F·L·A·S·H·I·S·M

My blog has moved

2005-08-11T04:36:00.000+05:00

Hello everyone,

For last few weeks I was trying to move my blog from Blogger to orison.biz. Finally I have managed to do so. Here’s the link to new location: www.orison.biz/blogs/chall3ng3r/

We are using WordPress as our blogging engine and a little modified theme. Please do not post any comments on this blog any more.

Also update your aggregators to use RSS/Atom feed from new blog location.

// chall3ng3r //

MM Studio 8 Tour "file not found" error reviewed

2005-08-10T19:13:00.000+05:00

I have just decompiled the tour swf (featuretour_shell.swf) using SWFDecompiler. what I found was very interesting that the guy who made all this is checking totalframes property of the holder_mc which holds the loaded swf.

The developer didn’t used a tricky logic here, selected simple old way to detect movie loaded condition.

He will be experiencing no errors because he has checked it on LAN or on broadband connection. But on dialup, this logic doesn’t work. and user gets “file not found” messages for all the slides.

here’s a little chunk from the featuretour_shell.swf file:

my_bufferFactor = 0.500000;
my_fps = 21;
my_totalBytes = this.holder_mc.getBytesTotal();
my_totalFrames = this.holder_mc._totalframes;
my_currentFrame = this.holder_mc._currentframe;
my_loadedBytes = this.holder_mc.getBytesLoaded();
my_loadedFrames = this.holder_mc._framesloaded;
my_leftBytes = my_totalBytes - my_loadedBytes;
my_loadTime = getTimer() - my_startTime;
my_speed = my_loadedBytes / my_loadTime;
my_totalTime = my_totalFrames / my_fps;
my_playTime = my_loadedFrames / my_fps;
my_leftLoadTime = my_leftBytes / 1024 / my_speed;
if (my_playTime > my_leftLoadTime * my_bufferFactor && this._parent.ccReady != "wait")
{
    this.status_str = "playing...";
    this.holder_mc.gotoAndStop(1);
    var myFrame = this.holder_mc._currentframe;
    if (myFrame != 1)
    {
        gotoAndPlay(_currentframe - 1);
    } // end if
}
else
{
    this.status_str = "buffering...";
    gotoAndPlay(_currentframe - 1);
} // end if
if (my_totalFrames == 0)
{
    this.status_str = "";
    this.loader_mc.percent_str = "file not found";
    gotoAndPlay("on");
} // end if
// [Action in Frame 35]
if (this.holder_mc._totalFrames == 0)
{
    this._parent.fPlaylist("next");
    stop ();
} // end if

Lines in red are the code to watch. I think the developer who created these tours has not tested with narrowband connections.

I have sent the feedback to MM about this, and i hope it’ll be fixed soon.

// chall3ng3r //

The "File not found" show

2005-08-10T16:28:00.000+05:00

MM Studio 8 "file not found show"
Originally uploaded by chall3ng3r.

Since MM has posted Studio 8 products online. in product tour page of any Studio 8 product i am getting “file not found” messages in flash presentations.

// chall3ng3r //

Macromedia Studio 8 - It's there!!!

2005-08-09T02:49:00.000+05:00

Well, as expected. It’s here

// chall3ng3r //

Some updates

2005-08-08T04:28:00.000+05:00

I will be representing Federal Urdu University in ITCN Asia 2005. if anyone visiting, and want to say hi, get on to FUUAST both.
Next version of DigitalSurv’s website is now available for public beta review.

// chall3ng3r //

New FlashPlayer 8 Beta build available

2005-08-06T08:52:00.000+05:00

learned from Mike’s blog that new build of the FP8 Beta is available for download. This build includes fixes to a bunch of compatibility issues, so make sure to check your content.

don’t forget to download FlashPlayer 8 Standalone to easily test out your flash 8 stuff ;)

// chall3ng3r //

www.start.com

2005-08-06T08:16:00.000+05:00

MS is working hard to win the Search Engine race. I have noticed that my blog posts and any updates on www.orison.biz are index faster than google or yahoo.

I am always using google for my searching, from few days back, i am just playing around with www.start.com and i am really having fun :D

check out three different versions of start.com

I liked the third one.

