360Flex we ran into Bernd Paradies at Panera Bread

It's getting close to "go"  time so Tom and I were taking a short break at the Panera Bread, and guess who was sitting a big fluffy chair working, Bernd Paradies, 360|Flex Speaker, and all around good guy.

"Hey Bernd, how are you, man?" I ask as Tom orders us some muffins and drinks.

"Hey guys, I was just working on my presentation for the conference, this place always gives me the quiet I need to concentrate."

Handing me my coffee and a chocolate chip muffin, Tom asks, "Who should come to your session?"

Making sure to save his work, Bernd grabs his cup, looks like tea, and answers, "Flex developers that are interested in developing AIR apps or SWFs that can communicate with Adobe products like Photoshop, InDesign, or Illustrator."

"that's great I can just image some very cool use cases for that type of ability." I answer, sitting in a chair across from him, sitting my laptop down on the small coffee table. "Why should they come?"

"I'll show them how to do it."

Nodding sagely, Tom asks, sitting down in his own chair, "I would like to get Flex developers interested in SwitchBoard and PatchPanel so some of them might go to Adobe Labs and download the SDKs."

Tom takes a bite of some sort of scone thing he had picked out. Taking two chews, his face screwed up and he tried to discreetly remove the offending scone thing from his mouth, "What two sessions are you looking forward to most?"

Bernd is watching Tom as he tried to casually remove the scone. He looks down at his laptop, makes a few changes, and answers, "Adam Flater - How to make your AIR app blow up with Merapi"

"Jacob Wright - Advanced ActionScript APIs"

Enjoying my chocolate chip muffin while Tom returns to the counter, I reply, "Yeah I've seen Adam's Merapi demo at a User Group meeting. Sweet stuff! So, Bernd what should Tom and I be telling people that are on the fence about coming to 360|Flex San Jose?"

"That's easy, I'll demo Photoshop CS4 with a PatchPanel SWF."

He's right, folks go nuts for future product previews, I know I do! If you want to see a preview of CS4, and chill with Bernd, Tom and I and the other 40 some odd speakers in San Jose, you'd better register now!

Don't forget, with your registration, comes our Free pre-conference training; Lynda.com, Midnight Coders, Yahoo!, Ribbit, RiaOne! Let us know if you'd like to attend. email us your preference at info@360flex.com

360Flex Free Sunday Training Highlight: Flex 101 by Lynda.com

We continue highlighting our free Sunday training session*. Today we highlight the Flex 101 all day session.



This is a full day of training led by one of the best trainers in the field, David Gassner.  You've seen him on the training resources.  Now, you get to see him deliver the training live and in the flesh!

The Flex 101 session is geared for those that have dabbled in the past with Flex, but want a thorough overview before jumping into the conference.  Also, if you want to do a little self study before you even arrive, the lynda.com site is jam packed with video tutorials to help you.


The full schedule of topics to be covered can be downloaded here. However, I just wanted to highlight a few of them:

• Understanding events
• Retrieving Remote Data
• Creating and using value objects
• Using custom events to dispatch data from a component
• Using view states

This is going to be some great stuff.  The best part though is that this training is free for all registered attendees.  This training alone will be worth the price of admission for many.  I know I learn a topic better when covered in depth by a live trainer.  If you do too, then register now before it's too late.

* - This week, we're highlighting all your options for free preconference Training. These hands-on sessions will take place on Sunday, August 17th, the day before the show officially starts. They are 100% free to all registered guests, so be sure to stop by on Sunday and getcha learn on. All the descriptions can also be found in the eProgram Guide.

To register, simply send an RSVP to info@360flex.com and let us know you're coming.  We've now added checkboxes for your Free Sunday training selection to the registration process.  If you checked that off, there's no need to send an additional RSVP.

If you haven't registered yet, you better register now. Most conferences charge $500+ for their preconference training. We charge $480 for our entire conference and throw the preconference training in for free.

Attention 360|Flex attendees: Announcing the Flex 3 Cookbook Book Giveaway

Post your Flex Cookbook code recipe in the Adobe Flex Cookbook site at http://www.adobe.com/go/flex_cookbook between July 23 and August 19, and get a free Flex 3 Cookbook, the new O'Reilly Media book by Josh Noble, Todd Anderson, and numerous Flex contributors on the Adobe Flex Cookbook site. Recipes need to be your own original content, but can be reproduced from your own blog posts, flexcoder list or forum replies, and so forth. Bask in the glow of sharing your knowledge with other developers!

Additionally, by posting your content by August 2, you will also be eligible to be considered to win great prizes in the Flex 3 Cookbook Cook-Off Contest by O'Reilly Media. Read more about that contest at: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/logged_in/awong_flexcookoff.html

Post your code recipe today in the Adobe Flex Cookbook site at http://www.adobe.com/go/flex_cookbook. We'll notify you via e-mail and conference announcements as to where you can pick up your free book at the 360|Flex conference on August 20th.

Eligibility: Cookbook content must be a solution, not a question, subject to the Adobe Developer Relation team's discretion. Each conference attendee is eligible to receiving one book total.

If you haven't already done so, register now for the conference.  There's just too much going on to miss!

360Flex Free Sunday Training Highlight: Ribbit - Adding voice to Flex

We continue highlighting our free Sunday training session*. Today we present one of the most exciting Sunday Training opportunities - Ribbit: Voice Components for Flex.  The Ribbit platform allows you to add drag and drop phone calling, messaging and voice communication functionality into any Flex, Flash or AIR application.  Build simple applications like a web phone for your blog or a robust enterprise application for a client. Our open-source voice components can live anywhere and you can profit from the conversation.

Voice is applicable to all industries across all markets.
Ribbit has created two reference applications, one consumer and one business, to demonstrate the power of voice communication. The consumer service (code-named Amphibian, to be release later this year) is a service that links the mobile phone to the web, unveiling a suite of multi-modal experiences that redefines how people communicate.  Ribbit for Salesforce brings together the two most powerful sales tools; the mobile phone and salesforce.com, driving voice automation inside CRM. These are just two examples of voice services that meet the needs of two specific markets. Through the Ribbit platform and API, the possibilities for voice communications are only limited by the imagination.

Learn more about Ribbit Voice Components for Flex with Chuck Freedman on Sunday, August 17 from 10am to 4pm at 360Flex. Reserve your seat, your FREE voice components and your limited-edition Ribbit Developer t-shirt here.

