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Magicgate Software's
Director Podcast
Episode 6 --
March 2nd, 2006
The Director Podcast
Magicgate Software has been specializing in Adobe Director (previously Macromedia Director) for
over 10 years now. Come listen to programming techniques, information about Xtras (Macromedia Director's plugin library) and interviews with industry professionals. A must for any Director developer out there! We encourage you to send us your feedback and topic ideas. You can do this by emailing us at HERE, using our form below or by calling our....
Director Comment Hotline: 954-762-7962
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This Week's Shownotes:
Director Podcast Episode Six, March 2nd, 2006
Angering of the "Director Gods"
Greetings
Who I am
Podcast Wednesday... Podcast Thursday
Website location
Tom Higgins Interview Next Week
News:
Adobe Fixes Shockwave Code Execution Flaw -- Hit major news.
WEB LINK
From Update Stage, Nullsoft Scriptable Install System
http://nsis.sourceforge.net
http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Features
Contest: Most Unique application written with Director
Best score will win and be highlighted here on the Director Podcast
Prize: Word Wrangler or FireFly Lite Xtra compliments of MediaMacros.net
Criteria: 1-10
Uniqueness
Reliability - crashes
Speed
Cosmetic / Gui Interface - Not Related
Usability, ease of use, confusion factor, easy to navigate, makes sense to end user.
Does not matter platform.
Also can send us file via link from your server... just don't send us an email attachement.
Xtra of the Week:
Buddy API
http://www.mods.com.au/budapi/
Currently 3.7
It contains over 140 functions for dealing with the Windows API and Macintosh Toolbox. Among other things, it allows you to:
- get version information (OS, Windows, NT, QuickTime, etc)
- read and write registry and ini files
- get the type and speed of the processor
- detect previous instances of your application
- open, print, copy, delete files
- control screensavers
- disable task switching
- install fonts
- control other applications
baMouseClick - simulates a mouse click
baDirectX - returns the version of DirectX installed
Excellent Forum
Educational institutions and students may use a special educational verison without charge. If you believe you are entitled to this usage, please contact Gary Smith for a registration number.
The Unregistered Version of the Xtra allows you to use any 2 functions in any projector or packaged application. This version is the one available from the download page and does not need a registration number.
The Limited Edition costs US $90 or $AUD 125, plus 10% GST for Australian residents. In this version, the Xtra allows you to call any seven functions in any projector or packaged application. Each function can be called multiple times. Support is provided by e-mail.
The Full Version costs US $180 or $AUD 250. This contains a fully unlocked version of the Xtra. Support is provided by e-mail. An upgrade to the full version from the limited version costs US $90 or $AUD 125, plus 10% GST for Australian residents.
These prices include both the Windows and Macintosh versions.
WEB LINK
Sighting of the Week:
Ozzy CD 1996: The Ozzman Cometh... it is on the Bonus Disk
Zeus Productions "Juiced with Zeus"
Version 5.01
http://www.zeusprod.com/
Resource of the week:
2600 The Hacker Quarterly
Winter 2005-2006 Edition
Editors and Writers such as: ShapeShifter, Tampruf, Bland Inquisitor, Dragorn, Mr. French, Joe630 and Lucky225
Highlighting it in both podcasts, due to recent kiosk articles. If you are developing for commercial applications or kiosks, this is a very useful magazine to find out more about potential security issues out there.
Major Bookstores, $5.50
Quarterly
Website: http://www.2600.com
Listener Feedback:
Melissa asks: "I want to change the Icon and copyright information on my compiled Director projector. Can I do this legally or does this violate MM's End User License Agreement?" -- Answered next week by Tom Higgins
Hardin Grey from Rhode Island says: "You mentioned that one of the things you'd like to hear from users is things that we'd like to see in Director. Director has never really had the text handling that it should. We've wanted to be able to have embedded images, etc. in text for years. The obvious solution would be to embed the OS's native browser (Safari or IE) as a sprite. I know there are several Xtra manufacturers that have products like this, but most are Windows only and are limited. There's actually a company in Japan that makes an Xtra that does this very well (xtras.jp) and I've been very impressed with their responsiveness to bugs and changes. However, the one drawback to their implementation is that the sprite is always DirectoToStage, so you can't layer it into an interface. If adobe were to build an Xtra, they might be able to do what they've done with QuickTime and Flash and allow Director to toggle DTS on or Off. I'll send more as I think of things.... I am thoroughly enjoying the show."
Jim from North Carolina writes: "Skip, this show kicks ***!!! I have never listened to a Podcast before and never knew how cool this **** was!!! I can't believe that somebody didn't think of this **** before. Thanks for creating this show and thanks for taking the time to educate all of us dumb ***'s." Jim, Next time, leave a voice comment... less work for me! :)
Hans from Germany asks: "I have problems to find the Director Podcast mp3 file. I use Win2k and FireFox 1.0.2. When I click on the 'list additional episode' the file wasn't found. Several weeks ago I was listening to the first episode with no problems. What am I doing wrong? Can you help me?"
Closing Remarks
Contact Info, director@magicgate.com, 954-762-7962, website location: http://www.magicgate.com/podcast/
Don't forget our other podcast, The Kiosk Podcast to find out more about the PMA show that we attended a few days ago. Thank Listeners!
What to expect next: Contest reminder... INTERVIEW WITH TOM HIGGINS. Tune in again next week to the Director Podcast where we talk about the software we all love to use.
Podsafe music network artist: Music.Podshow.Com
Intoxicated by Keith Varon
Have Ideas For A Future Podcast? Do you have comments about THIS Podcast?
Submit your ideas to us today. If it fits within our theme, we will research and do a podcast based upon your idea. A perfect way to get your questions answered directly.
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