Color theory, peripheral vision illusions
These are just fun to look at (although it hurts your eyes after a while). Keep in mind that these are NOT animated. The movement that you see is simply your peripheral vision playing tricks on you.
Rotating snakes
Rollers
Rotations
Vibrations
Checkered heat waves
Flash Lite’s role in the BREW ecosystem
fiercedeveloper.com wrote a short article about Flash Lite’s role in the BREW ecosystem citing the October 2006 deal between Verizon Wireless and Adobe. The article from fiercedeveloper.com can be seen as a sign that Flash Lite may be gaining more acceptance from the media, and that it may soon be seen as the standard for wireless development in the US and abroad.
“Verizon’s expanding selection of handsets, and Adobe’s support of Flash Lite for BREW, is a strong signal for developers considering Flash Lite.”
At the BREW 2007 conference, we expect Adobe and Verizon Wireless to be talking about Flash Lite’s impact on some 37.5 million Americans. Verizon Wireless was the first US operator to adopt Flash Lite to it’s network, and the first operator worldwide to offer Flash Lite for BREW.
If you have interest in developing Flash Lite for BREW for Verizon Wireless, you may want to read our Adobe.com article, Developing Flash Lite for BREW applications for Verizon Wireless
Punchkick Interactive has authored it’s first article for Adobe.com. Zak Dabbas and myself (Ryan Unger) co-authored Developing Flash Lite for BREW applications for Verizon Wireless. This article covers not only the technical side of developing applications for BREW for Verizon Wireless, but also the marketing aspects of distributing content directly to Verizon Wireless or to a content catalog partner such as Atom Entertainment, FunMobility, or Smashing Ideas.
The article has three main sections:
1. Understanding the Flash Lite for BREW marketplace
2. Becoming an authorized Qualcomm BREW developer
3. Testing content on a Verizon Wireless handset
Read the full article on Adobe.com
Introduction
At the October 2006 Adobe MAX conference, Adobe and Verizon Wireless announced a partnership that would make Flash Lite content available to over 37.5 million Verizon Wireless subscribers. Flash Lite developers were understandably excited about the announcement, and teaching developers how to create content for Verizon Wireless became a central focus of the MAX conference.This article will teach you how to develop Flash Lite for BREW content directly for Verizon Wireless. It will detail the process of becoming an authorized Qualcomm BREW developer, testing your Flash Lite for BREW content on a Verizon Wireless handset, and selling your content through Verizon Wireless.
In addition to understanding the technical specifics of creating Flash Lite for BREW content, this article will also discuss the pros and cons of using the direct model for developing and distributing Flash Lite for BREW content—including the real costs and anticipated returns on your development investment. It will also briefly cover the process of selling content through an content catalog partner, and the pros and cons associated with doing so.
Also, we would like to thank Phil Pastore for helping out with the headshots.
Learn more about Punchkick Interactive’s Flash Lite development capabilities.
Cleveland, OH June 1, 2007 – The Web Marketing Association is pleased to announce that Punchkick Interactive co-founder Ryan Unger has been selected as a judge of the 11th annual international WebAward competition for Web site development.
The WebAwards is the standards-defining internet awards competition that sets industry benchmarks based on the seven criteria of a successful Web site. It recognizes the individual and team achievements of Web professionals who create and maintain outstanding Web sites.
“Unlike other awards, the WebAwards is not a beauty pageant where only the design and name recognition is important,” said William Rice, president of the Web Marketing Association. “For the past decade, the WebAwards has used a quantitative judging formula based on seven criteria to evaluate, benchmark and set industry standards for Web site development. Unger will play a critical role in setting the standard for Internet excellence by applying his expertise to each site he adjudicates.”
“I am privileged to have been selected as a respected member of the WebAwards panel of judges,” said Punchkick Interactive’s Unger. “It is an honor to judge domestic and international sites that meet the Web Marketing Association’s standards of high quality and excellence.”
