With tongue
wedged firmly in cheek, Adobe has named its latest little bit of demo software
FlashTime and given it a quick spin to whet our appetites. Built using the forthcoming Air 2.5, this peer-to-peer video chat client harnesses your smartphone's camera to get some direct visual communication going with your fellow Android lovers. Okay, so Android users already have
other options for doing just this very thing, but the point being made here is that you can do just about anything with Flash, and since it's Flash it'll be
easy to port around to other platforms. Skip past the break to see the demo, which has a multipeer chat session with a desktop Mac thrown in for good measure.
[Thanks,
Faheem]
Update: Just for clarification's sake, Adobe's Mark Doherty got in touch with us to say there are no plans to release this little mockup client and that indeed the FlashTime moniker is a mere placeholder. Ah well.
posted July 20th 2010 11:52AM
Cute name,
@MattsZ
in the face of open, standards-based videochat alternatives, Adobe throws their proprietary flash into the mix. Good luck with that.
Hey engadget where is the coverage for Lindsay Lohan?
@MattsZ
Im hoping to get flashed a coupe times....know what i mean...ah ah ah.
Nothing but ANDROID LOVE in the island called Adobe!
@MattsZ
FlashTime: a new way to open more holes in the system.
@MattsZ Wow..whats killing me is the buzy bar on that Mac OS desktop...sounds like somebody needs to prioritize their "Tools"
@MattsZ
At least it looks like Adobe isn't trying to make you pay for it *cough* Qik *cough* or terminate it's most popular interface feature *cough* Fring *cough*
Though I could be speaking too soon and they could charge for it. But this also shows that already existing flash peer-to-peer social network video sites (ustreams and the like) should be rather friendly to the 2.2/10.1 build to come.
@MattsZ
Flash needs to hunker down and get stuff working flawlessly and people WILL embrace it like they did a few years back. Apple is the one giving Flash a bad name. It is really a powerful tool that may not be "open" but is very close.
Don't let Apple fool you that FaceTime is open. It's not.
@MattsZ Sounds like something dirty ol' men sitting at their computer video trolling at 2 in the morning on Chat Roulette would call it. "It's Flash Time! Here's Johnny!"
@TomSawyer Yes because the other options at the moment have anywhere near the same flexibility. How's javascript performance on your mobile browser? Shit? I thought so.
@TomSawyer If you don't want to use it, don't use it.
@MattsZ
This is obviously adobe trying to emulate Apple...God the name itself just screams desperation and envy.
I'm not saying Apple owns a patent on anything with "Time" in it. I'm just saying that it doesn't sound truly original or unique.
@TomSawyer Uh, Flash is a development platform. It would be possible to utilize the "open standards" to create a Flash app that communicates with the other video conferencing standards.
This is a tech demo, for a development environment. This isn't Adobe trying to convince you to use "FlashTime" over a properly developed video chat application. The point is to show that you can replicate the abilities of Facetime, Skype, etc... within the Flash environment.
Why the hate at cross-platform development tools?
@TomSawyer
That's not the point at all. Cross-platform app development for the win. And I don't mind getting the design-oriented people more involved with the scene either.
@BrookLynnsFinest, it was probably just meant as a joke, no reason to over think it.
Now if only they would deploy to all the devices quicker.
@BrookLynnsFinest This is a tech demo. Not an app Adobe is trying to sell you. This is to demonstrate what someone could program within the Flash environment and THEN sell you.
A lot of people commenting here need to buy a clue.
@Dig Deep Why do you care if FaceTime is open? What does that even mean? Adobe yells at apple, but then copies there name with flashtime like every other hypocrite company, and apple didn't say FaceTime was open, why would it be open? What would open even do, it's part of the phone app, it's not it's own app
@Dig Deep How is it "very close" to open?
If Android is open, and Flash is proprietary what am I missing here?
@Anatidae because steve jobs told him to
@MattsZ Did they get Flash working properly on Android? Last time I checked It was slow as hell, unstable and unusable, screwing up browsers and its existence was just namesake. Google is betting their name big time on Adobe's non-existent competence.
@MattsZ
What I see here is Simple. You can use same ActionScript code to make application for multiple platform. It performs close enough to native applications.
It means Company(especially small to middle) does not have to hire multiple developer, or spent more time to build them. Budget will drop drastically.
Adobe better work hard on other OS too such as BB, webOS, Windows 7 phone.
@Anatidae
wow put them on check man. People dont get it. Not worth explaining. Im done with it. i guess engadget got me on watch cant post on anything apple without a email for confirmation being sent (which never comes)
@memeslayer
Sounds like you haven't checked in awhile (or ever). Flash is working very well on my Droid w/ 2.2. Games work fine. Video works fine on all the sites I've tried. Working much better than I ever expected, actually.
