New York Blackout…
I just learned that there has been a blackout that has affected part of the East Coast, including New York and the machine that had been set to filter all my email traffic at home, during this trip I
Flash Player 7 Redux
So, before becoming an ‘occasionally connected’ blogger during this month, I wanted to summarize what I’ve been finding in other blogs and mailing list, after the seventh major version of the Flash Player was released for test to the general public. I know of this information has been around, but my intention here is to put it in a nutshell for people not coming from Flash blogs aggregators.
Auto-update: I have updated my flash players twice (current built is 7.0.0.250) since I installed them, and it’s the coolest thing. I didn’t even had to close my browser windows to get it to work. The little Flash icon appeared in the status bar notifying me of the new version available, and then it was just a matter of seconds and a couple of clicks. Very cool.
Performance: At some level, everybody seems to experience faster and better performances. Some haven’t seen significant progress, but most of us are very pleased with the new performing speeds provided by the player. Perhaps application complexity has to do with the performance differences. For instance, XML parsing is where I have seen the greatest jump!
New Features: First of all, in order to try and use the new features of the Flash Player 7 with the movies you make with Flash MX, you need to unlock them. This can be achieved by changing the SWF header from 6 to 7. If don’t know how to do it manually, Mario Klingemann has put together an online tool that does the job. Alternatively, this other tool can be used offline, courtesy of (insert credits here). Finally, I just read that Peter Hall suggests making properties of class available to SWF6 with:
ASSetPropFlags(class.prototype, null, 0, 1024);
Anyway, here you can find a list of all the new objects available to the Flash Player 7. Now, let’s see some examples of the most discussed features:
Customized Context Menus: Example 1, Example 2.
IMG tag support in textfields: Example 1, Example 2.
Video Quality: Example.
You better secure your jobs….
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Web site that spoofs the computer programming industry by offering chimpanzees and baboons to work for as little as 50 cents an hour has taken its monkey business too far, according to the Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary.
[via CNN]
Dimensional Warp Generator Needed
I just received this email (transcript follows):
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Hello,
I'm a time traveler stuck here in 2003. Upon arriving here my dimensional warp generator stopped working. I trusted a company here by the name of LLC Lasers to repair my Generation 3 52 4350A watch unit, and they fled on me. I am going to need a new DWG unit, prefereably the rechargeable AMD wrist watch model with the GRC79 induction motor, four I80200 warp stabilizers, 512GB of SRAM and the menu driven GUI with front panel XID display.
I will take whatever model you have in stock, as long as its received certification for being safe on carbon based life forms.
In terms of payment:
I dont have any Galactic Credits left. Payment can be made in platinum gold or 2003 currency upon safe delivery of unit.
INSTRUCTIONS MUST BE FOLLOWED EXACTLY:
Please transport unit in either a brown paper bag or box to below coordinates on Wednesday August 6th at (exactly 5:00pm) Eastern Standard Time on the dot. A few minutes prior will be ok, but it cannot be after. If you miss this timeframe please email me. I will not be there prior to 4:45pm EST, so do not transport before then.
Item is to be delivered at (out of service tennis court) located at: Latitude N 42.47935 & Longitude W 071.17355 and the Elevation is 119.
WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TRANSPORT ITEM BY REGULAR MEANS OF TELEPORTATION. THEY ARE MONITORING AND WILL REDIRECT THE SIGNAL!!
I DO NOT CARE HOW YOU HAVE TO GET IT HERE, JUST DO IT IN A WAY THAT NO SPYING EYES WILL POSSIBLY BE ABLE TO REDIRECT THE TRANSFERENCE. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU BE ABLE TO MONITOR THE TRANSFER.
HOW ARE YOU GOING TO SEND IT SO THAT THEY CANNOT REDIRECT IT??? If in doubt do not transport actual unit until your method of transfer can be confirmed as a success. You just might need to send a intergalactic courier to deliver item safely to me. If so be VERY careful at how they approach me IN MY WHITE CAR.
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what the hell???
Light posting for the rest of August
I’ve been kept very busy the last seven days or so, wrapping up some pending projects we had at work and taking care of some details for my trip to Peru. That’s right, I will be spending the rest of the month with family and friends I haven’t seen in about 2 years.
Needless to say, I won’t be blogging too much about work and Flash, but maybe I’ll throw in some postings about my trip. However, this kind of postings won’t be catch by aggregators, so if for any reason you want to find out how are we doing down there, you will have to come here by yourselves 
I’m leaving New York on Friday night, and will be arriving to Lima in the early Saturday morning. I will be back on New York on September 1st, ready to resume the hard work. I’ll try to make the most out of this trip, get some relax, and prepare for the next steps. I’m sure I will have interesting news when returning home.
Top of the Goog
If you are a fan of statistics of any kind (as I am, though not sure about the reasons…), go and and take a look at the new section Geoff has added to the mighty Goog. At “Top of the Goog” you will find the most clicked and the most prolific blogs of July.
I didn’t make it to the list of most clicked; not that I was expecting it, this is just and informative statement. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know about these stats until this morning However, my blog scored the 6th among the most prolific blogs aggregated by the Goog.