try.flex.org

This looks awesome... A Flex Online Compiler where you can type your code and compile it online and see the results along with it.. Ideal for beginners to start off with Flex. Check it out

http://try.flex.org/

The Flex Online Compiler is powered by Flex, ColdFusion, and Spry

Adobe Developer Olympiad (Win Rs. 50,000)

Adobe India on Friday, announced the Adobe Developer Olympiad. Adobe made its grand entry onto the programming world, with the acqusition of Macromedia... Adding Flash & ColdFusion to its kitty. Now with FLEX2.0 out in the open, Adobe has enough push to reach out to developers and its doing exactly that.

First came the Adobe Developer Derby, which saw some awesome applications being churned out. Check the results and the winning applications here. Then there was an Aussy equivalent of the Derby, which went well too.

So now we have decided to focus on one of the (probably THE) largest developer bases in the world. INDIA !! Our philosophy to start from the grass root level has spun this idea of Adobe Developer Olympiad for Students. The key highlights for the same

• Any student pursuing a degree in any stream as a full time student of a recognized university in India is eligible to participate in the contest.
• Submissions can be in 3 categories: Engineering (components), Applications, and ColdFusion integration.
  
• Each category has a prize of Rs. 50,000
  
• You can participate individually or as a team of upto 5 members

Check out these following links to start off....

• Adobe Developer Olympiad Page
  
• Adobe India Students Group
• Flex.org: Your one-stop Flex portal
• Flex Quick Starts: Lessons to get you up and running quickly
• Flex Developer Center: Whitepapers, lessons, examples, and more
• Flex Component Explorer: Lots of Flex examples for you to try

More updates will follow... Any queries, mail to the Developer Olympiad Mailing list (ado@adobe .com)

Phase 2 - Tune It :)

I hope you remember the song that i had written when i was sick at home... Coming back to Bangalore... i gave it a tune.

Here's Phantoms of My Past


Comments greatly appreciated. I'm into testing new waters now :)

Phase 3 - Chords and Accompaniment ;)

Full Screen Flash !!!

I knew about this from some time... that we had introduced a full screen support with the new Flash Player (get it). But i never realized until i saw this on Abdul's blog that it was being used so tastefully to improve the user experience on the web.

BrightCove.com has come out with a new video player with full screen support. Check it out.. its awesome.



What it has also done is that peole have started rolling out video channels online... like the TasteTV.com (which uses brightcove's player) and Sony's MusicBox. See this John Mayer Channel by musicbox. The online video revolution is just starting.

Here's another blogpost by Manish on the same.

And do checkout this awesome Panorama Viewer

Lachu the "Singer", Me the "Guitarist"

I had taken my guitar home... both to show it to my parents and also to practice. My sis Lekshmi (I call her Lachu), ever curious about musical instruments wanted to try it. But she soon found that it was much difficult compared to the piano which she plays. So after a "Twinkle Twinkle" and "Happy Birthday", she decided that she would stick to the piano.

But she was quite intrigued by the tune and spice that a guitar brings to a song. So we jammed ! Here's one of her favourites. "Papa Kehte Hain" from the movie Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. I never knew she sang so well...


Lachu & Me, jamming on Papa Kehte Hain

A Whole new Ground

The whole time I have been here, I have been trying to hone my guitar skills. But since I have been bedridden, even that’s become painful. So I decided to resort to something I have never much tried before, “Songwriting”.

Here’s something I wrote. I will try to tune it into a song later. It’s called the “Phantoms of my Past”. It kinda came from a realization that dawned on me that the romantic, that passionate fervor in me is dying as my priorities change towards making more money and fame.

PHANTOMS OF MY PAST

As I walk down the lonely road,
Thinking of my whole life
I came upon the phantoms,
The phantoms of my past

They took me back to the days I dreamed
Of mountains, rivers and sunshine,
Of knights in shiny armor,
Of honor, bold and brave.
Of castles, moats and dragons,
And kings on royal thrones.

Gazing the sky on a starry night
Thinking of the whole wide world
I came upon the phantoms,
The phantoms of my past

Of the lonely girl with long black hair,
Who waited for me by the brook.
Those dark blue eyes that made me sigh
Those long black curls undone
Those angel arms where I found out
My heart, my soul, my love.

As I awoke from that mystery trance
I began to wonder why
Why I never dream these days
Why I never dream.

My life, now revolves around
Money, fame and clout
Those long forgotten dreams are now
Phantoms of my past
That passion deep in me is too
A phantom of my past.

I'M BACK !!

It’s been a long long time… I can vicariously argue that my work kept me from it or like the “Leaning Tower of Pisa” my inclination was visibly reduced. Anyway, as our (not really mine but still) very own (RE-elected) Arnie “Mayor” says… “I’M BACK”

I’m back home… in Trivandrum. I came for a week vacation to relax and bask in the glory of parental love, which I got. But I kinda got more than what I had bargained for. Some vile, vilified, wanton virus found its way into my physiological self. I got what the doctors “loosely” describe as viral fever.

Viral Fever, until a couple of years meant, you rest, take a lot of fluids and sleep and you'll be fine. Not anymore. With deadly variants like Dengue and Chikungunya making its rounds, I was more than worried. The doc still haven’t told me what it is, but complete bed rest for a week.

As I write this (it’s a pain with the ‘w’ key not working on my keyboard, thanks to Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V, the voodoo language for copy and paste) I’m slowly moving out of the ordeal that I have lived through the past couple of days. Hope to be my best in the days to come :D