webqem blog

Last week saw the release of the latest update to the Flash Player. Previously code named “Moviestar” Flash Player 9 Update 3 now supports the H.265 video standard – the same standard deployed in Blu-Ray and HD-DVD high definition video players.

This version also includes hardware acceleration for better performance on multi-core machines.

A HD gallery has been launched to help demonstrate the capabilities of the new version of the player, it’s well worth checking out at http://www.adobe.com/products/hdvideo/hdgallery/

Royal Philips Electronics have introduced Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional as a part of their training strategy. Connect’s Training and Meeting modules are being used to deliver training, video conferencing and web seminars to a potential audience of 135,000 registered users of its Healthcare Learning Management System.

Philips has integrated Connect into their in-house SCORM-compliant Learning Management System, using it as part of their healthcare education programs globally.

Additional information is available online from this press release.

The release of Service Pack 3 for Adobe Acrobat Connect has meant a visible improvement in performance partly made possible by the required use of Flash Player 8.

Flash Player 8 has better video compression algorithms (codecs), which are being utilised in this update to Connect for improved quality screen sharing during live meetings.

Another benefit is that Flash video files (FLVs) compressed with the Flash 8 codec are now better performers when served up as content from the Adobe Acrobat Connect server. Connect can stream FLV files, detecting user connection speeds and optimising performance on the fly, with better quality visuals coming as a result of the codecs used for Flash 8.

While there are a number of applications available for compressing video into the FLV format the majority, especially the freeware and shareware variety, are still only using Flash 7 compression. Adobe ship a Flash Video Encoder with Flash CS3.

If you’re  a power user of both Outlook and Adobe Acrobat Connect Meetings, you might be interested to know that there’s a free add-in for Outlook that will allow you to schedule a Connect Meeting with associates directly.  It can be used to select a room from the available Meetings on your Connect server and view the schedules for invitees if you belong to the same Exchange server – it is compatible with current versions of Outlook up to Outlook 2007.

The latest version of the Acrobat Connect add-in for Microsoft Outlook can be downloaded from http://www.adobe.com/support/connect/updaters.html#outlook

An online tutorial is available from the Adobe site, titled “Using the Breeze Add-in for Microsoft Outlook” it can be found at http://brc.breezecentral.com/usingoutlookaddin/

Adobe have released a public beta of the next version of Adobe Acrobat Connect. Code named “Brio”, the beta is both a web meeting and a online collaboration tool based on the Flash Player intended for small business and individuals. The Brio beta can be evaluated online for free, applying for a Brio meeting gives users the opportunity to:

• Host unlimited online meetings with a maximum of 3 participants using:
  • Screen sharing
  • Chat
  • Camera and VoIP
  • Whiteboards
• Share documents and files with participants
• Have a personal Brio meeting URL

Beta means that Brio is still in development. It currently doesn’t offer the same meeting feature list as Connect but is still worth trying out as you’ll find that it is already a good performer – and a good insight into the future of Adobe Acrobat Connect. Apply for a free Brio account now at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/brio/

If you thought it was hard to create a web page that looks consistent across the various browsers out there wait until you try creating an HTML email. In order to create an email that is going to work across the various email clients out there, both desktop based clients and web based email, you’re essentially forced to write HTML as if it was still the 90s – tables for layout, spacer images and minimal CSS. Even then you’re not going to get it looking perfect in every client due to many quirks and inconsistencies in the email client’s HTML/CSS support.

With this situation in mind the Email Standards Project has been launched by a group of people involved in the web industry. The project aims to educate web designers and developers about the importance of web standards for email, and to liaise with email client developers to provide assistance and feedback on standards support within their clients. The aim is to improve standards support within email clients, similar to the goals of the Web Standards Project for browsers.

HTML emails aren’t going away, so anything that can be done to make the experience more consistent for readers will benefit the businesses using email marketing, and make it easier for the web designers and developers to create great looking content.

Check out the Email Standards Project site for more information, and help spread the good word!

We were very proud to play a part in the launch of Virgin Blue‘s brand-spanking new site, and a pretty major one at that. Over the course of the last year we’ve worked closely with the good guys at Virgin Blue to completely refresh their online presence, redesigning the website from the ground up with a brand new look.

Here’s what their press release had to say about it:

Virgin Blue re-launches its website

Virgin Blue has unveiled its fresh, new website virginblue.com.au, with focus on making the navigation easier for key information or to book flights. Since Virgin Blue launched in 2000, the website, which receives around 130,000 hits per day, has been the airline’s main channel for the majority of flight bookings and over 90 percent of guests now choose to select and book their travel online.

Moving away from the original colour palate of mostly red and blue, the refurbished website now features a crisp white background for easier readability with splashes of red to preserve Virgin Blue’s heritage and link to the Virgin brand. The new website was designed with the input of public focus groups and surveys of key market segments to create a site that is truly user-friendly from the page layout and content menus to the pictures and colours used. To improve the accessibility and usability, special features have been incorporated into the new site including dropdown menus and index pages, the ability to select different font sizes to assist readers with vision impairments, and more useful and logical ‘next step’ and ‘related information’ links designed to help travellers find the information they want with a minimum amount of effort.

More images of Virgin Blue team members and special messages have also been incorporated throughout the site to provide a more personalised and friendlier experience. Virgin Blue has built the site to be scalable for future initiatives to enable it to display and promote all the great new products and partnerships the airline has in the pipeline. The new site is compatible with the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Flash and was designed by Webqem.

During September the inaugural Local Vocal site was launched for the Coogee community at Coogee LocalVocal.

A low-key launch was chosen whilst the site was populated with useful local information such as local parks and coastal walks, upcoming festivals, performances, workshops and seminars, and a selection of local businesses and services.

The Coogee Local Vocal site gives locals a cohesive voice about local issues through the use of online forums, blogs and polls. Members can share photos, and blogs and advertise in the Classifieds section; Groups can coordinate member lists and activities; Local Businesses can list their business, providing full contact details and map location. Share ideas and communicate with others in your local area.

The Coogee site is the first of many Local Vocal community sites. If you are interested in starting your own local franchise, please see the parent site, Local Vocal Australia.

Tests last week at webqem resulted in a live video feed from a TV tuner card streaming within an Adobe Acrobat Connect Meeting Room’s Camera pod. The implication for folk hosting Connect online meetings is the possibility of being able to display video material directly from either a DVD or VCR. Want to know more? Contact us via the comments section below.

A few of us have decided to get involved in this great event, by growing a mo for the month of November. Movember aims to raise awareness about male health issues, in particular prostate cancer and male depression, by encouraging guys to let their mo’s grow for a month. We’ll keep you updated on our progress, a few radical concepts for individual mo’s have been thrown around but let’s let the mo’s do the talking!

Movember donations are tax deductible and can be made at http://www.movember.com.au/ or 1300 GROW MO.

Go the mo!