joshbuhler.com

Have you ever launched a new Flash or Flex application, only to start receiving reports of it crashing, but there are no other details to work off of other than “it’s broken”?

I’m sure I’m not the first person to want this, but I thought of this recently: How awesome would it be if the Flash Player provided the option to send a bug report or crash log back to the developer if they wanted to receive them?

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With the recent push of Flash Lite and Flash content being developed for mobile devices, I’ve decided that I want need a Flash-enabled mobile phone.

I’ve been looking around town, and looking at the devices listed in the Mobile Dev Center, and I’m trying to find the best one available. However, since you usually start to find problems with your new mobile phone after you’ve been using it for a while, I’d like some suggestions from those that have a Flash-enabled phone, and what you’ve liked or disliked about it. Usability of the phone, reception, other features, etc. I’m currently with T-Mobile right now, so if it’s a phone that they’ll support, even better. Also, I’m a Mac user, so compatibility there is also a big selling point for me.

(The other thing I’ll need help with is any reasons that can convince my wife to actually let me purchase the new phone.)

Edit: One thing I forgot to mention - I live in SLC, Utah, so I’ll need opinions on phones that I can get in the US.

I’m currently working on a project that requires a swf to be running as a stand-alone EXE pretty much 24-7. We’re starting to get reports from the client of the EXE maxing out the processor after a few days of running. This thing needs to be constantly communicating with the server (which is connected on the same in-house network) and is requesting new chunks of xml about every 5-10 seconds. So, I’m thinking that most likely I’ve got a memory leak in there somewhere.

However, I’m also wondering about this - how long can a swf or a swf running in a projector be left running without issues? Normally, a swf is built to run for the time that someone spends on the website hosting it. Has anybody had issues like this before? What are your experiences (if any) in building a Flash app that needs to run 24-7 like this? Leave me a comment, or use the contact form on the page to send me an e-mail.

One of my favorite classes to play with in Flash is the Camera class. Sure, you can use it for what is was intended for, with Flash Communication Server, or you can use it like I have, as a sort of spycam or rear-view mirror.
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I haven’t posted in a few days for a few reasons - One, it was my anniversary. So I’ve been out of town for that. Two, the day I got home, I started packing again to head down to LA with MediaRain on business.

Since we were in town, we decided to check out the sneak peaks of Maelstrom being shown by Mike Downey at the LA Flash Macromedia User Group. We RSVP’d last week, got directions to the meeting, and then proceded to just about get lost on our way there.

It was great! Just about everything shown in the videos already posted online by Colin Moock and others was shown to us, along with one or two other surprises. New video effects, the filter effects, better text rendering, you name it. The videos were great, but seeing this stuff in person was enough to just about make me wet myself.

In between being excited about each little demo, and asking questions trying to get Mike to reveal more than he should about the new stuff, you could see everyone in there trying to imagine what they’re going to do with this next version. It’s still a ways away, but I can hardly wait to see what’s going to be done with this stuff.

I won’t be posting for another few days, but when I do, I’ll be adding some photos from the trip. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the meeting, but I have a few others that might be entertaining.