While i can’t read Russian, that didn’t stopped me from painting the Brahma van at improvise.ru.

You visit a place so many times that you just don’t notice what is changing under the hoods. While checking my video channel i was intrigued with what seemed a resize button …

Well, to my amazement I was quite surprised to find that the video player at YouTube (not at the embedded videos) now has full screen capabilities:

I really don’t know if this has been around for long, or if it has anything to do with the recent Apple TV deal, but i can’t help wondering if Google isn’t preparing the ground for a Joost killer, if the rumors of YouTube video content encoded with H.264 are true.

On the tech side, this feature is only available since the release of Adobe Flash Player 9. So don’t bother to check if you still have an older version (you’re probably one of the few 17%).

Since 2004, i’ve attended OFFF at Barcelona. This year, having met/seen most of the speakers, i’ve decided to skip this event and focus a on more diverse subjects (maybe @media 2007 or Let’s Interact). I’m glad i did it since most of the talks are now available through Nice to Meet You and BD4D at http://ntmy.org/offf2007/.

If you’re into Post-Digital Creation Culture, Flash or Interactive development watch some of the panels by renowned names such as Craig Swann, Joshua Davis and Neville Brody (above) or the brilliant folks from North Kingdom.

Despite the latest flaming between Apollo and Silverlight, Microsoft is still very much in love with Flash, or so it seems with the Halo-esque website for VisualStudio.

It’s all bells and whistles, zigs and zags, and lots of flash video. If you don’t mind watching a bunch of MS engineers with the usual evangelizing BS,  go check it out. I only enjoyed the Halo videos - some of them are actually fun.

So here’s one more argument for web standards purists: MTV has just dropped their previous Flash website !
Tip from UxMag

As someone who came from a Flash background, it’s interesting to see how companies are choosing XHTML when it comes to creating communities or managing too much content. It’s not that it can’t be done in Flash (RoadRunner comes to mind) , it’s just that it becomes quite hard to find the resources (time and people, mostly) and deliver a flexible website. For shorter websites with less content, and more focused on experience, i still think that nothing beats Flash.

As the latest USA Today social revamp showed (increasing in 380% the number of registrations), when you connect to your audience the way they talk to each other, the reward is swift. Teenagers, now used to blogs and MySpace, are no longer into Flashy websites with large pre-loading times and lack of social features. Welcome to Web 2.0, MTV.

Oh, forget the post title - it’s not validating. But it’s a start.

Enter the art of screaming at kahrashin.com, an ancient discipline that began in 1900 in Tibet.

The viral movement from EA digital to recruit Kah Ra Shin fans began this week, and lead gamers to an interactive experience where you find all the tips to calm your inner self through screaming. Or better yet, to unleash aggression by playing Burnout.

Have fun with live recording of your own scream, practice with the video lessons or leave your own testimonial as a Kah Ra Shin disciple.

Information overload is consuming us. And if you need to sort out a way to deal with a ton of RSS feeds and constant Instant Messages, then maybe the next Trillian is for you.

Codenamed Trillian Astra, and available for alpha testing, the new messaging client from Cerullean Studios has a impressive roll of features:

• Web based chat
• Cross platform (Mac/PC)
• Interoperability (integrates MSN, Yahoo, MSN, AIM, Gtalk, MySpace)
• Ubiquitous contact list (download on login)
• Open protocol
• SecureIM encryption
• Widgets integration
• RSS news bar
• Instant skin change (no restart required)
• Memory usage and leaks reduced

Kevin Kurtz has a screencast where he showcases the new technology:

The application is based on the new Flash Player 9 (not Apollo), being one of the finest examples of RIA i’ve seen lately. Altough i haven’t used Trillian for ages (in Linux i use Gaim, and on XP the standalone IMs) i’m curious to see how this little Flash gem will face the competition, specially the web ones like UserPlane.

For the Flashers out there, MediaBox has recorded sessions of day 1 and 2 of Adobe MAX 2006.

Among other subjects, you can watch:

• Flash Player 9 penetration
• Adobe Apollo forecasts
• New software releases from Adobe
• Integration between Adobe and Macromedia products
• Porting Flash Player to PS3
• The Max Awards
• Flash Mobile and Flash Lite opportunities

(Via Biskero)

From http://www.moock.org/blog/archives/000201.html
Quote: Jon Gay and Robert Tatsumi (the creators of Flash) have teamed up with Gary Grossman (the creator of ActionScript) and Peter Santangeli (former vice president of engineering at Macromedia) to create a new start up company named Software As Art. So far, no public information on the new company’s products or services is available. Looks like for now, we’ll all just have to wait and see what these Flash pioneers get up to.
Posted by moock at November 8, 2006 06:35 AM

Will we have a new “Art Player” ?