My 53 minutes of fame

It's my blog and as such I must have the right to shamelessly plug myself:
Here is my session at Adobe MAX 2008 San Francisco.



Its a recording of the audio and the computer screen.

On a much more interesting note it should be added that Adobe has added all sessions from MAX at tv.adobe.com - there are many interesting and exciting things to be found.

All thanks to the glory of Flash video and American Stream-o-philes...

Curtain down

Nokia Platform Services - the biggest thing since the wheel?

Just recently Nokia updated their Flash Lite Developer's Library to version 1.1. This may seem dry and boring but it may be the most exciting news since OJ. Why? Because it includes documentation on using Platform Services. In popular terms this is a way to access device features previously unavailable except through eg. KuneriLite middleware.

Read all about it here.

AFAIK Nokia Platform services is only available on Symbian 60 5th Edition (which is 5800 XPressMusic and N97 at the moment) but I can't wait to start fooling around with it.

Announcing Copenhagen Mobile and Devices Usergroup

I am very pleased to announce the opening of the Copenhagen Mobile and Devices Usergroup (CMDU).

Everyone interested in the mobile space please feel free to join.
Online and offline events and activities will be initiated shortly.

The CMDU is hosted by Adobe Groups.

Please take a look, join, leave a comment or whatever.
The more places we have to discuss this great mobile space of ours the better.

kind regards
Mads

They will win

When I boldly stated on December 1st "Nokia will win" I was blissfully unaware of things to come. The N97. Symbian 60 5th Ed. with all kinds of Flash Lite goodness. I am currently contemplating whether they already have won - but now the victoryjust has to be implemented.

In my Euro-world view the good folks at Apple need to pull another one out of the hat quicksnap. And I kind of hope they do because now the wow-factor of touchscreeniness and responsive UIs has disappeared. We are very much ready for the next great thing - whatever that may be.

Or maybe they should start selling the iPhone for 199 without service contract in Wal-Mart. That would probably do the trick.å

A few exotic devices

Just came back from MAX08 in San Francisco - and I gotta tell ya: The world of Flash for Mobile just got a bit more exciting...

As you all are probably aware Adobe has announced plans for a Distributable Player as well as Flash Player 10 support for high-end phones. Cool stuff although a ways off still (Q4 2009).

Inspired by these cool initiatives I thought I would take the time to describe a few cool devices I recently got my hands on - and no, there is no Flash Lite for iPhone announcement below.

HTC Touch Pro
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Windows Mobile 6.1 - no Flash Lite pre-installed, but the downloadable from Adobe.ccm for WM5 works fine. Apparently a new version of IE for WM including FL3 is forthcoming. This device is very nice although a bit on the clunky side. The touchscreen is poor to say the least. We use it for developing a business oriented Flash Lite app targeted for that specific device. But still, using buttons and such is a nice departure from the Nokia based development we're used to.

Sony Ericsson C905
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This phone turned my view of SE completely around. It's the coolest thing ever. 8.1 MP camera, FL pre-installed, WiFi support - you name it. It swallows battery like crazy and FL doesn't run in standalone mode (which always bothered me about SE phones). But other than that it's sweet as sugar. This particular device also supports the Capuchin extensions to Flash Lite (device integration like GPS, Contacts etc.)

HTC G1
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The Android phone is still something of a rarity over here in Europe - and getting it activated was a challenge. But it was worth the effort. In my humble opinion this device and OS beats the iPhone hands down. It doesn't have Flash Lite yet - but will support Flash player 10 at some point in the future (as demoed by Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch at MAX2008). I can't wait to see the next devices to use Android - it shows great promise for the future.

iPhone (all versions)
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Been there done that - yea its cool - but I'd rather be Mr. PC and have the greatest marketshare. But it's fantastic as an MP3 player...

Next on the hitlist
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Nokia 5800. The first real attempt from Nokia to take a stab at the iPhone-type devices. They will win. The device is very cool (from the brief hands-on I've had) at it will sell at a reasonable price in all the known universe.


Anyway, just thought I'd share a few experiences.

Just back from San Francisco - or "What is the opposite of evolution?"

I just came back from SF having attended the ever-cool Flashforward conference. As always it was inspiring to hear and experience some of the top names in the business.

But one thing has me a little concerned: Why the combined brain trust of the Flash business hasn't evelved past the point of animosity towards the (in)famous usability "guru" Jakob Nielsen. I mean, back in 2002 I attended a Jakob Nielsen workshop at the Macromedia DevCon in Orlando. This was touted as the great peace-pipe-smoking-event between Flash and the bald devil.

I am frankly very discouraged by the fact that not one but two of the speakers still found it worthwhile to make fun of Jakob Nielsen 5+ years after the fact. Come on guys, please find a new pet peeve. I mean, sure he looks kinda funny but so do many of "us". Do you expect this business to be taken seriously when we spend time making fun of others like pre-schoolers. Especially taking into consideration that we won the battle.

I should also note that apart from being a Dane like Mr. Nielsen I have no special sympathy for him or his views. I had forgotten the entire affair and thus was very surprised to see it rear its childish head again.

Other than that I love San Francisco and I wanna live there in my next life. If only I could decide between Monterey and Nob Hill...

I Know What I Did This Summer

I was busy running the Flash Lite client for Roskilde Festival 2008. And also - as the picture shows - the big screens that people could interact with via their applications. The picture shows a screen displaying an SMS text infront of 50,000+ people just before Radiohead went on stage.
And for all non-believers out there: let me tell you that Flash Lite gets the job done. We had thousands of users during the 8 days the festival lasted and they used the system repeatedly.

So now the festival's over - what' next?



Well - for one thing, we've just been confirmed as speakers at this year's Adobe MAX in San Fransisco. We have been given the task of telling everyone how to make money off of Flash Lite and Mobile.

We also currently have 2 new applications for other clients in the works. As well as several exciting deals on the horizon.

I hope to be able to update the blog more frequently in the future but at the moment my time - fortunately - is stretched rather thin.