360Flex – 10 awesome facts – Flash Platform Shirt!

I’m not gonna write a bunch about this, because well there’s a video.

So yeah that’s it. There’s three false facts. one per tweet with the hashtag #360flexfacts. First person to get each fact, gets a shirt!

Oh and feel free to join in on the fun and make your own video with 360|Flex Facts, it’s fun!!

360Flex – The Speakers – Ryan Stewart

I was up in Seattle doing some work in the first Starbucks ever. I had a tight deadline writing some copy for the J Peterman catalog.

I’m working on the quilted chambray nightshirts copy when who should strut through the door, but Ryan Freakin’ Stewart! (Ryan doesn’t walk, or run, or skip, he struts)

RFS: You John! Good to see you, what’re you doing here!?

Me: Hey man! Just doing a little side work. Trying to figure out how wrap up some copy, the catalog goes to press tomorrow.

You excited about 360|Flex? I’m really glad you’re sponsoring, it’s always awesome when folks in the community show their support, it means a lot!

RFS: “The only friend who hasn’t betrayed you. They only friend who won’t be dead by sunrise..” What’s this copy for?

But yeah, it’s great to be able to support you guys! I still remember the first 360|Flex in San Jose, that was bad ass!

Me: So what do you think people who attend your session will be most surprised by/about?

(I glance over and notice Starbucks has started selling what looks like the tops of muffins. How incredibly genius!)
RFS: How well PHP and Adobe’s services interact and how straightforward it is to add a touch of real-time to a Flex application.
Me: Yeah I’ve noticed the real push Adobe is doing into the PHP world. Great job opening that door.
(Ryan notices the muffin tops too, looks at me, gets up and gets in line. There’s always a line at this starbucks, you’d think it was famous or something)
(I go back to work wrapping up my copy for the quilted chambray nightshirts. When did a Kenny Rogers Roasters open on Pike Place?)
(Ryan comes back)
Me: What session are you most excited about, besides your own of course.
RFS: (inbetween bites of his chocolate chocolate chip muffin top) I’m going to come across as a suckup probably, but I have to say my boss, Kevin Hoyt’s session: Flex + Phidgets == Beer. He’s been doing some cool things with hardware and the Flash Platform and it opens up a huge new area for Flash developers to delve in to.
Me: I just can’t wait to have my beer poured by a Flex App! Flex and Hardware is awesome, and not often enough talked about… except of course at 360|Flex. Between, Kevin and Justin Mclean we’ve got Flex and Hardware awesomeness locked up!
What are you most looking forward to at 360|Flex San Jose?
(I get up and change my seat. That red glow from the Kenny Rogers Roaster across Pike is blinding me!!)
RFS: Seeing everyone again. This is far and away the best Flex conference in the world and it brings together the best of our community. Catching up with old friends and making new ones again is always the best part.
Me: Totally agree! About the ‘best conference’ part and the catching up with friends! I can’t wait to see everyone myself! These random meetings are awesome! But I want to see everyone in the same place at the same time!
(A customer walks in, I think he might be wearing a European carry-all)
What would you tell someone that was on the fence about attending 360|Flex, to convince them to come?
RFS: That there is something for everyone. If you’re a new Flex developer it’s a great way to get up to speed. If you’re a veteran then you’ll see people you know and you’ll be able to see what the most cutting edge minds in Flex are doing. If you’re a Flash designer or ColdFusion developer you’ll see how your tools and technologies can interact with the Flex Framework and the developer community.
(I nod.)
Hey, is that guy wearing a purse?
Me: No, I think it’s a European carry-all… no, maybe it is a purse.
(We finish our drinks, and get up to leave)
Hey wanna grab lunch? Isn’t there a pakistani place up the street?
RFS: No, it closed down a few weeks ago.
Me: bummer, was really craving authentic Pakistani food. Oh by the way, Who do you think would win in a fight, Lion Voltron or Vehicle Voltron?
(Ryan types something into his laptop, reads a bit, and turns it around, it’s the wikipedia page
RFS: From the Wikipedia entry: The series, which aired in syndication from September 10, 1984 to November 18, 1985, was originally titledVoltron: Defender of the Universe. So I was 3 years old when it went off TV. But I know who Voltron is sort of. I always liked the green one. What does that mean?
(I shake my head)
Me: It means you’re a freakin kid! I can’t believe how old I feel!!! Serenity now!!! Serenity now!!!
Want to hang out with Ryan and make fun of him for being too young, or commisserate with him in not knowing who Voltron is? Register now for “far and away the best Flex conference in the world”









360Flex – What you missed on RIAdventure

If you missed RIAdventure, you missed some truly inspiring stuff, some truly cool tech talks, and Sam Rivello tearing it up on Karaoke!