Voice Anywhere.
The Ribbit API sets voice free, allowing it to go anywhere…on a phone, on a webpage, and in email. Voice can now live inside any environment with Ribbit. It can be captured, stored and sent in traditional and non-traditional ways…that is the power of an open platform and an open marketplace. Voice applications can live inside call centers, online communities, online stores, company websites, CRM systems and more. Voice solutions can improve customer acquisition, bolster customer loyalty, reduce support costs and enhance user experiences. Are you ready for the demand for voice? Get ready with Ribbit and learn more about Ribbit Voice Components for Flex with Chuck Freedman on Sunday, August 17 from 10am to 4pm at 360Flex. Reserve your seat, your FREE voice components and your limited-edition Ribbit Developer t-shirt here.

Talk about an opportunity...let's talk Amphibian.
Amphibian is a service for anyone and everyone who has a mobile phone and uses the Internet. It has been architected so it can be embedded in any website, setting voice communications free and putting it in play ANYWHERE - by developers like you! You can create Amphibian widgets that users add to websites they are already visiting today like iGoogle, Facebook and others. Learn more about Amphibian and watch this video.

Amphibian Service Features:

• Turn voicemail into text - making messages sharable, searchable and actionable.
• Dip into the social web for updates on the caller with Caller ID 2.0.
• Route calls to ring multiple phones or devices so being out of touch is impossible.
• Port calls to the web - moving voice to any online environment.
• Screen calls before they are answered - prioritizing communications.
• Add on widgets through the Ribbit Store - personalize the experience even more.

Develop for Amphibian and cash out! All Amphibian widgets will be sold through the online store. You build it, Ribbit sells it and you reap the rewards. Turn a profit on your widgets with Ribbit's Amphibian. Learn more from Chuck Freedman at Ribbit Summer Spawn at 360Flex on Sunday, August 17 from 10am-4pm Reserve your seat, your FREE voice components and your limited-edition Ribbit Developer t-shirt here.

* - This week, we're highlighting all your options for free preconference Training. These hands-on sessions will take place on Sunday, August 17th, the day before the show officially starts. They are 100% free to all registered guests, so be sure to stop by on Sunday and getcha learn on. All the descriptions can also be found in the eProgram Guide.

To register, simply send an RSVP to info@360flex.com and let us know you're coming.  We've now added checkboxes for your Free Sunday training selection to the registration process.  If you checked that off, there's no need to send an additional RSVP.

If you haven't registered yet, you better register now. Most conferences charge $500+ for their preconference training.  We charge $480 for our entire conference and throw the preconference training in for free.

360Flex API Contest! Show the world whatchya got!

If you missed our last API contest, you missed a chance at winning an Xbox 360, a Wii, and/or a Playstation 3!  Are you kicking yourself for not entering?  Do you wish there was a way to turn back time so you could enter?

Fret no longer, as we are proud to announce the next version of the 360|Flex API contest.  This time around we've got Yahoo and OpenFlux on board.  Here's the low down and the two categories and how to win.  Note: OpenFlux's contest doesn't even require any programming!

The deadline for the contests will extend beyond the show.  Therefore, you can get cranking on your ideas now, come to 360|Flex San Jose to learn these APIs for free on Sunday, then still have time to go off and build your entry!  How cool is that?  Here's the contest details as described by those in charge of each category.

*Announcing 360|Flex Yahoo! API Contest*

Yahoo! offers a variety of data-rich APIs for Flash and Flex developers. From Yahoo! Maps and Yahoo! Weather, to Answers, Search and Flickr, the set of tools for building applications is extremely varied and only limited by your imagination.

Because we love to see developers come up with mash-ups and apps based on our APIs, we are conducting an API Contest, to bring your best and brightest ideas to light. During this three hour event, we are challenging you to use at least two Yahoo! API to build a mash-up, a widget, an application -- or anything that will capture attention and impress your fellow developers. For information on the APIs see our Flash Developer Center: http://developer.yahoo.com/flash/

As with any contest, this one would be boring if it didn't have incentives. So, naturally, a panel of Yahoo! judges will select the top projects and award some great prizes.

The award categories are:
*Greatest number of Yahoo! APIs *- can you use three? Or maybe five? Pull them together in a cohesive app, and the prize is yours!

*Most creative use of an API *- you take a Yahoo! API and really run with it, using its functions to achieve remarkable results.

*Eye candy* - an app using Yahoo! APIs that's a joy to see. Whether it's large dataset visualization, or an innovative photo viewer, or something else, its the visual chops that count.

*Best overall* -- the app that really appeals to the users with its functionality, simplicity and quality.

The top prize for the best overall winner of the API contest is a Game Console. The other winners will receive some wonderful Yahoo! gear, and of course, all winners and their projects will be featured on Yahoo!'s popular Developer Center and the Yahoo! Flash Platform blog.


OpenFlux: The Big Idea Contest

(This time 'round we've selected OpenFlux as our Community API. If you're not familiar with how we do things, we (Tom and I) pick a community driven open source project as our community API. Those who enter the contest in this category win a prize from 360Conferences, and help make the open source project world a little better.)

OpenFlux is getting ramped up for some exciting new demos at 360Flex San Jose, but we're still waiting for that one component that really shows what the framework is capable of. Luckily for us the guys at 360|Conferences decided to sponsor the official OpenFlux Big Idea Contest. Here's how it works.

OpenFlux makes it so easy to build custom components that we'll prove it. We want to see your best component ideas and designs. You come up with it, and we'll build it. Entries can be submitted as pencil sketches, design mock-ups, or even plain text. The submission with the most votes at the end of the contest takes home a PlayStation 3 courtesy of 360Flex!

The contest deadline will extend past the 360Flex San Jose conference, but you'll need to be in the audience on Wednesday to hear the final deadline. That means you'll have plenty of time to learn more about OpenFlux in San Jose and even develop your own OpenFlux components! A fully functional component is a valid submission of course, but remember that your entry could still get out-voted by that one solid idea scribbled on the back of a napkin. I like to think that this is what OpenFlux is all about. It makes sure that framework details don't get in the way of good ideas and helps developers become innovators. Once you have the ability, there's only one question left...what's the big idea?

360Flex Free Sunday Training Highlight: Yahoo!

This week, we're highlighting all your options for free preconference Training. These hands-on sessions will take place on Sunday, August 17th, the day before the show officially starts. They are 100% free to all registered guests, so be sure to stop by on Sunday and getcha learn on. All the descriptions can also be found in the eProgram Guide.

To register, simply send an RSVP to info@360flex.com and let us know you're coming.  We've now added checkboxes for your Free Sunday training selection to the registration process.  If you checked that off, there's no need to send an additional RSVP.

