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.

Authoring Rich Experiences for Every Room in the Home (The Future of the Home with Flash)

Via @chuckstar, a post about Flash on TV, 3D, Accelerometer via the Litl set top box at a recent Flash event.

The litl team has posted some info on how to deal with overscan when the litl is hooked up to external TV displays (via the HDMI out port): What’s overscan and why do I have to deal with it?

As I had guessed back in early 2010, litl is apparently working on a new product to add to their litl webbook.

Since the litl is a digital home laptop, it would make perfect sense to tie it to some sort of TV, DVR, or hybrid multi-media product for home use. After all, 2010 is turning into the the year of easily attainable large screen displays, smarter home appliances, and next generation home entertainment (e.g. 3D TV’s, game consoles, media players, etc).

Chuck Freedman (litl) recently had a blog posting where he gave a few very high level hints on what they are working on these days.

“… Flash-Based “Web-Connected TV” device on the market, running litl OS as well as ALL channels built with our new SDK.”

Also, you can tell something obvious from this ‘hint’ (I won’t spell it out, though):

keynote audience will be the very first to see what we have in ’store’ for the Flash community.

What’s more, you can kind of gauge what type of hardware will be enabled in the new 10.1 SDK:

In the coming months, our SDK will be expanded to include “accelerometer movement, video chat, trackpad gestures, and microphone input” that will allow open development of “gaming, communication, entertainment and other experiences”.

Chuck ends the post with this, which makes it clear that litl will be sticking to Flash for the foreseeable future:

“We believe that our platform’s use of Flash will be the best and easiest way for developers to deliver great content and applications to the TV!”.

Having seen some of the capabilities of early HTML5, it’s pretty clear that if litl were to adopt that now, they wouldn’t be able to attain a lot of the cool stuff it’s device can do with Flash, right now. Maybe in 2-3 years they will adopt though. They do have a built in browser that supports the latest webkit, I believe. So, who knows what this device’s future holds in terms of Flash and the like.

Read Chuck’s post here.