Adobe Systems acquired Macromedia in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $3.4 billion. What many do not realize is that these companies have been successfully 'dating' in the digital publishing world for six years.

On2 Technologies, Inc. announced today that it is developing a standalone product that will allow users to use a web browser to encode Flash 8 video on their own computers. The user can store the resulting video files either on their own PC or upload them to a central server for distribution.

On2 Technologies, Inc. , the leader in Flash 8 video encoding technology, and Brightcove, an Internet TV pioneer, today announced that Brightcove will offer On2 Technologies' Flash 8 video encoding technology to video publishers participating in the Brightcove commercial preview. Under the arrangement, hundreds of Brightcove commercial preview customers will receive a free license of On2 Flix Pro for Flash 8 to encode their content in Flash 8 video for distribution through Brightcove.

I was just on a web site (no, not a ColdFusion powered site, and no I will not name names) browsing for specific content. The URLs used typical name=value query string conventions, and so I changed the value to jump to the page I wanted. And I made a typo and added a character to the numeric value. The result? An invalid SQL error message.

'The overload of data on many Web sites today makes managing content a cumbersome process,' said Todd Peters, founder and president of PaperThin. 'At the same time, visitors to a site often find it difficult to access information that is pertinent to them. Our new taxonomy functionality addresses these inefficiencies by allowing organizations to easily classify and manage their content. And, it gives users the ability to intuitively ?find and discover? information within subject areas. We believe this functionality further differentiates PaperThin in the marketplace and will deliver real business value to our customers.'

SeaPine Software aims 'to change the world of software development,' and now supports Dreamweaver MX developers with its Surround SCM software. The company focuses on adaptable application lifecycle management (AALM) solutions for enterprise-level software development, and says that all of its products feature seamless integration with each other as well as with a wide variety of other popular software development tools.

'The year 2005 was another remarkable year for Adobe,' said Bruce R. Chizen, Adobe chief executive officer. 'We grew our business 18 percent, generated record profits, and for the third consecutive year, achieved record revenue for the fourth quarter and year. At the same time, we completed our acquisition of Macromedia, which positions us for future growth by accelerating our strategy to provide a powerful engagement platform.'

Wow, what a conference! If you couldn't get to MAX this year, you missed out on a great conference. MAX was held in Anaheim, CA, at the Anaheim convention center. It was four days packed with classes, and the grand finale was a fun-filled night at Disneyland/California Adventure.

The leading global service provider for accelerating content and business processes online, has announced that Comedy Central, the only all-comedy network, relies on Akamai Media Delivery to support its recently launched MotherLoad broadband channel initiative. MotherLoad is a free broadband video channel designed to offer consumers a new way to access original video content and popular programming on the Internet.

Here is your chance to help spec what could very well be a feature in the next major ColdFusion update! Ready? One frequent ColdFusion feature request is for Microsoft Exchange integration, and this is something we are considering for 'Scorpio'. Most ColdFusion use is on internal networks - intranets and portals and departmental sites. And so when you think about the types of applications being built in ColdFusion, Exchange integration actually makes a whole lot of sense.

CFDJ interviewed David Mendels, Senior Vice President of Adobe's Enterprise and Developer Solutions Business Unit, and asked some pointed questions about the future of ColdFusion and Adobe's commitment to the product. The bottom line is 'Don't Panic', but for more details read the interview.

A developer asked me how he could get absolutely accurate time information for an application that he is working on. He cannot rely on local server time as he has no control over the machine, and can't verify that it is accurate (and can't change the time if not). There is no NTP (network time protocol) tag in ColdFusion, but fortunately one is not needed, because the NIST time servers also respond to plain text daytime protocol requests.

Yes, I now work for Adobe. Although, what I am doing is no different to what I was doing while working for Macromedia. I am talking to customers and developers, answering questions, working on some new articles and content, tinkering with ColdFusion/Flex integration ... for now, as far as ColdFusion specifically is concerned, this is little more than a change in name.

Perforce Software has announced a new integration between Perforce, the Fast Software Configuration Management System, and SOFTIMAGE|XSI, a 3-D modeling and animation solution for the film, broadcast, post-production and interactive entertainment industries. Extending Perforce's version control functionality to SOFTIMAGE|XSI enables artists to more efficiently version, store and manage their computer graphic.

A leading technology provider in video streaming, has announced that senior vice president and research analyst Richard Fetyko of Merriman Curhan Ford & Co. initiated research coverage on VitalStream on November 15, 2005. This event represents the first independent research analyst initiating coverage on VitalStream since it became a public company in 2002.

The world leader in video streaming, has launched VitalStream Professional Services, a core group of technical staff and select industry partners experienced in streaming technologies dedicated to delivering quality, tailored solutions for customers with specific streaming needs, such as IPTV and podcasting.

Good Technology, the leading provider of industry standards-based enterprise handheld computingsoftware and service, has announced that Betsey Nelson, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Macromedia has joined the Company's Board of Directors.'With more than 7,000 corporations using Good Technology's software and service to manage and secure mission critical enterprise applications and boost mobile productivity, Good is enabling the next wave of computing,' said Nelson. 'I look forward to contributing to the company's success.'

Macromedia Government, the division of the San Francisco-based software powerhouse that helps federal, state, and local government agencies drive technology and business process transformation, today announced a partnership between Macromedia and Jabber, The aim: to develop and deploy a web conferencing, IM, chat, presence, and awareness solution for the Department of Defense (DoD) and other federal agencies.

