Just announced: Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro Mobile ( iPhone or iPod )

Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro Mobile is now available for download from the iTunes store!

Connect Pro Mobile offers users mobile access via an iPhone or iPod touch to rich communications including collaborative meetings, training sessions and Web seminars. 

With Connect Pro Mobile, participants can watch and listen to live presentations including real-time meeting webcam video and screen sharing demonstrations. Mobile users can see who is in the meeting at any given time, and collaborate with others using live text chat. VoIP meeting audio will broadcast straight to iPhone or iPod touch devices over a WiFi or 3G connection.  Meeting hosts also have the ability to give participants the option to join a telephone conference call, and even opt to have the conference dial out to the mobile user, eliminating the need to enter complex dialing codes.

Key features:

• Attend Connect Pro Meetings with integrated conference call or Voice over IP audio. 
• If your meeting host is using integrated conferencing, you can let the meeting call you, and avoid entering cumbersome dialing codes.
• See who has joined the meeting, and their role (host, presenter, or attendee)
• View presentations, PDF documents, videos, and screen sharing provided by the meeting organizer. Rotate, pan, and zoom to choose your personal ’best view’ of shared content
• View webcamera broadcasts from unlimited live camera feeds provided in the meeting
• Participate in chat conversations throughout the meeting.
• Join meetings attended by users on virtually any computer system: Mac, Windows, Linux, and Solaris. Plus other mobile attendees on iPhone and iPod touch.

Adobe anticipates iPad users will be able to take advantage of Connect Pro Mobile as well.  For more information on iPad applications with Flash, click here
http://blogs.adobe.com/flashplatform/2010/01/building_ipad_apps.html

Connect Pro Mobile overview video: http://www.connectusers.com/tutorials/2010/02/connectpromobile/ 

For support with Connect Pro Mobile, please visit the Connect Pro Mobile support forum http://www.connectusers.com/forums/cucbb/viewforum.php?id=53

Link to the Connect Pro blog:  http://blogs.adobe.com/acrobatconnect/2010/02/adobe_acrobat_connect_pro_mobi.html

Happy 20th Birthday Photoshop: Our Most Popular Ps Tips and Tricks [Photoshop]

Happy 20th Birthday Photoshop: Our Most Popular Ps Tips and Tricks [Photoshop]

Photoshop stepped onto the scene 20 years ago today, changing the face of photoediting, altering the way we weight the truthfulness of images, and introducing "'Shopped!" into the language of internet pundits everywhere. Check out our most popular Photoshop tutorials inside.

Over the years as time savers and bits of weekend fun, we've featured a variety of popular Photoshop tips and tricks. Before we share the links though, here are some random facts about Photoshop and an interesting mini-documentary about the founding of Photoshop.

• Photoshop was invented by a University of Michigan PhD student named Thomas Knoll. Knoll's brother John worked for Industrial Light and Magic and encouraged Thomas to continue developing the software—apparently the imagery-manipulation gene is strong in the Knoll family.


• Despite the widespread prevalence of using "Photoshop" as a verb, Adobe strongly discourages it.


• The use of Photoshop in advertising is so widespread that fairly frequently a photo-editing mishap leads to a humorous outcome. Photoshop Disasters is a popular blog that catalogs mishaps in advertising like phantom hands, missing fingers, and super models with no navels.

The list below highlights the top ten Photoshop-related articles that have appeared on Lifehacker. If you'd like to explore more Photoshop tips and tricks, feel free to browse through the archives of the Photoshop tag.

• Make Your Own Andy Warhol Pop Art


• Add a Dash of Color to Black and White Images


• How to Install Photoshop on Ubuntu


• Photoshop Tip: Create professional HDR images


• Punch Up a Photo in Under 60 Seconds
• 
  

New Discount: Lynda.com subscriptions - save 30%

We're always seeking to bring CPAUG members new benefits and discounts.  Today, we're happy to announce that CPAUG members receive a 30% discount on Annual (save $50) and Premium (save $75) 1-year memberships to Lynda.com.  Please ask about the discount flyer with code at our meetings or email the CPAUG UGM.  You must be a CPAUG member to receive this discount.

