"A delicious blend of eleven herbs and spices."
You’re flipping. Then you see it, and you stop dead in your tracks. You can’t flip anymore, and you have to watch the rest of it… every time you come across it.
For me, it’s always “Goodfellas”, “Casino”, “Open Range”, or to a lesser extent, 80′s movies like, “Pretty in Pink”, “Sixteen Candles”, or “Saint Elmo’s Fire”.
Don’t judge me.
Is there a name for these movies? “Flip Stoppers” seems a bit contrived… but oddly appropriate.
What are yours? And what do you call them?
So I downloaded Hype from the Apple App store last week. I only just got around to playing with it this weekend and I thought I’d jot down a few thoughts. If you’re running Safari or Chrome, take a minute to check out the home page. I made the little slideshow there in about ten minutes Sunday night playing around with it. I didn’t browse any of the video tutorials, not because I was trying to avoid them, but because when I opened the program for the first time, I wasn’t really trying to do anything with it. I just wanted to see what the interface was like, how it worked, what the palettes looked like, etc. However, it was only a minute or two into it before I said, “hmmm… lemme go about looking for how to set the stage size…” then, “hey, that was easy enough… now let’s import an image or two…”. I had already read a review that mentioned setting up a slideshow was as simple as transitioning between “scenes”, so I began by looking for a way to import images into different scenes, which turned out to be pretty easy. By then I was about 3 or 4 minutes into it and had all my images imported, all my scenes created and named. All that was left was to start playing around with transitions and trying to figure out how to move between scenes to get the effect I was looking for, which was just a simple cross dissolve between images. This actually took the most amount of time, only because I didn’t quite know how things were set up. However, once I got the hang of the Identity Inspector after a few minutes of tinkering, all I needed to do was “Export as HTML5″, choosing the “folder” option (remind me to play with the “Dropbox” option because that sounded intriguing!) and it packaged everything up nicely, providing me with a couple of <DIV> tags that I copied and pasted. Upload the folder containing the javascript (more about that later), and you’re done.
All in all a pretty fun little experience. I didn’t play with the capture/record feature, but reading about others experience with it makes me wanna fire it up. I definitely think it’s a cool tool with a LOT of potential, and an especially polished “version 1.02″. I suspect it’s exactly what Adobe’s going to release as “Project Edge” though, so it won’t be long before some heavyweight competition moves into that same visual design/development territory. Just between you and me, my money’s on Adobe. Speaking of… I did notice that there’s a nifty little “Dreamweaver Preview” button in Hype. Combined with Dreamweaver’s live view, it makes for a nice little round trip workflow. Props to the Hype guys and gals for that little nugget.
The downside? The animations are javascript. No CSS animations, and it doesn’t even use canvas elements. Just wraps it in <DIV> tags. I know weird, right? A quick browser compatibility test confirmed my fears. It works great in Chrome and Safari… but, well… if you’re not using those browsers, you’ll see what I mean. Or, rather, you WON’T see.
So it’s like I said. It’s a great start. Fun little program for a nice opportunity to do some visual design without writing code. I’ll play with it more and maybe dump some examples here. I’m not exactly sure I’d use it for production work just yet… well, maybe for something quick and dirty…
And again, let’s not forget that Project Edge is coming…
I dunno. Some moments you just treasure more than others, you know? Sometimes during the course of the day, things happen that make you just pause and realize how great it is to just be, “that guy”.
Last night my daughter came into the room because she had a bad dream. All she wanted to do was climb into bed.
I didn’t have to lift a finger, I didn’t have to buy a Barbie, I didn’t have to cut chicken tenders, I didn’t have to kill a bug, or open a jar, or do anything except just be a dad.
So she got into bed, got herself situated under the covers and I fell back asleep with my arm over her.
Best. Night. Ever.
(Click The Photo To View A Much Larger Version)
Standing at "the top of the hill", overlooking my old stomping grounds. I shot three images and stitched them together using Adobe Photoshop's Panorama Tool. From my May, 2011 trip to the island.
I don’t think I’m going to use the word, “mobile” anymore.
I just don’t think it’s an accurate description of what’s going on. Laptops are mobile. So are tablets. Phones are inherently mobile. It just seems that mobile is redundant at this point, and it doesn’t seem an appropriate portrayal of all of this.
