Flex News Desk

Curl Data Kit Data Services Offers End-to-End Solutions for RIA

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:00:00 EST

Curl announced the release of Curl Data Kit Data Services (CDK-DS) for enterprise developers building new applications using Adobe Flex or Flash, as well as developers upgrading existing Curl applications. This addition to the Curl Rich Internet Application (RIA) Platform is an implementation of the Adobe Action Message Format (AMF) protocol, a binary protocol for communicating and exchanging data between a RIA client and server platforms. AMF is supported by the open source BlazeDS platform, Adobe Flex LiveCycle Data Services, and soon the Zend PHP platform.

Across Systems to Bring IAI QA Technology to U.S. Markets

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 10:00:00 EST

Across Systems, the provider of the Across Language Server, and IAI (Institute for Applied Information Science at Saarland University) have expanded their relationship and broadened the integration of their two technologies. The direct connection of the Controlled Language Authoring Tool (CLAT) to the Across component crossAuthor allows companies operating at an international level to create multilingual documents using both rule-based and statistical methods. Across will market the combined solution in the United States in the first quarter of 2009 making it available as an add-on for MS Word, MS PowerPoint, Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe InDesign, PTC Arbortext and MadCap Flare.

Collaborative Google Maps in Flex using Cocomo

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:28:00 EST

Cocomo adds to the existing technology in the Flash Platform and provides further choice in terms of how you build and deploy collaborative applications - it does not replace the approach provided by BlazeDS/LCDS. Whilst the Cocomo service removes the complexity associated with deployment, maintenance and scalability of your application by leveraging the existing Acrobat.com infrastructure, BlazeDS/LCDS provides the ultimate level of control, integration and customisation that comes from managing your own application deployment.

AJAX World RIA Expo: New Flex IDE for .Net and Java Developers

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:14:00 EST

Until recently Flex developers had the option of using the free, open source SDK (together with a text editor of choice) or purchasing Flex Builder, Adobe’s Eclipse-based IDE for building, debugging, profiling and deploying Flex applications. Whilst Silverlight will remain an obvious choice for .NET developers, there is even less reason now to wait for Microsoft to play catch-up on both features and penetration of Silverlight, when Flex enables you to build a Rich Internet Application that can be viewed on 98% of Internet-connected computers without requiring the up-front installation of a browser plug-in. Flex of course also gives you the option of deploying a desktop application that works on Windows, Mac and Linux - something that Silverlight can’t do.

Adobe Makes AIR Time for Linux

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:59:00 EST

Adobe’s AIR for Linux, the runtime engine that supports rich Internet apps (RIAs), has caught up with its Windows and Mac siblings. The company has released AIR 1.5 for Linux, the first time the Linux desktop variant has made it as a production-grade, Adobe-supported release. And now also for the first time AIR for Windows, Mac and Linux all have the same feature. For a while there the Linux 1.1 beta had widgetry that wasn’t in the others.

Clear Data Builder 3.1 Can Generate CRUD without SQL

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:35:00 EST

Pretty often, Flex communicates with POJO that does not directly connects to DBMS using JDBC. The enterprises may use some object-relational frameworks, Web Services or any other means of working with data. Eclipse plugin Clear Data Builder 3.1 includes a new feature – CRUD generation without the need to use SQL.

JavaFX: The Baby's Welcome, But the Birth's a Little Premature

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:30:00 EST

On December 4, JavaFX 1.0 has arrived to this world with lots of "It's a Boy" balloons. The family of RIA development tools gets bigger. Java developers should definitely start experimenting with this new kid on the block.

Adobe Collaborates with SpringSource for Enhanced Integration Between Flash and SpringSource Platforms

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:04:00 EST

Adobe and SpringSource have created an alliance for developing software for enterprise Java developers who are using Spring framework on the server side and Adobe Flash platform on the client. The improved integration between the two will be offered for the developers who utilize either LiveCycle Data Services or BlazeDS.

Adobe Comes Up Short, Cans 600

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:15:00 EST

As fate would have it, Adobe picked the worst possible quarter to roll out the great update to its flagship Creative Suite widgetry. Because the economy is tanking, it hasn’t been selling the way it was supposed to. As a result, revenues came up short in the November quarter and Adobe has decided to lay off 8% of staff worldwide, 600 people.

A Hobbled Sun Limps to the RIA Starting Gate

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:32:00 EST

It's a wonder it has the entry fee, but Sun Thursday showed up for the RIA race against Adobe’s Flex, Flash, and AIR and Microsoft's Silverlight – and for that matter the open source AJAX – riding JavaFX 1.0. According to Sun it's one of the most significant advances ever to come out of its stable. Once called JavaFX Desktop 1.0, it was at least two years in the making.