Yahoo! API Hands on - Sponsored by Yahoo! Developer Network

Yahoo! Workshop: Flex@Yahoo! - A Deep-Dive Look at How We Build Flex Components and Applications

Since its inception over two years ago, Yahoo!'s Flash Platform team has produced a large collection of Flash an Flex components and libraries, nearly all open-sourced and available to the developer community for free . In this session, we'll look at some of our popular Flex components, and deep-dive under the hood of the source code to see how they were built.
The topics discussed will include:

• The very popular Yahoo! AS3 Maps component: We will talk about the efficient tile engine and the techniques of combining a component with rich data APIs.
• The novel AutoComplete manager: Though not a visible component on its own, the AutoComplete manager can turn any text input in Flex into an AutoCompleteone. We'll demo how to do this.
• The ColorPicker: How one universal component can replace twenty different ones.

During the workshop, the best questions and comments will receive unique Yahoo! prizes. Additionally, a raffle at the end of the workshop will determine a few winners of Alaric Cole's new book "Flex 3 for Beginners" (O'Reilly)

360Flex preso - Jesse Warden's Super Deluxe Edition

Jesse Warden was one of the presenters people were looking forward to seeing at 360|Flex Atlanta.  As an organizer, it's very rare to actually catch any sessions.  The last and, to be honest, only 360|Flex session I've ever seen in totality was Jesse's session at the very first show in San Jose. Jesse is a great presenter.  His personality comes through in his presention style, which is not an easy thing to do...especially for a programmer.

During Atlanta, Jesse Warden came down with some health issues.  You can read about the details on his blog.  Everyone at the conference was majorly bummed.  We kept the audience up to date with info during the keynotes.  You can see one of our slides below.  Doug and Juan picked up Jesse's session along with participation from others in the audience, so the session still transpired.  However, people were still very excited about hearing how JesterXL came to be and how Jesse built his brand.

The great thing about the Flex community is how classy people are. Jesse didn't have to do anything since needing an operation is more than a valid reason to bail on a conference presentation. However, he took time on his own to record the presentation for you. Now, I'll be the first to admit, it's not the high energy treatment you get from Jesse in person. I think that's because he feeds off the audience and a camera doesn't make for much energy to feed off of. However, it still has Jesse's mannerisms and sweet quotables such as "That's lame sauce!"

Before starting at Workday, I thought about going independent and John made the leap to being an Indie long ago.  For those of you aspiring for the rock star status of folks like Doug or Jesse, this preso is a great eye opener and chalk full of great advice.  It's a bit long as Jesse doesn't skimp on the details, but it's well worth the time to watch.

Bravo, Jesse for still delivering your ATL preso even if a bit late.

One thing Jesse's mentions as being important is your network.  There's no better place in the world to build your Flex network than 360Flex.  Register now before it's too late.

360Flex Birds of a Feather

Tom and I debated about what to do with Birds of a Feather sessions at 360|Flex.

We tried it in Seattle, albeit poorly, so we weren't sure if BoFs were 'us'.  THEN we got some really kick ass submissions for BoF sessions, so.... we're BoF'ing again.

Another great thing is that the evening parties on both Monday and Tuesday, take place right outside the doors of the BoFs room.  Therefore, you'll be able to sneak in and see what the BoF is all about without having to leave the action.  This way, if the BoF hits home and you want to keep talking, the food and drinks are right outside the door to help you continue the discussion.

Monday: we've got community sponsored BoFs:

6:00p - 6:40p
Sam Rivello leading a coding standards panel. If you wanna brush up, Sam published some standards that are well worth the read.


6:40p - 7:20p
Adam Flater is leading a discussion on Open Source projects, initiatives, etc. If you've got a hankerin' for a hunk of Open Source, Adam is your man!

7:20p - 8:00p
Rounding out Monday night, we've got Jonathan Branam talking about making Flex like Ruby. I'll be honest, I have no idea what that means, or what Jonathan is planning to talk about. I know I'll be popping in to hear what this is all about cuz it's certainly piqued my interest.

Tuesday night is Adobe BoF night! Fitting since the Adobe Party is Tuesday nigth, hey go figure!:

6:00p - 7:00p
Matt Chotin leading another of the widely popular "Meet the Flex Team" discussions. If there's anything you ever wanted to ask Adobe about Flex, this is the time!

7:00p - 8:00p
Craig Goodman will lead the "Meet the ADC team". The Adobe Developer Connection (ADC) team is responsible for the Edge newsletter, the Flex Cookbook, the various Developer/Designer Community site, everything that keeps us connected to Adobe and on the bleeding edge of Adobe Tech. Don't miss it!


Not registered? What the heck are you waiting for! Register now before we're sold out!

Want some Flex 101 Hands on? Wanna know how to add voice/telephony to your Flex apps? Build Business Intelligence with WebORB, take RPC to the next level? Sign up for our FREE Sunday Pre-Conference training! Email info@360flex.com let us know your preference.

(Update: WIth mad apologies to Jonathan, we accidentally (Me, not Tom) gave his BoF idea to Tony Hillerson. All fixed)

360Flex Michigan:FlexCamp Shout Out

If you're in the Michiganish part of the world, we wanted to make sure that you are aware there's a Flex Camp coming your way. Nick Kwiatkowski, a great friend of 360|Flex, is putting on Michigan:FlexCamp.  This 2 day Flex Camp will be going down on Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.  Date of the event is Wednesday, July 30th and Thursday, July 31th.

The attendance number is limited to 150 peeps.  It's a steal at a mere $40 for 2 days ($35 for students) and $25 for a 1 day pass.  Speakers that are participating include:

• Michael Labriola
• Nick Kwiatkowski
• Joe Johnston
• Vu Truong
• John Farrar

The nice thing about this particular is that it looks to have a lot of Hands-On goodness.  Seeing as how it's brought to you by the Michigan Flex User's Group, it makes sense.  I know that hands-on are very popular with my Silicon Valley Flex User Group.

Ever wanted to have a Flex Camp in your area, but don't know how (or even care) to do it yourself?  Does the idea of a 1 Day 360|Flex event interest you?  If so, drop us a line at info@360flex.com. We may have something for you.  Wanna find out what I mean?  Come to 360|Flex in San Jose to be one of the first to hear.

360Flex we ran, literally, into Brad Umbaugh at DisneyLand

Tom and I have roots in Southern CA, so we decided that we'd take a little break and hit up DisneyLand.

My wife loves the place and when we lived in SoCal we were there quite often. Tom's got kids, so yeah I'm sure he's familiar with the place. What SoCal'er isn't?

So we're walking through tomorrow land, having just finished kicking Zerg's ass in the Buzz lightyear ride, and we run into, well smack into is more like it, Brad Umbaugh, speaker at 360|Flex San Jose!

"hey guys! What're you doing here?" Brad asks us as we help him up.

"Taking a break from conference planning, getting our fun on." Tom answers. "We just had a blast in the Buzz Lightyear ride, you done that one?"

"Oh yeah I totally did that earlier today. I like to come out to DisneyLand to clear my head and think through things. The crowds suck, but the rides are a blast."

