Wow its been a while since my last post, but I hope can claim that is attributable to being busy in the community.

I got some great news that I have been made an Adobe Community Professional. This group is AKA Adobe Community Experts program which has been re-branded to make it a little clearer.

2009 was a good year and 2010 is shaping up to be even better. Feel free to ping me on twitter @campbell, skype:campbellanderson, or xbox (see to the left) as always ill do my best to help out, or noob tube you on Call of duty.

So a big thank you to Adobe for the privilege to be apart of this group, its a great honor!

Also of note congrats run out to my fellow Pacific based friends (even the Aussie’s in there ) :

Kai Koenig (@agentK) NZ
Dale Rankine (@dalerankine) AU
Justin Mclean (@JustinMclean) AU
Geoff Bowers (@modius) AU
Andrew Muller (@rebel) AU
Mark Mandel (@neurotic) AU

Well a little off topic compared to my usual Flex related posts but I always try to keep my friends and family updated as to the progress on my project car. My mates keep asking whens the first beach run and my girlfriend when can she take it for its first shopping run *shudder*

For those not in the know this convertible mustang started out in a bad way when I found her

I rebuilt the chassis (frame for the US people) and then proceeded to pretty much replace the entire body. Getting it on the chassis machine to check my workmanship etc.

After replacing the entire floor in both the cabin and the boot (trunk) I then had to replace most the engine bay and outer panels….weeeee. Along haul but I can now say I have built a car from scratch.

I also won some awesome Bridgestone rubber so I decided to splash out some pretty mags

Lately I have been slowly putting it back together as time and weather allowed

I went to welding school at MIT to get my welding tickets so I could do everything myself. Its kind of a nice way to break away from the computer and do something with my hands. Now comes the task of panel work and using as little bog (bondo) as possible to get her straight and off to the paint shop. So stay tuned for the beach run photos but as its hailing outside at the moment that may be a while off.

Geoff from Daemon, Minty from Nectarine and Kai from Ventego Creative have created WebDU’s very own trading card game. The cards look great and you can tell they have had the magic wand of Nectarine cast over them, and the combined word smithing of Kai and Geoff to make you giggle.

OFFICAL:

“All you have to do is submit a hand of our incredibly collectable trading cards to the friendly conference staff, and if it’s one of the highest scoring hands, you could be in for a share of the goodies.”

So theres prizes to win and cards to trade/pilfer. Anyone else from NZ heading to WebDU? Ping me if you are and we should head out in force to one of the many social events

Can’t wait to see them in real life? you can check out a preview HERE

But watch the fine print. Even at low resolution I can make out some fairly strange topics covered in the rules which will lead to all sorts of shenanigans at the conference.

Great work guys…. and Minty how do I get a cartoon of me? they rock so much.

I'm not above bribing people to come in to a user group meeting  

The NZ Flex User Group is hosting a special live event to share exciting new information on Adobe's platform tools and technologies for building RIAs. You'll see an exclusive user group video presentation by Adobe Chief Software Architect, Kevin Lynch, hear some important product news, plus get your hands on some exclusive schwag and other giveaways.

Make room in your calendars for a very special Adobe Flex event.

When:        26th February

Where:       Equinox
                Annex
                Level 2
                41 Shortland Street

Register:  http://nzfug.eventbrite.com/

Or check out the user group mailing list for more details 

Wow what a week. and the greatest thing to top it off has been watching the excitement and buzz around a local New Zealand Flex development firms new product.

Outsmart have done it again. The crew there have been busy with their heads down hiding away working on their secret project, and man is it worth the wait. Please bare in mind that this is a flex application! And because of that it can be easily extended and have api's etc provided. I know the team have many ideas around that.

Called Small Worlds its pretty self explaintory but before we jump into the images lets explain it a bit further.
You login create a 3d avitar and then create your own world, buying things for your world/house from shops and leaving interactive elements such as Pictures on walls that take you flickr feed, a stereo in the corner taking your playlist from last fm, or youtube videos on the plasma screen. There are also spacy games (the sort you used to get at the local shops) and pool tables which you can actually challenge other people who come into your world to a game. No $2 coin on the side of the table here though. Then your off to explore other peoples worlds, chat, interact with their worlds… and them.

If you would like to see the higher res of the images blow please visit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xsive

Here you can see I am creating my afroman avitar

A wide shot of the overall interface. I am chilling out with the creators of small world here having a chat. I understand virtual beers are on their way (right Mitch?)

You can see the picture on the wall and the youtube video on the screen. you click on them to watch the playlist.
You can even fight over the remote

Searching for friends ..

My pad I am setting up with a monster bar!! 

Finally if you would like to get access to the beta ping me at campbell at xsive dot co dot nz to get an invite and ill see what I can do.

It is great to see such talent in the Flex world not too mention in New Zealand. Well done guys I know it has been hard work but it looks great.