Facebook Flash and Flex

I've been talking to the folks from Weekend Apps over the past few days, and they are getting 100 or so developers together in Santa Clara next weekend, February 22 to 24th, to build 20 Facebook apps in less than 3 days.

And since I'm biased, I think its very cool that Alex Notov will be presenting on how to use Flex to build a Facebook application. Adobe is helping out by providing some giveaways - one Creative Suite bundle (the winner of the suite can choose between Design Premium, Web Premium or Production Premium) and 2 copies of Flex Builder 3 (when it ships).

If you want to learn more, or happen to be in the Bay Area and want to join these guys, you can join their Facebook group, or visit WeekendApps.com.

For me, I'm just looking forward to seeing the apps at the end of the weekend.

The RIA universe is ever expanding

Once again, apologies for being quiet for so long on this blog. But there is so much exciting stuff going on right now that I had to stop for a second and make sure I shared the news with anyone who reads this blog, just in case you didn't hear about this anywhere else.

First, earlier today, O'Reilly and Adobe launched a new site called InsideRIA.com. This new community site covers all things RIA, including Flex, Flash, AIR, and AJAX. Rich Tretola is the editor and Andre Charland is the lead blogger. I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

Secondly, in the past few months, we've expanded the Adobe team that works with the development community. Specifically, we've added three new team members to spend a lot of time supporting Adobe RIA developers. The team is comprised or Raghu Rao, Anirudh Sasikumar, and Sujit Reddy Gurrala. All of them have great blogs, so you may want to pay them a visit. And if you haven't seen them online responding to technical questions on the wide range of forums and lists, then I'm sure you soon will.

Lastly, if you haven't heard about it already, the Adobe evangelism and product teams are hitting the road, bring the latest news about AIR and Flex to user group near you. The tour is underway already but there are a lot more events coming up. Check out the schedule at http://flex.org/tour/

- Jonathan

Did You Know...vol. 3

Back with more news and notes from the Adobe community as we feverishly make last minute preparations in advance of Adobe MAX Chicago that begins on September 30.

Ok, on to the tidbits...did you know that:

• Adobe just announced an offer to receive 30 free days of online Flex training through Total Training! All you need to do is create a Total Training acct if you do not already have one and then follow the instructions listed on the offer page. This offer runs until December 31, 2007, so don't delay...sign up now!
  
• The Adobe product forums will be down on Sunday and Monday (Sept 23 & 24) as they are undergoing a major renovation and will be re-launched with a new look and feel. The re-launch is scheduled for Tuesday, September 25. Additional details may be seen here.
  
• Every wonder if an application that you come across is a Flex app or not? Well don't wonder anymore...use James Ward's handy "Is it Flex" application! All you need to do is enter the URL a URL to a SWF and submit your query to find out!

OK, that's all for now...enjoy!

Ed Sullivan