2009 December

RIAdventure 360 – The new way to conference

December 6, 2009 By Tom

I feel like one of those giddy attendees. By that, let me explain. Sometimes, and I ain’t lying, but sometimes, even before the show begins, attendees tell us, “This is the best conference ever!” We’ll usually see them in the streets or at a local watering hole the Friday, Saturday or Sunday before a show. John and I laugh and say, “Thanks, but it hasn’t even started yet. Wait until it at least starts, then let us know.”

I always wondered what they meant or how it was that ours was the best show already. Now, I know. Usually, when John and I arrive for a show, there’s so much to do: check facilities, meet with catering, etc. This “preflight” checklist sorta takes away the magic for us. Not that we don’t enjoy the show, but just the few days before is a lot of work.

With RIAdventure being on a boat, there’s none of that for us to do. The ship handles everything for us. This allows us to soak in the anticipation and excitement. I’ve already bumped into many of the RIAdvenuters throughout New Orleans (though I totally didn’t recognize Doug with his new “intelligent” look – I’ll take a picture so you can see what I mean). We meet up with the rest of the speakers and attendees today. After the boat sets sail, the ship has provided a welcome reception for us.

I haven’t seen the speakers presentations yet. I haven’t had a RIA discussion yet either. However, you can just feel the magic in the air. Some amazing things are going to happen this week and I feel bad for those of you who won’t be here to catch it all. We’ll be taking lots of photos, notes and some Flip videos, but it won’t be the same. It’s like why I watch baseball and love it in the stadiums, but could care less to watch it on TV. There’s something magical about just being there to witness it (and participate) as it happens.

You may not be able to join us on the boat, but definitely come out to 360Flex this march in San Jose. With over 40 amazing speakers, it’s gonna be great too. There just won’t be 2000 staff waiting on you like on the boat. :) Register now and save $100.

Filed Under: RIAdventure360, why Tagged With: Cruise, Magic, RIAdventure360

360Flex – Flex Show interviews Indy, Day 1

December 4, 2009 By John

Blaine Bradburry did an awesome job talking to attendees and sponsors alike during 360|Flex Indy, Here’s day 1 (Monday) of the conference.

Don’t miss out on awesome stuff like this in San Jose! Make sure to Register Now! Before we sell out!

Filed Under: 360flex, Community, Indianapolis, San Jose Tagged With: 360flex, Community, Indianapolis, Reasons to Come, San Jose

360Flex – Flex Show interviews.

December 3, 2009 By John

As part of our ongoing and awesome relationship with The Flex Show (I’m co host, by the way) we have onsite interviews. We’ve posted some of these before, but since it’s the holidays, and in case you missed them I wanted to share some of the interviews from past 360|Flex events in case you’ve never been, you can get a feel for the event.

This is from “day 0″ of 360|Flex Indy. Our Sunday Hands-on training day.

I’ll post the rest of the interviews over the next few days (Think of this is as “best of” show while Tom and I are on a boat for RIAdventure 360)

Filed Under: 360flex, Community, Indianapolis, San Jose Tagged With: 360flex, Community, Reasons to Come, San Jose

360Flex – The Speakers – Jeffry Houser

December 3, 2009 By John

Jeff and I were getting ready to record an episode of The Flex Show, I think we were talking to Bill Gates? Maybe it was Balmer… Anyhow, before starting the show and calling the interviewee, we were chatting about 360|Flex San Jose 2010.

Me: Jeff, you’ve been to a few other 360|Flex conferences, which was your first?

Jeff: The second one. I think it was 360|Flex Seattle

Me: Ah yeah. Seattle was fun! Awesome city, great event, one of my favorites I think. The weather that week, was insanely awesome!

You’re speaking in San Jose, what do you think people who attend your session will be most surprised by/about?

Jeff: When people walk into my Flex Component Framework Showdown session, I’m unclear what they’ll be most surprised about. I might tell them that I haven’t written in a single line of code since I created a text adventure game in BASIC in high school. I might tell them there is no 2nd ‘e’ in my first name, no matter what the schedule says. I might take off my shirt and tell them I’m wearing Doug McCune’s virtual boobs this year. Or perhaps, just perhaps, they’ll be most surprised to find that the Flex 3 Halo component architecture is not going away in Flex 4. Every loves the new shiny look of Flex 4′s Spark component architecture; but we won’t have a parallel feature set to Flex 3 components. Adobe is making this change to support their tooling; but it may be a slow change.

Me: LOL. i fixed your name on the schedule, but I think it might be easier if you just add that ‘e’ in :D Yeah I think the biggest thing in Flex 4 is gonna be confusion about what is and isn’t changing, what did and didn’t go away, etc. So What are you most looking forward to at 360|Flex San Jose?

Jeff: I look forward to making some new Flex Developer friends and pushing some old friends into the fish pool at eBay.

