13 Jan 2011

So long iPad

After long period of consideration I decided to sell the iPad. It is a
great device, no doubt. Still it was not for me.

It became apparent on my last big trip to LA. I was traveling with a
MacBook Pro, the iPad, and a phone. It was just too much. I like to
travel light. And to have two computer like devices (almost 3) it
seems like overkill.

Last year when the iPad came out I suppose I was caught up in the the
fever and got rid of a perfectly good iPod Touch to get the "pad". I
had fun with it, and it was a great thing. But just to have it ...
seemed like a waste. The only thing I did with it was read email and
play Angry Birds. Still the weight and size of it made it less than
portable.

So, I reverted. I sold the iPad to a co-worker who needed one for the
holidays and I got some cash. I had a moment where I though about
getting the new MacBook Air, but again, another computer? I have one,
thanks. Therefore, I got a new 32 gb iPod Touch.

I love it. It fits in my pocket. One thing the iPad will never be is
small and I like small. Getting on a plane I can slip it in my shirt
pocket and off I go. No more struggling on the plane to get it out and
balance bags and spill stuff out everywhere. I can watch movies,
listen to podcasts, play a few games, all in a nice tidy package with
no monthly fee.

Plus, it takes videos and photos! Yippee! I am most pleased with it. I
feel like I can once again live up to my Twitter handle
"IntoTheTouch".

5 May 2010

Adobe vows the "best" HTML5 tools

This is really encouraging news. I had just commented yesterday about the need for an IDE. I hope Adobe can do this!

http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/05/05/adobe.says.wont.ignore.html5.for.flash/

4 May 2010

Killing Flash: Throwing the baby out with the bathwater

This is frustrating. I continue to hear "Flash Sucks", and "there is no good reason for Flash" on podcasts and blogs. I understand many of the arguments, but there are still cases that still stick with me that need to be addressed.

LACK OF SUPPORT:
As a Flash developer, I still have not yet seen any tool that can touch the speed and capability I have right now with Flash. I tried to find some examples of HTML5 animations to look at. First things first; they don't run in all browsers. As I write this neither Firefox nor IE support it. Remember folks, some users cannot switch browsers such as those working in government offices.

EFFECTIVE TOOLS:
Again, I can set down and draw shapes and animate them at a moments notice. I am productive and can deliver products back to my client in a timely manner. Perhaps in a few years we will see a convergence or evolution of the tools we have now to those that can produce HTML5 code. But until then, I cannot take backward steps to hand code and deliver substandard animations that only work in certain browsers.

MOBILE DEVICES ONLY?:
Another small but related point has to do with mobile devices. With these you want as small a code footprint as possible. But many folks don't realize is you cannot lump all users into a mobile category. All of my users are basically forbidden from using anything but a hardwired connections.

THE BOTTOM LINE AS I SEE IT:
Sure, Apple has interest in non-Flash web. Sure, it is to their advantage. This way they won't have to support Flash. AT&Ts network "might" run faster due to less bandwidth and hence iPhone will load faster. However, not all users run iPhones. The business user setting at their desktop needs power and resources offered in a timely manner.

I hope Adobe does take the forefront in transitioning Flash (the authoring tool) into an HTML5 IDE. I bet it will happen. Lastly, for the sake of us still making a living how about we agree to use different language like "evolve" or "transition". Again, I understand HTML5 is the future, but here and now some of us depend on Flash for needs here and now. That is why all this talk scares me. All it takes in one person of power to hear "kill Flash" and make a bad decision based upon an incomplete understanding of the ramifications. By doing this they may end up "throwing the baby out with the bath water".

PS: I just bought an iPad 3G and I really like it. It's true!

13 Apr 2010

The Flash Wars, begun they have.

With all due respect to "Yoda" (and Lucasfilm LTD. Inc. etc ... ) Wow. What a week. Apple is putting down Adobe. Adobe tries to release new software. People continue to criticize Flash. All for what? Because Flash won't run on the iPhone OS? Because Apple is blocking Adobe from authoring iPhone OS apps?
 
I hope those fans of both companies take a higher ground. No, I am not going to get rid of my MacBook Pro. No, I am not going to give up my Flash Professional software. I love them both. If you are in my situations 95% of my audience uses Windows anyway. Do I care if Flash won't work on the iPad? No. That is not my audiance. I suppose if it were I would care, but my client is too big to change to something like the "Pad".
 