Ryan Unger is the co-founder and creative director for Punchkick Interactive. He has over five years of experience with Flash software and is an Adobe Certified Flash Lite 1.1 developer, Adobe Certified Flash 8 designer, and Qualcomm BREW authorized developer. Ryan has authored articles on Adobe.com and has received a number of design and marketing awards from organizations including the American Advertising Federation, the Public Relations Society of America, the Web Marketing Association, and the West Virginia Flash Animation Festival. Additionally, he will serve as a judge for the 2007 Web Marketing Association’s WebAward competition. Ryan is heavily involved in the Flash Lite community, both in Flash Lite-focused Web forums and his company’s mobile marketing blog (http://www.punchkickinteractive.com/blog/).
The 2007 WebAward judges consist of a select group of Internet professionals who have direct experience designing and managing Web sites – including members of the media, interactive creative directors, corporate marketing managers, site designers, content providers and webmasters – with an in-depth understanding of the current state-of-the-art in Web site development and technology. Judging for this year’s website awards will take place in July and August, with winners announced in September.
About Punchkick Interactive
Punchkick Interactive ™ is a full service mobile marketing firm that develops Flash Lite enabled games and screensavers, custom mobile applications, text-message campaigns, mobile media distribution systems, branded mobile software and mobile Web sites. For more information visit http://www.punchkickinteractive.com or call (800) 549-4104.
About the WebAwards
The 11th annual international WebAwards competition sets the standard of excellence in 96 industry categories by evaluating Web sites and defining benchmarks based on the seven essential criteria of successful Web site development. The goal of the Web Marketing Association, sponsor of the WebAwards, is to provide a forum to recognize the people and organizations responsible for developing some of the most effective Web sites on the Internet today. Entrants benefit from a Web site assessment by a professional judging panel and the marketing opportunities presented to an award-winning Web site. For more information or to enter, visit www.07webaward.org.
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Cleveland Cavaliers advance to the NBA finals
I normally don’t go too off topic, but given that I was born and raised in Cleveland, I have to support my hometown. For the first time in history, the Cavaliers will advance the NBA Finals following a 98-82 win over the Pistons in Game 6 at The Q. The Cavs will travel to San Antonio to face the Spurs in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday, June 7th at 9:00.
This mobile marketing blog, Punchkick Interactive, is now available for download on EyeMags.com. I assume that most people reading this know what EyeMags.com is, but for those of you who don’t I’ll offer a brief description.
EyeMags is essentially a service that streamlines mobile blogging. With a simple download you can receive updated streams of any blog, or “mobile magazine” as they EyeMags would put it. The service does a pretty great job of presenting this content on a mobile device.
Learn more about Punchkick Interactive’s mobile Web site design capabilities.
We have released our Mobile Ocean ™ Flash Lite screensaver/wallpaper to Handago.com today. Mobile Ocean is the perfect cell phone screensaver/wallpaper for any marine lover. This product features seven tropical fish, four underwater scenes, and a digital clock.
Learn more about Punchkick Interactive’s mobile screensaver design capabilities.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.punchkickinteractive.com/content/handango/MobileOcean_DEMO.swf" width="176" height="208"/]
Detailed Product Features:
- Built using Adobe Flash Lite 1.1 technology
- Seven tropical fish swimming across four unique underwater scenes
- An ideal mobile wallpaper or screensaver
- Includes an AM/PM digital clock
- For maximum Symbian phone compatibility, five different .swf file sizes are included: 96×65, 128×160, 176×208, 176×220, and 240×320
Purchase Mobile Ocean here for $1.99.
Mobile Ocean is the property of Punchkick Interactive Inc. Copyright © 2006-2007. All rights reserved.
First let me preface this by saying that this trick currently is only support by Flash Player. Flash Lite does not support PNG-8 files with alpha made with Fireworks (Note that it may be a handset issue and not a Flash Lite issue). If you want to petition for this feature, feel free to comment and I will pass the “signatures” along.