We start walking together toward Space Mtn, which is still boasting the Red Hot Chili Peppers, w00t! "So Brad, who should come to your session In San Jose? It's less than 30 days away you know?"

Dodging twelve small children with no apparent adult, he answered, "Anyone who has felt the guilt and shame of using callLater() or validateNow() inappropriately and longs for a better way."

Another troop of of children comes pushing past us, I trip one and ask, "Why should they come? Oh and little boy, you shouldn't run into people, it's rude."

Laughing Brad, replies, "Knowing the component lifecycle makes developing custom components a lot more fun and a lot less stressful."

For some strange reason, the line for Space Mtn, is almost non existant, sweet! We walk in and stand behind only 20 or so peeps. Over the din of Space Mtn music Tom asks, "What's the goal of your session?"

Brad looks at us, "I think the last season of Baywatch was one of the worst."

Tom and I look at each other, "No! He asked what the goal of your session is!" I shout.

"Ah! To go over the basics of the component lifecycle.  You can never be too solid on the fundamentals."

We're next in line for the ride. I love me the Space Mtn. I'm kinda excited and tuning out Tom and Brad, so Tom asks, "What two sessions are you looking forward to?"

Getting into the car, brad answers, "Chris Scott's Swiz presentation and Laura Arguello's  Mate presentation.  See a pattern?"

The ride starts, we're working our way p the "launch tube" thingy...

Higher Ground starts blasting out of the speakers behind our heads. We take off!

From the seat in front of me I can hear tom ask what Brad would Tell some one who was on the fence about 360|Flex. I hear Brad reply, "No I think Captain Kirk was by far the best Captain in Star Trek history."

Wanna talk Star Trek with Brad? Talk about all the cool rides at DisneyLand with me? Register now, we're filling up fast.

Make sure to check out our Sunday training, options. FREE to all registered attendees.

360Flex we ran into Laura Arguello at yoga class

Tom being the dabbler in just about everything thought we should try yoga one night after we got done reviewing our signage comps. I've done yoga before, my wife teaches it, but Tom was keen to try it out. 

Walking in, we see Laura Arguello in the back row. We rush over taking spots on either side of her. She's stretching and getting ready, Tom's trying to figure out how to get his mat to not curl up on him. "So Laura, who should come to your session?"

The class starts, with us in foward fold, working through several Sun Salutations. Between breaths, Laura replies in a whisper, "Do you work in a team?
Do you want to structure your code in a way that will make it easy to maintain?
Are you interested in frameworks?
Do you already use a framework but are curious about what is out there?
Do you dislike frameworks because they dictate how you should build your app?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should come to the session."

While the rest of us are in downward dog, Tom is plan. The instructor takes us into Warrior One, and I whisper, "Why should they come?"

 Laura moves into the more advanced form, while I'm in the most basic, and Tom is in something completely different. "Because Mate rocks! :) Seriously now, if you have any interest in learning Mate or even if you are just curious, this session will give you all the main concepts you need to know to get started."
 
We're going into eagle now, and right before toppling into the guy next to him, Tom asks, "What's the goal of your session?"


Laura starts to answer, and we get a shhh from the instructor, whispering, "I hope to give attendees a good taste of Mate, pun intended. :) I'll do that by showing how to build a complete application, while showing how to keep the code "clean" and well organized. I also hope to give some insight about why certain patterns help us writing decoupled applications, so that even if you don't use Mate, you can take some ideas with you."

 Getting back up, Tom gets into downward dog with the rest of us, "What two sessions are you looking forward to the most?"

Jumping up from upward facing dog into mountain with ease, Laura replies, "Flex Persistence with Hibernate, Introduction to the Swiz Framework for Flex, See the Data, Be the Data"

Back in eagle, wobbling a bit, I manage to ask before dropping my other foot back to the mat, "What would you tell folks who haven't registered yet, but are thinking about it."You won't find a better place to learn about Flex and to be among Flex developers. The 360|Flex conferences I couldn't attend I felt that I missed out."

Don't feel that way yourself, register now! We had Laura with us in San Jose in '07, and are thrilled to have her back talking about Mate! Don't miss out! Register now!

360Flex Ran into Tony Hillerson on the 16th St Mall

I finally managed to get Tom to come out to Denver for a "retreat" so we could so some planning, and taking a break at the Paramount, we ran into Tony Hillerson, All around great guy and frequent speaker at 360|Flex.


"hey you guys! Tom, good to see you again!" Tony was walking down the 16th St Mall. 


"Hey Tony! Come have a seat, watch the weirdos with us for a minute." Tom waves him into the patio area, moving his backpack off the seat.


Tony sits down just as a troop of skinny goth kids walk past, smoking and trying their hardest to look like scary bad ass zombies, while clutching their Frapaccinos.


The waitress takes Tony's drink order, and heads back into the restaraunt, Tom asks, "Who should come to your session?"


Tony points out what must be a group of tourists from Wyoming... they just have that look :) "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, free from heavyweight Java app servers and constricting languages. Come and hear the good news of how to use Flex with a back-end framework that makes programming fun! (Err, you know, people that want to learn how to use Rails the Flex way, with RubyAMF)"


The waitress brings out our food, I went with chicken strips, Tom went with a buffalo burger, a side of the big stack onion rings, and a milkshake. Tom's swishing his shake around, wishing I had ordered one I asked, "Why should folks come?"

Tony takes a sip of his drink, thinks a bit, points at a street vendor arguing with a customer, then says, "Because Rails is awesome, and RubyAMF hooks up Rails with Flex, and this "they" you speak of will want to know how and why."

Tom grabs an onion ring, "What's the goal of your session?"

Tony, replies without a seconds pause, "To try and go for 80 minutes on stage without dropping a 'Mom joke'"

I'm thinking Tony's set himself a pretty lofty goal, but more power to him. I glance past Tony to some one walking up the sidewalk, what looks like a prom dress, except it's gray, and covered in rhinestones. The wearer, a 'she' I think, has bright orange hair, done in spikes. "What two sessions are you looking forward to most?"

Tony sees Orange hair, tries not to stare, gotta give him credit for not watching her. "Gotta love 16th Street.
That's a hard call, John and Tom, a real hard call. I'm looking forward to Mate and Swiz, but I also want to see how fun Brad and RJ are going to make their talk. Brad is a professional comedian, you know! Ben Stucki's "How to build a framework" is probably a must see too, and I owe Ben a beer from WebManiacs, so I'll be there too. You like how I talked about more than two? How I just ignored your limits and dove right in? Here's another one - I want to see Renaun's testing talk too. And probably Adam's Merapi talk. Reflection in Actionscript sounds fun too. In fact I'm going to skip my talk altogether and see someone else's. Other people are encouraged to do the same."
 
