My First Book: Flash iOS Apps Cookbook

July 5, 2011 · 12 Comments

If you’ve been wondering why my blog posts have been rather infrequent over the past six months then here’s the reason. Yup that’s right, I’ve been hard at work writing a book for all you Flash lovers out there who want to get into iOS development. It’s titled “Flash iOS Apps Cookbook” and is due for release by Packt Publishing in November.

Spanning fourteen chapters it’s full of practical recipes and step-by-step instructions for developing iOS apps for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. And don’t worry if you’ve always fancied developing for iPhone but weren’t sure where to begin. The first few chapters gently introduce you to the fundamentals, showing you how to join the iOS Developer Program, create the required developer files, and build your very first application using Flash. Heck you’ll be a mega bucks iOS developer in no time!

Oh and if you can’t wait until November then why not head over to the Packt Publishing website and get your hands on the RAW version, which entitles you to immediate access to each new chapter as it becomes available. Right, I guess I better get back to work.

More Great Adobe AIR Apps

July 1, 2011 · Comments Off on More Great Adobe AIR Apps

If you need more proof that Adobe AIR is a viable option for developing mobile phone and tablet apps then look no further than these two great examples. First up is the really stylish Red Bull Illume HD iPad app, which showcases some of the best skateboarding and surfing photography out there.

Next up is Apolline & Léon – a gorgeous interactive childrens book by Avant Goût Studios. Running on iPad, Android Tablets and Blackberry PlayBook, it’s an excellent example of the cross-platform capabilities of Flash CS5.5 and AIR 2.7.

So there you have it. AIR goes from strength to strength with each new release, and with Stage3D hopefully on the horizon for mobile and tablet devices, it’s looking like AIR could very well have a bright future outside the desktop.

*UPDATE: Head over to Lee Brimelow’s blog for an interview with Zoom Productions’ Wolfgang Klopf, the developer of the Red Bull Illume app.

More Molehill Goodness

June 29, 2011 · Comments Off on More Molehill Goodness

I must say, I’m pretty damn excited by Stage3D (AKA Molehill) and this demo written using the Alternativa 3D engine gives further indication as to we’ll be able to do with Flash and full 3D GPU support.

It’s a work-in-progress demonstration of Tanki Online 2.0, and if you’re in any doubt about what Stage 3D will do for Flash, then take a look at the original pre-Molehill Tanki. I’m sure you’ll agree the difference between the two is night and day! Anyway, click on the image above to launch the Tanki 2 demo and remember to download the Incubator Flash Player if you haven’t already done so.

AIR 2.7 Released

June 15, 2011 · 2 Comments

Adobe has just announced the availability of AIR 2.7 and there’s some great news for those targeting iOS. The rendering performance of AIR 2.7 for iOS is up to four times faster, meaning Flash is quickly becoming a viable platform for a number of iOS projects. Adobe Developer Evangelist, Renaun Erickson highlights the faster rendering performance improvements of AIR 2.7 in this video.

And if you want to see what’s currently capable with Flash, take a look at the video below, which shows off the excellent Rossignol Experience iPad app.

So things are definitely heading in the right direction for AIR on iOS. Hopefully we’ll see In-app Purchasing and Game Center integration soon too, as they’re still stumbling blocks for many wishing to use the Flash platform.

Bye Bye Yahoo! Maps API

June 15, 2011 · Comments Off on Bye Bye Yahoo! Maps API

Some real bad news if you’re a Flash developer who uses Yahoo’s excellent ActionScript Maps API. Yahoo! are closing the service as of September 13th. It’s not just the ActionScript APIs that are for the chop, here’s the full list:

A few location APIs will be kept available that I guess Flash developers could take advantage of including Placefinder API, Local Search API and Placemaker. But on the whole it makes for quite depressing reading for anyone who is heavily invested in the ActionScript APIs.

Yahoo! suggest that those wishing to implement maps within their applications should consider using Nokia’s (their new maps partner) Ovi Maps API to render a map within a web page.

You can find more info on Yahoo’s site.

The Visible Property

June 14, 2011 · 1 Comment

Can you see it? Yeah that little check-box sitting in the Properties Inspector. Yup that’s right, it’s the Visible property and at long last we can set it from the IDE rather than having to use ActionScript.

Okay I know you can just as easily set a display object’s Alpha property instead, but setting Visible to false provides much faster rendering performance compared to setting Alpha to 0%. And remember, if you’re targeting mobile or tablet devices then every CPU cycle counts.

