360Flex Speakers make their own standards

360|Flex speakers love to start crazy projects like degrafa and openflux. They start their own application frameworks like Mate and Swiz. However, none have ever tried to incite riots. Well, okay, so maybe a few have (i.e. Doug McCune, Sim Batemen, Ryan Friggin' Stewart), but none have so boldly stated it as Sam Rivello.

In an email to John and I, he actually says:

I'm hoping to get mad feedback and insight riots.

I come from Los Angeles, so I love a riot just as much as the next guy. (I ain't a looter though, DESPITE what that video camera shows!) Therefore, I refer you all to Sam's blog to read up on his Coding Standards doc. His post is a month old, but I still think very relevant. I'm just slow in writing blog posts. (Ask John about just how slow I am). Go read it and getcha riot on! :)

The Flex team has released their Coding Standards as well. Tariq Ahmed did one too awhile back, but I can't seem to find the link. (Someone post it in the comments if you know it.)

I personally wouldn't have the patience to write my own conventions, but I love to use them. Gimme an example to follow, and I'll follow. It's sad how many people let their preference get in the way of clean, coherent code. I worked a Y2K project at Bank of America once. I asked the Project Manager for their Coding Conventions doc. As he handed me the 300 page printout doc (It was all languages and styles; I just used/read a sliver of it), he said, "You know, in all the time I've been here, you're the only one who has ever asked for this." Sad.

So if you and your team aren't cohesive yet, go get cohesive. When you see Sam in San Jose, be sure to thank him for taking the time to help out lazy coders like me. :) Buy your ticket soon though, I'm sure many will come to see the hopeful riot Sam wants to start!

360Flex We bumped into Mary McDonald at Kinko's

Tom and I went to Kinkos the other day to pick up some signs for 360|Flex San Jose, and guess who was there? Mary McDonald, our pal from 360|Flex San Jose '07! It looked like she was picking up some fliers, some sort of bake sale for the Junior Foreign Legion or something.

"Hey Mary, long time no see! How've you been?" I shout across the Kinko's, lots of people look up from whatever weird things they were doing in a Kinko's in the middle of the day. I pointed at Tom real quick with a "He did it" look. As we get closer, I switch to my inside voice. "Hope you're excited about your session in San Jose. Who should come?"

She looks up from the stack of fliers. "Anyone interested in using Item Renderers in Flex."She thumbs through the stack, pulling out one that look a little askew.

"Why should they come?"

"To discuss the Item Renderer examples and things to avoid when writing Item Renderers."
The Kinko's guy takes the crooked sheet, looks it over, starts to ask who the junior Foreign Legion is, but stops, when Tom jumps in and asks, "What's the goal of your session?"

"I will explain what Item Renderers are and how they can be used to in Flex applications. I will also discuss things to avoid when incorporating Item Renderers into your Flex application. I will demonstrate how to apply In line and Custom Item Renderers to Datagrids."

Picking up a pack of 3 hole dividers that come in neon colors, I look over and ask, "What two sessions are you looking forward to most?"

"How to make money with Flex! With David Bigelow And Versioning Support for Large Applications and Portals with Alex Hanui." She grabs a few packages of envelopes, looks like the Junior Foreign Legion fliers are hitting the postal service too.

Wann see what Mary has to say about Item Renderers? Join her in Alex or Dave's sessions? Register now, waiting is for losers!

360Flex Advanced Flex topics FTW

This was pointed out to me, and I think it's a good thing to bring up. Tom and I will be at MAX this year, and I'm sure it's gonna be a great event. However, what was pointed out was that MAX is pretty light on Adv Flex topics: 11 to be exact.

To get the whole Adobe experience, there's no other conference to attend than MAX. You'll be exposed to the developer/designer workflow, the LiveCycle workflow, Acrobat goodness, Flex and Flash awesomeness, ColdFusion coolness, etc. If they can, whole teams should attend MAX, Managers and CxOs should attend MAX. There's no place to get "the whole picture" more clearly than the sessions at MAX.

But what if you've never opened Photoshop or Illustrator in your life and never plan to? What if the only thing you care about is Flex? What if you bring home the bacon by living in Flex Builder 12 hours a day? What if you're a small dev shop wanting four developers to get some conference love, but only have a $2000 budget?

