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Recording Video with Adobe AIR 2.5 on an Android device
Posted by on 7 November , 2010
In this example we will develop a simple mobile AIR application that let the user capture some video with the built in Camera application, and bring the video back into the AIR application. Accessing one camera is a cool new feature in Adobe AIR 2.5.
Setting up your working environment
What I really like about Adobe AIR 2.5 mobile development is that the tools (Adobe Flash CS5 or Flash Builder Burrito) give you the possibility to immediately test on a real USB connected device. At adobe MAX 2010 a few weeks ago we all got a brand new Motorola Droid 2 device so that will be my testing device. When I first played with the telephone I had some problems in running the pre- installed AIR applications. It seemed that in some way the Adobe AIR plugin was not correctly installed. But no problem, I went to the Android market, downloaded and installed Adobe AIR again. Then I was able to run the installed AIR applications (Gravity Lander, GridShock,…) which is cool.
So first step is to make sure your mobile device runs Adobe AIR 2.5. You can install AIR 2.5 on Android devices running Android 2.2 (Froyo).
Next step is to make sure that your device is connected to your computer. For more information on connecting your Android devices to your computer look into this guide: Connect your Android device to your computer
You also have to make sure that your mobile device is configured well. You have to set USB-debugging on, turn off mass storage mode and enable charge mode. For more information also go to the above URL.
Next step is to check that your mobile device is on the same wireless network so it is able to connect to the debugger. If you are on Windows (7, Vista, XP) make sure to disable your firewall because port 7935 must be open to make a connection between your device and your computer. Also install the necessary USB driver for your mobile device. There are some USB device drivers preinstalled when you install Flash Builder Burrito (Google Nexus One, Motorolla Droid, HTC Incredible,…)
Checking if CameraUI is supported
Let’s go ahead by setting up a new ActionScript Mobile Project in Flash Builder Burrito and in the document class we have to check if our device actually supports the Camera. It is a best practice that when you use specific features of a mobile device you always do a check first to see if that feature is supported.
SMART TV – the TV of the future ?
Posted by on 5 November , 2010
I am the person that not watches a lot of TV, mostly because I am always buzy with other interesting stuff but maybe it also has to do with the fact that I still have a very small oldschool TV in my house 
. It looks more or less like in following picture:
Image 1 : Not so SMART TV
I still like my TV but there is finally a reason that I am more interested in TV ever than before. That is because Samsung is doing really great stuff the last year with the introduction of Samsung apps. And recently (at Adobe MAX) Samsung announced that application development with Adobe AIR 2.5 will be possible very very soon…
Welcome to the world of SMART TV
Image 2: Samsung Smart TV
From TV to Internet Connected TV to SMART TV
TVs are getting smarter and that is a good thing. I think TVs want to be a little bit like phones 
We saw it evolving with phones the last years and now it all is happening with TVs. Samsung is a great example in how they make their TVs smarter. Samsung has always been innovative (Touch of Color, LEDTV, 3D,…) Samsung apps is the latest innovation Samsung did to make the TV smarter.
In 2008 they started with Infolink which was the first internet connected TV made by Samsung. You could watch simple information like stock quotes, weather,… In 2009 they added Yahoo widgets and later in 2009 they added full HD video streaming. This year in 2010 they introduced their full application model called Samsung Apps. This opens a lot of opportunities for consumers but also for us, the developers !
Samsung believes that to the end of 2010 17% of all TVs will be SMART TVs. And they go even further by forecasting 70% in 2014 ! This is really great if it all comes true .
The market is growing very fast because Samsung also build in Samsung Apps to all his blue- ray players, all his home theatre systems and 80% of 40″+ TVs.
Not yet in their fridges but maybe that is something they think about for the future Yeah actually it would be cool to have an AIR enabled fridge
Applications
If we look to the apps that we can see 5 different categories :
- information : google maps ,…
- gaming : Texas Holdem Poker,…
- social media : facebook, twitter,…
- video : hulu, netflix, skype,…
- kids : lot of kids content…
If we make an app for Samsung then we need some support from Samsung also to get it distributed. Well , actually Samsung does a lot of effort in providing us a big audience, an open platform (as open as possible) and a simple process to develop apps.
One cool thing to know is that Samsung made a commitment to give some money to developers who make a TV application. They offer ….$500,000 in Prizes which is very nice !
The contest is called Free the TV and if you live in the USA it ends in 6 days so you will need to hurry if you want to catch some money .
More information on http://www.freethetvchallenge.com/:
Image 3: Smart TV Challenge USA
If you live in Europe, there is still some time (+-1 month) for the same contest: More information on http://www.samsungsmarttvchallenge.eu :
Image 4: SMART TV Challenge EU
To make sure we have a big audience, Samsung also put a lot of effort in promoting Samsung apps in TV ads like you can see in following video:
To develop applications for Samsung right now you can use JavaScript/XML (Ajax) or Flash Lite 3.1.
But Samsung announced at Adobe MAX that they will support Adobe AIR 2.5 in their devices and that is fantastic news! They will release more information on developing Samsung Apps in the next upcoming months.
Another cool thing to know about the Samsung app model is that you have the power to decide how much you charge for you app, where you want to launch (territories) and what devices you want to be on.
To start you have to register at the Samsung developer forum. Following picture shows the general workflow when building an application:
Image 5: Samsung developer forum
The URL for the developer forum where you can download the Samsung Apps SDK is located at http://www.samsungdforum.com .
When you submit your application there will be a Samsung QA process. This is just to check if you followed eg the UX guidelines etc… (which are available also at the Samsung developer forum). After your application is published you will be able to find reporting and analytics in the Samsung Apps Seller Office which will be launched early 2011.
I actually can’t wait to start developing AIR applications for TV and when I start developing I know for sure that my old TV goes to the second hand store and a brand new Samsung will be standing in my living room.
I want watch my applications from my sofa and yes I think SMART TV is the way to go
Acrobat.com updates : Adobe SendNow, Adobe CreatePDF
Posted by on 5 November , 2010
The update to the Acrobat.com hosted platform last night has introduced 2 really awesome services and new features for everyone :
Adobe SendNow is designed for sending very large files to anyone with an email address – you can upload the files from your web browser, and via the Share Pane in Acrobat X and Reader X, and they sit on the SendNow servers temporarily while your recipient(s) download them, before being automatically deleted. The basic free account allows sending of files up to 100MB, and the paid services extend that to 2GB (1GB for Mac). Your recipients can download the file multiple times, and you can set yourself up for notifications when they do.
Image 1: Adobe SendNow, new Acrobat.com service by Adobe
Adobe CreatePDF is an online virtual printer service, allowing you to create PDF files from within your web browser or directly from Adobe Reader X, as well as combine files together. It’s not of course as fully-featured as Adobe Acrobat, but it allows users with the free Reader software to create Adobe-distilled PDFs on demand from anywhere.
Image 2: Adobe CreatePDF, new Acrobat.com service by Adobe
All the Acrobat.com services, including the existing platform and the all-new Adobe SendNow and Adobe CreatePDF services, are open to subscribers from everywhere in the world as of now (was not in the past). Most people, no matter where they are, will now be able to purchase the premium accounts and benefit from the new and enhanced features. When you subscribe to the enhanced account, you are allowed for more workspaces, more entrants in ConnectNow rooms, and more storage space.
Of course you can still use the free basic account
