Pocket Flash

Youtube video of Google’s CEO Eric Schindt schwiped straight from abduzeedo, check it here.

I think if Adobe can nail a realistic distribution model for Flash Lite apps that would enable developers to get content out there, then Flash developers (and by that I mean Flash, Flash Lite, Flex and AIR) can really define “web 3.0″ apps in the way Eric mentions in this video. I’ve always thought that Ruby on Rails and Flash (of any sort) make absolutely beautiful partnership for developing RIAs as Rails offers a low entry for such a powerful set of technologies.

On another, note Flash has always been synonymous with viral marketing and as I truly believe, Flash Lite one day find itself hand in hand with mobile and therefore viral marketing.

WURFL integrates Flash Lite capabilities, taken from Biskero.org

“So… What is WURFL?
The WURFL is an XML configuration file which contains information about capabilities and features of many mobile devices.” WURFL

From £799 to £1,450 with memory up to 4GB and a hard drive up to 1TB, it’s going to be easier to justify than the 8-core 3.0GHz G5 Mac Pro I’ve been hankering after. And at least half the price.

Seven months ago I got really excited about the iPhone, I still am just not as much. I watched the keynotes and and like most of us drooled over the idea of a phone that might actually work the way you would imagine it to. However I did notice something that put me off, even then, no Flash plugin icon. At the time I guessed as much as Mr Jobs seemed to dodge the question when asked directly stating that youtube would be available. Well a lot of time has passed, enough time to re-encode the whole of youtube to Quicktime anyway. And enough time for Adobes‘ Bill Perry to stand in a 12 hour line for his very own iPhone, before finding out the hard way that there’s no support for Flash.

I’ve been playing around with WiiFlash and Papervision 3D for a little while, partly because they’re the coolest projects I’ve seen in quite a while, and partly as I may be able to squeeze both of them simultaneously into a very interesting project.

Papervision 3D now has a couple of components for Flash CS3 which make life a little easier, the API is written beautifully enough to be able to render things like this controllable X-wing with just a few lines of code. The integration of the WiiFlash API with Papervision 3D is a match made in heaven. The access to more obvious properties and methods like pitch, roll and rotation allows you to get a 3D object onto your screen in no time, but it’s the depth of the engine behind it all that really interests me. The more I play with the two technologies the more I want to see how far I can push them together and develop something truly interactive.

It’s no secret that I love multi-touch technology, it’s one of the few things I like about the iPhone. After playing with WiiFlash and Papervision 3D for a little while, it dawned on me that I could create a variant of a multi-touch system using multiple wiimotes. I could include gestural movements to perform commands similar to those in Microsofts’ Surface but have the ability to create 3D interactive environments that map your every movement rather than just tapping on a flat 2D (so to speak) screen.

I’ve been asked by the BBC to create a slideshow application for their 14 foot ‘Big Screens’, which is where my thoughts where when I came up with some of these ideas. Multi-touch is great, but it’s limited by size and by your own reach. How great would it be to stand in front of a 14 x 9 foot screen waving two wiimotes around, controlling all manner of interactive applications. Hopefully I’ll be able to let you know one day, for now here’s my first attempt at controlling a 3D X-wiing spining around at the flick of a wrist.