If any of that is you, then 360|Flex is your show to learn new tricks, new ways of thinking, new approaches, etc. When you and the team need to progress to the next level, come to 360|Flex. If you're coming from Java/AJAX/CF and want to break into Flex, our Lynda.com sponsorsed Flex 101 Sunday training and 100 level sessions are the best place to learn. When your ready to progress more, coming back to 360|Flex for our unsurpassed advanced topics is the only thing that makes sense. Tom constantly pushes our speakers to dig harder and deeper to come up with more and more advanced topics. (Workday has an advanced code base for their app, so I think Tom just wants to make his life easier!) There's no better bang for your buck on Flex goodness, than 360|Flex.

MAX and 360|Flex form the perfect compliment for expanding your knowledge and skills. Got to both if you can. If you can't, be sure to pick the one that is right for you. MAX just launched their new site, so be sure to go there and check out all the details.

If 360|Flex is the show for you, buy your tickets now. The small dev shops maybe be tiny in size, but we can tell you that they sure love the 4 tickets for $1500. "Tickets left" drops a lot quicker when the decrease in multiples of 4.

360Flex Jeffry Houser at the Movies

Tom and I decide to take a short break, hitting the theater to see the Incredible Hulk (Go see it, it's good!). Guess who we bump into at the concession stand? Jeffry Houser of DotComIt!

"Hey Jeff! Taking a break from prepping your 360|Flex presentation?" I ask as we get in line behind him. There's a line situation ahead of us; Traffic's backed up. The guy at the head of the line seems to be confused by the Jujubes and Whoppers. Oh great! "So who do you think you'll get in your session?"

"Anyone interested in learning how to build Flex Components for their applications." Jeff says, trying not to reach up and choke Mr. Now-what-about-Gobstoppers? "Adobe has spent a lot of time building components for the Flex Framework. But, for normal development you do not need to create components that are as flexible or bullet proof as the ones in the Flex Framework. Come to my presentation if you want to learn how to build Flex Components for real world applications. And if you want to bullet proof your stuff, I'll provide an introduction to that too."

Tom looks over at the line next to us. Of course, it's moving faster since there's now some guy going on about Sour Patch Kids in ours. Tom starts to get anxious as he really likes his previews. "What's the goal of your session?"

Jeff looks at the line next to us too, "To get people thinking about flexible and reusable code."

Mr. Sour Patch Kids has finally gotten out of line with nothing more than a nacho and large mega gulp of Mtn. Dew. Yeah, no Sour Patch Kids, go figure.

Jeff steps up and orders his Reese's Pieces. Tom asks, "What two sessions are you looking forward to most?"

Jeff hands the cashier his money and waits for change, "Chris Keeler's session on High Dev video. I hear he is gonna talk about lighting and production aspects. Samuel Asher Rivello's session on creating an MMO From scratch sure sounds like fun. I had no idea Blizzard only spent 59 minutes on WoW, but can't wait to start my own company doing that."

"Yeah really! I'm dying to know what that's all about." I say, ordering my large popcorn with extra butter. I know it's not really butter, or even really dairy for that matter, but it's so good!! "What would you like to tell people about 360|Flex if they're on the fence about attending?"

Heading towards the auditorium, Jeff says, "I hear you're gonna have root beer Floats on tap. I have no idea how that works, but can't wait to see it."

Looking at Tom with a I didn't know that look on my face, "Me too."

This will be Jeff's third time hanging with us, Seattle and Atlanta being the other two. We can't wait to chill with him again! Be sure to find Jeff and praise him for all his hard work on The Flex Show podcast. If you're lucky, he may interview you for the show!

Want to catch Jeff's session? Want to see The Flex Show being recorded live? Want to see how Root Beer floats on tap work? Register now before it's too late.

360Flex on the Switchboard, we'll connect you!

If you haven't heard about Switchboard, you should take a look. It's a cool little utility that let's your AIR apps become first class citizens to CS3 apps. Do you feel there is a piece of the Designer and/or Developer workflow that has been missing? Well, now you can build it. Tom and I are really happy to have Bernd Paradies with us in San Jose to talk about the cool stuff you can do with Patch Panel and Switchboard.

