toDeBlog » cool http://todepoint.com/blog A blog about User Interface, User Experience, Design, Flash, Product management and all that goes in between. Sun, 05 Sep 2010 08:19:23 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Html5, Flash and Beer bottles http://todepoint.com/blog/2010/09/04/html5-flash-and-beer-bottles/ http://todepoint.com/blog/2010/09/04/html5-flash-and-beer-bottles/#comments Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:24:46 +0000 adi http://todepoint.com/blog/?p=305 Have you seen the cool things Google are doing with Html5 recently?

Okay, I am not trying to defend Flash in any way, but Html5 development will soon hit the same bottle-necks the Flash player did, as it uses the browser’s Javascript engine.

Evidence: check out the CPU demands in Google’s buckyball page.. looks familiar?

Html5 CPU bottle-neck

]]> http://todepoint.com/blog/2010/09/04/html5-flash-and-beer-bottles/feed/ 0 Profyler – profile image creation app http://todepoint.com/blog/2010/08/23/profyler/ http://todepoint.com/blog/2010/08/23/profyler/#comments Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:51:49 +0000 adi http://todepoint.com/blog/?p=119
profyler

It’s a flash application that enables you to scale and process an image from your computer, and when you’re happy with it, you can save it to your computer. The application does not communicate with external servers and does not save or send any data anywhere.

As always, it’s a work in progress, I will be adding features and effects as time allows me, but it is fully functional right now. So go a head, give it a shot and create your own profile image, it’s really easy and fast.
Don’t forget to let me know if you liked it!
enjoy :)

This is the public link of this application, in case you want to share it:
http://www.todepoint.com/profyler

* I will be writing some more soon, describing several aspects of making this application, stay tuned.
  ]]> http://todepoint.com/blog/2010/08/23/profyler/feed/ 0 K2 – Cool rich interface yet browsers compatible http://todepoint.com/blog/2008/04/23/k2-cool-rich-interface-yet-browsers-compatible/ http://todepoint.com/blog/2008/04/23/k2-cool-rich-interface-yet-browsers-compatible/#comments Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:46:11 +0000 Adi http://todepoint.com/blog/?p=47 I am very happy with the K2 wordpress theme (you’re watching it right now), beside having some pretty amazing browsing enhancements (I did not enable them yet, features like search results that appear as you type your search phrase, timeline view of your posts) it also has a very nice and intuitive sidebar manager, that allows you to write and manage the widgets and snippets in your side bar.
You can edit, rearrange them by dragging – works the same on all browsers! that’s pretty cool.

K2_sidebar_manager

]]> http://todepoint.com/blog/2008/04/23/k2-cool-rich-interface-yet-browsers-compatible/feed/ 0 WordPress blog in flash – in SWX contest http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/12/13/wordpress-blog-in-flash-in-swx-contest/ http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/12/13/wordpress-blog-in-flash-in-swx-contest/#comments Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:32:37 +0000 Adi http://todepoint.com/blog/?p=39 I was going through the SWX PHP contest entries, and was so happy to find an entry under the API category for the WordPress platform by Benjamin Wiederkehr, it is something I was considering to do my self ; ), and can be really handy for small personal sites or blogs that prefer a customized experience over the standard Html themes – portfolios, galleries, open for commenting – you see the potential..These APIs are best demonstrating the power of SWX, allowing us – flash programers to expand our possibilities and offering without messing with server-side too much – just what Aral was talking about.cool.

]]> http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/12/13/wordpress-blog-in-flash-in-swx-contest/feed/ 1 Cool recycled MacbookPro stand, do it your self! http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/10/28/cool-recycled-macbookpro-stand-do-it-your-self/ http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/10/28/cool-recycled-macbookpro-stand-do-it-your-self/#comments Sun, 28 Oct 2007 16:08:07 +0000 Adi http://todepoint.com/blog/?p=37 Few days ago my good old 17″ Studio Display monitor died after almost 9 years of devoted service. It’s been about two years that my main computer is a MacBookPro, and the old G4 is nothing more than a file server & itunes jukebox.One thing that I wanted to change for a long time is the angle of the display when I am working with my portable Mac on a table. There are few professional solutions out there, mostly by Griffin, but I wanted something more practical, and yes, cheeper..Here I saw an opportunity – the cool stand from the CRT display, that was never equaled in any model by any brand (at least that I saw) can serve just this purpose, lifting the portable and making air flow easy for cooling the burning machine, tilt-able and even aesthetic.macbookpro_stand_1.jpgmacbookpro_stand_3.jpg
If you want to try this at home, here’s a little tip: after disassembling the stand from the old monitor, you should change the spring direction, to support the portable weight which has the opposite direction from the CRT. to do that, remove the center screw, and the screw that holds the spring, remove the white anchor, and rotate the top of the stand, front to back.Put the white anchor back, and now the string will be facing the other side of the stand.macbookpro_stand_4.jpg
Now hook the spring on the plastic handle. that’s it – you’re done.

]]> http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/10/28/cool-recycled-macbookpro-stand-do-it-your-self/feed/ 1 Sony Bravia has a great 3D interface in flash http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/10/05/sony-bravia-has-a-great-3d-interface-in-flash/ http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/10/05/sony-bravia-has-a-great-3d-interface-in-flash/#comments Fri, 05 Oct 2007 21:48:58 +0000 Adi http://todepoint.com/blog/?p=35 Sony Bravia new site (http://bravia.sony.eu/bravia.html) is a great example of 3D navigation system in flash, bringing a new and fresh feel to site navigation, worth the long loading.
sony_bravia_3D_03.jpgsony_bravia_3D_02.jpg
Using keyboard arrows is so easy and intuitive for controlling the 3D menu, it’s a shame the actual sections content is not arranged for keyboard control and requires “traditional” mouse interaction. But it is very cool eventhough.

