In early May of this year, Adobe found that there were damaging flaws in Photoshop, Illustrator, Shockwave and Flash Professional that could be detrimental to the security of weak systems. They announced that the issues with the software could make the whole system vulnerable to attack and therefore that it was necessary to update and improve security measures for this software.

At this time, Adobe had recommended customers who use the CS5 version upgrade as soon as possible to CS6. However, many users were not happy about this, as this would require them to play $199 for each product that they wanted to upgrade. Back then, Adobe had released a free security patch for Shockwave, and now they have also released patches for the CS5 versions of Photoshop and Illustrator.

This is good news for those who still have the CS5 version of Adobe and have been worrying about how to protect their system. Many people still use this, from those who like to use their computers to write notes, to those who use them to e-mail friends or play on sites like PartyPoker site. The fact that these two patches are ready, means that Adobe customers will not have to shell out money to safeguard their systems, although those who have already done so are likely to wish they had waited for this free release.

The Photoshop patch is designed to fix the issue in the software that could enable remote code execution in the CS5 version, as well as earlier versions for both Windows and Mac computers. As the security patch has not yet been released for Flash Professional, it can be assumed that this is still being developed.

Hopefully these new security patches will be sufficient to protect systems from outside threats and customers will be able to relax in the knowledge that their software is safe.

Hi all!

Quick update (or apologies for the lack thereof)

For everyone who’s been wondering about what we’ve been up to, most of the discussions, banter and updates have been happening at the Phlashers Facebook group page for sometime now.

You can join in on the fun here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/phlashers

Cheerios!

* Dec. 30 Update: Moar entries have arrived. You have until 9pm tonight to submit yoars!

First off, we have RainbowRider by Mark Paolo Cabrera of Indigo Entertainment. It’s like NyanCat minus the cat! Sourcecode is in the Wonderfl embed link below.

RainbowRider – wonderfl build flash online

Next, we have Budgetron by Josh Bautista written in HTML, JS & CSS. Sourcecode here: http://pastebin.com/V2TC06Fn

Finally, we have two entries by Earl Vergara, an minecrafty-looking isometric mapmaker demo where you can drag tiles then raise their heights and then a megaphone demo using the Flash microphone API. AS3 Source is viewable on the Wonderfl embeds below:

Map Maker Demo – wonderfl build flash online

Megafone – wonderfl build flash online

We’ve still got a few hours left ’til tonight’s 9pm Philippine time (GMT+8) extended deadline for entries, so submit now!

* Dec. 28 Update: A Winner Is You and an Extension!

Currently, we have 1 winning entry, the pure awesomeness that is SimplePiano.as by Ian Icasiano – an entire AS3 project that compiles to a mini Piano synthesizer which can be controlled via keyboard or mouse clicks (with randomly colored keys on every load!)

Ian’s entry can be grabbed at: http://pastebin.com/0Jez9hJf and the compiled output is below.

We have one more license of an entire Adobe CS5.5 Premium Suite for grabs and the deadline has been extended to 11:59pm tonight, Wednesday Dec. 28 Manila Time (GMT +8) to allow for additional submissions. So what are you waiting for? Submit NAO by e-mailing your entry to phlashers at gmail dot com!

*** Dec. 24, 2011: UPDATE – How to submit: ***

3 days left for the challenge. Please spread the word and Happy holidays!

It’s that time of the year again for our annual 5KB code-driven competition!

We’re back this time with Flex User Group Philippines and IGDA Manila and aside from Flash, we’re adding Flex, HTML, JavaScript & CSS to the mix and renaming it to the Philippine 5KB Web Challenge! (… or at least that’s what we’re calling it for now… What’s a catchier name to call it… Ph5KB?)

ABOUT

This yearly contest is inspired by the following:

• the5k.org (archive)
• The DemoScene
• Ludum Dare
• ActionScript Poetry (Jabberwocky, 2005, 2006 contests)

