Oscar Trelles

You are not alone. I think everybody at some point has had to deal with clients or individuals that… well, let’s say, were not the ideal person to manage a project, or complete a task. Clientcopia has collected more than 400 quotes, featuring situations in which the customer was not always right.

Here is one of my favorites:

Client: In what version have you made this flash animation?
Me: Flash 5
Client: but when I right click on the flash it says flash 6 and we cant use flash 6!

Check it out here.

[via After-hours]

Check out Gemini, the latest developer release of Macromedia Central. Lots of new stuff, improved functionality and a new North.

Among the most important features of Central 1.5 you will find:

- Reliable automatic network detection on both Pc and Mac.
- Secure access to the local filesystem and better integration with the OS.
- Better development workflow.
- Support for Flash Player 7, ActionScript 2.0, and v2 Components.
- Simpler licencing options.

It is important to emphasize that Gemini is still a developer release, and is meant to get even more feedback from developers and early adopters.

Related Information:
What is Gemini (Central 1.5), and Why Should You Care?, article by Christian Cantrell.
Macromedia Central 1.5 Development Quick Start Guide, tutorial by Robert Dixon.
Improving Macromedia Central Application Development, tutorial by Michael Williams.

All this and more at the updated Macromedia Central Developer Center

Gmail is becoming soooooo yesterday’s but if you still want an invite, I have 6 more to spare. However, since many are for sale on eBay, I figured I wouldn’t them let go so easily this time.

So, in order to get your invite and try to keep thing on topic, all you have to do is share at least 2 links to (good) Flash RIAs you have come across recently. Then, just leave your name and email address along with your comment, and I’ll send you an invite as soons as I can.

Remember: I only got 6 invites, so only the first 6 to leave a comment will get one. Make sure the email address you are leaving works.

Cheers

Flash Video this, Flash Video that… it’s definitely the talk of the day. It wasn’t like that yet when my friend Jens Loeffler approached me a few months ago with the idea of creating a resource focused on the Video capabilities available since the latest Flash release. Unfortunately, time is never a friend of us, and is just now that we are ready to launch our new blog at FlashStreamWorks.

FlashStreamWorks is the combined efforts of Jens Loeffler, Eyal Menin, Stefan Richter, Daniel Over and yours truly (the team). The objective: to create an independent and comprehensive resource featuring Flash Video, Flash Communication Server, related technologies and their advances on the field of Digital Media, today. For that purpose, we plan to share the space with authors interested in contributing articles and tutorials, related to Flash Video and practical applications.

Our first feature is an article on the production of the Mini Cabrio website, which makes intensive use of Video and Flash. The article offers insight on the technology and resources used to create a piece that delivers a great user experience. Check it out.

FlashStreamWorks’ feed is already being syndicated by Fullasagoog, so expect to see regular news posting in the following weeks.

I can’t stress this enough: MXDU is the best Macromedia-related conference ever! It’s a lot of fun, you get to meet lots of great people among fellow speakers and attendees alike, and the BBQ afterward at Daemon’s is a marvelous all-you-can-eat grilled festival. Not to mention the opportunity of visiting one of the most beautiful cities in the World. So, if you want to take a vacation with a spin, consider speaking at MXDU.

MXDU 2004 was a blast, and it only can get better in 2005. I had a lot of fun, and my experience was great, both as an speaker and as an attendee. If speaking at MXDU, expect your public to interact with you, as many of the attendees are people with experience in the field, and that can only enrich your presentation.

For details, visit MXDU’s website.

Last week, taking advantage of Macromedia’s August Certification offer and that my primary contact for the biggest project I’m working on right now is out of town, I scheduled my test for yesterday (Friday). So, I’m now a Macromedia Certified Professional

I never really cared too much about Certifications, or any kind of tests for that matter. I believe tests can be significantly biased, and that the only way to prove one’s aptitude is through effective performance in the real world. However, given the 60% discount it was worth a try… besides, the logo looks good on the business cards.

Although I can’t disclose any particulars regarding the questions in the test, I can say that most of them are very straightforward and that there’s a healthy amount of tricky questions too. Unfortunately for me, the test included a few questions covering features I have rarely used or not used at all: I don’t know how the test works exactly, but I even got 2 questions, very similar to each other, regarding a technique I have never used… my luck.

Anyway, I now have to wait a few weeks to know what comes in the certification kit

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Update: Although I’m yet to get my “certification kit”, my name already appears in the list of Certified Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Developers at Macromedia’s web site, which makes it a little bit more official.

Well, today my blog was under comment spam attack… for the second time this week. My apologies to those subscribed to certain posts and that got kinda spammed as well. In response to my claims about my blog engine being “unspammable”, one of those bastards dedicated time to build a script specially designed to work against my system. How flattering!

So, while I work in order to keep anybody else out of the problem, I’m only disabling the subscriptions, while I work on a solution. Right now I’m very busy with client work, but I hope I’ll find time during the weekend to add extra security.

In the meantime, comments will remain on (even though traffic has been kinda low lately), since the system already blocks massive comments posting: from the thousands of messages sent by the script, only less than 200 actually made it through. I plan to reduce that window.