// chall3ng3r //

about e-paper

2005-08-05T02:00:00.000+05:00

ch3ckmat3 has posted a good post about e-paper.

check here: War of the e-paper ships

// chall3ng3r //

FlashPlayer 8 Standalone - Updated

2005-08-04T01:55:00.000+05:00

FlashPlayer 8 Standalone - Update 1
Originally uploaded by chall3ng3r.

I have got great response from Flash community with my two utilities for Macromedia FP8 Beta, FP8 Standalone and Convert2SWF8.

I received many requests and suggestions for further improvements. Many thanks to people who appreciated my work.

This update includes following features:

Ability to adjust height & width of the initial FP window with SWFs specs.
Note: This feature works only with non-compressed SWF files. Disable SWF compression from “Publish Settings” dialogue.
Built-in SWF8 converter. When AutoConvert is checked, all SWFs will be first converted to SWF8 before loading into player window. (You’ll love this feature)

Download: FlashPlayer8_update1_setup.zip

Happy testing FP8, and don’t forget to drop a line in comments :)

// chall3ng3r //

DynaDesk for Central developers

2005-08-03T01:48:00.000+05:00

Some time ago, I created a dynamic wallpaper for Windows using Flash & HTML. I think it might be still useful to Central developers.

get it here: DynaDesk (Source code is also available)

// chall3ng3r //

SWF8 converter for MAC at last!

2005-08-02T04:24:00.000+05:00

no no, thats not me this time :D

get it here: swfTo8ConvX

// chall3ng3r //

Some new updates on orison.biz

2005-07-30T05:23:00.000+05:00

Just updated orison.biz with two new OMAs (orison multimedia ads) for my8051.com. you gotta refresh the home page few times to see them.

also you will find links to my blog, and ch3ckmat3’s blog on the featured links section.

// chall3ng3r //

Flash on 8/8/2005 - let it come fast :D

2005-07-30T05:00:00.000+05:00

just found this story: http://news.com.com/Flash+8+poised+to+take+on+Web+video/2100-1032_3-5808794.html?tag=html.alert

quite interesting. let’s see what MM says about it.

// chall3ng3r //

IE 7 looks nice, bug quite buggy

2005-07-30T04:17:00.000+05:00

orison-in-ie7
Originally uploaded by chall3ng3r.

Just found it from iexbeta. and also found installation instructions on win2003. take a look in the screenshot.

first bug I found is, clicking on a link which opens in new window crashes the browser, and second bug is babylone’s content area is blank. i guess it uses IE activex there.

// chall3ng3r //

imate keyboard

2005-07-28T09:45:00.000+05:00

imate keyboard
Originally uploaded by chall3ng3r.

Don't be surprised. my elder brother is an electronic expert ;)

// chall3ng3r //

Microsoft has released first beta of Vista & IE7

2005-07-28T08:18:00.000+05:00

Looked at MSDN subscribers download area. Windows Vista is available there, but I was unable to find IE 7 there.

Later, in discussions i found that other users are also complaining for this that MS has announced on their website that Vista and IE7 are available for MSDN subscribers. But IE7 is not available until now.

I’ll post more details about these goodies as i get my hands on them :D

// chall3ng3r //

IE still on top

2005-07-28T05:56:00.000+05:00

I am running three web sites, and IE tops on all of them by great margin

www.orison.biz

IE: 65%
FF: 10%

www.my8051.com

IE: 80%
FF: 16%

www.fuuast.edu.pk

IE: 96%
FF: 1.19%

// chall3ng3r //

Broken theme of my blog!!!

2005-07-26T06:05:00.000+05:00

i was in process of importing posts into my new blog engine. and in the process i forget to revert back normal blogger theme. some of you guys might have seen an ugly look of my blog :D. I apologize for that. I've just reverted back my old blogger theme.

you guys stay tuned, because I'll be announcing my new blog location very soon with lots of updates on my projects.

// chall3ng3r //

I'm still too busy

2005-07-25T01:55:00.000+05:00

well, for past week i am unable to post any single update on my blog. but the reason is good, I am working on a real good project that is about to finish. soon you all will know about it.

I’ve done some promises for updates of Convert2SWF8 and StandaloneFP8 that i will soon publish on my blog. so, keep tuned in for updates.

// chall3ng3r //

FlashPlayer 8 in zip format

2005-07-16T08:18:00.000+05:00

some guys told me they are getting incorrect installer errors. and this is a known problem for me about NSIS installers.

here’s the same installer in zip format: FlashPlayer8_setup.zip

// chall3ng3r //

FlashPlayer 8 Screenshot

2005-07-15T19:28:00.000+05:00

FlashPlayer 8 Screenshot
Originally uploaded by chall3ng3r.

here's the screenshot of the player.