Anyway, onto the…

SUBMISSION RULES

1. Create something code-driven and entertaining with source files not exceeding 5KB (5120 bytes) total.
2. Submissions may be in the following formats:
   • .FLAs + AS1/AS2/AS3 code, whether inline or external
   • Flex MXML submissions to be used with the stock Flex SDK. Additional libraries will count towards the 5KB limit
   • AS3 code to be run on http://wonderfl.net or in Flash Builder/FlashDevelop MXMLC projects
   • HTML + JavaScript + CSS. Total of all files must not exceed 5kb
   • .SWCs are *not* allowed.
3. Your submission MUST properly run on the latest non-beta versions of ALL the following browsers:
   Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome, Apple Safari. No need to get it running on Microsoft Internet Explorer because Windows XP users are stuck with IE8.
4. All entries will be made downloadable by everyone to check out, so they must be submitted under an open-source license. You retain all rights to your submissions.
5. For tagging, all submissions must contain “2011 Phlashers.com 5KB Challenge” somewhere in the code which *will* count towards the 5KB limit. Remember that your entries will be spread through the net freely for download, so feel free to leave your name & other dstinguishing comments on your submissions because your submissions must be self-explanatory. Any accompanying “readme.txt” or the like will count towards your 5kb.
6. All entries must be in by Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 11:59pm Philippine Time (GMT +8). That’s an entire week. Demoscene and Ludum Dare participants only get one weekend.

We will be shortly posting where to send your submissions. Check again within the next 2 days. Meanwhile, get cracking!

JUDGING

Your entry will be judged on:

• Output aesthetics, creativity, originality and PURE AWESOMENESS.
• Judging will also be *heavily* influenced by code aesthetics, readibility, witty variable/function names and comments. Nobody likes boring code. ASCII art is encouraged!

Our panel of judges will be announced in the coming days.

PRIZES

We will be having 2 grand prizes of one original Adobe CS5.5 Premium Suite for each grand prize winner. If at least 20 students join the contest, we will allocate one of these grand prizes for a separate student category to even the playing field. By student, we mean college undergraduates and younger. Grad School & PhD candidates fall under the “Professionals” category.

We’re currently looking for additional people/groups willing to sponsor prizes, but currently, we do have some original Steam game licenses to give away to finalists.

Feel free to work in teams, but note that it is up to you to decide how to split up your prize as the Adobe Premium Suite license cannot be split up into their component products. Same with the Steam gift licenses. Feel free to submit multiple entries, but note that you may win only once.

ELIGIBILITY

1. You must be a member of one of the following Adobe user groups (sign up by clicking on the appropriate links)
   • Phlashers: Philippine Flash ActionScripters
   • Flex User Group Philippines
   • Adobe User Group Philippines
   • Graphikarista
2. You must either be a Filipino Citizen, a Filipino living abroad or be of Filipino descent. You must also submit to a wacky Skype conference in Filipino if the previous are in doubt.

That’s basically it for now. Check this blog post daily as we’ll be updating it with more details.

Post your comments below for questions and get your code on!!!strong,

FlashCamp Manila was a complete success. The time we had to plan, analyze, then execute the event was short but in the end we all pulled through. The response of the participants as well as the speakers Tom Krcha and Peter Moelgaard was great making FlashCamp Manila an achievement of international proportions.

A round of special thanks goes to AUGPhil for being such great hosts to our speakers from the moment they stepped off the plane, Phlashers for handling the logistics and coordination prior and during the event, UST for providing us with highly efficient volunteers, and lastly the Ateneo de Manila University for letting us use their brand new Theater.

Now that we’ve all had our share of experiences with FlashCamp, we now look forward to FlashCamp 2012 and what ever amazing surprises it may bring. Below are some pictures of the event including an amazing 360 virtual tour by Rey Mendoza, AUGPhil Manager.

Lots of awesome things were announced and demonstrated at the keynote of Adobe Max 2010 a while ago! Watch the recording of the video stream of Day 1′s keynote with Adobe’s CTO Kevin Lynch talking onstage. Try clicking P2P button at the bottom of the vid to enable speed up viewing!

Check out the coverage around the web:

• Day One at Adobe MAX 2010 from The Flash Platform Blog
• AdobeMax Keynote Summary from InsideRIA
• Adobe MAX 2010 – Day 1 hilights + pics from Flash Magazine
• Summary of news + links from Adobe MAX from FITC
• Summary of Adobe AIR Related Announcements at MAX from The Adobe AIR blog

Now on the Flash Platform side, really exciting announcements!

Check out Hero and the new Flash Builder codename Burrito betas here: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flexsdk_hero. With Hero, developers will now be able to go mobile with Flex and create multi-screen applications.

See what’s new with AIR 2.5 and grab it at http://get.adobe.com/air. you can download the AIR 2.5 SDK for different platforms at http://www.adobe.com/products/air/sdk/ and see how to monetize on your AIR apps with the newly launched Adobe InMarket.

