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November 28, 2007
Links on the Brightcove.tv Upload Shutdown
Since I am a part of the Scrum team that is making the changes to brightcove.tv upload, it's been very interesting to read all the blog posts about it. I'll leave the comments on the changes to those at a higher payscale, but here's some links:
Ryan Stewart asks about Aftermix, and I really wish I could comment on this one.
Mashable wins for most hyperbolic title. Company to follow? Huh?
Jeremy Allaire clarified the changes, making sure it's clear that this only affects consumer uploads on brightcove.tv.
And just posted is a thoughtful article from Jeremy Allaire and Adam Berrey talking about the changes in Internet video.
November 24, 2007
Parting Words for Microsoft Developers
A development lead that's leaving Microsoft provides parting words that pertain to many development groups. A good read, and it's a fun glimpse into a small part of Microsoft. They certainly aren't the only company that has problems like this, and his questions are something I know I can do better to keep in mind:
* "How can I make sure this problem goes away forever?"
* "How can I produce fewer bugs?"
* "How can I make it easier to fix the bugs I have?"
* "How can I make it easier to respond to change quickly?"
* "How can I make it easier to make my software fast enough?"
Mashup Culture
I noticed a new talk by Lawrence Lessig about mashup culture (found on nwebb.co.uk).
Considering how often I mention Aftermix here, it's impossible not to mention Lessig at some point. He's writen a lot about remixing, with perhaps the most well-known commentary in an article in the Washington Post on Star Wars and Eyespot.
Lessig isn't the only person talking about remixing, of course. There's even videos on the subject, such as A Fair(y) Use Tale. And there's people talking about Lessig as well, such as the always-interesting Convergence Culture blog. My own opinion on all of this? It's definitely something I like reading about... how's that for a non-answer? :) A lot of people enjoyed making Avril remixes, and I certainly didn't feel like a sharecropper making my mix, and so I'll leave it at that.
November 21, 2007
The World of ECMAScript
Here's a wonderfully detailed cloud of everything ECMAScript (found via Artima). From Artima's count, there's "eight different implementations of ECMAScript, sixteen ECMAScript engines implemented in six different languages, and many more applications that provide an ECMAScript execution environment." Not a big surprise, but Mozilla, Microsoft, and Adobe dominate the cloud.
November 19, 2007
Ask Steven Webster for Adobe At Your Doorstep
Ok, so not at your doorstep, but at your next conference's doorstep. I noticed in a post on flexcoders.nl this comment from Steven Webster:
"What are the advanced topics you would look for in a Flex conference ? There is an army of Adobe Consultants - some of whom spoke at MAX, but more of the places were given this year to the community speakers - who are ready, willing and able to deep-dive into Flex discussions, whether it be architectural, component-level, inspirational user-experience design talks or deep-dives into things like messaging with Livecycle Data Services. If anyone has an event where they'd like advanced (or even introductory) level Flex talks, then drop me a note and I'll do my best to ensure we can provide speakers from the field to these events.
If you ask us, we will come."
So Steven, I'd like to formally invite you to the Brightcove Scotch Drinking Night In Boston, which involves Cairngorm-loving Brightcove employees and scotch. No? What if there were conference t-shirts? :) Did I mention the scotch?
More importantly, I see that Steven announced a code-coverage tool that Alex Uhlman is working on for Flex 3. I was hoping that the profiler meant that a code coverage tool was coming, but I never guessed that it would be this quickly.
November 18, 2007
Linking to External Source Folders in Flex Builder
One problem I've always had with Flex Builder is that I can't reuse projects which link to source folders outside of the main source folder. These external source folders are usually defined with an absolute file path, which makes the project files unusable by other developers without changes. And changes mean that project files don't stay in sync, which is just one more thing to worry about.
Usually, the external source folder is a folder for test files, but it can also be some folders that really should be in a SWC. In any case, the project file isn't sharable in the current form, and we all like to share.
I learned from some developers at Brightcove that there is a solution to this using a built-in Eclipse feature. First, you need to set up a linked resource:
1. In Flex Builder, go to "Window > Preferences".
2. Navigate to "General > Workspace > LinkedResources".
3. Within LinkedResource, create a new variable that links to the folder you want to include or some common base directory. Usually, you'd enter some base directory within source control that could be reused for more than one external source path.
Once you have the linked resource, you'll want to add a source path to your project. Right-click on the project, go into "Properties", "Flex Build Path", "Source Path". As normal, select "Add Folder", but don't browse to the directory. Instead, use the linked resource name, either by itself:
${LINKED_RESOURCE_NAME}
Or if it's a base directory, you can tack on directories:
${LINKED_RESOURCE_NAME}/my_source/location
OK it, and it's all set up. Then you can share the project file to other people on the team, or check it into source control. Each member of the team will need to define the linked resource, as shown in the steps above, but the project files don't have to change.
Posted by Brian at 6:47 PMThe Future of Brightcove and Aftermix
There's a interview on videonuze.com with Jeremy Allaire. It has a lot of interesting information about Brightcove's positioning and future.
Also, as perhaps a few of you have noticed, Aftermix has ended it beta run on brightcove.tv. To quote, "While the beta program has officially ended, you'll soon be able to use Aftermix on many sites throughout the web." So you'll have to wait a little bit, but I'll let you all know where you can next mash things up.
November 9, 2007
Aftermix wins a MITX
In front of 1000 people last night in Boston, Aftermix won the Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Award for Rich Media Application. Congrats to the whole team! I was the one person currently working on the project who couldn't be there, but the poster from the awards that greeted me this morning (a half-naked lady and a guitar) makes me think the ceremony was a lot of fun.
Of the five finalists in the Rich Media Application category, two of them (and maybe three) were Flex applications, which won't surprise anyone reading this blog.
November 6, 2007
Making Time for Helping Others
This is a non-development post, so you can stop reading now if you're only looking for Flex or video details.
I'm a TODO list kind of person, with post-it notes and emailed lists that I keep for things I plan to do. The main TODO list I keep has had an item on it for almost six months, the longest item on the list: some volunteering work. Why haven't I moved volunteering off the TODO list? I'm always putting other items above it, from blog posts (ahem) to work items to weekly chores.
My TODO list has been changing, although not without a small push. When someone close to you scrambles up their TODO list to help others, that's definitely going to change yours. And mentioning this scrambling is the real point of my writing- see this blog post from Betsy, who is about to spend the next six months in Zambia. Betsy, the lovely lady that I'm dating, will be helping with the Maternal Infant Health Initiative at MGH through her Durant Fellowship. In short, she'll be spending six months of her life to help create better care for infants in Zambia. She's always wanted to do humanitarian work, but she didn't expect to be doing something right now. Everything came together, however, and now she's getting ready for a trip that hasn't quite sunk in yet for either of us.
So at the top of my TODO list goes any items to help Betsy help others, to make sure she gets to Zambia and back. But I've been doing something else as well, something much smaller. I had a good conversation with Julie Stewart of FAMM, a group that I've supported in other ways. And I'll be helping them in small ways to improve their website. It feels good to move this up on my TODO list, and I'm happy that the world has people like Betsy to really make the time.
November 5, 2007
Flex Camp Boston
If you're in the Boston area, check out Flex Camp in Waltham on December 7th for a mere $10. You'll see a number of folks from Brightcove there. It's being put together by Brian Rinaldi, and it has a bunch of people from the Flex team speaking at it.
Posted by Brian at 11:44 PM