The Soul of the Web - Why AJAX Standards Matter

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:00:00 EST

I spoke on a panel at Mashup Camp this week on why Ajax Standards matter. I was quoted by Doug Henschen of Intelligent Enterprise as saying that we are locked in a struggle for the soul of the web, so I thought I would expand on that theme. Just because the web has been open so far doesn't mean that it will stay that way. By open, I mean that content has been searchable, linkable and servable without paying fees.

ARM to Get Flash

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:30:00 EST

Adobe and ARM are gonna put Flash Player 10 and AIR, the stuff of web video and rich Internet apps, on ARM widgets by the second half of next year. They mean phones, set-tops, MIDs, TVs, car mojo and personal media devices, which have so far only had access to Flash Lite, not the best in browsing. iPhone happens to be based on ARM though whether that'll be true a year from now is unclear since Apple bought Power chipmaker PA Semi.

Adobe MAX 2008: Signing My MAX Speaker Agreement

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:30:00 EST

Reading conference speaker's agreements may reveal some interesting gems. Since I don't have a PR agent, I have to make the following public statement by myself: "I'm not going to damage anyone's reputation (including developers of PureMVC framework) for abuse of design patterns. I'm ready to buy a beer to any Adobe Flex team member who can convince me that LCDS is that much better than BlazeDS."

IntelliJ IDEA 8.0 Is Out with UML, JBoss Seam, and Spring 2.5 Support

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 09:05:00 EST

The new release of IntelliJ IDEA supports the widest range of modern tools and frameworks, right out of the box. To name a few: UML, JBoss Seam, Spring 2.5, RESTFul Webservices, Flex Debugger, advanced Flex editor, and more

Usability of Flex Frameworks - Are You Attending Adobe MAX?

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:30:00 EST

In a week, I’m going to San Francisco. This will be my first Adobe MAX conference. Five thousand people will attend this major technical event. My tracks are Flex and AIR. I’m arriving early, to attend one of the pre-conference workshops on Sunday. On Monday evening, I’ll be moderating a BOF session on usability of Flex frameworks. If you have an opinion, please stop by.

Gartner's Top 10 List is Incorrect and Stupid ...

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:00:00 EDT

Lisa Schmeiser this morning filed an InfoWorld story in which she writes about the results of her research on recession-proof IT jobs. Three skill sets appear in her story: Virtualization first, then AJAX, and then Ruby-on-Rails, among the Web 2.0 technologies. Virtualization and Cloud Computing are emerging as the top recession-proof technologies globally that will play a huge role during this economic downturn and recovery. 2009 will be the year of Virtualization and Cloud Computing, as well as SOA in its reincarnation as Web Oriented Architecture.

iPhone Scheduler Application for Upcoming Cloud Computing Conference & Expo Delegates

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:30:00 EDT

AJAXWorld RIA Conference & Expo launched today, the first day of the 6th International AJAXWorld Conference & Expo, a new iPhone Conference Scheduler program, in San Jose, California. The iPhone application has been developed by Chris Laffra of IBM, and it will also serve the delegates and exhibitors of SYS-CON's upcoming Cloud Computing Conference & Expo, colocated with the 4th International Virtualization Conference & Expo.

AJAX World 2008 West Round-Up: Flash Search Boosted by Adobe's Ichabod

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 03:20:00 EDT

“As people are starting to build AJAX apps, the content is getting more opaque,” said Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch during his keynote address at the 6th International AJAXWorld Conference & Expo earlier this week in San Jose, California. “It’s getting harder to find things with search engines. You need to be able to still get to that information as a user,” Lynch added and mentioned a technology developed by Adobe called “Ichabod” - which has already been released to Google, who use it in its indexing engines to search Flash content.

Farata Systems Achieves Performance Breakthrough with Adobe BlazeDS

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:56:00 EDT

Live Cycle Data Services is an excellent solution for building scalable RIA, but it’s not cheap. For those who don’t have a budget for LCDS, Adobe has released open sourced BlazeDS as a scaled down implementation of AMF. But BlazeDS is a lot more scalable than one may think.

Adobe CTO Keynotes at AJAXWorld RIA Conference Before a Standing Room Only Crowd

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:30:00 EDT

"There have been 4 different revolutions of software," said Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch this morning as he keynoted the 6th International AJAX World RIA Conference & Expo in San Jose, California. The fourth revolution, in which we are rediscovering expressiveness on the Web and recovering what Lynch called "the lost treasures of the desktop," is the one being led by AJAX developers and front end engineers, a great many of whom were in the crowded keynote room as Adobe's CTO - a true Web pioneer and one of the coiners of the 'Rich Internet Applications' category in 2002 - gave his rousing keynote covering "The Web Experience Revolution".