Standalone FlashPlayer 8

2005-07-15T19:11:00.000+05:00

Well, as promissed, i have just finished it.

here’s the link:
FlashPlayer8_setup.exe

when you install it, it’ll associate .swf file extension to itself. now when you double-click any swf, it’ll be opened in this standalone flashplayer.

you can also drag’n drop swf files over FlashPlayer8 shortcut on your desktop.

to re-associate swf files with flashplayer 7, just run SAFlashPlayer.exe from Players directory in flash installation folder.

i hope this tool will also help you find out good stuff in flashplayer 8 ;)

// chall3ng3r //

Screenshot of Convert2SWF8

2005-07-15T06:09:00.000+05:00

Convert2SWF8
Originally uploaded by chall3ng3r.

Convert2SWF8 is a windows application which will convert SWF version to SWF-8 which you can play in latest FlashPlayer 8 Public Beta.

Convert2SWF8 now available for download

2005-07-14T07:35:00.000+05:00

Convert2SWF8 is a windows application which will convert SWF version to SWF-8 which you can play in latest FlashPlayer 8 Public Beta. Just drag’n drop your SWF on the Convert2SWF8 window, and click Start.

You can download it from here: Convert2SWF8.zip
Post your feedback in comments.

By converting your SWFs to SWF-8, you can test out latest FlashPlayer 8 features. You can found some very good tests on the following locations:

// chall3ng3r //

Flash Player 8 Public Beta Is Out

2005-07-13T03:47:00.000+05:00

Macromedia has just released a beta version of their new Flash player. Without some fancy demos, it's sort of hard to see the difference. Nevertheless, here it is.

There’s a whole slew of improvements/features with this release. Colin Moock has a bunch of links to a movie demo that showcases it’s new capabilities.

// chall3ng3r //

2005-06-12T05:13:00.000+05:00

Kevin Lynch Describing Macromedia Flash Platform

// chall3ng3r //

Just got my PDC2005 kit today

2005-06-12T03:18:00.000+05:00

Same kind of kit that i got last year. I was expecting trials & betas of VS.Net2005, Longhorn and other latest MS products.

But this time again just few CDs with some very basic asp.net stuff. Videos of developing applications in VS.Net2005. My question is, how do I start developing asp.net2 applications without VS.Net2005?

Contents of the PDC2005 kit:

My Pro entry card
PDC2005 Bag
Writing pad
Pen
A buch of CDs with Videos & Intros (No trials/betas ware)
Spider Mag (This mag don’t even have single bite on .net)

I wish MS could take note of it in future PDCs.

// chall3ng3r //

Informing Google - Google Sitemaps

2005-06-07T05:39:00.000+05:00

https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login

Google Sitemaps is an experiment in web crawling. Using Sitemaps to inform and direct our crawlers, we hope to expand our coverage of the web and improve the time to inclusion in our index. By placing a Sitemap-formatted file on your webserver, you enable our crawlers to find out what pages are present and which have recently changed, and to crawl your site accordingly.

Google Sitemaps is a great development in this direction. better than robots.txt

// chall3ng3r //

Lots of good news from Macromedia

2005-06-07T03:08:00.000+05:00

Must look at the following links:

Macromedia Flash Platform
Macromedia Flash Player 8 (Maelstorm)

well, lets see when things start arriving.

// chall3ng3r //

Microsoft PDC 2005

2005-06-04T04:41:00.000+05:00

I have just confirmed my registration for Microsoft PDC 2005.

Keep an eye on my blog for up-to-date info from PDC 2005, and other of my thoughts on this.

// chall3ng3r //

2005-05-31T04:06:00.000+05:00

LINUX = Lame Idiot Not Using Xp

// chall3ng3r //

2005-05-28T05:43:00.000+05:00

Found a little useful utility from Microsoft.

Microsoft Time Zone

// chall3ng3r //

Who says Firefox is secure?

2005-05-27T05:57:00.000+05:00

I have received some info on browser security vulnerabilities reported by thier developers.