There's a forum for asking questions and posting your cool switchboards.

(This is from our eProgram Guide)
PatchPanel is a Flex library called cs3.swc, which allows Flex developers to access the ExtendScript DOM of the host application through ActionScript objects. SwitchBoard makes it possible for AIR stand-alone applications to work with Creative Suite applications. The SwitchBoard installer will install two services onto your machine: SwitchBoard Service forwards messages between AIR and CS applications; and the SwitchBoardLauncher launches target applications when necessary. AIR developers only need to include a Flex library called SwitchBoard.swc to their projects in order to send and receive scripts to/from other CS applications. SwitchBoard is available on labs now and PatchPanel will be posted on Adobe Labs this year.

Want to learn to make the most of Switchboard? Have you always to make that killer feature for a CS3 app? You won't want to miss out on what Bernd has to say. Register now!

360|Flex Send a Team or an Army

According to SeaWorld (Fun Fact #6), a group of frogs is called an army. Therefore, since Ribbit is sending 8 folks to the conference, that makes them the official Army of 360|Flex. We're thinking of making battle shields or at last some sweet looking uniforms. :)

John and I set up many goals for ourselves with 360|Flex. One of which was, "Why should only one team member get to go to a conference? Why can't conferences be more affordable so a team (or an army) from a company can attend?"

With over 47 sessions (on top of some great free training on Sunday, more of which we'll be announcing soon), it would be impossible for one person to soak in all the information that 360|Flex has to offer. We're happy to see that great companies, like Ribbit, are recognizing the value of sending more than just a token team member. (Sidenote: if you have not seen what Ribbit can do for you, go now. Ribbit is a great and simple way to add live voice communication to your applications.)

Let's run the numbers quickly: 8 people = 2 team rates = $3K

$3000 for 8 tickets to a show that people love and lives the new standard of what a conference should be. There are some other groups coming out to visit us. If you're part of one of those groups, drop us a line at info@360flex.com. Tell us why you're sending more than one person. Tell us whether or not you like that you can afford to send more than one person.

We just got word yesterday that another company is sending 10 people. With registrations like that happening, you better book your ticket soon. Remember, the eBay Conference Center has a maximum capacity and when it's sold out, it's sold out. We legally can't allow any more in than that. Book your ticket today to avoid your heartache later.

Speaking of Ribbit, expect to hear some more great news in relation to them and 360|Flex soon. It's another reason why you want to buy your ticket now.

360Flex H.Paul Robertson chillin at Starbucks

Tom doesn't drink caffeinated drinks. I more than make up for his share of intake. We were checking out hot spots for our next 360|Flex,and stopped in for a Grande Mocha Frapaccino (My weakness). Who should be sitting there, sipping another non-caffeinated drink as well? Our pal H. Paul Robertson, speaker at upcoming 360|Flex San Jose 2008.

Tom and I take a minute to pull up a seat at his table. Paul's already working on his presentation.

"So Paul, who should come to your session?" Tom asks, trying to get his MacBook Air to connect to Starbuck's AT&T Wireless.

Taking a sip of his steamed milk or hot cocoa, Paul says, "The main audience is developers who have used or are planning to use the SQLite database functionality in Adobe AIR, and who care about getting the maximum performance out of their database code. The session will be more useful for developers who already have some database knowledge and experience, but you definitely won't have to be a hard-core SQL junkie.

I'm also hoping that some developers who are at the advanced/expert level will come and participate and share their ideas. I don't want this to be a one-speaker show -- I know that I don't know all the answers and all the best tricks, so I want to have others share their expertise too."

"Very cool." I say, slurping frapaccino through my straw. My MacBook Air has been on the wireless since we sat down, Tom is still fussing with his. "Why should they come?"

"To learn tips and tricks for improving database performance in Adobe AIR's SQLite engine. To get a better understanding of how the SQLite engine works in AIR and what things can affect performance." He looks back down at the screen, fingers flying over the keys. I think I see a few powerpoint stick figures on one slide.

"So what would you say the goal of your session is?" Tom asks as Yahoo! Maps finally starts to load for him.