VitalStream's core product suite consists of VitalStream's Streaming Service for Flash, Streaming Service for Windows Media and Content Delivery Service. The customized solutions created by VitalStream Professional Services will integrate with these products and enhance them.

Akamai has announced that it has signed a VAR partnership agreement with OMS SafeHarbor, a leader in Digital Product Lifecycle Management solutions. The agreement enables OMS SafeHarbor to provide its customers with a turn-key solution for optimizing software delivery by leveraging Akamai's unique, on-demand distributed platform.

With USA Real Estate Map developers could easily organize property listings or any other possible spatial information. The idea is simple - show real estate listings on the map, and allow people to select territory easily. Each state and county on the map could be programmed to have a specific link, color and transparency options.

Macromedia has announced the immediate availability of Macromedia Flash Media Server 2, server software that offers a unique combination of traditional streaming media capabilities and a flexible development environment for creating and delivering innovative, interactive media applications.

Macromedia and Limelight Networks has announced the immediate availability of Limelight MediaEdge Streaming for Macromedia Flash. The service enables scalable Flash media streaming on the advanced Limelight content delivery network and leverages the new Macromedia Flash Media Server 2.

Wondershare, has released version 1.6.0 of Flash SlideShow Builder, a Windows platform application that lets one make a fun and cool Flash slideshow or presentation with audio narration and even music. With Wondershare Flash SlideShow Builder, one can create Flash photo albums in just a few steps, without requiring you to spend lots of time and money.

VitalStream Holdings, a provider of video streaming solutions, has announced the results of an online survey in which 71% of respondents reported viewing major news events online via video streaming.

Digital-Tutors, has announced the availability of 'Introduction to Macromedia Flash 8' training kit - a comprehensive training tool for Flash 8 and the latest release in a growing library of popular training resources for emerging digital artists.

'With the advancement of rich Internet application development, new mobile adoption on the Flash Platform, and the launch of Studio 8, this has been an outstanding quarter,' said Stephen Elop, CEO, as Macromedia in its fiscal 2006 second quarter ended September 30, 2005, reported the highest revenue and earnings in the Company's history.

This year it looks certain that a new participation record will be set, more than 16,000 votes have already been recorded, as more than 20,000 SYS-CON Media readers are estimated to cast their votes in this year's Readers' Choice Awards.

Both Breeze and Captivate this week won Excellence in Learning awards for the solutions' e-learning innovations.

Integration New Media (INM) has announced that their popular INM V12 Database for Macromedia Director will soon be available for Macromedia Flash developers delivering projects on CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, kiosks or installed applications.

Speaking exclusively with SYS-CON.TV at MAX 2005 in Anaheim, CA, VitalStream's President & COO Phil Kaplan told how the company's Media Console, its workflow management toolset, now integrates with all streaming formats including the new Flash 8, and includes a media manager, pre-built video skins and a real-time reporting dashboard.

In his 60 minute session here at MAX 2005 in Anaheim, CA, Robert M. Hall has been demonstrating and talking about some unique projects where Flash was used in places other than on websites and desktop deployments. He also took time out of his schedule to speak with SYS-CON.TV.

'By providing an extension of Macromedia Flash Lite for BREW, mobile developers will have a prime opportunity to bring compelling Flash services and content to mobile devices globally,' said Al Ramadan, Macromedia's EVP and general manager of mobile and devices, as Macromedia and QUALCOMM today announced an agreement here at Max 2005 under which Macromedia will create a version of Macromedia Flash Lite as an extension for the BREW solution, QUALCOMM's mobile content delivery and monetization system.

'I'm personally pretty jazzed to be associated with such a large company making a bet on a more open feedback style like this,' blogs John Dowdell. He is referring to yesterday's Macromedia Labs announcement, whereby the Flex 2 product line alpha is being made available to developers.

As anticipated by MX Developer's Journal for several weeks, Macromedia CEO Stephen Elop used his keynote address at Day One of MAX 2005 here in Anaheim, CA, to blaze with all guns firing – Macromedia's powerful Flash and Flex guns in particular. Plus for good measure Elop delivered a combative message to Microsoft, in relation to their would-be Flash-killer, Expression Studio...'Try again!'

In addition to lots of other great things, this mornings keynote announced the public availability of the Flex 2 alpha. I'll post more about this mornings keynote after my session (RA301H) is over (4-5:30pm). To say its the greatest thing since sliced bread gives undue importance to sliced bread.

As of today, MXDJ readers around the world can now access this issue in five different languages. SYS-CON is also offering special subscription options to both MXDJ and ColdFusion Developer's Journal at their booth during the MAX Conference.

lynda.com, an award-winning provider of educational materials, has announced that it is now shipping five new video-based tutorials covering Macromedia's Studio 8 release.

A new 'Insert ProductCart Code' Extension giving Dreamweaver users access to even more tools to create a professional interface for their ProductCart stores has been released at MAX 2005 by Early Impact, an ecommerce software development company.

With a definitive share purchase agreement, Macromedia has acquired Scotland-based iteration::two, which will now become the enterprise Rich Internet Application practice of Macromedia Consulting EMEA - helping to ensure that strategic clients and partners are successful in their delivery of Rich Internet Applications on the Macromedia Flash Platform.