Also posted here: http://groups.adobe.com/posts/0607dee3d9

Local (Harrisburg PA Area) Flash Freelance Developers Needed

http://groups.adobe.com/posts/815bccc705

20 years of Photoshop: Experience the evolution at www.photoshop20anniversary.com

http://www.photoshop20anniversary.com/

Job Op: Applications Developer at PA LDPC

Job Title:
Applications Developer
 
Company Name:
PA LDPC
 
Company Address:
Senate Box 64, Capitol Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120

Employment Status:
Full-time
 
Job Description: 
A Harrisburg based information technology agency serving the Pennsylvania General Assembly is searching for candidates to fill an open web application development position.  Individuals will develop custom in-house software applications in addition to integrating internal software solutions into 3rd party software as required.

The development environment consists primarily of writing or modifying intranet and internet applications that interact with relational databases.  Experience with JavaScript, CSS, HTML, SQL, ColdFusion, and DB2/UDB is desirable.    However, individuals that have some demonstrated experience designing and creating database-driven web applications will be given consideration. Individuals will take direction from a lead applications developer, and will be assigned tasks on multiple projects.  

Responsibilities include providing status reports periodically, communicating with users to refine, interpret, and implement technical requirements, application design, creating/testing new web-based applications, enhancing/maintaining existing web-based applications, creating/modifying application documentation including test plans, and troubleshooting and resolving application problems.

A B.S. in information systems or related field is desired.  Applicants should have good organizational skills and be willing to learn new technologies as the field evolves.  We offer an excellent benefits package.  Salary will be based on experience.   EOE. 


Interested individuals should send resume and salary requirements to:

PA LDPC

Senate Box 64, Capitol Building

Harrisburg, PA  17120
 


 Desired Skills:

JavaScript, CSS, HTML, SQL, ColdFusion, and DB2/UDB

A B.S. in information systems or related field is desired.

This job is also posted at: http://groups.adobe.com/posts/27e3c23bda

New UG discount: designProVideo.com

designProVideo.com is providing CPAUG members a 40% discount for their online tutorial library to all user group members. This gives you full library access for just $15 a month.  To subscribe use this URL: https://www.designprovideo.com/subscribe/info/usergroup40

Features:

•  24-hour online access
• Over 342 hours of training
• 8,073 individual tutorial-videos
• For less than $0.50 a day, you can learn from the pros
• View tutorials through your web browser (Mac & PC)
• Stay subscribed! Your subscription rate won't rise
• Cancel your subscription at any time

Be sure to check out this and our other great sponsor discounts at: http://groups.adobe.com/resources/52a4a0f3eb/summary

TONIGHT! February Meeting: Adobe Captivate with Michael Dunmire - CANCELLED.

THIS IS CANCELLED. 

 CANCELLED. February Meeting: Adobe Captivate with Michael Dunmire

Meeting details and RSVP here: http://groups.adobe.com/posts/ea58613474

Megan Fister. Sent from my iPhone.

Flash Player Mobile and Adobe AIR Mobile

Flash Player Mobile and Adobe AIR Mobile

In case you missed the announcement early this morning, Adobe has outlined their time line for getting Flash Player mobile and Adobe AIR mobile rolled out. Here are a few excerpts; "Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE - News) today announced advancements...

TONIGHT! February Meeting: Adobe Captivate with Michael Dunmire

Meeting details and RSVP here: http://groups.adobe.com/posts/ea58613474

Adobe Photoshop Turns 20-Join the Anniversary Celebration

> February 19th 2010 marks the 20th Anniversary of Adobe Photoshop® an
> d Adobe is getting together with the National Association of Photosh
> op Professionals (NAPP) to celebrate the anniversary of the software
> that changed the face of photography and design forever.
>
> The Photoshop 20th anniversary celebration on February 18th at 7:30
> p.m. pst will be streamed LIVE and feature Photoshop luminaries
> including NAPP's Scott Kelby, John Loiacono, Adobe Senior Vice Presi
> dent and General Manager, Creative Solutions Business Unit, NAPP Pho
> toshop gurus Dave Cross and Matt Kloskowski, Adobe Photoshop star Ru
> ssell Brown, and other key members of the Adobe Photoshop team. This
> fun-filled night will feature a walk through Photoshop history, a g
> limpse into the future, and celebrates all things Photoshop.
>
> It's easy to attend! Sign up at http://www.photoshopuser.com/photoshop20
> th, and come back to that page on February 18th at 7:30 p.m. pst for
> an amazing history-making night. We hope you can join us.
>

CPAUG FEBRUARY MEETING - CANCELLED

Due to several scheduling conflicts, the CPAUG February meeting has been cancelled.  We'll let you know as soon as we reschedule for March.  Sorry!