Excerpt from pcmag.com's security watch newsletter:

Vendor-Reported Browser Security Vulnerabilities from January 1, 2005 through May 23, 2005
Different vendors are more granular in their classification of bugs, and the classification of a bug as "critical" is also from the vendor.

Internet Explorer - 8 Total, 6 Critical
Firefox - 41 Total, 10 Critical
Opera - 5* Total, 0 Critical
Safari - 4 Total (Apple doesn't classify severity of security vulnerabilities)

Lets see how IE7 will address security.

idea: gmail alert service

2005-05-27T03:34:00.000+05:00

This is a suggestion i have just posted to gmail guys:
-----------------

Hi gmail,

This is something came to my mind so felt I should share the thought so someone can benefit from it.

The idea:
On gmail, there can be a customizable alert service which can send mail arrival notification emails to other designated email address(es) or cell-box(es).

The notification can be through filters (from specific email), separate notification on each email or even a summary notification every N hours listing all emails received during the interval.

Benefits:
1. I am a corporate user having a corporate email as me@company.com, where my email client polls every 5/10 minutes. I also have a personal account with gmail. A gmail alert to my corporate account can notify me that I have new email on my personal account at gmail.

2. I am online with my MSN/Yahoo messenger and a messenger pop-up notifies me of a gmail alert notifying me that my gmail has an email.

3. When I’m offline, a gmail alert on my cell-box will let me know that I have mail on gmail.

This is a very commercial idea, and I am thinking to get it patent, so I can get some pennies out of thought works ;).

Hope to hear from gmail guruz.

Faisal Iqbal
Application Developer,
ORISON Technologies
www.orison.biz

Not found blogger i want!

2005-05-18T01:59:00.000+05:00

i've been testing out many blogger windows client, but unable to find one with more features i need.

JetBlogger was good simple. w.blogger also have some cool features. but not all that i'm looking for :|

so, still on my search for good blogger windows client.

i'd like to mention one thing that i've found in almost all blogger clients so far is ability to upload images/files to FTP server. good functionality, but what if a client supports image upload to helo.com or flickr.com.

may be i'll create one for myself if i get some time, i've pointed out all the features. so when i get some time to play around, i'll definitely try to create one ;)

// chall3ng3r //

ChatMX Mobile updated

2005-05-16T21:08:00.000+05:00

Just updated ChatMX Mobile at Macromedi FlashLite Exchange.

download it now here

// chall3ng3r //

Just been working on cool project

2005-05-16T05:07:00.000+05:00

i’ve been working on a cool project. i’ll post the details soon.

// chall3ng3r //

Testing BlogJet

2005-05-15T06:58:00.000+05:00

I have installed an interesting application - BlogJet. It's a cool Windows client for my blog tool (as well as for other tools). Get your copy here: http://blogjet.com

I'll post its review after a few days testing. its small and fast. and almost what i was looking for.

but I'll found all about it after a few days regular use.

// chall3ng3r //

"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." -- Pablo Picasso

2005-05-05T11:42:00.000+05:00

ChatMX Mobile appreared in a FlashLite article:

visit the article here

2005-04-30T06:36:00.000+05:00

my windows xp sp2 is craching alot now, too much loaded. i'll start posting some actionscript code snnipets after reinstalling my xp.

ChatMX Mobile

2005-04-26T03:45:00.000+05:00

ChatMX Mobile,
originally uploaded by chall3ng3r.

Screenshot of ChatMX Mobile which i've done for MM FlashLite contest.

2005-04-04T06:31:00.000+05:00

My i-mate (HTC Tanager Win2002 Smartphone)

2005-04-04T06:25:00.000+05:00

My i-mate (HTC Tanager Win2002 Smartphone)

2005-04-03T14:43:00.000+05:00

this is a testing text blog post.

2005-04-03T14:35:00.000+05:00

testing 2

2005-04-03T14:34:00.000+05:00

testing 1

2004-12-27T07:27:00.000+05:00

After one year, im back to my blogger account.

this time i'll try to keep posting on it.

i'm currently working on DigitalSurv's new website, and trying to create something for FlashLite 1.1 i've just got from Macromedia.

2003-12-22T05:55:00.000+05:00

im back,

i was having deadly connectivity probs for last few weeks.
but im now online with dialup :D

i'll try to keep posting new messages....

2003-11-26T18:02:00.000+05:00

my first post for this blog,

well, its eid day here in pk.

nice day to start somthin, isn't it???

// chall3ng3r //