Me: Make sure to push Leif, he love the pond, I bet he’ll love it more from the inside LOL. I’ve often thought of pushing Tom into the pond, but I like turtles too much, I think the sudden introduction of an Ortega to their small eco-system would be a shock. Turtles are surprisingly easy to scare. I once snuck up on a turtle and screamed ‘boo’, poor thing flipped over dead from fright right there in front of me. Side note, there will never be a 360|Flex in the Galapagos… I can’t go back.

What would you tell someone that was on the fence about attending 360|Flex, to convince them to come?

Jeff: Flextras is going to be offering a very special gift to all 360|Flex attendees. But, you’ll have to register to get one.

Me: I love special gifts!! Can’t wait! Can I get a little hint?

Jeff: No

Me: Please

Jeff: No

Me: Oh come on, pre-

Jeff: No

Me: Fine, oh by the way who would win in a fight, Lion Voltron or Vehicle Voltron?

Jeff: Does Voltron II not get a say in the fight? Given those choices, it’d be Lion Voltron and John Wayne kicking Sylvestor Stallone and Vehicle Voltron. .

Me: Who? Voltron II? He the son of the other Voltron? Made up of sub compacts?

Jeff: The cars were Voltron I (in the Near Universe). The lions were Voltron III (in the Far Universe). Voltron II from the middle universe was supposed to be the 3rd series, but was never created.

Me: ah ok then. I had no idea! Voltron I even has extra arms!!

(About that time our guest joined us on skype, so we had to get down to business)

Make sure you don’t miss Jeff pushing people into the Koi pond! Register Now for what will be the best Flex Developer conference of 2010 (at least until the next 360|Flex). Don’t miss it.

Filed Under: 360flex, San Jose, The Speakers Tagged With: 360flex, Community, Countdown, Reasons to Come, San Jose, Speaker Announcement, speakers

360Flex – The Speakers – Hari Chinthalapale

December 1, 2009 By John

I got a phone call this morning from one of our speakers, Hari Chinthalapale (That’s Hurry Chin-thala-palae), asking for some logistics about the conference. Great guy!

We got to talking after I answered his questions.

Me: This is your first 360|Flex right?

Hari: 2010 360|Flex would be my first. I would also be my first visit to the west coast 8)

Me: well it’s California, make sure you get vaccinated, and bring handi-wipes.

Hari: (Silence…)

Me: No no don’t worry! It’s not that bad! So, what do you think people who attend your session will be most surprised by/about?

Hari: I am hoping that they will appreciate the interactive environment as I walk them through the construction of advanced data grid applications.

Me: I still have nightmares that involve Datagrids, so I’m sure folks will appreciate your session tremendously! What session are you most excited about, besides your own of course :)

Hari: I’m really looking forward to Dave Hassoun / Jun Heider – Adobe Stratus and Flash Player 10 P2P: Enterprise Multi-user Applications Without the Need for Large Server Infrastructure

I always felt FMS was a clunky application for a simple cause. This could probably open up new doors for me.

Me: FMS is definitely one of those products few people understand, and seems over engineered for what it does, yet when used well, it kicks ass!

Wait one second

( I put the phone down, some one is at the door. Oh man, it’s some one selling poodles. I hate that! They come around every other day or so, as I’m going to want poodles today, when I didn’t two days ago. GRRR I hate poodles!)

Sorry, someone was at the door, so what are you most looking forward to at 360|Flex San Jose?

Hari: I can’t wait to get to experience West coast civilization first hand. Seek to validate what the east coasters say about them or is it just sports?

Me: I suspect the easties are 100% right about the westies, LOL. Westies are ok though usually, when not killing each other or driving their SUV’s 1/2 block to the super market.

What would you tell someone that was on the fence about attending 360|Flex, to convince them to come?

Hari: I would first try saying ‘greatest congregation of Flex developers who seek to breathe new life into boring enterprise applications’.

If that did’nt work, I was going to go with Code for nothing, Chicks for free! But, I might be dating myself with that quote.

Me: (Laughing) Great song. I’d lead with the latter.

OK, last question, then I’ll let you go, I’m sure you’re busy. Who would win in a fight, Lion Voltron or Vehicle Voltron?

Hari: Sshh…I am hoping Vehicle Voltron. Hopefully, that would get us out of this recession.

Me: Ah good point!! Vehicle Voltron was a lot of SUV’s, no sub-compacts! Would boost american car sales like nothing else!

We hang up, I’ve got to go chase yet another poodle peddler off my lawn! You’d think they were selling encyclopedias! Are we not sending our poodles to Bob Barker any more!?

If you want to join Hari in checking out the West Coast, and learning from 40 of the best Flex developers in the community, you won’t want to miss 360|Flex San Jose 2010!! Register now!

Filed Under: 360flex, Community, San Jose, Sessions, The Speakers Tagged With: 360flex, Community, Countdown, Flash Platform, Reasons to Come, San Jose, Sessions, Speaker Announcement, speakers