVPs that the meeting site needed to be changed to accomidate the audience.

If you are planning to attend, please use this page for directions to the event.

I look forward to seeing everyone there.

January Meeting: Flex and AIR Pre-release Tour with Adobes Ben Forta

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:27:00 -0400

UPDATED: 2008 - 01 - 18

We have all been invited to join the AFFUG for this big event! Please use the link below to RSVP.

Flex 3 and AIR are getting close to launch and in preparation, Ben Forta from the Adobe Flex/AIR product team is traveling to select cities to show off the great new features and help prepare us for this exciting launch.

Flex 3 is a feature-packed release, adding new UI components like the advanced datagrid and improved CSS capabilities; powerful tooling additions like refactoring; and extensive testing tools including memory and performance profiling, plus the addition of the automated testing framework to Flex Builder.

Adobe AIR is game-changing in so many ways, extending rich applications to the desktop, enabling access to the local file system, system tray, notifications and much more. Now you can write desktop applications using the same skills that you've been already using to create great web apps including both Flex and AJAX.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to see and hear about this highly anticipated release of Flex 3 and AIR during this special pre-release tour. Plus, in addition to giving away some one of a kind Flex/AIR branded schwag, we will also be raffling off a copy of Flex Builder 3 Professional (pending availability) and a full commercial copy of CS3 Web Premium at this event!

Event Information:

This event is on January 22, 2008 from 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM

Official Event Web Site

IMPORTANT: THE LOCATION HAS BEEN CHANGED!

South Terrace at Perimeter
115 Perimeter Center Pl NE
Atlanta, GA 30346
Driving Directions
RSVP

Upcoming AIR eSeminars

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 23:20:00 -0400

Upcoming AIR eSeminar Topics

Building AJAX Applications for Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR)
Guest Speaker: Dave Johnson
Dave Johnson is the author of the book titled "Enterprise AJAX." Dave is also the co-founder and CTO of Nitobi Software, a Vancouver-based AJAX component vendor and consulting firm. He spends most of his time on architecting and building high-performance AJAX components for use in web-based applications. A core focus of Nitobi is building AJAX components and user interfaces that deliver real value to customers through increased productivity and higher efficiency. The popularity of AIR is sweeping the technology world and Dave has been right in the midst of all the excitement. In this eSeminar, Dave will share his experiences with fellow developers and give technical tips on how to build your AJAX application for the AIR platform. Register for this eSeminar today and don't miss the opportunity to chat with Dave in person!

Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) Desktop Drag and Drop Events and Styling
Guest Speaker: Chris Charlton
Being a big community leader, Chris finds time to run an authorized Adobe user group, LA AIR, focused much around open source and Adobe technologies. Besides being an Adobe Flex Champion, he remains a resident faculty member of the Rich Media Institute in Los Angeles and lends himself to speak at industry events like NAB, JobStock, and FITC Hollywood. Brain cycles from Chris are always web standards, the Flash® platform, and accessibility. He is currently Architect at Almer/Blank, a Flash & Flex™ video application firm in Venice, California. This session, Chris will cover the key points on what ActionScript™ is required when someone wishes to drag and drop an object to and from their desktop, and how to style the experience. The demonstration will be done with Flex 3 and the latest AIR.

Programmatic Visualizations
Guest Speaker: Andrew Trice
In this eSeminar, Andrew Trice from Cynergy Systems will present and demo examples on how to use the drawing API for data visualization. There are countless variations that you can produce to create meaningful visual representations of your data. The intent of this presentation is to help you create and expand your own ideas. In order to create real-world, enterprise-level applications, you'll definitely need to go a few steps further to optimize performance, manage memory, and maximize the user experience, but this presentation will at least help you get started.

Attend an eSeminar and you'll be entered to win a copy of Adobe Creative Suite® 3 Web Premium.*

Building AJAX Applications for Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR)
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
1:00 P.M. EDT

Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) Desktop Drag and Drop Events and Styling
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
1:00 P.M. EDT

Programmatic Visualizations
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
1:00 P.M. EDT

Upcoming Flex Online Seminars for September/October 2007

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 13:19:00 -0400

Flex and .NET: Anatomy of a Data Driven Application
Presented by Mark Piller of Midnight Coders
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
12:00 P.M. EST

See the magic happening in front of your eyes; learn how to use the .NET skills you already have to create new and exciting Flex-based interfaces for a data-driven application. In this fast-paced technical session you will learn the following:

Techniques for working with data using Flex and .NET
Review of available code generation tools
Review of data synchronization mechanisms

Flex 3 Beta—See What's New!
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
2:00 P.M. EST

Get a head start in the game and attend this seminar to learn about the new features of Flex 3. We'll go over improvements to the compiler, new components in Flex 3, refactoring, performance improvements, integration with Adobe Flash® CS3, the new profiler, and more. Don't fall behind. Sign up today.

Basic Application Architecture for Flex Newcomers
Presented by Tom Bray of SearchCoders
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
12:00 P.M. EST

This seminar will provide a gentle overview of the fundamental concepts involved in creating Flex applications that are easy to maintain and extend. If you get the basic idea behind Model, View, and Controller but you're not sure how to implement it in a Flex app, this seminar will make it clear. If you've looked at Cairngorm but it seems too complicated, this session will help you understand the reasoning behind it. Sample applications and tips on how to build his Flex chat widget can be found on Tom's blog at www.tombray.com.

Attend an online seminar and you'll be entered to win a copy of Flex Builder 2.*

Questions?
Please send us an e-mail.

Flex and .NET: Anatomy of a Data Driven Application

Tuesday, September 25, 2007
12:00 P.M. EST

Flex 3 Beta—See What's New!

Tuesday, October 9, 2007
2:00 P.M. EST

Basic Application Architecture for Flex Newcomers

Tuesday, October 16, 2007
12:00 P.M. EST