Putting down his buffalo burger, Tom says, "Huh, so that's what buffalo tastes like. What would you like to tell people about 360|Flex if they're on the fence about attending?"

Tony ponders that for a bit, stealing some of Tom's onion rings, "Look, this is not some heartless, automated, de-humanizing sheep-fest. This is 360|Flex! Where the logo is actually only 180 degrees! It's a much more intimate (but not *too* intimate) and fun conference than any of the others you've attended."

Even if Tony won't be there, his session is still gonna rock! Don't miss out! Register now!

360Flex and the Labriola Vineyards

Taking a break from Conference planning, and writing Flex apps, Tom and I went wine tasting in MI. Actually I went wine tasting, Tom doesn't drink. Never a fan of drinking alone (not that I'm opposed to it, mind you, but...), we drug our pal Carrot Top. Bet ya didn't know we knew Carrot Top did'ja, we met him in Vegas at MAX '06. Great guy, a bit strange when he pulls something weird out of a pocket, 19 egg beaters tied together with dental floss? Weird. Anyhoo.


We're about three wineries into our little tour when we caught sight of Michael Labriola chatting with one of the vintners  over in the corner. "Hey Mike!! What're you doing here!?" Tom calls over. CT and I grab our tasting glasses and follow Tom over.


"Oh, hey guys. Enjoying this years vintage?" he says good buy to his friend and joins us at a small table.


"Check this out, it's for when you've been drinking too much and can't walk straight." CT pulls out a converse high top with some sort of support struts coming out of it, presumably for stability.


Tom and I look at CT, then at Mike, then shrug. Tom asks, "So Mike, you excited about 360|Flex San Jose? Who should come to your session?"

Taking a sip of cab sauvignon, "Geeks. People who want to know an insane amount about a narrow topic because, while they currently don’t have an immediate use for such knowledge, they are sure they absolutely will someday. Oh, and I think they are right."



Tom and I nod, Mike's other sessions are are hard core and always get great marks. CT looks over at the counter and pulls out some sort of telescoping arm thing with a wine glass on the end. He smiles and winks at all three of us, "Why should they come?"

Mike's a bit shocked that CT asked the question, Tom and I are too, frankly.

"Because statistically, people that exit my sessions (at its conclusion) are .061 percent cooler than when they entered."

I got up and decided to try the Reisling, I'm a sucker for the sweeter wines. I'm about open my mouth when CT whips out some sort of blown glass contraption and starts pouring his glass into it. Some how it all fits inside, then comes out 2x the volume that went in. Mike and I both stare slack jawed, CT ust nods, "That's right."


Regaining my composure, what's let after so many glasses, I ask, "What's the goal of your session?"


Mike is still staring at CT, who's showing the people at the next table some sort of inflatable something-er-other, with the Presidents face taped to it. he shakes it off, "Alright, so I am sort of obsessive about certain things. When I learned to cook, I decided I could only do it right If I understood the chemistry behind it. Magic irritates the hell out of me until I understand the trick. Then one day I started using Flex and someone told me ‘just put these stupid curly brackets around your variable and magically update when the data changes.’ Completely and totally unacceptable. I had to know why, get in the middle of it, figure out how it works, break it, fix it…. You know, normal stuff. So, this session is about taking all of the magic and wonderful mystery out of those stupid curly brackets and boiling it down to a tool that you can use, manipulate, break, rebuild, hang out with, you know, normal stuff."

Tom and I both say, "Sweet" in unison. Now CT is looking at us weird, that's quite a strange feeling, I gotta tell ya. I get up to try the port (my weakness), and Tom asks, "What two sessions are you looking forward to most?"


I bring a glass back for Mike, hoping he doesn't drink port so I can have it, he answers, "I think Alex’s session on versioning support and Renaun’s session on testing, but there are a lot at this conference I actually want to see. Sometimes at a conference you have seen many (most) of the topics presented before, San Jose seems to be a lot of great, fresh stuff. Tom didn’t even pay me to say that."

Truth be told, I write the checks for things like that, but that's neither here nor there.


As Mike tips a sip of a really well ages port, that I was totally hoping he didn't like, I asked him what he'd tell some one that wasn't sure if they wanted to register for 360|Flex San Jose.


"If my sessions makes you .061 percent cool, imagine what might happen if you went to one of the sessions from the cool kids instead?"

Mike's totally right! Coming to a 360|Flex has been statistically proven to increase braininess and over all "let's hire him, he's smart" osity. Oh and we're the best damn Flex Conference out there! Register now, talk wine with Mike! He know's his stuff!

360Flex did you miss the Spring Ribbit Spawn?

Did you miss this springs Ribbit Spawn? Take a look here, and see what you missed!

The Ribbit team covered the API A-Z, talked about the business of implementing telephony into your applications, showed more code samples than a red head has freckles!

Do you really want to miss out on that, AGAIN?

Our FREE Pre-Conference training is open to all registered attendees. Email us at info@360flex.com and let us know you'd like to take part in this summers Spawn!





Not registered yet? Why the heck not! You're gonna miss out on crazy awesome Sunday training, not to mention 3 regular days of the best Flex/ActionScript/AIR content, ANYWHERE. not just in the US, ANYWHERE on this planet! Do you really want to be that person? Register now!

360Flex Free Sunday training for the Java Peeps!

To quote the sidebar at riaone.com, "HttpService does too little; Blah Data Service is too much. R1-RPC/J is just right!"

We're really happy to have James Huang with us for our FREE pre-conference training, covering R1-RPC/J as well as the D.eval() API. Curious? You should be if you've ever wanted eval() in AS3, or wished there was a better way to do RPC calls in your Flex apps.

James will cover a ton of great content on these two incredible offerings, all hands on! This ain't no, 'sit around and listen' training, this is get your hands dirty, code writing, come out a better developer' training!

The Schedule

1:00-2:30:	R1-RPC/J Toolkit hands-on training
3:00-3:45:	D.eval API hands-on training
4:00-5:00:	R1-RPC/J Toolkit hands-on training

About the Training Classes

The R1-RPC/J Toolkit Training

RPC is the necessary evil in client-server systems. You don't like to think about it, just want to use it. Low-level network services in Flex, Flash, and AJAX make RPC possible in RIAs, but using them directly for RPC demands too much mechanical coding. Many home-grown solutions try to shield the unwanted details, but come short in various ways.
R1-RPC/J is a well designed, tested, and supported solution for you to handle all your RPC needs in Flex/Flash-Java systems. It is light-weight, easy to own and use, and friendly for system design. It will also foster better teamwork and improved development process with its unit testing feature.
Seeing is believing. Come to our pre-conference hands-on training at 360|Flex and learn the ideas, solution, and how it will help your development!