First the inspiring. Doug McCune and Sam Rivello rocked the house. Doug spoke about data visualization, but not in the typical, here’s how to create the latest, hottest chart/graph/heatmap but in terms of what data viz is, where it came from “The Bar Chart was Invented”

I’ve never been a data viz guy, but his talk was great. I think the group really got a lot out of it. I think enrollment in the McCune school of DataViz is open too, there’s a suggested reading list :)

Sam Talked about life… building life in code, and how the concepts of life (the 7 requirements for something to be “alive”) can be expressed in code. We’re not talking AI, more a comparitive discussion, with cute smiley faced amoeba’s to back up the talk. (You can check out his project here) It was a great talk, and another where you’re left with that “hhmmmm” look on your face.

Of course we talked tech too, and got into code!

Ryan Stewart, Greg Burch, Faisal Abid, and even Nate Beck (Not a speaker, but jumped in to present) rocked the mic and the flat screen with awesome tech talks.

Ryan and Greg rep’ed Adobe awesomely, talking about Catalyst, mobile (Slider and iPhone), Flash platform, you name it we talked about it, including some sweet stuff we had to turn the camera’s off for :)

Faisal showed us Android and talked about Android and CF playing together. He also showed us Chrome OS, which (not surprisingly) doesn’t work if you’re not online. Seeing Android truly in action, was pretty dope, I’m more impressed now than I was.

Nate stepped up on the last day to talk about the Push Button Engine, and building Flash games. Very cool stuff!

I’m working on the videos now (Waiting for more HDD space in my drobo, UPS man is on his way), we’re going to post as much of the session video as possible.

Ad of course it was a cruise!

During the time inbetween sea days, everyone spent the day hanging out, doing excursions, whatever they wanted. Most nights we all got together for drinks, sometimes dinner, and whenever possible, karaoke.

You’ll have to ask Sam about the stair case the next time you see him :)

I have to admit, the entire experience of a cruise, with awesome tech talks, great networking, and cool people, and of course, sweet destinations, and beautiful ocean, is a great way to conference. It’s certainly not gonna replace 360|Flex, but we were on the boat with a group of almost 700. That’s a lot of people in one place for the same reason, on a cruise!

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Of course everyone who joined us on the boat is coming to 360|Flex San Jose Free of charge too, so it’ll be a cruise reunion :)

Don’t miss 360|Flex, you’ll regret it, I promise :) Register now!

RIAdventure 360 Cruise – Just keeps getting better!

We’ve got a last minute line up change, sadly Ted won’t be able to make it.

BUT

we’ve got an incredible replacement! Greg Burch, from the Adobe Mobile team. You know the guys working on cool things like the Flex Mobile framework, Flash and iPhone stuff.

Yeah the mobile aspect of Adobe RIA on the cruise just went through the roof!! Don’t worry, we won’t be neglecting the rest of the RIA space. How could we with the likes and Ryan Stewart! Doug McCune, Sam Rivello, and Faisal Abid

Oh and in case you haven’t checked the tentative schedule, Faisal’s gonna be talking mobile too :)

This cruise will be something you’re gonna regret missing. If the conversations in hallways at conferences like 360|Flex, CFUnited, MAX, etc are something you enjoy and geek out on, well this will be almost two weeks of 100% hallways, conversation, geeking out, with a tropical paradise as the backdrop!

Register now, time’s running out, and boat is filling up.

RIAdventure – Ted with the new and awesome!

If you’re not going to MAX, you should be! As usual there’s gonna be some cool stuff announced! While we have no idea what awesome stuff Adobe has in store for us, we do know that after your mind is blown at MAX, Ted will be doing his keynote on some of that cool stuff.

Not only will you get some awesome new stuff to drool over at MAX, but you can then spend a week sailing the Caribbean with Ted Patrick, Ryan Stewart, Doug McCune, Faisal Abid, and Sam Rivello this December.

AND

get a free pass to the next 360|Flex in San Jose, the end of February!

Register for MAX now! and Register for the RIAdventure cruise We promise it’ll be the most awesome time you’ll have with nerds on a boat!!