@MattsZ
My Sympathies for anyone who responded along the lines of
"Adobe Stole the name FlashTime from Apple's FaceTime"
That American Sarcasm humor is hard to comprehend sometimes I know. And for those of you who are american...I'm at a loss of words, guess you should just blame the distortion field.
@MattsZ Dammit seeing "Nexus2" gets me pretty excited. Come on Google get with HTC one more time and bring us another "experiment"
@Awall You're missing the Fandroid RDF, inside which anything related to Android despite going completely against their core values is a good thing. It doesn't make sense to people on the outside.
@TinWard the only thing that doesn't make sense is you. Jog on
@Anatidae U know, as much as people think "cross-platoform development" is the goal, it rarely works out that way. Most "platforms" have different requirements and obviously different UIs hence interacting with it is different. Now I won't say one is better than the other, but the different platforms suite the user (and their expectations) differently.
Embracing a development platform for the sake of it's "cross-platform" compatibilities without thinking about the uniqueness of different platforms is a mistake. Look at Java, the prime example of "cross-platform" development. Yes Java applications typically work in both Windows and OS X (if they are written correctly) but do they suck most of the time? YES. (IBM Lotus Notes?)
The only good cross platform app in java that I think is decent and fairly ubiquitous is probably Eclipse. and even THAT has memory management issues.
Besides, who says that Adobe automatically = "cross platform" and other standards are not?
As a developer, cross platform development is a loose goal, not something u necessarily following 100% of the time.
@Cybaster umm one note on that. Whilst I agree with the platform specific stuff (that's in the hands of the developer). You are quick to forget this is cross platform in browsing experience too. And outside standard ui icons you certainly wouldn't suggest a rich web application needs to look and behave differently across multiple platforms would you...? The idea is to unify them as much as possible.
For example, iPhone transitions in JavaScript run poorly but for those devices you can tell the application to use native hardware accelerated CSS transitions instead so it will run as smoothly as on android without losing the functionality.
@fpad77 I knew someone was gonna catch me on that (yes I am a web-app... or as these kids call it Web 2.0 dev as well).
I totally agree that cross-platform development in the web front (at least in this new era) is nothing short of amazing in these past few years. initially web standards such as javascript, html, css and whatnot are dealt with differently (they still are really) but they've come a long way and are now more or less standardized.
A great example? http://www.280slides.com
a fully interactive and graphic rich experience. (that's built on open standards) and I want to use this to illustrate that web apps like these (well this level of interactivity) were only either purely imagination, or implemented flash. but this is not the case anymore.
nonetheless, we see that cross-platform development indeed require adopters/creators of that standard/framework to "properly" implement it in the target platforms. (This is something that Apple is bi*ching) about. But it is not just an Apple v Flash issue. This is a common problem, which also occurs in java.
Interesting.
Nice name.
It's as if they have a snarky 12 year old making their product names. AND I LOVE IT!
@Pingles
Right? Go Adobe!
@Pingles
It's hilarious, isn't it?!
@Pingles
Outdated platform on an Outdated phone. lol nice try.
@Darkroom I'm glad android is open, and this may open up a few more huge security holes. I've been payed handsomely to develop a virus that will brick a phone completely. So far I've only targeted it at the EVO 4, and then, only when the user tries to root the devise... But development is coming along fast and this could help it along even more. Flash + malware = FTW
@Rwilson
Funny since that "outdated" phone has been besting the iPhone in most every aspect.
@LordThree Android is not open, if there is an app kill switch or if you have to root your phone. Open source doesn't mean freedom.
If your thumb covers the camera, you're holding it wrong.
@NHAnimator IF your thumb covers the camera, you blew it
@NHAnimator You mean it's not defective? I should be able to hold the phone any way I want and it should still work. If it doesn't work with my thumb over it then it's clearly a defective product
What in the world is that monstrous row of icons at the bottom of the screen in the pic? Is that the dock? As a guy who uses a keyboard launcher exclusively, I shudder at the thought of trying to launch a program from all those samey icons.
I mean.... Ew.
@nefnet13 Beauty of OSX.
OSX Dock + expose > all.
@Ninetysix
Tiling Windows Managers > All
Assuming you want to get work done.
@Ninetysix OS X > All. There I said it for you
@Brt312 Win7 + rocketdock = best of both worlds.
@Ninetysix well it's in the eye of the beholder. And what I behold here is distracting clutter. And I'm still running XP so I KNOW ugly...
@fpad77 Win7's task bar is FAR better than the dock IMO. Please make sure you've used it before commenting that the OSX dock is better. It's not.
@XCMeathead I like both. :)