Adobe AIR 2.5 now runs on Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, Android 2.2, Blackberry Tablet OS, iOS via Flash CS5 iOS Packager and soon, Windows Mobile 7 and TV Set Top Boxes – making it a cost effective cross-platform solution.

Google TV will be Flash capable and will run Adobe AIR. Adobe AIR for TVs set top boxes has also already shipped to manufacturer partners. Check out the following video on games and HD video running on Adobe AIR for TV:

Hardware DirectX & OpenGL 3D acceleration is finally coming to Flash via the new tech API codenamed Molehill. Molehill is GPU-accelerated via DirectX on Windows, OpenGL on Mac, Linux & Mobile with a fallback to a software 3D renderer if appropriate hardware is unavailable.

Check out the video of the MAXRacer hardware accelerated 3D P2P multiplayer racing game demo below, done using Molehill and the Flash 3D Engine Alternativa3D + Flash’s new P2P technology, Cirrus:

Adobe really did listen to the Flash game developer community and answered the clamor for joystick & gamepad support! In the keynote, CTO Kevin Lynch demoed using an XBox controller to play a Flash game.

Check out Flash Platform Manager Thibault Imbert talk about Molehill‘s 3D APIs and shows off using a Logitech Driving Force GT force feedback steering wheel controller below:

For more behind-the-scene details, check out how Adobe Flash P2P Evangelist Tom Krcha implemented the multiplayer aspect of MAXRacer via Flash P2P at his blog.

Blackberry Playbook Tablet Demoed
RIM & Blackberry co-CEO Mike Lazaridis went onstage to demonstrate the Blackberry Playbook Tablet and how tightly integrated it is with Adobe AIR — its UI and Media Viewer are based on AIR. Lazaridis also showed off HD Flash Video in the browser playing without dropping frames while multitasking.

Big announcement by the CEO for AIR developers: submit your AIR App to RIM and if they accept it, you are eligible for a free Blackberry Playbook. Amazing move by RIM to get developers to seed the Blackberry Tablet OS with apps! Check out the Blackberry blog for details on the BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR.

Christy Wyatt, Corporate VP of Motorola went onstage to declare: “Anyone who’s not giving you flash on the mobile device is not giving you the internet.” To the delight of the crowd, she then proceeded to announce that all attendees at Adobe Max would be each getting free Motorola Droid 2 phones!

1) Serge Jespers will give away one unit to the one who makes the most creative Max Unaward. All you need is an internet connection and a webcam then head over to http://max.adobe.com/widget to record your video.
2) Ryan Stewart will give away another one to the person who can submit the best Halloween costume idea for his 6-month old baby daughter Juniper Olivia Stewart. All you need to do is post your suggestions via Twitter addressed to @RyanStewart. Ryan will be monitoring tweets with the hashtag #AdobeMax and the word costume.
Internet contest winners will be announced right after tomorrow’s keynote sessions. Good luck!

Each day, for the rest of the week, videos of the keynotes will be streamed live, and the recordings will then be available on demand at http://max.adobe.com/online along with 3 featured sessions of the day. Today’s recorded featured sessions are:

• Design: Dreamweaver® CS5 Deep Dive: Next-Generation Workflows
• Develop: Optimizing Flash Player Compatible Content for Mobile Devices
• Envision: Creating Interactive Rich Media Advertising Campaigns with Video

Have a great week!

An interview with Adobe Developer Relations Team & Community Manager Liz Frederick by DZone. You can follow Liz at twitter.com/lizign.

The Mochi Media and Adobe “Made for Mobile” developer contest is in full swing!

Don’t miss your chance to win by creating games for the Android mobile platform that run in Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1. In case you were unaware, you can actually “tweak” an existing game and optimize it for mobile as a valid entry. They have more than $20,000 in cash prizes up for grabs with over 100 prizes offered (plus free copies of Adobe CS5 given to the top 3 entries) AND contest submissions will be showcased on Mochi Media’s mobile-optimized site MochiGames Mobile.

Check out the rules and details at the contest site.

1st Place – $7,000 + Adobe CS5: Master Suite
2nd Place – $4,000 + Adobe CS5: Master Suite
3rd Place – $2,000 + Adobe CS5: Master Suite
4th Place (Honorable Mention) – $1,000
5th Place (Honorable Mention) – $1,000
6th Place - 105th Place – $50 each