However, when Lynda.com sold FlashForward to Beau Ambur and Metaliq a few months back, I was hoping things might be changing. Surely they wouldn't keep the cost of attendance so high, would they? I even had the thought that if the price got down to the $400 to $500 range, I would consider attending once again. So when I received an email today announcing FlashForward 2008 San Francisco festival nominations were open and providing a link to the pricing information, I was excited to see if changes had indeed been made.

Sadly, I was disappointed. Yes, the prices seem to have went down slightly. But the early bird price is still $899, and the cost goes all the way up to $1099 for at-the-door registration. I guess this year Flash on the Beach (for which I have already bought my 2008 pass) only wins by $464 instead of $664. That's progress, right?

http://blogs.adobe.com/open/2008/04/the_open_screen_project.html

As a part of the announcement, Adobe is publishing exactly how the SWF format works without restrictions, and removing all other barriers to getting Flash on the widest range of devices. Set top/cable boxes, all mobile phones, televisions, your appliances... anything technical, really. Even those devices without a screen and/or user interface. Bill Perry does a great job of going into more detail on the implications for devices on his blog.

Ryan Stewart has a great post explaining all the implications of this announcement, for devices and desktop computers alike. He goes into more detail on the several parts of the announcement, so it is worth the read.

As someone who makes their living from the Flash ecosystem, you should care greatly about this announcement. It may not seem like it to a non-developer, but this is huge for anyone who knows how to use Flash. The thought of having Flash everywhere is finally a reality for those who want to include it in their products as a user interface layer, or even to allow developers to control the product using ActionScript. And this means that your capabilities to design, develop, and then deploy your Flash experiences just became more marketable and useful.

Lastly, as a member of the Flash community, you should also be excited about the implications this has on open source projects such as SWX, AMFPHP, and the like. The more open the specifications surrounding the various parts of the Flash ecosystem, the easier it is for members of the community to create tools and open source projects which contribute to the growth and prominence of said ecosystem... and make all of our lives as participants in that ecosystem that much more interesting and fun.

It is an honor to be a part of this book with such open source Flash community members as Chris Allen, John Grden, Wade Arnold, Carlos Ulloa, Moses Gunesch and others. You can read bios of all the authors on the book's bio page.

I am wrapping up the last round of review this weekend, and the book should be published and available in July. You can pre-order the book on Amazon.com today for about $31.

John Grden did an great job with the class and was really fluid in covering whatever we as a class asked him to. It turned out that we covered a lot more than I thought we would. 16 hours of training over two days is really intense, but if you have a chance to attend the upcoming Vancouver or Toronto classes, I highly suggest you do. I'll bet you can even find a 10% discount code on the PaperVision3D blog post announcing the two additional class dates.

Lastly, just like at conferences, the best times had were outside the classroom. With that in mind, I'll leave you with a group photo of Martin Lassen, myself, Jim Isaacs, John Olson, and John Grden drinking Octoberfest style (by the liter) at this awesome German-themed restaurant near the resort where the training was held.

Next time you see John Grden, ask him about the bonus that comes with a shot of Jagermeister for a good laugh.

At issue is the crossdomain.xml file -- you'll need to add or update the file to ensure your services continue to function properly. Wade Arnold, a contributor to AMFPHP (which is also included with and used in SWX) has a great write-up on how to fix AMFPHP/SWX including a sample you can download and edit for your domain on his blog.

More details about the player, and the newly revamped Flash Player Download Center, can be found on Justin Everett-Church's blog posting about Flash Player 9.0.124. Adobe Developer Center has a helpful write-up about the exact changes made. Lastly, John Dowdell has an informative post with lots of helpful links.

Adobe has done a great job with communicating to the community that this change would be coming, and has provided a lot of resources to ensure sites were not affected. Today's information push is just another example of the great communication. Kudos, Flash Player team!

It looks like they still have some seats left, so if you have been thinking about going, come check it out. John has even posted a discount code for 10% off on the PaperVision3D blog and also wrote about what the course will be covering and how all Flash types (designer and developer) will benefit from the class.

15 hours of training in two days is going to be intense (and awesome), but hopefully the short taxi ride to the Vegas strip will provide a nice break in the evenings. If you also plan on attending, be sure to say hello!

Worth the read, if nothing else, to help guide you through the hype to what the real story is...

Update: Bill Perry, also from Adobe, has also posted an even a more detailed account of the facts on his Flash Devices blog.

Why is this so awesome? Well, with this added functionality you can now create 'chapters' in your content, without having to split up the video file. And with YouTube basically becoming a free streaming media provider with the release of their chromeless video player, the possibilities are endless.

Check out an example of the deep link, which starts the video 21 seconds in.

Rostislav goes into more detail on his blog post about the SWFAddress and YouTube API project, and you can download the sample now from the SWFAddress SVN.

This is a great example of how to use various services, such as Flickr, to fit your simple mashup needs -- just like David and Shaun spoke about at FITC Hollywood a few months ago. Great idea, fellas!