Net Neutrality: The FCC Extends the Comment Period
A recent Supreme Court struck down an attempt to keep the Federal Communications Commission from enforcing Net Neutrality, which is in the best interest of Internet users like you and me. The Supreme Court decision was correct, given the legal situation, but the FCC could still enforce Net Neutrality by classifying broadband providers as they should have been classified in the first place, as communications services.
The big telecoms want to inspect content you access and block or degrade access to websites and applications that haven't agreed to pay the broadband providers. The situation seems absurdly simple: YOU and I pay the broadband providers. YOU and I select the content we want. YOU and I expect the broadband providers to deliver that content.
By extending the time for public comment, the FCC is trying to determine how much support there is for the action it should take. I have already written to the chairman and all of the commissioners. You can do the same by visiting the FCC's website.
For more information, try these:
This is about technology, your access to technology and information, and your freedom. It's about broadband providers and their ability to force you to pay more for the content you want. The Internet was built on open communications. Please do your part to keep it that way by speaking out now.
Now You Can Create a Flash Application
The metaphor mixer is broken and I'm having trouble keeping my socks on and keeping my jaw out of the basement. Adobe CS5 Flash Catalyst is clearly a proof-of-concept application but even so it's an application that will make it possible for designers to do some of the work that would otherwise be handed off to programmers. In its first iteration, Flash Catalyst is little short of amazing.
Take a look at one of these links (or both). One is a Flash application and the other in an Adobe AIR application. It took me less than an hour to create them.
- Standard Flash application.
- Adobe AIR application (You will be asked to install the application).
Click each of the menu options (Horticulture, Chihuly Glass, and 7 Wonders Models) and also click the Franklin Park Conservatory link that goes back to the main view. That I could create a Flash system this rich and complex in less than an hour is almost beyond belief.
Here's what I did:
I started in Photoshop even though Photoshop isn't an application known to be used in the creation of Flash presentations. Note that I have created several layers with various images and two background images, 1 that's crisp and in focus and 1 that is blurred. I then saved this file.
Flash Catalyst allows me to create a new presentation that starts with a blank workspace or with an Illustrator or Photoshop document. I started with the Photoshop document.
For the Title page, I hid all of the images. One of the first things I noticed was that the drop shadow I had defined was missing. This is the first iteration of Flash Catalyst, so it should probably be considered only a "proof-of-concept" application, as I've already mentioned. You can see where Adobe will be able to go with this application, but it hasn't yet gone there.
I then needed to convert each of the text items to be a "button" and assign actions to each of them.
I duplicated the main page 3 times and activated one of the images on each of the pages. After that, all that I needed to do was to define the conversions between each of the various states.
You've already seen the result. This could be the end of development or it could be the beginning with further development to be conducted in Flash.
Apple vs Adobe
The CS5 version of the Adobe suite includes the ability to make Flash presentations run as if they were native Iphone applications, but Apple slammed the door in Adobe's face. I continue to be amazed that people think of Apple as a "nice" "open" company that's all sweetness and light.
Northing could be further from the truth.
Apple has built an extraordinary operating system. Apple has some really cool hardware. But Apple is the most regressive, hidebound company on the planet when it comes to being "open" in any way, shape, or form.
Apple has banned applications that have been built with "unapproved tools" and converted into an Iphone-compatible format. Flash is not "approved". Adobe CS5 includes a Packager for Iphone that converts native Flash applications into something that the Iphone can use.
You don't want us? OK. We'll work with Android. That seems to be the message from Adobe product manager Mike Chambers, who said, "We will still be shipping the ability to target the Iphone and Ipad in Flash CS5. However, we are not currently planning any additional investments in that feature."
According to Adobe, "The primary goal of Flash has always been to enable cross-browser, platform and device development. This is the exact opposite of what Apple wants."
The closed-system, closed-minded Apple can reject any application for any reason. That flies in the face of Adobe's open-platform position that has always aimed to create solutions that work on multiple browsers, operating systems, and devices.
Flash applications work well on Android-based phones and Chambers says that several Android-based tablets are scheduled for release this year. "We are working closely with Google to bring both Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe AIR 2.0 to these devices, and thus far, the results have been very promising."
So if you're thinking Ipad, maybe you should wait a bit and buy hardware that will work with the applications you want it to work with.
Bottom Line: Flash Catalyst makes Flash accessible.
Flash Catalyst is new, which means that it's more of a proof-of-concept than a finished application. Even so, this first-release version has a lot to recommend it. The ability to open more than one Flash file at a time and to copy from one to the other is probably high on Adobe's to-do list. That one feature alone would be a huge plus.
For more information, visit the Adobe website.
Beware the Fraudulent Link
In the past week or so, I've received e-mail messages that claim to come from people I know. The messages contain nothing but a link. Should I click it? My answer is always NO and there's a good reason for this caution.
Most of the messages have come from people who use G-mail accounts, but I've also seen them from Yahoo accounts.
The message has no text and consists only of a link to a website that's hosted by one of the free providers. Instead of clicking, I send a challenge message to the claimed sender and in 100% of the cases, the sender has said that he or she did not send the message.
One correspondent even did a bit of research: To my knowledge, you are the only one who got the phony email; I've checked with a number of other people and they did not get it. Then today, when I tried to log into my account I got a notice that the account had been disabled due to suspicious activity. I was required to get a verification code so I could reactivate the account and was forced to change my password. Then, today I saw an article in USA Today which states that the base security code that drives Gmail was copied in January and is in the hands of hackers.
So consider this a reminder: Never, ever click a link unless you're absolutely certain that it's from someone you know and that the person you know actually sent the message. It never hurts to ask and following a bad link could be detrimental to your computer.
It's a Short, Short, Short, Short Show
Maybe you remember It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World from the 1960s. That's where I stole the headline from. This week's program is much shorter than usual and there is no time to create a podcast. To make a long story as short as possible, on Monday we found that the cat who adopted me 10 years ago was bleeding internally. An ultrasound (not a CAT scan) on Saturday should determine whether it's some repairable trauma (unlikely) or a life-ending cancer (likely). The week has been a bit crazy for the same reason and I haven't been able to devote the time needed to assemble the kind of information you expect.
If you like cats, and orange cats in particular, you can see this kitty guy here. (It appears that you have to sign up for Facebook if you want to see more than the first image.)
The cat, by the way, is the orange one on the left below. In the 10 years since he adopted me, he has been a constant companion and a remarkably steady friend. Although I have known a lot of cats, one has never bonded with me the way this one did.
The author's image: It's that photo over at the right. This explains why TechByter Worldwide was never on television, doesn't it?