"Hmmm. My answers are definitely going to start sounding redundant. My goal is to help people identify specific aspects of the AIR SQLite implementation that may negatively affect performance, and learn techniques for improving performance. I also hope that along the way attendees get a better understanding of how the database engine works, to help them be able to architect their applications better." This time he doesn't look up up at us, dedicated guy. He's still got months to go until 360|Flex San Jose.

Tom asks, "What two sessions are you looking forward to most?"

Without even thinking about it or grabbing a copy of the schedule, Paul says "Ben Stucki: How to build a framework; Brad Umbaugh/RJ Owen: Diving deep with the Flex component lifecycle; Eric Ko: Implement Reflection in ActionScript; Ryan Stewart: Synchronization online and offline with AIR and LiveCycle DS; Tony Hillerson/Juan Sanchez - See the Data, Be the Data; Renaun Erickson - A Testing Approach Spanning Dev to End User"

"Cool." Tom says, closing his laptop after getting directions to our next stop.

I start to close my machine down too, time to visit another hotspot. "What would you like to tell people about 360|Flex, if they're on the fence about attending?"


This one gives him a bit of pause, "Hmmm. I guess the fact that I couldn't narrow my 'sessions I'm looking forward to' down any smaller than 6 is a pretty good sign."

"True dat." Tom and I say in unison.

It's always good to hang with our first time speakers. Tom and love meeting new folks and expanding our community one person at a time. 360|Flex San Jose 2008 will be Paul's first time at a 360Conferences event. If we do our job right, it won't be his last.

Wanna see Paul in action? Want to check out some of the can't miss sessions on his list? You better register now before it's too late.

360Flex We ran into Chris Keeler this afternoon

So Tom and I were walking into In-n-Out and guess who was coming out, Christopher Keeler! Chris is doing a session at 360|Flex San Jose on High Definition Video and Flex Hands On. We sat down with him to chat over Double Double's Animal Style with fries well done.

Tom was actually having a 5x5, so Chris and I made him sit at another table, those're just darn messy!

"So Chris, why should folks go to your session in San Jose?" Tom asked between bites.

"You can get a hands-on experience with HD shooting, lighting, and get THE BEST encoder settings." Chris replied, reaching for his chocolate shake. When I opened my mouth to ask who should be sitting in the chairs in his session, he added, "Anyone who is interested in producing and streaming HD video in Flex."

I was wondering what the goal of his session was. "What are you hoping people get out of it?"

He offered, "To teach people that its not just point and shoot. There is a lot that goes into making good HD videos."

"I do like HD" Tom said, reaching for more ketchup packets.

As Chris finished up his burger, I asked him what two sessions he was looking forward to the most (besides his, of course).

"Advanced Video Streaming (Dave Hassoun) & Data Visualizations(Tom Gonzalez)" was his reply as he stacked his stray. Standing up, he added,"Tell anyone sitting on the fence about 360|Flex San Jose this: If you're into Flex (or want to get into it), then you need to be at this conference. It's the "end all, be all" of Flex events."

Chris has been to two other 360|Flex events, so he should know.

Wanna join Chris? Learn about ? Maybe grab a Double Double? Register now!

360Flex and EventVue

Tom and I were approached by EventVue, a few weeks ago. After seeing how cool it is, and how much better our attendee experience can be, we were sold!

So what's it do? Well it slices bread, toasts it, makes pies (not cakes), and combs your hair.

ACTUALLY!

EventVue ties in with our other partner, Eventbrite to create a user account when you register for 360|Flex. From there you'll be able to: Create an attendee profile that links in your blog, twitter, etc. You'll be able to set tags that apply to you, that other people will be able to search (location, interests, etc.). You'll be able to search for other attendees from your city. You'll be able to record a small video introduction of yourself, that we'll be showing throughout the conference.

The main goal and benefit of EventVue is to enable you attendees to connect more. You'll be able to connect with each other before, during and after a conference. You won't be spammed by recruiters or people selling something. It'll be a private little universe where only you attendees can connect with each other. Not registered for the show? Not allowed into the circle.

We know how hard it can be to find, let alone connect, with others at conferences. This is one of the reasons we keep ours small. However, even at our size, there's still a need to help like-minded folks connect. eventvue will remove some of the largest barriers to you finding and connecting with others.

