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Planet Web 2.0

Flash on the Beach: Day OneSeptember 29

This is the first in a series of articles reporting on Flash on the Beach, one of Europe's premier Flash conferences. I'm going to pick out my personal highlights.

This morning, having arrived bright and early in a cold but sunny Brighton, I eagerly made my way to the Brighton Dome to register for this year's Flash on the Beach conference. This is the third year in a row that I have made the journey down to the South Coast for the conference, and once again the line-up of speakers over the three days is stellar. After grabbing a cup of YDN-sponsored tea (yes, we're doing our bit for all the caffeine-addicted Flash developers out there) I headed into the main auditorium for the start of the day.

Adobe Keynote

John Davey, conference organiser supremo, dropped a bombshell in his introduction to the keynote session: Flash on the Beach will be coming to Miami in April '09. If you've always wanted to get to Flash on the Beach but didn't want to brave the chill of the UK in October, then maybe Miami is more your style. I am assured that tanned, toned bodies and manicured poodles are welcome but strictly optional.

The keynote, delivered by Richard Galvan and a few other Adobe folks, showed off some of the features that are shipping with the Flash CS4 release. It's been a while since I've played around in the Flash authoring tool, but judging by the spontaneous applause from the aud

September MadnessSeptember 29

Anyone college basketball fans who’ve been watching the bank failures and consolidations recently will understand and appreciate this September Madness chart. This was reportedly created by a general partner at Sansome Partners named Mark Slavonia.

I wonder if the U.S. Congress will make it to the Final Four. Click for larger view.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Yet more great things to learn about web developmentSeptember 29

The Opera Web Standards Curriculum in association with YDN has just been updated with another batch of great tutorials on website development.

The new sections cover Accessibility with an article from yours truly on accessibility basics and another by Yahoo!'s Ben Hawkes-Lewis on accessibility testing. The section on CSS is also available with an introduction to CSS from YDN's Christian Heilmann. Other industry stalwarts, such as Tommy Olsson, follow on the CSS section with more detailed articles on specific topics.

I'm glad I've been able to contribute to this great introduction to web development. If you are looking to learn the basics it's highly recommended.

Tom Hughes-Croucher
Yahoo! Developer Network

50-42September 29

My father was an old-time politico in Chicago and one of his old buddies - Don Rose - writes a column for a Chicago web site called the ‘Chicago Daily Observer’.

In today’s column he writes that Obama has taken a 50-42 lead in the polls.

I’m saying this in honor of my father who fought for civil rights, against the Vietnam War and would be tickled pink to see what Barack is up to.

I know he’s looking down from wherever he is - and laughing right now.

Microsoft Should Look To Ask.com For Commercial IdeasSeptember 29

Who needs Jerry Seinfeld when you’ve got a pole-dancing babe? Ask.com, the search engine formerly associated with a butler named Jeeves, is running an advertisement that features a voluptuous young woman doing acrobatic moves on a stripper pole under the heading “What are the best aerobic workouts?”

The ad may tell me nothing about the site’s technology or give me any reason to use it over Google, but it worked - I obediently ventured over to Ask.com to see if they had somehow managed to make search sexy (they didn’t). The results were just as mundane as they’ve always been, but the ad still drove me to the site.

Contrast this with the “edgy” ad campaign Ask used last year that was headed by Crispin Porter + Bogusky, which incorporated bizarre references to the Unabomber and urine-themed ads. The campaign failed to drive any traffic, and was abandoned only $15 million into the $100 million contract.

The same firm was in charge of Microsoft’s recent