This is such a fun idea. Betamaxmas takes a bunch of holiday specials and episodes of old TV shows available on YouTube and drops them into an old-fashioned non-cable TV set via Flash. There’s a remote control that lets you change the channels and as you do, the antenna adjust.
There are so many holiday specials and nifty old commercials out there that the little TV functions like a real one – complete with a TV schedule. You can click on the TV Guide in the right hand corner to find out what’s playing when and on which channel.
This is entertaining for so many reasons, but I love the nostalgia. At various times each day you can watch the Pee Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special, Silver Spoons, the Bloom County Christmas special (I had no idea it existed), The Smurfs Christmas, and so much more. There’s even an amazing old commercial for the Apple IIc. (“Anyone can take it home for under $1300.” Guess their pricing hasn’t changed much, eh?)
If you get really sucked in to this, or decide to broadcast this to your TV, it does have a full-screen mode.
A friend of mine discovered GoAnimate.com earlier in the week and has been playing with it nonstop. GoAnimate gives the average human being (as opposed to talented animators) a chance to make a nifty animation with no skills whatsoever. I can’t see this replacing animators and artists, so no worries there, but it certainly is fun.
Their About page reads
We are a bunch of guys who love animation and want to share our passion with the world! The problem is that animation requires very specific skills. Animators need to learn Flash or other advanced software before being able to create anything. They also need to know how to draw. That’s why we created GoAnimate, a platform that allows people to express themselves through animation without having to learn to draw or install any software.
Go Animate provides you with thought bubbles, backgrounds, general people, famous people, accessories, and more. In addition, you can upload your own images to use in whatever way you choose.
It’s Friday. It’s the first day of August. Go have some fun and go animate!
Here’s an animation by my friend. It shows just how easy it is to make your own …
Flash pieces on web sites have traditionally been invisible to search engines. However, Adobe announced today that they are working with the search industry to change that and make Flash pieces – and Flash web sites – visible again.
Adobe has created a special Flash player, currently distributed to Yahoo! and Google. This special player allows the search engine to crawl through Flash content and get to any text or hyperlinks within the rich content. From what I read on TechCrunch, the special player acts as a virtual human, viewing the Flash content and translating it into the right information for the search engine.
This is great news for web designers and agencies who love to create Flash sites but are often dinged because of a lack of SEO. According to the Adobe press release,
…millions of pre-existing RIAs [rich Internet applications] and dynamic Web experiences that utilize Adobe Flash technology, including content that loads at runtime, are immediately searchable without the need for companies and developers to alter them.
Google has already begun indexing Flash sites, while Yahoo! plans to release the technology in an future update. Adobe has plans to roll out the technology to additional search engines as well.
– Events, news, apps, and more – let me know at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, via Twitter, Pownce, or FriendFeed.
Flash pieces on web sites have traditionally been invisible to search engines. However, Adobe