I think it’s better if we all just agree to use the phrase, “device development”. That’s what we’re talking about, right? We’re talking about Galaxy Tabs, Blackberry Playbooks, iPads, Xooms, GoogleTVs, a host of smartphones… the only constants seem to be, A) they have screens, B) they have browsers, and C) they have network connections. They all seems to implement some kind of “App Store”, but the implementations vary. Native Apps seem like a perilous journey, as you’re hitching your horse to a chosen cart. Granted if it’s an Apple cart, your chances seem pretty safe, but what about the rest of the world? Are you comfortable making that choice for a client? Or worse, are you comfortable selling a client on a “multiple native app strategy”?
I spent lunch chatting with a nice gentleman from a very large global airline. His airline has an iOS app. They’ve also got an Android app… and a Blackberry App. He oversees three different teams of developers all with different skillsets that he has to somehow manage and maintain. He’s got a creeping codebase, and from the top, he’s getting pressure on the cost of this whole endeavor. He was in the middle of an epiphany that was fun to watch. He realized, “you know, none of our apps rely on any particular native feature. We’re not using geolocation yet (they plan to down the road, but it’s not something that’s high on his list of “wants” right now) and there’s nothing in our app that couldn’t be replaced by HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery Mobile.” So now he’s rethinking their whole mobile strategy, and I gotta tell ya, I was right there with him.
I’ve said before, I don’t think these technologies are going to replace native app development by any means, and let’s be clear, Apple has a huge… we’re talking giant, interest in keeping native apps at the forefront. They’ll (rightfully) point out that there is a lot of things that Web Apps simply can’t do and for speed, games, graphics acceleration, animation, etc, native apps will always “win”.
See, that’s awesome… if I needed that stuff. But I don’t… really, and there’s the rub. I could take care of my current (and future) clients’ needs with about 99.9% of the features that a web app exposes… and I’d be doing them a service (I think). One codebase, a consistent UI, an effective experience. What’s not to love?
I spent today seeing example after example of open, standard, solutions to the need to create a consistent experience across multiple devices, and I’ve been convinced. I think we’re at a real watershed moment in the development for all these screens and I’m happy to see that the maturity of these tools has allowed such a large and diverse group of developers and designers to move forward in this way. HTML, CSS, Javascript (jQuery)… these are well known, ubiquitous, mature, robust languages and the community has really demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt (at least to me) that the future of mobile hasn’t been written just yet.
Whoops! I mean, “the future of device development hasn’t been written just yet…”.
It’ll take some time… old habits die hard, right?
I arrived in Seattle yesterday for “Web Directions Unplugged”, which begins in a couple hours. Thanks to an early flight and a time-zone shift, it’s 5:30 AM (which is roughly 2:30 AM East Coast Time) and I’m wide awake brewing single cups of Starbucks in my room and getting annoyed by the looping Sheraton Starwood promo on Channel 1.
Why do I always turn on the TV and just leave it on that stupid channel? I only realize it ten minutes later when I hear the words, “Vibrant Social Spaces” for the forty-fifth time.
Anyway, I’m here for a terrific mobile conference that really couldn’t come at a better time. I recently (this past week) upgraded to Adobe Creative Suite Web Premium 5.5 and, as I’ve said before, it’s the most significant upgrade to the product that I’ve ever seen. Integrating jQuery Mobile, PhoneGap, HTML5 and CSS3, this version facilitates the creation of Mobile Web Apps like no other product I’ve ever seen. So like I said, the conference is just absolutely the best conference at the most perfect time. Billing itself as, “two groundbreaking days of practical development and design presented by leading experts in the exploding field of HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript based mobile development” it’s going to be jam packed with terrific speakers, including a couple of speakers from Adobe. Greg Rewis will be speaking on “From Web to Mobile App in 60 seconds” featuring, what else, Dreamweaver CS 5.5, which I can’t wait to see.
The conference has three tracks that focus on three different aspects of mobile development. There’s a “Design Track” featuring content strategy, CSS3, UI prototyping, and touchscreen design (remember, it’s fat fingers, not tiny cursers!). The “Development Track” is going to take a look at maximizing speed and efficiency in your mobile app, HTML5 canvas, offline storage and geolocation. The last track is a “Platforms and Solutions Track” and focuses on the various mobile platforms, devices, and services. They’ll take a look at Android, iOS, and something called, “Blackberry”. Javascript frameworks and packaging technologies like jQuery Mobile and PhoneGap are also going to be featured as part of the Platforms and Solutions Track over the course of the next couple of days.
