Entrepreneur Geek

Flash can not only play videos, it can also easily go full screen (without the chrome) to run them with hardware acceleration.

We have a project where we display student portfolio videos, and the client has asked to add a full screen provision. I was looking around the net for this, and found some good resources.

So if you want to add a full screen provision to your Flash Video player too, go ahead and check these out:

• Adobe’s Developer Network article explains going to Full Screen mode in Flash Player 9 in detail. It covers both Flash and Flex.
• Flash FLV player with Full Screen, source code included. Site in German.
• FlashCom Guru has some examples. More than the full screen feature, I loved the BBC clip he used for the demo!

The task looks much easier now! Just need to work a bit on the skinning of the player!

SXSW 08 had a panel on “The Art of Speed: Conversations With Monster Makers“.

This session focused on how to accomplish huge things in little time. From near-overnight IPOs and massive cult followings, to instant NY Times bestsellers and runaway viral campaigns. I was not at SXSW, but listened to the podcast of the panel, and was truly inspired. This hour long recording is full of insights, wisdom and practical tips. If you are a startup, listen to it. If you are going to create one, listen to it. If you want to do big in anything, go ahead and listen to it!

Here’s the panel:

• Tim Ferriss – www.fourhourworkweek.com
• Mike Cassidy – Benchmark Capital
• Evan Williams – Co-Founder, Twitter/Obvious
• Cali Lewis – Host & Producer, GeekBrief.TV

And go ahead, get all the SXSW 2008 podcasts from here!

Tim Ferris (4 Hour Work Week fame) has a Not-To-Do List.

1. Do not answer calls from unrecognized phone numbers
2. Do not e-mail first thing in the morning or last thing at night
3. Do not agree to meetings or calls with no clear agenda or end time
4. Do not let people ramble
5. Do not check e-mail constantly — “batch” and check at set times only
6. Do not over-communicate with low-profit, high-maintenance customers
7. Do not work more to fix overwhelm — prioritize
8. Do not carry a cellphone or Crackberry 24/7
9. Do not expect work to fill a void that non-work relationships and activities should

Is this on your list?

This Logic Builder is particularly for Flex developers. And as it is, I am looking for the best solution to this! So here goes!

The task is to flow a text in multiple text areas automatically. The height and width of each TextArea is fixed. There can be no scroll bars on any TextArea. When the text is overflowing (going out of the TextArea), it should be taken to the next TextArea. The application should show as many TextAreas as needed, to show the text entered.

As shown in the image, you can have a text area to enter the content, and a button. Clicking on the button should generate as many TextAreas as needed and flow the given text in them.

Hints:

• You may use a List with TextAreas as the ItemRenderes
• Adobe Documentation on Text Controls
• TextArea & TextLineMetrics language reference

We have developed, desired and contributed to lot of software products. When people talk about the next big thing in Indian IT, they talk about product development. But I figured we are not too good at spotting the right product ideas.

Evan Williams, founder of Blogger, Odeo and Twitter, wrote an excellent guide on evaluating whether your product idea has potential to succeed.

Here are the key questions you need to ask. (Read Evan’s full post, to understand these!)

• How difficult will it be to launch a worthwhile version 1.0? (Tractability)
• Is it clear why people should use it? (Obviousness)
• How much value can you ultimately deliver? (Deepness)
• How many people may ultimately use it? (Wideness)
• How will people learn about your product? (Discoverability)
• How hard will it be to extract the money? (Monetizability)
• Do you really want it to exist in the world? (Personally Compelling)

On a side note, my Mobile Web Development book starts with Evan Williams! The first page talks about Twitter, and how Evan chose mobile for his next big thing