Thoughts on Flash by Steve Jobs : go to HTML5

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Recently, Steve Jobs published his thoughts on Flash on the Apple website.

Steve Jobs explains why Apple does not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads.

  1. open standards : Adobe’s Flash products are 100% proprietary
  2. full web : most videos are available in a modern format, H.264, and viewable on iPhones, iPods and iPads
  3. reliability, security and performance
  4. battery life
  5. touch : Flash was created for PCs and mice, not for mobile devices with touch interface
  6. Apple wants to provide the most advanced and innovative platform to the developers

Steve Jobs recommends to use the open standards HTML5, CSS and JavaScript for mobile devices.

One on the first to follow this idea is the developer of the JW video player, Jeroen Wijering. Even if he thinks that there is still a lot of work to be done before HTML5 reaches the maturity level that Flash has for delivering video content to the users, he released the beta version of the HTML5 JW player two weeks ago.

Improve site page speed faster to load by removing extra loaded scripts

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The Google websearch team just announced that they will now consider the speed it takes for a website to load when ranking it in Google search results on google.com.

”Site speed is just one of over 200 signals Google uses to determine search ranking, and because it’s a new signal, it doesn’t carry as much weight as the relevance of a page. In fact, less than 1% of all search queries on google.com are affected by the site speed signal”.

This factor may not play a major role now, but in future web consider this factor is going to have a great impact on web search results as it seems, so now it’s the time for all the webmasters our their to start thinking about their site page speed.

Google indicates the page performance in webmasters.google.com and recommends the open-source Firefox/Firebug Add-on Page Speed. Webmasters and web developers can use Page Speed to evaluate the performance of their web pages and to get suggestions on how to improve them.

Page Speed performs several tests on a site’s web server configuration and front-end code. These tests are based on a set of best practices known to enhance web page performance. Webmasters who run Page Speed on their pages get a set of scores for each page, as well as helpful suggestions on how to improve its performance.

14 rules for faster-loading web sites are described on the companion website of Steve Souders. These rules hev been tested on some of the most popular sites on the Internet and have successfully reduced the response times of those pages by 25-50%.

Recording, edit and embed WMV/ASF video streams

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Last update : January 30, 2013
Several methods are available to record WMF/ASF video streams:

  • VLC Media Player : To record WMF video streams with VLC Media Player, use the following procedure – Select File->Open Network Stream – Select HTTP/HTTPS/FTP/MMS and paste the URL/Link – Select Stream/Save under Advanced Options and click on Settings – Select Outputs and Play locally and File – Select ASF as Encapsulationd Method – OK and VLC should start play and also capture the video to the file
  • VM Recorder : WM Recorder uses a unique Stream Capture Technology to give perfect bit-for-bit reproductions of the original video stream.
  • Net Transport download manager

A full list is available at the Videohelp website.

To cut the video streams, I use the Video Cutter V1.0 software. To embed the video streams in a webpage, I use the licensed version of the JW Player – Silverlight Player 1.1.

Net Transport : a fast and powerful downloading manager

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Last update : February 27, 2012
“Net Transport” (also called NetTransport or NetXfer) is a fast, exciting and  powerful downloading manager.

It supports the most pop Internet protocols, including: HTTP / HTTPS, FTP / over SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) / over SSH (Secure Shell), MMS (Microsoft Media Services), RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol), BitTorrent, eMule, RTMP, RTMPE, RTMPT (Real Time Messaging Protocol).

The current version is 2.96c issued on August 4, 2011. Net Transport is shareware, the price is 29,95 US$, a 30 day trial version is available.

JibJab starring you : online humor with Actionscript 3

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last update : January 30, 2013

JibJab Starring You Skating

JibJab, an online humor site with original and user generated jokes, live videos, flash and other animated videos, is run by the digital entertainment studio JibJab based in Venice, California. Founded in 1999 by Evan and Gregg Spiridellis, the company achieved international acclaim during the 2004 US presidential election when their video of George W. Bush and John Kerry singing  This Land is Your Land became one of the biggest viral video hits in history. More details are available at Wikipedia and on the JibJab Blog.

The HeadCut Tool of the video application JibJab Starring You, with which the user can cut head and jaw, and generate relevant graphic files, was produced by Filippo Gregoretti, an italian born ActionScript developer and New Media consultant. His blog pippoflash.com was developed to showcase his work, but especially to provide help or give inspiration to all those out there who love the creativity allowed by ActionScript and Flash.

Filippo Gregoretti’s other love of his life is the Piano, he perform internationally as pianist.

To start with jibjab, yoiu can subscribe for a free membership. In order to personalize and send exclusive content, you will need to purchase a Membership (12 $ per year). With a Membership, you get access to exclusive eCards & videos!, make unlimited Starring You! movies, share unlimited JibJab Sendables eCards, get discounts on digital downloads,  are the first to know about new releases and  support great artists!

The videos are available in two formats for download (1,99$ per video for members):

mpg:

video : MPEG-PS, MPEG Video version 1, 425 x 319 pixels, 24 frames/s, ratio 4:3,  4.985 kbps;
audio : MPEG Audio Version 1, Layer 2,  44,1 KHz, 2 channels, 160 kbps;

mp4:

video : MPEG-4 (Base Media),  Visual Simple&LG1, 425 x 319 pixels, 24 frames/s, ratio 4:3,  2.275 kbps;
audio : AAC (Version 4 LC),  44,1 KHz, 2 channels, 152 kbps;

Combine Flashdevelop and TortoiseSVN

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Flashdevelop has no integrated CVS or SVN file management. To do this is a huge task. The core FlashDevelop team can not start such a project and suggest to use Tortoise.

TortoiseSVN is a Subversion (SVN) client, implemented as a windows shell extension. It’s intuitive and easy to use, since it doesn’t require the Subversion command line client to run. The  version 1.6.7.  was released on january 23, 2010, the most recent version is 1.6.9 released on june 21, 2010.

Away3D source checkout with Tortoise

Dowloading svn files with Tortoise

Flashdevelop : open source Actionscript editor

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Flashdeveloper screen snap

FlashDevelop is a popular open source ActionScript 2/3 and web development environment designed for Windows systems. FlashDevelop is built on the Scintilla editor component and is a Microsoft .NET 2.0 application. FlashDevelop was developed by the members of FlashDevelop.org in 2005 as an alternative to Adobe Flash.

FlashDevelop project is runned by two active members Mika Palmu (aka Meychi) and Philippe Elsass. Other developers like Nick Farino and Alessandro Crugnola have also contributed to the project.

The current version is 3.0.6 RTM was released on november 4, 2009.