F·L·A·S·H·I·S·M

Well, it seems quite late to ask this…again, but I’d like to know why?

This update of Adobe Flash Player is huge, and is also the first version from Open Screen Project. It’s super fast, it’s mobile optimized, it’s multi-touch enabled, it’s everything Flash Player 10.0 was not.

I don’t see a reason why Adobe don’t want to call it version 11.0? Anyone else want to know or maybe know why?

Update: I already went through Emmy’s post regarding version numbering. I just think this is a major update, so the change in version number should be major?

// chall3ng3r //

It’s not just me who is stuck on really crappy ISP. I know there are millions of users like me around the world

I would like to highlight some biggest mistakes which almost every other popular video sharing service make. Yes, that includes YouTube, Vimeo, Google Video, Yahoo Video, or just think of any major service. Just take a look on above screenshots, and try to notice what’s missing?

I know you’re wondering, what are these mistakes?

• Mistake 1: A simple “Stop” button. Can you believe that? There’s always a Pause / Play button and Scrubber, but no one ever cared about adding a simple Stop button.

  What this button should do? Well, stop the video and break the damn connection!

  If you are on a crappy connection like me, and you clicked to play a video, there’s only one way to stop it sucking all the bandwidth, refresh entire page. Flash Player does offer APIs to close an ongoing stream, but no one uses it.

  Life can be really easy for users on slow connections if there’s one more button to Stop a video in the embedded player.

• Mistake 2: It’s just my guess, but I think it’s correct that developers who program these Flash video players are on company’s corporate high speed networks. So, they click the video and it plays. What about users on slow connections?

  I don’t think they even bother to test the video playback on slow connection. Flash Player offers APIs to set the video buffer, so the video is buffered for few seconds for smooth playback experience. But again, not used. Or if used, not optimized.

  It’s even worst on Adobe own website, where I noticed videos start playing as soon as few bytes are received. The video plays choppy and on homepage intro video, there’s no Pause button… just imagine how bad impression it makes.

• Mistake 3: Tiny player control buttons. As there are more and more touch based devices in hands of users, watching videos on these cool gadgets is increasing. But what I found that designers of Flash video players do not think about if the same player is used on such device.

  For example, on my Nokia N900, a cool Maemo Linux based device which can play videos from most of the popular video services, but the controls are not optimized for touch input which makes them hard to use. And really stupid things happen, and user end up closing the video window.

  Well, the developer can detect the device and render different set of controls. But I think the easiest option would be to make one design which fits the bill for desktop + touch device optimized user controls.

• Mistake 4: I really hate when I try to quickly pause / stop a video by clicking anywhere on video, which opens a new window to service’s website. As the control buttons are already too small, the general sense is to pause the video when clicked on it. Some services do avoid this mistake, but most services just want the user to get to their website, and this seems to be the easiest option for them.

  It’s worst on small screen touch input devices, where user have to do 2-3 tries to actually pause a video. Really bad user experience.

I can just hope and wish my this blog post somehow gets to the actual designers & programmers or decision makers of Flash video players for these video services. And also they try to fix these mistakes.

Do you think there are any more mistakes? Post them in comments.

// chall3ng3r //

Just wanted to share some new updates regarding SWF2Go Pro.

• SWF2Go have now social media presence as well. You can become a fan of SWF2Go on Facebook and follow on Twitter for latest news and updates.
• We have published a small guide to make SWF2Go v2 made SIS files compatible with S60 5th Edition devices. Read it on SWF2Go wiki
• We are now running a special holiday season sale. Instantly save 20$ on SWF2Go Pro v2.0. So, what you are waiting for!!!
  

FYI, we are working on an update for SWF2Go which will be available soon. Stay tuned!

Happy holidays and have fun!

// chall3ng3r //

For last few months my friends were asking me, what me and my team at Orison Technologies is doing? Well, today I’d like to share what we’ve been cooking for last few months.

buteek.com – A new brand and webshop for latest fashion & style. The store currently offers eastern and western designs for young women and ships all around the world. Take a look and let us know your thoughts about designs, prices and overall experience.

BTW, buteek.com is running exclusive discounts to celebrate its online launch, so get busy shopping!

// chall3ng3r //

Yesterday I recieved an email from Forum Nokia informing that I am re-selected as Forum Nokia Champion. Yay!

Its a great honor to be awarded as Forum Nokia Champion for the third time in a row for my country.

Thank you Forum Nokia for making my Eid celebrations even better!

// chall3ng3r //

I think I’ve finally found a nice blog client for Mac. I’ve been searching for a while, gave try to some popular ones but no one came close to what I was looking for.

ScribeFire, its not a standalone Mac application but an add-on for Firefox. If you select to open the editor in new window, it looks much better, just like a standalone client.

Initial impressions are quite good, and this post is also been blogged from ScribeFire. I am still not very sure if this is the one, but I have a feeling that I’m gonna be using it quite well.

This was just a short review, I will be posting a detailed one after some weeks of use (hopefully )

// chall3ng3r //

Finally, last night I made it. Its kinda quick and dirty, but it works, at least for me as I want it . Here a screenshot:

I made this external help viewer for myself, but I thought if anyone who also finds Help Panel in the way most of the time when working in Flash CS3, might like to use it.

Download: FlashHelp_v01.zip

Note: Requires MS. Net Framework v2 or later. Not needed on Vista

// chall3ng3r //

Today Forum Nokia sent me an email, here’s a small text from it:

We are pleased to announce that due to your active participation in the mobile development field and in the Forum Nokia Champion program in the past year, you have been re-selected to the program. Congratulations!

Nokia recharged me again to work even harder, Thanks Nokia!

// chall3ng3r //

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you SWF2Go Professional 2.0.

Please read the official press release at:
http://www.orison.biz/pressroom/pr_swf2go_9_9_08.aspx

The new product website www.swf2go.com is now live with dedicated forums and wiki. You can find all the details about what’s new in this major release, as well as screenshots of the product on this website.

Website: www.swf2go.com

Note: The wiki is ready, but is currently set to private access until we finalize its settings.

Update: I forget to mention, there is a 10% introductory discount offer, and its for limited time.

Once you’re ready to rock ‘n roll, you can place your order right away

Happy Flash Lite-ing!

I will be attending Mobile Developer Days 2008 in Berlin, Germany from 10-13 Sept. If anyone like to meet or have a hands-on demo, you can contact me via email or mobile.

Email: chall3ng3r@gmail.com
Mobile: +49 176 5451 5873

// chall3ng3r //

Hey there everyone,

A big thanks to Felipe Andrade for informing me that I’ve won the Forum Nokia 2008 Code Example Challenge in Flash Lite category

And another big thanks to Nokia for such a great opportunity!

Congrats to all the other winners. Have a nice weekend guys!

// chall3ng3r //