Flash 9 Preview & Flex 2

On Adobe Labs (http://labs.adobe.com) it’s finally available a preview version of Flash 9. described as “A preview of the next release of the Flash authoring tool, scheduled for release in 2007, extends the capabilities of Flash Professional 8 to include support for the new ActionScript 3.0 language in Flash Player 9.”

To download the preview it’s necessary an Adobe account (you can create one, it’s free) while the installation needs a licensed copy of Flash Professional 8 or Studio 8, because a serial number will be asked during the software setup.
Finally, after Flex 2 Betas, we’ll try also the new Flash IDE!

By the way, Flex 2 seems available at http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/ !
As promised the Flex 2 SDK is available for free:
Download Flex 2 SDK

Adobe and Google

Adobe Signs Multi-Year Distribution Agreement with Google:

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the signing of a multi-year agreement with Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG) to distribute the Google Toolbar with various Adobe products over the life of the deal. As a part of the agreement, Adobe and Google today will launch availability of the Google Toolbar with downloads of Adobe’s Macromedia Shockwave® Player. The Google Toolbar will now be offered as part of the Shockwave Player installation process for Internet Explorer on Windows. Under the terms of the agreement, the Google Toolbar will also be offered as part of other Adobe product installations in the future.

Google is fighting agaist Yahoo toolbar already distributed with adobe flash player and also against Microsoft Live search.
for more info read the press release entry

A question of ethics

I really can’t believe how some people can be so disonest!
Today a guy reported me that someone was selling my ImageGallery for $700 NZ dollars at CSS Marketplace.
Ok, it’s not the first time I receive this kind of reports but this agency is really incredible!
I visited their site and i found that under “Our Works” section there are so many flash examples I already know.. my flash puzzle, my flash image gallery, the old macromedia video gallery example etc etc…
take a look at the thieves:
http://www.thstudio.co.nz/index.php

Xray updated

John Grden just posted on osflash mailing list about an update of his xray connector.
This new version (1.5.5) includes these changes:
– New Grid Line creator – add grid lines at any x/y coordinate in any timeline when working with coordinate conversions
– New Edit tool – scale, rotate and move any clip on stage at runtime with a similar edit tool you’d find in the flash IDE
There’s also a video tutorial which explains these changes
Another update is the new swf interface made with Flex2 (requires Flash player 9): http://labs.blitzagency.com/…/Xray.html
Download the mxp file here:
http://mirror1.cvsdude.com/…/xray_conn_1.5.5.mxp
Download the connector only packages here:
http://mirror1.cvsdude.com/trac/…/xray_connector_only.zip
An example on how to use the connector package inside your .as:

import com.blitzagency.xray.util.*
...
private function loadXray():Void{
XrayLoader.addEventListener(XrayLoader.LOADCOMPLETE, this, "xrayLoadComplete");
XrayLoader.addEventListener(XrayLoader.LOADERROR, this, "xrayLoadError");
XrayLoader.loadConnector("xrayConnector_1.5.5.swf");
}
private function xrayLoadComplete():Void{
start(AllTests);
}
private function xrayLoadError():Void{
trace("an error occured loading the Xray connector");
}

My first gadget

I was playing around the Windows Vista public beta 2 and I spent some time reading about the new gadgets.
At the end I did a first test creating a very simple gadget for measuring computer drives free space.
Give it a list of drives you want to take under control and it will display them into the gadget’s window.

Installation

– Download the file
– Double click on it
P.S. It requires Windows Vista beta 2 🙂

Download

[attachments docid=796 force_saveas=”1″ logged_users=”0″]

Windows Vista public beta 2

I noticed today that Microsoft published public beta 2 of Windows Vista
I agree with the contract, select the download method (wow, 3.5 Gb!!), and select the location…
… and I got this error:

We are currently experiencing a high level of demand and cannot process your request at this time.

Has been someone able to get the beta?
I’m really interested in the new Windows 🙂
P.S. I saw also that Office 2007 beta is available for mere mortals 🙂
Windows Vista public beta 2
Office 2007 preview