I understand that you can create a PNG-8 image file with alpha transparency using Adobe Photoshop. However, those files are far more inferior than a PNG-8 image that is created using Fireworks. I will demonstrate why a Photoshop PNG-8 lags behind a Fireworks PNG-8 in the follow paragraphs.
First off, PNG-24 looks better than anything else, but the filesizes are much larger than any other format. The ideal goal would be to create a PNG-8 with alpha that looks like a PNG-24—Fireworks comes close. Both Adobe Photoshop and Fireworks allow you to save a PNG-8 file with alpha, however, a Fireworks PNG-8 lets you combine color data with alpha much like a PNG-24.
To get a clearer understanding of what I mean, create a file with Adobe Photoshop and set the background to transparent. Next, create a new layer—fill it with content—then blur it to death. You will have created pixel data that has both color and alpha transparency. Use the “Save For Web” dialog and notice the differences between the PNG-24 and the PNG-8. The PNG-8 will be much smaller, but look much worse than the PNG-24. Click the image to see a larger version—it shows what I mean.
Next, take that PNG-24 and import it into Fireworks. In the “Optimize” panel, match the settings that I used and select File >> Export. You will be exporting a 256 color, PNG-8 with alpha transparency (you may not even need all 256 colors).
Finally, review the different options for image files that use transparency. As you can see, the PNG-8 created with Fireworks looks almost exactly the same as the Photoshop PNG-24, however, it is less than 1/3 the file size. This method of creating PNG-8 files with alpha will benifit any Web designer that creates Flash Web sites or banners.
SMS campaign demonstration. Feedback requested.
We are experimenting with sending phones SMS messages based on actions within a Flash Lite movie. To test this, we have implimented a way for our visitors to sample an SMS campaign—simply type your mobile number in the form located at the top right of our blog. Use the following format: 12165261544 (country code + area code + local number). Unfortunately, we have not been able to test this on all carriers or outside of the United States. If you do test this, please comment on the success or failure of the text message delivery by including your country and cell phone carrier.
Thanks for your help!
Adobe CS3: CliffsNotes of New Features
It’s very exciting that the (INTEL NATIVE!) CS3 has been released. This is meant to highlight the major new features. Mainly, integration, integration, integration. I will be updating this as the presentation from Adobe goes on.
Photoshop Extended
Dreamweaver
Illustrator
Flash
Video Production
Device Central
NOW FOR THE PACKAGES:
Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium
Design content for today — and tomorrow — with Adobe® Creative Suite® 3 Design Premium software. Design Premium combines all-new versions of essential tools for professional page layout, image editing, illustration, and Adobe PDF workflows with new tools for creating engaging websites, interactive experiences, and mobile content.
Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium
Adobe® Creative Suite® 3 Web Premium software offers a complete solution for creating interactive websites, applications, user interfaces, presentations, mobile device content, and other digital experiences. Get everything you need to prototype your project, design assets, build web experiences, and efficiently maintain and update content. Work on your choice of Mac or Windows®.
Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection
Express your ideas in print, on the web, in film and video, and on mobile devices with Adobe® Creative Suite® 3 Master Collection software. Combines Adobe InDesign® CS3, Photoshop® CS3 Extended, Illustrator® CS3, Acrobat® 8 Professional, Flash® CS3 Professional, Dreamweaver® CS3, Fireworks® CS3, Contribute® CS3, After Effects® CS3 Professional, Adobe Premiere® Pro CS3, Soundbooth™ CS3, and Encore® CS3, and also includes Adobe Bridge CS3, Version Cue® CS3, Device Central CS3, Dynamic Link, Adobe OnLocation™ CS3 (Windows® only), and Ultra® CS3 (Windows only).
Links
http://www.adobe.com/creativelicense/
http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/launchevent/webcast/
http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/design/
http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/web/
http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/production/
http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/mastercollection/