The D.eval API Training

It is all about eval(), or lack thereof, in ActionScript 3.
Adobe chose not to have eval() in AS3 for good reasons. But people find other good reasons to have it. With D.eval API, the dispute is silenced — now, you can happily eval() in AS3 if you want to. The question is, how powerful is the supported language for the dynamic code? Here is the good news: D.eval API supports a very potent scripting language embedded in AS3.
For those who have been yearning and crying for the lack of eval() in AS3, come to share the joy and fun of eval()'ing with the D.eval API at our 360|Flex pre-conference training!

360Flex ran into Jonathan Branam at the Apple store

Tom and I were at the Apple store buying a new power adapter for my MacBook Air (There must be a whole market for lost power adapters! or trolls that use them as construction blocks), and guess who we bumped into browsing iPhone covers? Jonathan Branam, speaker at 360|Flex San Jose!

"Hey man, go for the clear one." I say from the software aisle.

"Oh hey guys!" Jonathan says from the display, he's holding a good half dozen iPhone covers. "What brings you here?"

"John lost his power cord again. I think he's single handedly keeping Apple in business, we buy one of these like every week." Tom replies picking up some sort of nubby ipod case that looks like a sea anenemy. "So Jonathan, who do you think should be in your session?"

"Anyone developing Flex components that has pulled their hair out at the AdvancedDataGrid, tried to extend ViewStack, built their own containers, or just decided to roll their own component because the Flex SDK never has the right properties, styles, and too many PRIVATE VARIABLES! Anyone who has said something like "but the dark inner recesses of flex can be a scary place :)" or "My explorations in the source code didn't leave me any the wiser about this" (both overheard online)."He answered, putting the anenemy down and picking up a pack of 5 iPod socks. Really socks? Wouldn't a crew sock do the same? you can get like two 8 packs at Costco.


I pick up my power brick and stop to look at the Apple Keyboard, that came out recently, sans number pad, "Lame, why would I want one without a number pad?Why should they come?"

"I'm going to show them how to get the most out of the Flex SDK by reading the source code so you can make the decision 'stock or custom' ASAP and know which classes to extend to build your masterpiece. They will understand the difference between a UIComponent, a UITextField, a Shape and a Sprite and when to choose each. They'll see how to build solid components and learn from the SDK while avoiding its pitfalls."


Tom is looking at the AppleTV display, trying to get it to show the latest Battlestar Galactica. Suddenly Rainbow Bright pops up on the big screen attached to the AppleTV, Tom sits the remote down and walks back towards us, "So Jonathan, what's the goal of your session?"

"To destroy fear and liberate Flex developers; to turn "I can't figure this OUT! I guess I'll have to look at the source code. OH NO!" into "yes, I know this will work because I read the source code. OH YEAH!" (cue the Kool-Aid Man and stay away from the wall)."

Looking over the external Hard Drives, complete with Apple Store 30% mark up, "What two sessions are you looking forward to most?"

Jonathan walks over to the Mac Pro section, Tom and I stay in the accessories section, the Mac Pro section is guarded by Apple Store militia. "Only 2??? I love the work that Juan Sanchez and Tony Hillerson do. They are two people that I follow. When they present "See the Data, Be the Data." I'll be there learning about custom advanced data visualizations.
I think I'll have to hit Ben Stucki's session on "How to Build a Framework." I really respect his work and am interested in getting involved in some of his efforts. And I am tempted to skip my session and go to Jacob Wright's Advanced ActionScript APIs, but you never know, someone might show up for mine!"

"So jonathan, what do you think Tom and I should tell people who are sitting on the fence of attending 360|Flex?" I ask, walking over to the MacBook Air section, some one is cutting cake with one of the display models.

"It's simple. If you follow Flex development blogs, flexcoders, Flexers on Twitter, and the best agencies and solo acts, you know why you should come:

Adam Flater, Alex Harui, Ben Clinkinbeard, Ben Stuki, Brad Umbaugh, RJ Owen, Chet Haase, Jeff Houser, Josh Tynjala, Juan Sanchez, Tony Hillerson, Jun Heider, Justin Everett-Church, Renaun Erickson, Ryan Campbell, Ryan Friggin' Stewart, Tom Gonzalez (just to name a few).

It just doesn't get better than that."

Jonathan's right. It doesn't get better than that, and if you're thinking about joining us, you'd better not dilly dally. Register Now!

360Flex we ran into Mike Potter on the Curling Rink

Tom and I were taking a break from planning the 360|Flex, and decided to learn how to curl. No not our hair, that cool sport the Canadians like, where you send a stone sliding down a long icy path. Kinda like Bocce ball, but on ice, and equally as unknown. We ran into Mike Potter, Adobe's big cheese for Flex Marketing. He was walking toward the next rink over from ours, he had his own stone.

"Hey Mike!" Tom and I step off our rink and walk towards his, our special shoes make a funny noise as we walk.

"Oh hey guys, I didn't know you curled. Wanna join me? My team is light two men as luck would have it." Mike is polishing his stone and putting on his curling shoes. He introduced us to 'Skinny', his other team mate, from one of the more French parts of Canada.

'Skinny' looked Tom and I up and down, starting and stopping with our rented curling shoes, "I was aboot to go find two alternates, you sure you want these two?"

Mike vouched for us. He probably regretted it afterward.

"Sure, if you're interested in two n00bs on the team." I say.

"Yeah no problem, this is just practice, we're going to try out of for the next Winter Olympics." Mike was practice throwing. Working on his turning, both directions, he's pro for sure!

Tom and I grab our rocks and brooms, and head back to Mike's area. "So Mike, who do you think should come to your session in San Jose?" I ask.

"Developers who are interested in users actually seeing what they’ve built with Flex and AIR. It's one thing to build a great application; It's another to actually promote it and have people use it. This session tells people what resources are available to them to promote their applications. This stuff really works too, unlike that hair club for men stuff. Do this, and people will find out about your application. Guaranteed*. (* Guarantee not guaranteed.)" Mike lines up to deliver his rock, and Tom and I, plus 'Skinny' start sweeping. Tom and I only learned to sweep that morning, so our method was probably as counter productive as it could be, but 'Skinny' kept his mouth shut, and Mike, just made a face like he was having a heart attack, right there on the ice.

As we slid down the ice towards the house, Tom asked, "Why should they come?" Both of us were already outta breath, sweeping was pretty hard work.

"Who cares if you’ve built the coolest application if no one knows about it.  Come to this session and figure out how to make sure the Flex community knows about your app." Mike said between clenched teeth, as the rock slowly veered to the right. It stopped just outside the third ring.

I took my turn as the one to deliver the rock, "Mike, what's the goal of your session?" I asked as I tried my best to put the right turn on the rock, which really put it into a kind of drunken spin.