]]> http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/10/05/sony-bravia-has-a-great-3d-interface-in-flash/feed/ 0 Learning someone else’s code – what is it good for? http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/08/14/learning-someone-elses-code-what-is-it-good-for/ http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/08/14/learning-someone-elses-code-what-is-it-good-for/#comments Tue, 14 Aug 2007 16:44:30 +0000 Adi http://todepoint.com/blog/?p=31 actionscript.jpg
From time to time I get to work on someone else’s code, could be shared classes I download or a client that brings his own program for treatments, anyway it is something that nobody likes.The difficulties are obvious to anyone that deals with code this way or another, (hey, sometimes I have hard time understanding my own code from six months ago..) But there are also great advantages if you’re trying to improve, although the learning curve is often steep, it’s faster than learning from books.Sometimes, definitely not most of them, it can even lead to a real leap, in term of understanding new styles and patterns, I never stop learning new things : )At larger scales, translating ActionScript classes into UML would be a blast, making sense in a glimpse and not through lines of code.And an answer to this need (and more!) is about to be born – Saffron UML by Samuel Agesilas, built for AIR, has a cool UI design, and platform independent – you have to see it!Looks amazing ha?

]]> http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/08/14/learning-someone-elses-code-what-is-it-good-for/feed/ 0 3D in Flash CS3 – Papervision3D Component http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/07/01/3d-in-flash-cs3-papervision3d-component/ http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/07/01/3d-in-flash-cs3-papervision3d-component/#comments Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:33:39 +0000 Adi http://todepoint.com/blog/?p=27 Few days ago John Grden released Papervision3D Component for Flash CS3.I wanted to try Papervision3D (actionscript 3D engine, check this out!) for some time now, and didnt have the time, with this cool shortcut I simply couldn’t resist..This component adds a panel for controlling properties of ‘Papervision3D COLLADA Scene’ component, properties such as the Source 3D file (collada = .dae), Camera settings and Model rotation or scale. The component also enable design-time rendering in Flash IDE, which is great! Flash and 3D are combined, in one native IDE. cool times.
check this vid out: (Sorry, the vid is no longer available)
Beside Flash components sweetness I still need the 3D modeling to be done on my Mac, I am not fluent in the 3D modeling world, but Blender is free and easily imports and exports Collada files, I guess it can give answer to my simple demands..

]]> http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/07/01/3d-in-flash-cs3-papervision3d-component/feed/ 1 SWX – a cool way to exchange data in flash http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/04/13/swx-a-cool-way-to-exchange-data-in-flash/ http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/04/13/swx-a-cool-way-to-exchange-data-in-flash/#comments Fri, 13 Apr 2007 21:11:40 +0000 Adi http://todepoint.com/blog/?p=23 Great things are happening recently! SWX is a new data exchange format for flash, by Aral Balkan, basically delivering the data in swf format, so the flash is actually using a native loadMovie() function to load the data.Passing data to and from flash has been evolving for a long time now, recently it seems like it even accelerated. I am really happy with this one, cause unlike other solutions, it took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to set it up (this means it is simple if you had doubts), and implementing this method looks simple enough to become very popular.I like the concept of passing data in swf format, but I wonder, are these data swf files cashed in users machines?I will keep track of this for sure.

]]> http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/04/13/swx-a-cool-way-to-exchange-data-in-flash/feed/ 0 Windows on Mac – getting closer! http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/03/06/windows-on-mac-getting-closer/ http://todepoint.com/blog/2007/03/06/windows-on-mac-getting-closer/#comments Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:45:35 +0000 Adi http://todepoint.com/blog/?p=19 I installed the latest Parallels build (3186) few days ago, and forgot about it, I said before I rarely need “de vindoz”, but today I had to check CSS consistency for a project I work on, and since there still are few windows users out there, I wanted to check IE and FireFox on Windows – hey, Parallels!I remember when I just got my Mac, I couldn’t wait to show-off the cube transition effect between OS, but when I had to actually work with the two OS, it was too slow and I quickly removed the effect.Now Parallels has a mode called ‘Coherence’, allows you to launch and run Windows applications directly from your Mac desktop, it hides the Windows desktop, and adds the Windows start bar. The application windows blend with mac windows. the behavior in the Z order is not natural, all Windows applications are grouped as one for the Mac OS (reasonable though), it is very comfortable.For the simple task of proofing Html rendering it was the fastest method I ever used, I could actually work fast – the only problem was the different shortcuts, the command vs. control issue.Command-Tab shows Windows Apps (see cap) as well as the Dock (weird! what are all those icons doing there?), even Expose works reasonably.
parallels_command_tab.jpg
However, the Windows rudeness is somehow “infecting” my pure Mac environment, when the XP screen-saver kicks-in, it covers the Mac desktop. When I quit Windows its desktop suddenly appears blocking the Mac desktop all through the logout process, then Parallels window demonstrates all transitions allowed – slide-out-slide-in-flip-flap-shrink-splas-stada.. it’s like Mac OS is so happy to get rid of this “thing” it celebrates the ram released.

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