Here’s Mark Doherty (Adobe) speaking about Adobe technologies used to facilitate a contextual application called “OpenMic”.

I thought the quote about “mobile isn’t really all that mobile” was spot on (i.e. most people are using mobile and tablets in spaces where they have more than 15 minutes to do something … like public transit, or at home).

Also, I liked the statement about how to effectively manage the feature set for a mobile form factor as opposed to trying to take a desktop experience and fit it into a mobile one (a definite “no-no”). It’s all about augmentation.

Anyways, always good to hear someone talking about their latest R&D project, and “OpenMic” appears to be Mark’s:

I guess my only question after watching this was … where is a running list of TVs support Flash and/or AIR (for TV) technology?

I was following this area for quite a while, even back in the “Flash Lite” days, but nothing significant ever happened with “Adobe Digital Home” (which likely is canned now that Flash 10.x and AIR for TV is around (in SDK format) … and set-top box hardware is getting more “beefy”).

Now with the newer technology and runtime, you’d think something would be on market right now? Is it? Where?

I’ve seen Adobe folks posting about Samsung having a product almost to market. Has that shipped yet? Not sure, hopefully by the time you read this, maybe.

Someone post if they have a link. I don’t have as much time to dedicate to figuring out when Adobe is going to deploy and what the OSP partners are actually following through with.

Perhaps, Mark was just meaning that you plug in an Android or PlayBook via HDMI out to get content on the TV?

Imagine that.

BlackBerry PlayBook – “Flash” Commercial

It’s been a while since a BFPUG (Boston Flash Platform User Group meeting). Here’s >the scope on the next one scheduled for June 6th.

Keith Peters: Making Tools @ #BFPUG
Monday, June 06, 2011 at 7:00 PM – Friday, July 01, 2011 at 9:00 PM (ET)
Boston, MA

Come early (6:30) to play ping pong and network!

Making Tools
In this presentations I’m going to talk about making tools to make other stuff.

All the best craftsmen make their own tools. OK, I don’t know if that’s true, but it sounds like it could be, right? As a developer, designer, or something in between, if you are relying on generic, off-the-shelf tools for coding and designing, I guarantee you are wasting a lot of your time.

We’ll cover the how and why, and lots of examples (mine and others’) to give you an idea of what’s possible. Tools to make spritesheets for games, to view the clipboard contents, for embedding assets in a swf, for making pixel perfect layouts, tools for making art, etc.

We’ll also look at tools for making tools, including MinimalComps (www.minimalcomps.com).

** New Meeting Place **
33 Arch St
Floor 18 (hosted by Digitas)
Boston, MA 02110

Right outside downtown crossing t-stop.

Quick walk from Park St t-stop.

Parking garage under the building as well as within walking distance.

Last year at FITC San Francisco (where I was giving a talk and a workshop on mobile), I had the unique pleasure of catching some of Yugo Nakamura’s presentation in which in part he relayed that he was working with some folks on a wall mounted display for digital media.

It’s covered in this legacy post, along with the older video. Well … looks like his collaborative unit is close to deploying the idea:

“FRAMED* was first conceptualized by Yugo Nakamura of tha ltd., as a new platform for digital art, designed for everyday interior spaces.

This project is a collaboration between Yugo Nakamura, Yoshihiro Saitoh, interior designer and founder of A-Study Co., Ltd., and Om, Inc., a design and engineering team based in Taipei.”

No word on pricing (yet), but I imagine it will be (at first) target an elite group of people who are interested in a new level of home decorating.

I like how the mobile device to wall interaction where (currently) an iOS device can control what’s displayed on the FRAME.

I also like the reports of a “marketplace” where digital artists and designers can submit their work.

Seems the key to part of this device is an ecosystem, but there is no real detail on what the model is (yet).

Here are some of the initial tech specs reported:

Size

Height: 37.4 inches (95.0 cm)
Width: 22.0 inches (56.0 cm)
Depth: 1.3 inches (3.4 cm)

Processor

Intel® Core™ i5 Processor or higher

Operating System

Windows 7

Supported Environments

Adobe® Flash®, Processing,
openFrameworks, and Cinder

Display

40″ Samsung LED Full HD Ultra Clear
Panel (9:16 aspect ratio)

Audio & Video

Wireless audio transmitter
Built-in stereo speakers
Built-in microphone
Built-in camera

Communications

Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1
USB 2.0 port

Check out frm.fm for more info.

FITC Toronto 2011 Titles from FITC on Vimeo.

The production quality on these things is awesome. They (MK12) should do a decomposition on how they went about the creation process (in fact, maybe they did at FITC, but I missed it?).

I don’t think I need to explain the above graphic, just click on it if you don’t know what FOTB is.

BlackBerry PlayBook promissory case from Adobe MAX 2010

Here is Gestureworks demoing their Multi-touch gesture API and I do believe they were working on releasing a mobile specific API targeting Android, and possibly iOS in the future.

Examples from multitouch Flash applications running on the Android 2.2 operating system. The examples are from GestureWorks multitouch tutorials and they are shown on a PQ Labs 32″ Overlay and an HTC EVO smart phone

So today, @dannypatterson was tweeting about (roughly) how Motorola XOOM might not ship initially with Flash Player at product launch. The expected roadmap is state here: Update for Flash Player 10.2 Support on Tablets.

Well, as I suspected, Adobe and Motorola are planning on deploying Flash 10.2 onto this device, because of the Honeycomb (i.e. Android 3) it will support.

This post explains what the plans are … which is to ship Flash 10.2 OTA once it’s ready for the device (they are claiming “weeks” after initial product launch).

I should point out this isn’t the 1st time a device hasn’t shipped with Flash preinstalled when people thought it would. We had some of this back in the “Flash Lite” days (aka deja-vu for me).

This is an obvious pain point of having to deal with lots of partners via the Open Screen Project.

If you control the software, platform, and hardware you can do whatever you want, pretty much, whenever you want. If you have partners it’s more complicated.

Once you start dealing with hardware partners, software partners, etc … you have to *plan* and execute correctly for everything. There is a pipeline which effects everyone. One flub in a schedule ripples through partners (unfortunately).

Thus, Adobe, Google, and Motorola need to be in step for the XOOM to be a hit. By hit, I mean something more compelling than the Cupertino slate that dominates the market for no other good reason than they were 1st, and they have great marketing, and a decent package offering.

However, with more than 50 tablets (mostly Android) coming to market this year according to Adobe, which are supposedly “Flash supported”, you’d think at least one OEM would be able to replicate some Apple iPad success, right? … we’ll see.

To me, it’s more about the ecosystems than devices. Seems it’s gotten to the point where any OEM can create the hardware … (I’ve even seen a one man company subcontract a tablet!) … it’s the other stuff, like healthy ecosystems, viable marketplace and user experience which are critical to the success of new devices, IMO.