Mike sweeping like a pro answered, "Help developers promote the cool stuff that they’re building."

Tom is opposite Mike, sweeping like crazy, though I couldn't tell if he was helping or not, "What two sessions are you looking forward to most?"

Mike expertly guided the rock into the ring just outside center of the house, "Mine and mine. Seriously, I’m in marketing now.  The other sessions are too technical for me."

Tom took his turn to deliver the rock, turning it just right. Mike and I with the help of 'skinny' swept it right to the center of the house! I actually did very little, but Mike and 'Skinny' are damn good curlers!

Want to find out more on how to get your great Flex application noticed? Don't miss out on swapping awesome curling stories with Mike at 360|Flex San Jose. Register now!

360Flex Matt Chotin needs a new video idea

Jeff and John were talking to Matt Chotin from Adobe . We asked if he'd be making a video to follow up the outrageously hilarious one he showed off at 360|Flex Atlanta.

Problem is, he's got about 30 days and needs some help with an idea.

That's where we come in: The community needs to help Matt!

A few things to remember, Matt's in San Francisco. Leaving the city sure ain't an option, so no "Flex at Mt. Rushmore" type ideas. Keep it local, keep the effects budget somewhere between Napolean Dynamite and Jurassic Park.

Ok have at it! Leave a comment, let's help Matt out!  Want to keep your idea secret? Email it to info@360flex.com Don't forget that Matt and the Flex team will also be available Tuesday night of the show. Wanna see the video? Wanna chat with the Flex team? Be sure to register now before it's too late.

360Flex Sunday Training: Flex@Yahoo! - A Deep-Dive Look at How We Build Flex Components and Applications

Ever wanted to implement any of the Yahoo! AS3 APIs? Ever wanted to see how Yahoo! Maps can take your applicationto the next level? Yahoo! will be presenting a half day training session on their APIs on Sunday, as part of our FREE pre-conference training.

Since its inception over two years ago, Yahoo!'s Flash Platform team has produced a large collection of Flash/Flex components and libraries. Nearly all of which are open-sourced and available to the developer community for free (http://developer.yahoo.com/flash/). In this session, we'll look at some of their popular Flex components, plus deep-dive under the hood of the source code to see how they were built.

The topics discussed will include:

• The very popular Yahoo! AS3 Maps component:
  We will talk about the efficient tile engine and the techniques of combining a component with rich data APIs.
• The novel AutoComplete manager:
  Though not a visible component on its own, the AutoComplete manager can turn any text input in Flex into an AutoComplete one - we'll demo how to do this.
• The ColorPicker:
  How one universal component can replace twenty different ones.

During the training session, the best questions and comments will receive unique Yahoo! prizes. Additionally, a raffle at the end of the workshop will determine a few winners of Alaric Cole's new book "Flex 3 for Beginners" (O'Reilly).

Don't miss this great opportunity for hands on instruction on implementing sweet APIa from Yahoo!. Register now, and let us know you'd like to attend the training session by emailing us at info@360flex.com.

360Flex Badges!!

Tom and I suck at details like this it seems, LOL

We're working on it!!

This zip contains, 6 images. The speaker badge (use it if you're a speaker. If we catch non speakers using it, you're in deep trouble!!), the badge with date, and without. There's a 400px wide version, and the super high res crazy sized one, should you feel like going crazy with it :)

Please feel free to use them on your blogs, sites, desktops, etc. :)

Wanna get your Cruise on, and talk Flex with Flex'ers?

If you said, "Oh hellz yeah!" then the RIAdventure cruise is for you!

Tom and I heard about the cruise a week ago, I know it's been mentioned a few times already, but we wanted to through our support behind it.

Josh Cyr has put the whole thing together, hats off Josh! Tom and I tossed the idea around but never did anything, Josh beat us too it!


If you're free Feb 9th - 13th, check it out!

The Agenda

Mon	Miami	leave at 5PM
Tue	Grand Bahama Island	8AM - 5PM
Wed	Nassau	8AM - 6PM
Thu	Great Stirrup Cay	8AM - 5PM
Fri	Miami	arrive at 8AM

Register now for 360|Flex,  then head over and sign up for a nice cruise around the bahamas!

360Flex chillin with Jun Heider at the Blue Monkey (Revised)

(Note: I totally messed this one up, by pasting Jonathan's answers in, so it's now fixed, below are Jun's Answers. We still met him in the Blue Monkey, thought)


(disclosure, the Blue Monkey is real, and I've been there!)

Tom and I managed to get all of our pre-conference stuff done early so we headed to "hoppin" (I use that term with much sarcasm) down town San Jose to the Blue Monkey. I partied there during the first 360|Flex, so I knew it'd be open when the rest of San Jose wasn't.

We get in and I order a beer for me and something fruity with an umberella and whipped cream for Tom. He doesn't drink so I think he compensates for getting the craziest things he can, that have no alcohol in them. we turn around and bump smack into Jun Heider, our pal, and my Denver neighbor!

"Dude!" the three of us say in unison. Well Jun and I said it, Tom was already sipping fruity foofoo umberella drink with no name and too much whipped cream.

The three of us push our way past the line for the bathroom (yes there's just one, and it's gross, and I'm way too familiar with it), and head up stairs. Tom asks Jun on the way up, "So Jun, who do you think should be in your session?"

"Anyone who's interested in the FB3 Profiler.  If you're a n00b, you'll learn some things about debugging and optimization.  If you're intermediate you'll learn all the ins and outs of the Profiler tool.  If you're an expert, you're welcome to offer additional information throughout the session to supplement mine…you know, I'm not a know it all and I like to learn stuff too." Jun answered as he drank some of his beer, it's not Coor's so I'm thankful, even if it's not a Hefe.

I point to a set of seats around a low table off to the side, and away from what looks like a bachelorette party, those're never good to be around. "Why should they come?"

"You should come if you want to see a walk-through of the Profiler features, some background information on why there is one, and also if you want to see some demonstrations of the Profiler in action.  Also, you should come if you are tired from lunch and just want a place to catch some zzz's...unless you snore...then beware a roomful of pranksters."

We take a seat and start to relax when one of the bachelorette'rs screams like she's seen a spider, jumps up on a table (that probably wasn't designed for that kind of load) and starts to dance. We look at her, we look at each other, I ask Tom and Jun if she's got an iPod or something, cuz the music she's dancing to isn't what's coming out of the speakers at 200db.

"So Jun, what's the goal of your session?" I ask, just as the table dancer topples on to one of her friends in a drunken pile.

"To inform and hopefully entertain."

Tom finishes his fruity flavored whipped concoction, and asked, "What two sessions are you looking forward to most?"

