my litl adventures

There’s an upcoming user group meeting where litl will be presenting … wonder if they will show a physically working litl media box yet … I don’t think there is any question that the litl webbook did not attract much fanfare from consumers, but the potential of the platform itself, and perhaps other devices from litl (i.e. the media box) still leaves litl will a lot to offer less savvy computer users out there.

In any event, this will be a good presentation to hear about how Flash can be leveraged across TVs. Flash may be attacked on many fronts, but video is one where Flash will still have a significant proposition and benefits for OEMs and other folks leveraging video.

In those regards, this presentation could be of value, and I do believe it is planned to be streaming live (according to the RMAUG blog):

Logistics
February 23, 2011 | 6:30 – 9:00pm
Location: Casselman’s – map + directions

Flash for TV … and a little litl
6:30 – networking
7:00 – presentation begins

Many are calling the TV screen the next frontier for app development. However, with your user 10ft away from the screen, there are many different factors including controllers, performance and platforms to consider.

Chuck Freedman, chief channel evangelist from litl, will review all the brands, technologies and opportunities for getting an app on TV. He’ll discuss where the Flash platform, as a plug-in, part of other SDKs and through AIR for TV, may have a promising place in this new space. Whether you’re interested in porting your app to the bigger screen, or creating a new experience, this will be an informative presentation for you. On TV, apps present new challenges to the developer. Assume nothing is universal and prepare to enter the biggest display space yet!

Check out Chuck’s new blog http://www.thezspace.com for the latest news and platform announcements in the new TV app space!

Can’t make it in person? Join us remotely via Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro. Select the Connect option when you RSVP to get the details.

I’m not exactly sure if G2gConnect is a competitor of litl, but certainly shares the same philosophy of making a device that almost anyone can pick up and use (particularly the sometimes less computer savvy folks, seniors).

There’s a new SDK available for the litl (which is ActionScript 3 and supports the new Flash 10.x runtime).

Controls
• Improved scrollable list performance when changing scrollPosition multiple times per frame.
• Added a background color to ArrowSkin.
• Moved ArrowButton to a different package.
• Added SearchButton.
• Added TextInput control.
• Added ScrollBar control.
• Modified VerticalList to use new scrollbar instead of previous arrows.
• Fixed resizing bug with stylable button.
• Changed vertical list to scroll to pixel instead of to the nearest item.
• Added displayAsPassword property to TextInput.
• Fixed bug where slideshow would not move to the previous item when on the first item.
• Fixed TextInput text not visible on device.
• Controls now createChildren immediately on instantiation.
• ScrollableList now dispatches events when an ioerror happens.
• Fixed RTE when scrollPosition is set but no dataprovider is set.
• Text input no longer throws RTE if no text or label was set.
• Fixed ScrollableList bug with a plain image dataProvider.
• Fix for not being able to set initial scrollPosition on Filmstrip.

Simulator
• View controls now reset correctly when switching between channels.
• Auto-update mechanism.
• Log message order is now correct if multiple messages occur at the same time.
• Channel details is now collapsible.
• Layout improvements.
• Look and feel improvements.
• Added log list filter box.
• Added hasOptions indicator.
• Added shared parameters edit dialog.
• Properties tab now displays properties stored by the channel.

Apparently Kevin Suttle of litl had a blog post about being at FOTB 2010 this year.

I do believe Peter Elst gave a presentation on developing for the litl (but I don’t believe it was sponsored by litl).

Some channel ideas from litl users have been posted.

Some sample litl Channels have been posted on their developer blog.

There’s an article covering creation of custom renderers for litl controls over on the litl devlog.

As you know, the litl SDK come with some pretty handy controls that will assist in your development process by allowing you to focus on the task at hand, and not re-inventing the controls (I mean wheel).

In this post, we’ll be discussing how you can create custom item renderers for use with controls like the SlideShow and FilmStrip.

Both of these will take an array and scroll through the data. We’ll look at how we can customize that data to create unique views for your channel.

A post about how to manage channel properties has been posted: Managing Channel Properties on the litl OS.

litl has posted Channel Design and Style Guides for the litl on their DevCenter

Developers can register to get this info.

At RIA Unleashed this year there was a session I attended on Flash Games for TV.

Flash Gaming on TV

Speakers: Chuck Freedman, Kevin Suttle

It’s the year 2010, and finally, you can build games with Flash for the HDTV. With the litl SDK for Flash and Flex, we’ll show you how to build high quality, 3D, accelerometer controlled games. Plus, you can actually deploy and sell these games to litl device owners.

Join litl’s Chuck Freedman and Kevin Suttle as they play and step through the creation and future of the Flash gaming experience in the Flash and litl-enabled digital home!