So like I said, it’s just an excellent conference that’s happening at a perfect time and I’m really excited to get started. I’m going to try and blog my thoughts about all of these technologies and platforms over the next couple of days. Rather than try to “liveblog” the event as one running post, I’m going to switch it up a bit and drop smaller posts about sessions and speakers as they inspire.
First, however, I wanna go get some breakfast. Damn it’s early.
Yesterday I had the experience we all dread, but secretly know is inevitable. Yesterday I crashed.
And let’s be clear, I didn’t just crash, I crashed spectacularly.
I was on Ocean Blvd heading south on my way back home, on the downward side of about 40 miles. I had a tailwind going, so heading back home I was riding into a headwind. The only way I really deal with a headwind is to hunker down, grab the drops, try to keep my profile low and work through it. It’s tough, but it’s a nice opportunity to… I dunno… “conquer” something. You get a nice little sense of satisfaction for muscling your way through a good headwind and it makes for a nice little moment of triumph when you get home and tell yourself you didn’t let a headwind whip your ass.
So I’m head down, looking ahead, keeping a nice straight line and maintaining a nice, consistent 18-19 mph. Heart’s chugging along and my legs feel great.
Then I see him.
He’s in my front “periphery”. I can see him ahead of me, and he’s stepping out into the street. Of course, there’s no crosswalk. This kid’s thinking that this particular place is as good as any and makes the fateful decision to step out in front of me and cross Ocean Blvd.
I have exactly enough time to think, “well shit, I’m gonna kill this guy, and myself too…” and I slammed into him going about 19 mph.
My right shoulder contacted the leading edge of his body and that was all she wrote. The impact threw me sharply to the left and over the handlebars, landing on my left shoulder and skidding about 25 feet before coming to a stop… still clipped in, bike on top of me, adding to my momentum. Both gloves completely shredded, although I don’t actually remember putting my hands down. Helmet’s untouched, miraculously, and on first glance it looks like my hands and upper body… well, from the waist up… took most of the impact.
My left shoulder is fucked. Initially, I’m completely convinced I’ve broken my collarbone because it’s beyond painful to do anything. Move. Inhale. Blink. Exhale. For a brief minute I panic. This seems bad. “What does a broken rib feel like?” Elbow’s bleeding (and let me remind you… anti clotting agents…) it won’t stop, and the amount of blood that’s dipping off my arm is a little alarming. It slowly dawns on me that I can feel the breeze on my knee, and a quick glance down confirms that, of course, it’s bleeding too. So a quick assessment results in the following list: Left shoulder is totally fucked and as a result my left arm is completely limp and useless. The only thing stopping my hands from bleeding all over my handlebars is the remnants of my gloves that are wicking the blood away from the exposed wounds. I’m not sure that I haven’t broken a rib on my left side, but it’s a close call, because I still can seem to inhale without passing out. My left knee is hamburger, and my left hip has suddenly swollen to the size of a grapefruit.
Thankfully all of that can heal. The bike was my immediate concern (I know, right?) and I seem to have dodged a bullet. The only damage I can see is that the impact knocked my handlebars to the left, offsetting them slightly, and my right shifter’s got some minor cosmetic scratches along the bottom of the brake handle, and along the top of the hood.
I think I can speak for anyone else who rides a bike when I say that the only thing I was concerned with, and my immediate first thought was, “please don’t let anything happen to my bike…”
So I limped home. I ate a handful of Ibuprofen, took a shower and settled in for a night that seemed to redefined pain and discomfort. Seriously, I actually had heart surgery a couple months ago and that felt like a walk in the park compared to this. It’s a little more than 24 hours later, and my bruises have bruises, it still hurts to breath, and my left arm is completely useless. I can’t recall the last time I cried from pain, but I think I came close this morning when I decided to put on a shirt. This hurts.
But you know. Shit happens. I’m not gonna sweat it. I’ll take a couple of days off, soak in some hot baths for the next couple of days (praise the almighty Salt of Epsom!), and eat Ibuprofen like Tic Tacs. It’ll get better.
I’ll take replacing some gloves and working through some bruises any day over replacing carbon fiber.
Seems like a perfect time to try Yoga, right?
Teacher's Day Card, 2011. Miss Pam is the one with the glasses.
I'm sure someone once said, "A day at the beach is a day well spent". If they didn't, then I'm saying it now.
I like to share. It’s good RSS karma.