the chronicles of misterscheff

Microsoft Expression Blend 3 with SketchFlow Released

misterscheff — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:53:08 +0000

If, like me, you have been eagerly awaiting to try the new SketchFlow feature of Expression Blend that was first showed at MIX09 in March, you will be glad to know that the retail version of Microsoft Expression Blend 3 with SketchFlow has been released. Expression Blend 3 provides new support for prototyping, interactivity through behaviors, special Silverlight 3 functionality, and on-the-fly sample data generation. Using Expression Blend 3, designers can make applications that are easy and fun to use.

Download a trial here.

Silverlight 3 Released

misterscheff — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:00:49 +0000

Silverlight 3 has been released. Read about the features and changes since the Beta release, on Tim Heuer’s site.

Get started with Silverlight 3 here!

An Overview of Microsoft Expression Blend 3

misterscheff — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 07:55:31 +0000

At Mix, Doug Olson and Christian Schormann presented an overview of what the next version of Blend will bring. Blend 3 is going to be a huge and exciting release, and it offers a wide range of powerful tools for both production and design phases of software development.

Read the overview on Electric Beach.

One of the key features for me is the integration with Adobe products, Photoshop and Illustrator.

Silverlight 3 and Expression Blend 3 announced at MIX09

misterscheff — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 09:35:27 +0000

Silverlight 3 and Microsoft Expression Blend 3 Preview details were announced at MIX09.

Read all about it on Tim Heuer’s blog.

Switch off your lights this Earth Hour to take a stand against Climate Change

misterscheff — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:58:22 +0000

BE THE VOICE FOR OUR PLANET

Earth Hour 2009 is a global initiative by the World Wide Fund for Nature which acts as a worldwide call to action to every individual, business and community to take a stand against Climate Change. To show your support, sign up now and commit to switching off your lights for one hour on Saturday, March 28th at 8:30pm. Originating in Sydney, Australia in 2007, the Earth Hour initiative proved more than worthwhile when it witnessed 2 million people coming together to switch off their lights for one hour for this vital cause.

Following on from this success, 2008 saw an estimated 50 million people taking part. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.

This year, 2009, Earth Hour will see the lights go out on some of the most recognised attractions on the planet, including Cape Town’s Table Mountain, Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Merlion in Singapore, Sydney Opera House, the iconic 6-star hotel, the Burj al Arab, in Dubai, Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and the world’s tallest constructed building, the Taipei 101.

Earth Hour 2009 has one major aim: to unite the citizens of the world in the fight against climate change in order to convince governments and world leaders that our planet cannot wait any longer. There simply isn’t enough time, and therefore 2009 is a colossally important, if not the most critical year, to take action on climate change. 2009 is the year we decide the future of our planet.

Add Gradients to Strokes in Illustrator

misterscheff — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 06:01:20 +0000

Just when you thought adding a gradient to text is an awesome trick, Vectips shows you how to add a gradient to a stroke in Illustrator. Best of all – it is editable!

Add Gradients to Text in Illustrator

misterscheff — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 05:51:31 +0000

Have you ever tried adding a gradient to text in Illustrator while keeping the text editable? Illustrator doesn’t do it out of the box, but it is possible with a quick and easy workaround. Vectips shows you how to do it.

Pretty Loaded

misterscheff — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:57:44 +0000

Once upon a time, in a land of sputtering dial-up connections, websites took ages to load. Folks yearned for the 100% mark. But as soon as that figure arrived, the beloved (or bemoaned) preleoader disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again. Until now.

Pretty Loaded is a digital museum of amazing preloaders, curated by Big Spaceship, that captures a vanishing art form.

This site is seriously addictive!

Google and Yahoo to Search Inside Flash Files

misterscheff — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:25:38 +0000

Adobe announced that Google and Yahoo are adding search capabilities that will enable users to look inside the content of files encoded in Adobe’s Flash file format SWF.

The content inside SWF files has heretofore been ignored by the search engine giants, but Adobe has worked with both companies to make sure that their search engine technology can now look inside existing and future SWF content, including text, hyperlinks, audio and video content.

“End users will be getting more accurate search results because there’s a lot of information in SWF files that will now be fully indexed, including more information in Rich Internet Applications (RIAs),” said Justin Everett-Church, senior product manager for Adobe Flash Player, Platform BU.

“And content producers are now able to put Flash files online and know that they’re going to bring more users through organic search. The good thing is that they don’t have to do anything to enable this capability it works on any SWF file,” Everett-Church told Macworld.

Google is already beginning to offer search results including data inside Flash files, and Yahoo will follow suit with an update to its Yahoo Search engine, according to Adobe.

Get Firefox 3 during Download Day

misterscheff — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:15:16 +0000

Set a Guinness World Record for most software downloads in 24 hours by getting Firefox 3 during Download Day.

The official date for the launch of Firefox 3 is June 17, 2008. Join the community and this effort by pledging today.