This is not just an advert for some O’Reilly book. Adobe AIR for JavaScript developers provides an introduction to Adobe AIR for developers interested in building AIR applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. It’s been licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Which means you can go buy a copy right now from Amazon if you really want to. Or you could just download it here for free.

The book has several pieces:

• Introduction to Adobe AIR
• Getting started with Adobe AIR
• Working with JavaScript and HTML Within Adobe AIR
• Adobe AIR Mini-Cookbook

It is written by members of the AIR team themselves so I’m assuming they know what’s what.

I’ve got my copy

Testing Wordpress Wordpress 2.5’s new gallery system. It seems to fit well inside my site template by default. So that’s good. I’d rather linked directly to the photo rather than the attachment page so that I can hook thickbox to popup each image directly on the page. There don’t appear to be any options for this though. But it’s still a handly little feature.

Jason Huck’s gaTracker jQuery plugin allows for unobtrusive integration of the Google Analytics tracker into a page as well as attaching tracking events to each external link, mailto and download. It works seamlessly but it does however currently use the old ‘urchin.js’ which has been superceeded by Google’s new Tracking API (ga.js)

ga.js has all the capabilities of urchin.js but is structured in a fully Object oriented way. The new API has some nice new functionality which among other things allows for tracking of e-commerce transactions, which is pretty exciting. If you like that sorta thing.

I’ve quickly modified gaTracker to utilise the new API and call it’s _trackPageview() method rather than using urchinTracker(). The code is available below:

jquery.gatracker.js (Tracking API version)

It works in exactly the same way as the gaTracker 1.0.1 release, and can be dropped in it’s place, but utilises the new tracking API. Feel free to grab a copy until support gets built into the official release.

I’m sure the BBC won’t approve of this but within the last few days an XBMC plugin for the BBC iPlayer has been released for general consumption. Though it’s far from a finished product, it neatly lists and plays the H.264 encoded iPlayer streams designed for the Apple iPhone.

The BBC’s provision of non-DRM MPEG streams only for iPhone users has sparked widespread controversy not least because they have previously stated and continue to take the line that non-DRM versions can not be made available for legal reasons, meaning those wanting to download and watch iPlayer content are forced to use Microsoft Windows.

BBC iPlayer programmes specify the dates for which they are valid and
whether the programme is available for download at all.

In the interest of common decency, the [XBMC iPlayer plugin] should store and honour these
values - deleting programmes once they expire. - Developer of the XBMC iPlayer Plugin

So, just what argument can the BBC come up with to justify referring to projects such as this as ‘hacking’?

The XBMC iPlayer plugin looks like the first step on a promising path toward the British public being permitted to use an actual TV to watch the programming that they’re forced to pay for. Here’s hoping that this trend continues, and sets a precedent for the abandonment of pointless applications of badly executed DRM.

On February 8, 2008, Polaroid Corporation announced that it will discontinue production of all instant film. An understandable move in light of the proliferation of cheap digital compact cameras, but as disastrous move for many Polaroid enthusiasts, on anyone who simply wants to instantly create unique and interesting images.

There looks to be roughly enough stock to last until 2009, but after that the film could go the way of the dinosaur! - Rick Nunn

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