The Back Button

I just came across an excellent express alternative to PhotoShop that runs in the Flash Player, Pixlr!

I’m surprised to see how many of Photoshops features they have been able to implement in this fast loading clone. Great things such as filters and adjustments, magic wand selection, layers with blend modes, smudge, clone, pinch and bloat tools. The app even has a fullscreen mode :).

With the release of Flash 10 and Pixel Bender, I’m sure this app has a very bright future. Just please lose the Vista theme!

Check it out: pixlr.com/app

Recently, I’ve started thinking a little more about “Thermo”, especially with MAX approaching. As much as I love the concept of “Thermo”, I can’t help but be disappointed by its sole union with the Flex Framework. Now, I’ve never really been a hater of the framework, I just dislike the idea of having to conform to it.

As RIA platform’s become increasingly generic, I’m wondering why can’t “Thermo” be a tool that target’s many of them from a single project file. For example, say you have a JavaScript version of the “Flex Framework” that maybe unitizes SVG and HTML5 features, would you like to be able to take your vanilla “Thermo” project and target that platform? I’d like to think so.

Adobe Fireworks seems to have many features that “Thermo” would benefit from and vice-versa. Fireworks is already a “Thermo” for HTML as far as I can tell with it’s CSS/HTML output, all that’s missing is a rich JS framework.

I would love to see a union between Fireworks and “Thermo” where people can design a RIA, then simply pick a target framework/platform of their wishing. For me, this seems like a no brainer. I would even like to see a plug-in feature for “Thermo/Fireworks” so that people could export to a proprietary platform/framework if they so choose.

Flash Player 10 has now been officially released, well done Adobe!

*cracks open the champagne*

Check out this cool intro video link.

So it now sounds like the cat is out of the bag. link

Yes, Flash 9 shall be shipping with PS3 Firmware 2.50.

Extra Notes:

• No JIT support
• Video playback is accelerated
• Filters cause big slowdowns
• Network access also dramatically effects performance
• Guimark Result: Average fps is 4.5fps
  
  http://www.craftymind.com/factory/guimark/GUIMark_Flex3.html
• BubbleMark Result: 20fps as default setting(16 balls)
  
  http://bubblemark.com/flex.htm

I’ve just gotten around to deciding my session schedule for this years Adobe MAX conference. If I’m missing any must-see sessions from this list, please inform me!