7:24 AM
Today should be a really good day. We’ve got another Keynote, the always great “Sneak Peeks” session later this evening, and of course, tonight’s the “Max Event”. Tonight we’re getting a concert and a party featuring “The Bravery“. I can’t wait for that, love the album and I love, love, love “Time Won’t Let Me Go”, so I’m really looking forward to tonight. So it’s going to be a long day/night. Today’s Keynote will also be available live at max.adobe.com/online, so you can watch along. I’ve heard that today’s Keynote is going to be pretty big, and there was an obvious absence (at least for me) of developer content. No Ben Forta, No ColdFusion, No Flex, and only a brief mention of codename “Edge”. So I’m hopeful that today will have more code, less Martha Stewart (don’t get me wrong, Martha’s not all bad, but I’m not into grouse). My sessions today are going to be really terrific and I’m especially looking forward to the one titled, “The Future of Advertising”. I mean, with a title like that, how could you not be curious?
Well, my first session begins in about an hour, and I’ve got a nice walk ahead of me, so I’m gonna go get ready and head downstairs. More coming!
8:23 AM
Whoa. Why didn’t anyone tell me Starbucks’ “Perfect Oatmeal” was so… well… perfect? They give you a little pack of brown sugar (more than I would ever use), a great little pack of dried fruit (they even tell you how many calories… I love that!), it’s a perfect portion, and dammit, it’s delicious! I’ve been getting beaten over the head and robbed at the hotel just to get a bowl of oatmeal. To hell with that, I’m eating Starbucks from now on.
Sitting in “Using Web Fonts Now” eating my oatmeal. Here’s the description from my schedule:
Discover how you can finally use real fonts on the web. Broad browser support for CSS with @font-face brings a new era of web typography, but that’s only the beginning. New technical hurdles, new font formats, and new licensing restrictions need to be considered. Come learn about the latest tools and techniques for navigating this landscape and for using web fonts to their fullest potential in your design and development projects.
I know, sounds cool, right? Well, we’re getting ready to begin, so I’ll fill you in when I’m done.
I love the music they're playing. Any Keynote that starts with Jay-Z and Kanye is instantly a great Keynote.
10:02 AM
Keynote Day 2. The Music is MUCH better today. There’s buzz about today, but I don’t know what the buzz is about. I’m hoping today is more “developer-centric”. Yesterday was great. Set the tone for the conference, broadly focused, and very positive. I’d like today’s Keynote to drill down a little bit more and go into a little more detail about Adobe’s roadmap. As I sit here typing this, I suddenly realized I haven’t heard the word, “ColdFusion” mentioned by anyone at the conference since I got here. That’s not really hyperbole, that’s just a pretty straightforward observation. I’m not sure how that leaves me feeling, but I’m hoping they do more than talk about it over the next hour or so.
As an aside, the web-fonts session I just left was great. I still feel like a lot of what we’re talking about, design-wise, isn’t quite there yet in terms of audience (CSS3, HTML5, Webfonts and compatible browsers) but we’re getting there, and I feel like it’s a great time to be a developer-designer. There are a lot of tools out there enabling a much richer experience and they’re rapidly gaining traction in ways I haven’t seen in years. It’s a great time to be a… well… whatever I am.
1:30 PM
Well, the day two Keynote was pretty interesting. We started off talking about Adobe Customer Service. Apparently it’s bad. Lots of talk about “Flash and HTML being friends” and how we can all share. There was even a Sesame Street Muppet Spoof featuring “Flash” and “HTML” as puppets who fought (but were really good friends). It was kind of to be expected. I mean the assault on the senses the last few months have definitely put Adobe on the defensive, and… well… it showed a little. A little overcompensation, a little bit defensive… but all worthwhile. It really is a big world, with a lot of screens and a lot of places to put your stamp on an experience. Adobe is well positioned for content creators, creative development, and overall development. It doesn’t have to be Flash, and it’s obvious Adobe sees that.
4:30 PM
“The Future of Advertising” was good if only for the fact that hearing other people reinforce your ideas and philosophies is always nice. Lots of talk about collaboration, flattening the structure of your agency, partnering with the client, etc. If you’ve been in advertising for even 30 minutes, you’re already keenly aware of the “change or die” mantra in advertising that’s permeating all levels of the discourse. Agencies are in the midst of a serious revolution. A revolution in process, a revolution in execution, a revolution in accountability… all the while trying to eek out billing and revenues. It’s a scary time for some, and exciting time for others. I’m glad I sat in on it. I did walk out thinking to myself, “okay, that’s good, we’re on the right track…”.
6:30 PM
Okay, I can’t make it to the sneaks session. Yeah, yeah, I know, Spock is there… etc. But over the years, I’ve kinda grown tired of the Sneak Peeks. I realize it’s a peek into new, cutting edge technologies, but my head can’t go there. I’ve got enough “cutting edge” right here, thankyouverymuch. I think instead I’m going to rest here at the hotel, go downstairs and get something to eat right here without walking around or going anywhere, then come back upstairs and relax before I head over to the Bash. I’m old. I can’t go, go, go with the energy of a teenager anymore, so I’m not even gonna try…lol.