We're really thrilled to take EventVue out and kick the tires with 360|Flex San Jose 2008! eventvue and eventbrite are already working behind the scenes to get this going.

If you're going to want to be allowed into the inner circle, you better register now. Once we're sold out, there's no way in.

360Flex has 25 percent more sessions

We didn't think our attendees had enough hard choices in life. One of the most common complaints we hear at 360|Flex (yes, we get complaints!) is that it's too hard to pick a session to attend. This is because the other concurrent sessions are just too good to miss.

To that we say, "Suck it up!" Now, the choices are harder. We've added 25% MORE sessions!

"How can this be?" They cry from the streets. We're able to offer so many more sessions because we're managing our time slots better! Our hands on track, which often has some space to spare has been revamped. Since we're offering so much hands-on content during the free Pre-Conference training, we decided that the hands-on track need only be Tuesday. Monday we made into a "How'd They Do that?" track, covering topics like TicketMaster's kiosk, the Mate Framework and creating an MMO in 59 minutes. Wednesday is now "The Business Side of Flex", covering topics like a look at Flash Player 10, i18N compliance and more!

These great sessions are essentially "bonus" material beyond what we've offered at previous 360|Flex events.... and it doesn't cost any more!!! Think of it like the second bonus disk! :)

Interested in 25% more sessions than the last 360|Flex? Register now and start the tough process of narrowing down the selections.

360Flex shirts are back!

For those that attended Seattle and came home with a spiffy gray 360|Flex polo shirt, we hope you're enjoying it. For San Jose 2008, we're working on another shirt. It'll be a polo again, since they are wearable even by those poor souls in "Business Casual" environments.

For the Seattle event, the shirts are pretty much what put us in the red. While they were very loved by the audience, we didn't think to ask someone to share the cost with us. This time we did and look who said yes.

The shirt sponsors are:
Doug McCune
Digital Primates
RealEyes Media

Each has secured a spot on the shirt and we'll be looking at shirt designs in the near future. If you have any suggestions for colors, designs, styles, etc. let us know by dropping a comment or an email to info@360flex.com. We're open to suggestions, as always.

Also, before you ask, that's all the shirt sponsor slots. You're a developer, not a NASCAR driver. :)

We learned some things from Seattle.

1. Juan Sanchez and Andy McIntosh are more the norm than John Wilker and Tom Ortega. Maybe it's because most Flexers party like rock stars, or maybe cuz Tom eats too much. Regardless, there'll be plenty more Smalls and Mediums for you tiny folks.
   
2. There will also be enough for everyone. Last time we "targeted" our end number and to be honest, missed the target. This time, we're ordering enough shirts to handle a "max capacity" crowd. You will all get a shirt. :)
   
3. Oily chicken & 360|Flex polo != friends. Tom had a fight with his lunch (big surprise) and lost (bigger surprise). Therefore, his is permanently stained with chicken grease. Don't be like Tom (in more ways than one! LOL)
   

Want to make sure you get your 360|Flex San Jose 2008 commemorative shirt (Next year we may have the Franklin Mint make 'em)? You'll have to register to get one, cuz you can't buy them in stores (not even the "As Seen On TV" ones)!

360|Flex has Doug McCune as a sponsor!

Ever attend a conference with a guys' face on the sponsors page? When you attend 360|Flex San Jose 2008, you'll be able to say, "Yes" to that question!

We're vibrating with excitement that Doug "Bedazzler" McCune is a sponsor of 360|Flex! You read that right. Not a company, not a dev shop, or a product seller. A single developer. To understand the method to Doug's madness, go read his post on the subject.

It's not just cool from the standpoint of having never (to our knowledge) been done at a conference, but it's a testimony that we're not out to rob and pillage our sponsors. A developer on his own can afford to sponsor our events. It's not $10,000 and up to sponsor 360|Flex. In fact, for $10,000 you'd be up there with Adobe, and our highest level sponsors!

If you want a nice polo shirt with Doug's mug, there's only one spot to get it. Register now before your forced to go to eBay to get one!

Does your company want to join the ranks of Doug and our other prestigious sponsors? Download the packet and email info@360flex.com with your order.