So, a word of advice for Flash developers; don't fret. There are still a billion machines out there that "will" run your code. In the meantime, I am getting an iPad ... just for fun.
31 Mar 2010

iPad 3G is for me

I love my iPod Touch. it has given me years of faithful service. I
started my twitter account to brag about my love for this device. So,
when the iPad came out it seemed like the next logical step for the
touch interface to go.

However, a bigger question loomed over me when considering an iPad
purchase. Do I go WiFi or 3G? For some in the tech community there was
little hesitation. They want the WiFi version. The reason seems to be
because these folks already pay for a data plan (via iPhone or MiFi).
I have neither.

I have a philosophy that bars me from having such devices. Mostly
because I do not want to make perpetual payments to have a device
connected all the time. I spend a lot of time in front of a computer.
The only time I need a constant connection outside work or home is on
vacation or on a business trip (and even then I usually stay at a
hotel with free Internet).

Therefore, I will be getting the 3G iPad. I can enable the 3G when I
need it, or use WiFi when not. That way I can control the spending. I
wanted a pay-as-needed plan and Apple seems to be delivering. I think
it is great, at least for me anyway.

30 Mar 2010

Why "kill flash" talk is short sighted

In recent months there has been an uproar to "kill flash". It appears
this uproar is mostly due to Apple's resistance to allowing Adobe's
Flash plugin to work on the iPad/Phone/Pod. I am standing with a foot
on both sides of this issue. I love Apple products and am a
stockholder. However, I am also a Flash developer. So, I wanted to
make a few points about Flash and how all this talk worries me.

Let me first make clear that could care less if the iPad runs Flash or
not. I will get one regardless. My fear is this groundswell of people
jumping on statements from Apple about Flash and making the assumption
it is not needed. Sure, I can agree that when it comes to video H.264
is nice and Adobe even gives some avenues to encoding video this way.
A bigger issue to me is the lack of a real mature way to make vector
based animation. I have seen some samples using HTML5, but nothing
that can touch what I have been able to make in Flash Professional.

Right here, right now a designer can be productive and very creative
with Flash. We have created many animations that help explain some
rather technical procedures. I am not talking about relying on Flash
for some funky navigation or being the front end of a website (both of
which I agree is a mistake) but using Flash animations to explain a
process or procedure. I will give one example. We have a client who
wants to show how a water softener works. We made an animation that
shows how it works using Flash's vector based drawing tools.

To code such an animation in HTML5 is going to take a lot of coding
and time that some of us cannot invest right now. I am sure there will
come a day when an IDE will allow us to code HTML5 animations as
easily as Flash does now. However, until that day some of us cannot go
"cold turkey" and "kill Flash".

So, can we agree there will be a transition to HTML5? Clients and
folks I work with may see buzzing about killing Flash and not see the
bigger picture. Cool the bad mouthing Flash a bit. OK? I, for one,
will welcome a better solution ... as soon as it becomes usable.

26 Aug 2009

The return of the blog

I was listening to This Week In Tech (TWiT) and Leo Laporte said something that really hit home for me. In a nutshell, he made a statement that there will be a return to "the blog". His comment included an interesting statement that people were putting a lot of effort into microblogs and are not able to retain some of that content. I can see that. I have used Twitter for about a year, but I found it lacking real "depth". It is pretty shallow in what it can do. 

I don't know if that was my reasoning. However, I will say that Posterous was a big reason for my return to blogging. I heard about it through Leo's podcast and through Andy Ihnatko's postings as well. Posterous makes posting so easy. Still, the big value added is it's ability to add rich media content easily. So, even before Leo's comment, I fully credit Posterous for bringing me back to blogging. (Disclaimer: I don't work for Posterous, but I like their stuff.)

In closing, I wanted to thank Posterous for bringing me back to blogging. I left blogging behind because it was too tough to simply get a jpeg to show up in my previous blog. Now, no worries. I just compose an email, attach the image and off it goes. Thanks Posterous!

Jon Stepro's Space

"A place for my stuff"
- Credit to George Carlin

About me ...
- Web / Multimedia Developer
- iPod Touch / Android User
- Automobile Enthusiast

Likes ...
- Technology
- Top Gear
- Joe Satriani
- Golf

User of ...
- Adobe ColdFusion
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Flash
- Adobe Premiere