I’m not entirely sure why it took so long to see this feature in Flash, but kudos to Adobe for making it part of CS5.5. Oh and if you’re planning to use it, you’ll need to target Flash Player 10.2 or above.

So What Happened To My X-wing App?

May 24, 2011 · 17 Comments

It’s been quite some time since I updated you on the progress of my X-wing Targeting Computer app, and to be honest this post will likely be the last on the subject. So what exactly have I been up to over the last few months? After all, wasn’t it more-or-less ready for release on the Android Market?

Well yes it was, but as a few people had pointed out, simply releasing an application based on someone else’s intellectual property without getting their permission isn’t likely to end well for me. So I thought I’d go down the legitimate route and actually contact the licensing division of Lucasfilm. After all, the app was just too cool for them to possibly say no to me. Right?

Anyway, rather than bore you with paragraphs of text I thought I’d do this little comic strip telling my story of how things went when I eventually got in touch with them – which wasn’t easy by the way. I’ve decided to use Darth Vader to play the role of Lucas Licensing for this one. As usual, I’ll simply be played by myself. Anyway, enjoy.

So there you have it, my hopes and dreams of getting the app out to you guys have been crushed. I guess I was being a touch naive thinking I could actually get it out there but the reaction was just so positive from everyone that I started to think there was actually a real possibility it could happen. It’s also a shame that the iPhone version I’d been working on won’t see the light of day either.

Looking on the bright side though, it’s been an incredible experience and was actually a really great project to work on. Positive things have come from the attention I received and it was fun being kinda famous on the web for a few hours. I even received an email from a dude who played a Naboo Starfighter pilot! How cool is that!

Sorry to disappoint everyone, and thanks for the encouragement and overwhelmingly positive response to the initial video I posted all those months ago.

May the Force be with you all.

Flash a-ah, Saviour of the Universe

May 20, 2011 · Comments Off on Flash a-ah, Saviour of the Universe

I love this commercial for the BlackBerry PlayBook. It serves as a great piece for not only the Flash Player, but Adobe AIR too – all the apps featured are written using it.

If anyone at BlackBerry is reading this post then send me out a PlayBook and I’ll write good things about it on this blog. It was worth a try don’t you think 😉

Native JSON Support for Flash

May 13, 2011 · Comments Off on Native JSON Support for Flash

Heck, things are moving so fast for Flash and AIR these days that it’s hard to keep up! Flash Player 10.3 is now live on desktop and Android, and a new Incubator build has just been released with a slew of great new features.

One of the features I’m particularly happy about is native JSON support; something which I’ve been wanting for quite some time. To be honest I can’t remember the last time I had to parse an XML file at WeeWorld, almost every project I’ve worked on recently has instead used JSON for any serious data interchange between client and server. And with its growing popularity it makes sense that it’s now part of the Flash Player rather than having to rely on a third-party library.

It’s only one of many great new features that are on their way. Here’s the list:

Media/Real Time Communications

  • G.711 audio compression for telephony
  • H.264/AVC SW Encode for camera encoding

Language/VM

  • JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
  • GC Advice
  • Socket Progress Events
  • Pause/sleep/resume Events

Security

  • Secure random number generator
  • TLS (Transport Layer Security) sockets
  • TLS socket policy file

You can download the latest build and find out more info on Adobe Labs. And remember you’ll get the Molehill API too, so if you haven’t already done so, check-out some of the great Molehill demonstrations out there.

Top 10 Inspiring Uses of Flash

May 2, 2011 · 1 Comment

I was flicking through the latest issue of .net magazine when I came across a great article by Hoss Gifford talking about his ten favourite uses of Flash. Covering everything from Molehill to AIR for iOS, this four page article makes it very easy for even the biggest cynic to get excited about the Flash platform. We often forget that Flash’s usefulness extends far beyond the web and Hoss does a great job of reminding us of this by describing some fringe uses of the platform.

I had the pleasure of working with Hoss a few years back on some really revolutionary Flash mobile work, and it’s pleasing to read that he feels Flash definitely has a future when it comes to mobile. He certainly doesn’t suggest you completely ditch native development, but states that it has a use for those wanting to target multiple devices such as iOS, Android and Playbook with a minimum of customisation.

It’s a good article and the magazine’s definitely worth a few pounds of your hard earned cash.