AJAX World RIA Careers - Flash, Photoshop, AJAX Developer Position in Redmond, WA

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:45:00 EDT

This is an estimated 3 - 12 month contract position, throughVolt Technical Resources- a division of a Fortune 1000 publicly traded Staffing Industry Leader, which is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. We are among the largest IT staffing companies in the US for contract/temporary and direct hire placements and support most of the top rated IT companies in the Pacific Northwest.

Themes & Topics: 6th International AJAX World RIA Conference & Expo:

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 07:00:00 EDT

A round-up of the overall themes and topics being presented at the 6th International AJAXWorld RIA Conference & Expo at The Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, CA, October 20-22, 2008 - including AIR & Flex, AJAX, ASP.NET, Business Case for RIAs, Cloud Computing, Comet, Google Web Toolkit (GWT), iPhone Development, JavaScript, Mashups, Mobile RIAs, Open APIs & Toolkits, SaaS, Security, Silverlight, Social Software, and User Interface & User eXperience Issues.

Manning Publications Named Exclusive Book Publisher Sponsor of SYS-CON’s AJAX World RIA Conference, October 20-22, in San Jose, California

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:23:00 EDT

SYS-CON Events announced today that the leading technology book publisher Manning Publications named "Exclusive Book Publisher Sponsor" of SYS-CON's upcoming AJAX World Conference & Expo 2008 West, which will take place October 20-22, 2008, at the Fairmont Hotel in the heart of Silicon Valley, in San Jose, California.

I Have Three Free Guest Passes for the AJAX Security Bootcamp!

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:00:00 EDT

As a speaker at the upcoming AJAX World RIA Conference & Expo, I just received an email from Lindsay over at SYS-CON Events. She just informed me about the coupon code "spkrguestbootcamp" (lower case) that I can use to invite three guests with. I am not planning to bring anyone with me from Sydney, Australia, so here it is for you to take advantage of. The registration page can be found here. Here is a list of speakers that I copied from the conference website.

RIA Conference Keynotes: Adobe & Microsoft

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:45:00 EDT

Join Scott Guthrie as he discusses Microsoft’s commitment to web standards development, Rich Internet Applications and how Microsoft is contributing to help move the web forward. Join Adobe’s Kevin Lynch as he demonstrates how Flash and HTML come together to make the most engaging, effective user experiences across operating systems and browsers.

Zoho Claims Google Chrome Rusts Out Flash & Silverlight

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:15:00 EDT

Sridhar Vembu, the CEO of Zoho, the online Office wannabe, sent a note around in the wake of Google’s Chrome announcement, claiming its impact “goes beyond the browser” and that the “biggest losers” are the “competing rich client engines like Flash and Silverlight.”

Billy Hoffman to Explore RIA Vulnerabilities at AJAX World's "AJAX Security Bootcamp"

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:00:00 EDT

Hoffman will give a review of traditional web security and explain the intracacies of Resource enumeration attacks in great detail, Injection attacks, and session hijacking as well as a step by step walk through of hacking an AJAX travel site. The intensive, one-day, hands-on training program aims to teach Web developers, Web designers, and other Web professionals how to build secure Rich Internet Application and demonstrate what the best practices are to mitigate security problems in AJAX apps.

Flash Player 10 is released!

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:01:00 EDT

Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced the immediate availability of Adobe® Flash® Player 10 software. Interactive designers and developers can leverage the new expressive features and visual performance improvements in Flash Player 10 for unprecedented creative control to deliver the most compelling Web applications, interactive content and high quality video to users across multiple browsers and all major operating systems.

Adobe Named "Bronze Sponsor" of AJAX World RIA Conference, October 20-22, in San Jose, California

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:45:00 EDT

SYS-CON Events announced today that the leading global rich Internet technology provider Adobe Systems was named "Bronze Sponsor" of SYS-CON's upcoming AJAX World Conference & Expo 2008 West, which will take place October 20-22, 2008, at the Fairmont Hotel in the heart of Silicon Valley, in San Jose, California. Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information. For more than two decades, the company's award-winning software and technologies have set new standards for producing and delivering content that engages people virtually anywhere at anytime. From rich images in print, video, and film to dynamic digital content across multiple media, the impact of Adobe solutions is evident across industries and felt by anyone who creates, views, and interacts with information. With a reputation for excellence and a portfolio of many of the most respected software brands, Adobe is one of the world's largest and most diversified software companies

Get "Rich" Quick at AJAXWorld, October 20-22 in San Jose, CA

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:00:00 EDT

What if you could build the user interface prototype in a matter of days or weeks without a single line of server-side code or even a datamodel? What if the business owner could not only play with this prototype, but also provide context specific feedback seamlessly while exploring the prototype? Finally, what if the prototype wasn't a prototype at all, but was the actual user-interface of the final product (zero throwaway code)... even if you haven't decided which server-side technology you want to use (Java, .Net, Ruby, PHP, Python, Perl)?

