Enter the Adobe Breeze Sync SWF Contest and win $US5000!

Adobe have launched the Breeze Sync SWF Contest to Flash and Flex developers. The contest aims to encourage developers to build collaborative rich internet applications and widgets for Breeze.

There are four categories – eLeaning Application, Web Seminar Application, Team Collaboration Application and Ice Breaker/Gaming Application.

Unlike a lot of the competitions that Adobe run, this competition is actually open to a wide range of countries outside the US including the United Kingdom, Australia, Netherlands, Brazil, Canada (except Quebec), and Japan.

To enter simply take a squizz at the T&C’s, fill out an entry form, build your RIA, and deploy it to the Breeze Exchange. The Breeze Exchange (like the Adobe Exchange) allows developers to post and charge for custom Flash applications that Breeze end users can download and use in their everyday jobs.

For those that came in late, the Breeze Meeting Sync SWF SDK, allows you to extend the functionality of Breeze Meeting by synchronising Flash and Flex-based multi-user applications and content so that users can collaborate on them in real-time. Developers can leverage this SDK to create interactive learning simulations, product demonstrations, sales ROI calculators, financial modelling, or interactive ice-breakers, to name a few examples, for use by general Breeze Meeting users. Full details on the Breeze Meeting Sync SWF SDK can be found here.

Full details of the contest – including terms and conditions – can be found here.

Flash Birthday Photos

As you know earlier this month Flash celebrated its 10th Birthday.

For those of you who couldn’t make it across to SanFran for the cocktails and canapes Mike Downey (Flash Product Manager) has posted a stck of photos of the celebrations over at Flickr.

The guys from Nectarine in Melbourne put together a special animation for the event and there was a surprise appearance from Strong Bad and Homestar Runner

I especially loved the Flash rune ice sculptures that were used for their cocktails – perhaps we could get one for next years WAWA’s with the finger icon.

Flash Video Production Presentation

Adobe’s Scott Fegette has posted a pre-recorded Breezo seminar on producing video for Flash and the Web. In it, Scott discusses video production workflows and best practices for producing online-delivered video using Adobe After Effects 7 and Flash Professional 8.

He delves into some great video optimization tips across all phases of a production schedule, including: preproduction, principal photography, editing, postproduction, compression, and both progressive and streaming online delivery.

This great presentation covers all the bases you’d need to address when producting video for Flash, and is well worth a watch. You can view the full presentation here.

September Meeting

Just a quick heads up to let you know that our next meeting is (tentatively) scheduled for Wed 20th September. At this stage it is heavily dependent on a few factors (the most being me being in the country).

I will keep all members updated when we have a final date locked in – so whatch this space (and your in-box)

Happy Birthday Flash

Just incase you were hiding under a rock for the last couple of months. Flash celebrated it’s 10th Birthday earlier this month. Who would have believed that what originally started out as a simple vector based graphics application would have evolved into the behemoth we know today.

Adobe has a stack of resources and info to celebrate this auspicious occasion, including;

Flashback to the Future
Flash 10 years 10 (developer) Perspectives
Flash 10 years 10 (designer) Perspectives
Most influencial Flash site of the past decade – some rippers in there!