Jun finishes his beer, and grabs my empty cup. As he headed down the stairs, he shouted, "Just two?  C'mon guys that's harsh.  Here's some right off the bat that strike my fancy:

• Adam Flater - How to make your AIR app blow up with Merapi
• Axel Jensen - Project Workflow (trac,svn,ANT,XML...)
• Samuel Asher Rivello - Creating an MMO from Scratch in 59 minutes.
• Alex Harui - Versioning Support for Large Applications and Portals
• Tony Hillerson - Flex and Rails with RubyAMF  (I always miss Tony's and since you guys scheduled him on Tuesday morning at 8:30am after the big party night, I'll probably miss it yet again...sorry Tony!)
• Ben Stucki - How to build a Framework
• H. Paul Robertson - Adv. AIR & SQLite: Optimization conversation
• Michael Labriola - Diving in the Data Binding WatersRenaun Erickson - A Testing Approach Spanning Dev to End User
• Renaun Erickson - A Testing Approach Spanning Dev to End User
• Dave Hassoun - Advanced Video Streaming w/ Flash Media Server (Which I'm gonna miss since I'm scheduled concurrent to him)
• Mike Nimer - Flex Persistence with Hibernate
• RJ Owen/Brad Umbaugh - Diving Deep with Component Lifecycle
• Leif Wells - I18N: Tom Ortega Doesn't Know It, But You Should ;-) (All I gotta say is deja vu...intrigue...it's 360 Seattle TBD all over again)"

Tom and I watch the ladies as they take turns drinking shots of something, in a very UN lady-like way. We're both getting uncomfortable when Jun comes back with two beers, and some new fruit thing that is mostly green and yellow, and topped with a strawberry and a pineapple slice. He looks embarrassed to be carrying the thing. He hands Tom and I are drinks and sits down.

I lean forward and ask him what he thought we should tell folks who weren't sure if they wanted to register or not.

"Are you a Flex/AIR developer? Get your ass to the conference if you know what's best for you!"

Jun's right. It doesn't get better than that, and if you're thinking about joining us, you'd better not dilly dally. Register Now!

360Flex fragged RJ Owen on XboxLive

Tom and I were taking a break, playing a little Xbox, when we ran into RJ Owen online. I'm not much of a gamer so my Xbox avatar is whatever a base one looks like. Tom is totally into it, so his was this crazy tricked out warrior elf thing, that looked like Mr. T except it had 4 arms, and was purple, oh and had a tail. RJ was this totally bad ass space marine guy (His Xbox ID is redhurtmachine, look 'im up)


As my Avatar jumped up and down over and over and over, I asked, "Who should come to your session?" Then I stopped jumping.


His Marine guy pulled out some big gun with like 9 barrels and starts polishing it, "Anyone beginner to intermediate developers who want to get more out of the component set, anyone interested in understanding validateNow and how binding really works, and any guy or gal who just wants a little more hair on their chest."


Tom's Mr.T elf thing asked, "So, why should they come?"


"I don’t know if they know this yet, but Brad Umbaugh is going to speaking with me.  He’s a beautiful man worth beholding at least once before old age gets the better of him, and unfortunately that day is fast approaching.  Also, there will be flex happening."


My avatar stops moving completely, while I LOL in the real world. Once I had regained control of myself, I asked, "What's the goal of the session?"


Marine avatar guy starts to do push ups, I'm not sure why since I don't think Avatars can get anything from that, but hey, I'm not a gamer. "There are a lot of things I didn’t learn about Flex until recently despite having developed about it for a long time.  My goal is to help other people get there faster, and explain what’s going on under the covers with Flex."


I was trying to figure out how to select something from my inventory, and accidentally vaporized RJ. "Uh. oh crap."


Toms elf thing walks over, "Don't worry, he'll be right back."


Sure enough, RJ respawned just a little ways away. "Dude! Un-cool!"


Trying to keep RJ from killing my bland n00b avatar Tom asked, "What two sessions are you looking forward to, RJ?"


He pulls out the Sword of Ultimate Truth (that's right!!), "That's easy, I’m really excited to see how this “TBD - Flex 4 or Open Source Flex “ thing turns out.  I’m really excited about the future of the framework.    I’m also excited about Josh  Tynjala’s “Polishing Components for the Masses.”  I think it’s going to be somewhat similar to our talk but more in depth, and I’ve learned a lot from Josh and his blog about component development as we’ve prepared.  He’s a smart guy with a lot of experience to share."


Toms avatar nodded, mine sat down, then jumped up and dropped all of it's gear, damnit! Tom asked what RJ would tell folks that might be fence sitting on whether to attend or not.


RJ musta been getting bored of watching my avatar have seizures, he was turning to leave. "Think about how you’ll feel the next time you’re in a company meeting wearing your business-casual khaki’s and polo shirt, and you look over, and your friend is wearing the same thing, except his polo shirt is from the 360|Flex conference.  Aren’t you going to wish you had one?  What?  You don’t work in one of those places?  Neither do I, but you might again some day.  You’d better come, just in case."


Wanna hang with RJ? Wanna see Tom's Mr.T elf thing? Better register now? Space IS limited, and it's filling up fast! Register now!!

360Flex We saw Kevin Fauth at the grocery store

Tom and I had to make a quick trip to the grocery store (Ralphs if you must know, we're snobby like that and only like the Kroger stuff), and as we turned down the greeting card aisle (my sister's birthday is the 4th) we bumped into Kevin Fauth, one of our first time speakers, repeat attendees. Kevin has been to all but the first 360|Flex, and San Jose 2008 is his first time speaking.

"Hey Kevin, how's it going?" Tom and I ask in unison. Kevin is looking at some of the humurous birthday cards, the kind that have some one half naked of the opposite sex, or a dog in a tutu, or that creepy old lady from Hallmark. We shake hands, and while I'm looking at a card with some kind of frog on it, wishing the receiver a birthday with a prince at the end, or something, Tom asks, "So Kevin,  Who should come to your session in San Jose?"

Kevin puts a card with three pugs on it back on the shelf, "Anyone who is building a large application and is curious where and how to even start building/architecting the application.  It will be good for anyone who is building a “living, breathing” application, that changes its behavior based on other parameters."

"Why should they come?" I ask as I pick up another card, this one has a guy in a tutu with an ice cream cone on his head, on the front.

"The Kiosk presents a lot of interesting design challenges, from breaking OOP practices to little quirky memory items and optimization techniques.  I’ll be going over some of those tricks, some headaches I ran into in dealing with SSL, crossdomain and even building a demo application.  I’ll be showing how custom components are built, skinned and used in the application."

"That's cool, kiosk apps are definitely a great use case for RIAs." Tom says, picking up one of the shoebox type cards with the old lady on it. He opens it, blushes, and quickly puts it back.

I see a card with those cute Anne Geddes babies on i