AJAX World RIA Keynotes by Kevin Lynch of Adobe and Scott Guthrie of Microsoft

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:00:00 EDT

Kevin Lynch, who will be keynoting on October 21, 2008, helped originally coin the term "Rich Internet Application" in 2002. He has been at the center of innovation in Flash and Adobe AIR since their inception, and currently drives Adobe’s technology platform for designers and developers across desktops and devices. Previously Adobe's Chief Software Architect, he was promoted to CTO in February '08. Guthrie, who will be keynoting October 20, 2008, was a founding member of the .NET Framework team and today runs the development teams that deliver the CLR, ASP.NET, Silverlight, WPF, IIS7, and the Visual Studio tools for Web, WPF and Silverlight development. Previously the General Manager of Microsoft's Developer Divsion, he was promoted to Corporate Vice President in February '08.

AJAX World Conference $200 "Gold Pass Registration" Savings to Expire This Friday

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:00:00 EDT

Conference Theme: Beyond AJAX to the Rich Internet Application & Rich Interactive Experience Era. Sponsorship and Exhibit Opportunities Offered on a First-Come First-Served Basis. To inquire about sponsorship and exhibit opportunities please contact Carmen Gonzalez at 201-802-3021 or by email at events(at)sys-con.com. Currently, a limited number of sponsorship and exhibition packages with multiple sponsorship discounts are available for the following international events.

How To Build On-Demand Business Apps Using Force.com & Flex

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:00:00 EDT

Enterprises are enthusiastically embracing the shift from traditional client/server computing to SaaS. Inspired by customers who have embraced the web, developers are using RIA tools to create innovative new on-demand business applications. One important factor in the shift from traditional computing to SaaS has been ease of use through vendors' careful attention to the user experience utilizing RIA technologies. This jointly presented session will present how RIA technologies such as AJAX and Flex - in combination with the Force.com platform - provide all the tools necessary for developers to build an enterprise-class application - sometimes within hours!

AJAX World Conference $200 "Gold Pass Registration" Savings to Expire This Friday

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:00:00 EDT

Rich Internet Applications offer the potential to fundamentally change the user experience and in doing so, yield significant business benefits. The theme of this October's AJAX World Conference & Expo 2008 West is 'Beyond AJAX to the RIA Era' and the Call for Papers, which is still open, specifically encourages submissions from exceptional speakers with high-quality use cases of the fast-emerging RIA alternatives.

IBM's Got Its Head in the Clouds

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:00:00 EDT

Reminding people of how its backing was the making of Linux, IBM, to no one's surprise, has thrown its support behind cloud computing, that delicious nexus of every chi-chi buzzword technology currently in vogue: Web 2.0, rich Internet applications, software-as-a-service, SOA, grid computing, Web Services, virtualization and utility computing. IBM calls its initiative Blue Cloud - like it could have another name - and claims it's a 'game-changing model for Internet-scale computing,' providing customer with just the right size computer power while at one and the same time being 'green' as well as 'self-healing and self-managing' based on open standards and Linux. Lordy, if this thing was a cute guy with money, it would be every mother's dream.

Top Twenty Developer Requests for Adobe Flex 4

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:00:00 EDT

Two months ago, I’ve created a group called Adobe Flex Experts on LinkedIn. More than 100 Flex developers/bloggers joined this group since then. I posted there the following question: "If you could add just one feature or suggest an improvement, what would it be? Please keep the response very short (as in Twitter - under 140 characters). There is no need to explain why you want it. Just name it." And here’s what people are looking for in the future Flex:

AJAX World "Gold Pass" Savings to Expire This Friday

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 02:15:00 EDT

Rich Internet Applications offer the potential to fundamentally change the user experience and in doing so, yield significant business benefits. The theme of this October's AJAXWorld Conference & Expo 2008 West is 'Beyond AJAX to the RIA Era' and the Call for Papers, which is still open, specifically encourages submissions from exceptional speakers with high-quality use cases of the fast-emerging RIA alternatives.

Adobe's Creative Suite 4

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:00:00 EDT

Adobe put Creative Suite 4 (CS4), its updated flagship, in play the other day, introducing new tiered upgrade pricing and making the web-publishing package – a collection of 13 programs like Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Flash – faster and more facile at repurposing design content across print, web, mobile, film, interactive and video.

How To Build On-Demand Business Apps Using Force.com & Flex

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 15:45:00 EDT

Cloud Computing Expo - Why I Like Google Chrome

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:10:00 EDT

It's simple and minimalistic, has a small memory footprint and is easy on the CPU. Flash player works fine on my Windows XP box. JavaFX developers should like it too.