Misc. Ramblings

I went over to Wil Wheaton dot net and saw a Flash based tribute he put up on September 11th. I got to wondering how to create a Flash file so I went over to the Macromedia site to take a look.

Unfortunately, the cost of the software ( $499USD) is prohibitive to all but people who make a living at doing this. So, of course, I looked for alternatives. While I could not find an Open Source program, I did find something that was substantially cheaper.

It's called SWiSHmax (before you ask, no, I don't know what it's supposed to mean. But you have to wonder...) and costs $79.95. I have no idea if it has the full functionality of the Macromedia original but it can do some interesting things.

I created a text only Flash program that is only 8KB in size. Feel free to follow the link here if you want to see it. Of course, you will have to have the free Flash viewer plug-in already loaded otherwise you won't see much.

In addition, I'm not sure how to display the file using standards compliant HTML so I am using what Wheaton used. If I can figure out how to code it without using the deprecated <embed> tag I'll re-do it.

Speaking of Streaming Media, here's IP over water. As in using water as a medium to transmit information between computers (follow the link here).

H2O/IP functions in a similar way as TCP/IP but focuses on the inherent viscous properties of water that are not present in traditional packet networks. The StreamingMedia demonstration of H2O/IP is as an installation of two computers at different heights where one captures an image and transmits it to the second computer in the form of modulated water drops. The project attempts to show how digital information can be encoded and decoded into organic forms to create a physical network between digital devices.

I'm out of time so I gotta go.

Aloha!