Now that the windows version is finally out I've managed to install it and pointed it directly at my huge (I consider it huge) collection of pictures. I've got about 4000 of them being somewhere around 20 gigs or so. Lightroom did manage to go through them all and dispaly them, but it took a while.
Now, is it just me or does Adobe's Lightroom just not fill a void that isn't there? I think if it is going to replace Bridge somehow (Bridge is very slow for me) then it would be neat but it doesn't seem to do much other than organize pics. Another item, and I don't mean this as an insult to the designers and developers on the project, but it looks and feels like it was built in Flash. The text isn't crisp, it moves sluggishly and in general feels like a Flash application.. hard to expain, but that's definitely the first thing that went through my mind.
All in all, I suppose it's a useful app, but it's going to need to do more than what it seems to do for me to take me away from Photoshop and Bridge. I like the fact that I can do quite a bit in just those two programs and then it also all just nicely integrates with Premiere and After Effects (even though I'm having problems with AE7 right now...).
Ah well, maybe once it makes it a bit farther along in development I'll check it out again.
I've installed AE pro 7 on two computers and for both of them (completely different systems) AE throws an error when closing it.
The only thing that is the same about these computers is that they are both Win XP pro and they are the Japanese version.
I bought what I thought was the English version of Production Studio, installed EVERYTHING selecting English for everything and it's all installed in Japanese.... absolute garbage if you ask me. Why even ask what language you want if it's just going to install the language that the OS is in?? So in AE you can change the language by adding "-L EN" onto the end of the exe command to run the file and it will run in English. When I do this for both computers AE will constantly close with an error in windows. Running the programs in Japanese don't have this problem when closing though.. it's very weird.
Does anybody know the solution? It's annoying and I'd like it to go away. I've searched Adobe's site.. but like MM's site in the past, it's relatively useless for weird problems like this. Lots of general information on troubleshooting though.
I've just finished reading the book "Don't Make Me Think!" by Steve Krug today. I'd have to say that if you haven't read this book and you are into anything to do with web design or application design and development this would be a good read.
The book is short and to the point, I read it in 2 days casually, and covers quite a bit of thoughts and theory on what is good and bad about usablity on the web.
A lot of the items in the book made me nod my head in agreement and every once in a while I had to say, "hey, that's right!" kind of realizing something I didn't really think about before. The good thing is that I have so much diverse experience to draw from in that I do understand what the author is talking about and not just going to be applying the information found in this book in future sites and applications. But the examples in this book sure made me go back and think on the solutions that we used for certain sites and where we could have improved.
If you have a few bucks and are looking for a book to help you see some more views on usablity on the web and online applications etc, then I think this is a pretty good book. To the point, no delays, no superficial crap to read through like a lot of books out there and it's short so it doesn't take too much time to get through.
All in all it gets an 8 out of 10 from me :)
But this is just hilarious... too funny. You keep wondering what is left and where it's going to go etc. funny funny funny...
Here it is, a telemarketers nightmare? (via feed squirrel)
This is definitely worth reading if you are into flash video and streaming it out to your users/clients/customers etc. A new article on Adobe's Developer Center in the Flash Media Server Developer Center by Fabio Sonnati.
I've noticed a couple of items that irk me concerning MAX2006.
First up is the lack of sessions concerning Flash Media Server 2. Although I can't really say I'm too surprised because lately Adobe has just not even been trying to push FMS to the masses. There have been a couple of good big dollar items they've been working on and getting out, all concerning video of course, but for the community it's just been a serious lack of commitment for some reason. I'm guessing it's from a lack of time etc, but still... It's odd in a way because it's such a cool cool technology. It sure would be nice to see a bit more energy going FMS's way in the conferences and seminars.
The second item is the issue concerning the non payment nor reimbursement of travelling and lodging expenses. There are a couple of guys that blogged about it, Guy and Aral so far, and they bring up a good point in that if Adobe is charging 1000 bucks a head to have people come and listen to the speakers.. why not pay the speakers? No speakers no attendees right?
But on the flip side there are a lot of people out there that would present for free. Some will do it because they believe in the conference as a great idea or feeling etc, others will do it for their portfolio, that in itself is great payment to some. Others do it for a bit of fame, experience, fun, and whatnot.
This is most noticeable in WebDU in Australia run by Geoff Bowers and Daemon. I've been twice and wouldn't think for a second not to go again if invited on my own dime (if I have the money..). They pay NOTHING to the speakers, but you get treated very well, it's not a major corporate hand out tons of business cards, make all the contacts, lets-all-make-lots-of-money style of conference. WebDU is definitely the coolest conference I've been to so far and I've managed to make some very good friends there. I really like their style. I'm quite apalled that Aral has put WebDU in the same boat as MAX.. they are not even remotely close. Has Aral even been? Shame on you.
Back on topic on that though, I don't agree that Adobe can't afford to get the speakers there, or at least provide accomodation. Such a HUGE corporation should be doing these things for the community, and if that requires "supporting" the speakers, then so be it. Such is the way of the bean counter I suppose. It's just not worth it enough for them I guess. I'll never understand the workings into that.
Here's a good one that I've actually answered quite well in one of my presentations that are online.
The question: How do you use FMS2.0 to detect which version of Flash and then what FLV file to play depending on users connection
speed?
The answer:
To start off, there are 2 things that need to be done about this, first you need to figure out the bandwidth of the user. You can find out how to do that from this article on Adobe's site from Stefan Richter of Flashcomguru.
Next up is the key to getting the right FLV to a user with minimal setup and future maintenance. Use virtual keys. Rather than explain it in detail again in this post, here is a link to the presentation and you can follow the links to the presentation files that have an example on how to use virtual keys with FMS2.
I will quickly note though what you will be looking for in the preso and the files. You need to do the following:
1. Set the virtual stream directories and keys for each type of user you think you'll have. This is done in the XML setup files for FMS2.
2. Figure out the bandwidth of the client, once you know that you set the virtual key for the client
3. Then just play the FLV file and FMS2 will figure on which FLV file it should play based on the virtual key of the user.
Also now with FMS2, you can detect the users flash version and automatically set the users virtual key, but in this case we need to also check bandwidth. This means we have to manually set the key. But keep in mind it is possible to have FMS do everything for you if all you are trying to do is test the flash player version.
It's that easy thanks to the new functionality in FMS2. I hope that helps.