5th Annual Philly Emerging Tech Conference

Registration is open for the 5th Annual Philly Emerging Tech Conference (a.k.a. Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise), which is set for April 8 - April 9 at the Society Hill Sheraton: www.phillyemergingtech.com

Sessions include:

   * Clojure's Approach to State and Identity -- Rich Hickey (creator of Clojure)

   * What's New in Spring Integration 2.0 -- Mark Fisher (Spring Integration Project lead)

   * Building DSLs in Groovy -- Venkat Subramaniam (author of Programming Groovy and Programming Scala)

   * Weld and the Future of Seam -- Dan Allen (Seam Project Team at JBoss, Red Hat)

   * Source-Oriented Architecture (ROA) and REST -- Scott Davis (author of Groovy Recipes: Greasing the Wheels of Java)

   * Deploying Java Applications on Amazon EC2 -- Chris Richardson (head of Cloud Computing, SpringSource)

   * Building Distributed Systems with Scala -- Alex Payne (Twitter platform lead; author of Programming Scala)

Talks about a wide array of languages and technologies complement the Java and JVM-based content. Session topics range from iphone development to Google Wave to alternatives to relational databases.

The keynote speakers will be "Uncle Bob" Martin, who served as the first chairman of the Agile Alliance, and industry analyst Michael Cote.

The Early Bird rate, available through February 15, is $275 per person. If you can take advantage of the group discount (4 colleagues or friends, not necessarily from the same company, registering at the same time), the price comes to $206.

To register, or for more information: www.phillyemergingtech.com 

AIR 2.0 Beta 2 released

AIR 2.0 Beta 2 released

Today Adobe announced the release of the AIR 2.0 beta 2 on Adobe Labs, capping off a successful period of production and demo apps in built in beta 1. Some of the new features include enhanced control over printers, support for TLS/SSL sockets, and increased text input handling.

Book Review: Wordpress 2.8 Theme Design by Tessa Blakeley Silver

Wordpress 2.8 Theme Design (affiliate link)
by Tessa Blakeley Silver
ISBN 1849510083
Review by Megan Fister, 
Central Pennsylvania Adobe User Group (CPAUG) - ManagerWordpress 2.8 Theme Design (affiliate link) is the right book for those who currently understand the basics of Wordpress setup and theme modifications.  Many books on Wordpress explain how to set up a self-hosted Wordpress blog, customize a header graphic and basic Wordpress blog management tasks and procedures.  Wordpress 2.8 Theme Design takes you beyond the setup and management basics and into the creation of your own unique Wordpress theme from start to finish and is best for those who are comfortable with XHTML, CSS and Photoshop or GIMP. Silver begins with pros and cons of creating your own theme including Wordpress design best practices.

Silver has what some would consider a unique way of creating rapid prototype composites.  Rather than sketching and designing first is a design program (e.g. Photoshop), she starts out with a rough sketch then moves directly into developing the layout in HTML and CSS.  Her reasoning for this is twofold: First, she knows that by creating and laying everything out in XHTML and CSS that the site actually works for the real environment it will be used on.  Second, many changes from clients come in the form of text tweaks.  Working this way is easier in her view then wading through many Photoshop layers.  From there, she takes a screen-capture of the layout and finesses it in Photoshop to create a comp that is easy to update and has the benefit of being partly coded.  From there she takes the reader through the steps to convert the HTML to XHTML & PHP for Wordpress, widgetizing, testing your code and more.

There's a lot to like about this book.  Just the fact that the book is about Theme design and not just another "Wordpress basics" book is worth noting.  The instruction and reasoning behind each step and area of development is clear and concise.  However, I tried and just couldn't get into a good groove in using her HTML to composite process.  I'm going to give it another shot in the future but even if you work from PSD composite to XHTML/CSS the book is still very good - you'll just need to reverse some of her work flow ideas to suit yourself. 

Disclosure:  I received this book at no cost from the book publisher.  The link provided in this blog post is an affiliate link.  Any proceeds from that link go back into running and supporting CPAUG.

Safari Books Online 2010 Discount— for CPAUG members

Please visit our CPAUG "Sponsors" Page for this and other great discount codes.