James Lockman's Blog

Delta shows how outsourcing is a great way to ruin customer relationships

2011-09-23T21:49:21Z

As I wait for my 3:48 flight to Portland Maine to depart sometime after 6:30 due to a "mechanical issue," I was surprised by a Delta representative who came to ask if everything was all right. I told her that no, it was not all right, and that Delta's business decision has once again made me question whether to continue my relationship with the airline.

Like so many of its competitors, Delta outsources the small market routes to regional carriers. When those planes break down or the regional carrier can't provide crews, then it is Delta who is the bearer of bad news. Since I, as a customer, can't distinguish between Delta and the partner, my trust in Delta erodes every time I fly.

To contrast, I had a flight earlier this week between Atlanta and JFK. That flight had a new plane with in-flight television, on-time departure, and a friendly and attentive crew. Between major hubs, flying with Delta is often a great way to go, but not when travel to a smaller airport is required.

My ask of Delta (and the other legacy carriers) is that they stop pretending to serve us in the smaller airports. Leave that to the carriers who care about the smaller airports, like Southwest and JetBlue. Allow the regional carriers to stand on their own, and I bet we would see a drastic transformation in their level of service.

Adobe Captivate 5.5 additions to my lynda.com course are now available

2011-08-09T17:02:04Z

Last year, I recorded a Captivate 5 course for lynda.com. Over this summer, we recorded some additional content to add features from Captivate 5.5. That new content is now available.

Some of the new features that we cover include:

Free rotations
Shadows
Gradients
Exporting to iOS and YouTube

If you are an existing lynda.com subscriber, then the new content will automatically appear in your online library in the Captivate 5 course.

Got rid of the 1998 Chevy Venture today

2011-08-02T17:53:16Z

Image via Wikipedia

Back in September of 2008, our 1998 Chevy Venture died a steamy death. A call to Click and Clack at Car Talk told me that the car could be repaired, and that I should look for a broken intake manifold gasket rather than a broken head gasket.

Taking up the challenge, I was able to dig down into the engine and finally see the broken gasket. Unfortunately, it was dark by then, and it snowed overnight and that was the last time I looked in there.

Yesterday, a car picker came by with a flatbed. He knocked on the door and offered me money for the dead car. I took it before he could change his mind, and he came to take it away today.

Imagine the cascade of mice, bees and wasps as he dragged it off the ground!

My Adobe Digital Publishing Suite title is now active at Lynda.com

2011-08-02T17:41:17Z

Recently, I recorded a series on Adobe's Digital Publishing Suite for Lynda.com!

Up and Running with Adobe Digital Publishing Suite

with: James Lockman

Course Description:

Up and Running with Adobe Digital Publishing Suite shows designers how to create interactive publications for tablet devices using Adobe InDesign and the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite. Introducing this emerging publishing platform, author James Lockman discusses the DPS workflow, comparing it with existing EPUB and print workflows, and highlights key layout and design considerations when designing for DPS. The course explains how to incorporate hyperlinks, slideshows, panoramas, audio and video, and pan and zoom capabilities as a means of adding value to a publication. Lastly, the course sheds light on compiling interactive folios and testing and publishing finished projects. Exercise files accompany the course.

Topics Include:

Determining your digital publishing market
Designing for an interactive publication
Creating buttons
Setting up image sequences
Building the panorama viewer
Configuring audio and setting video playback options
Creating a web viewer portal
Structuring articles into folios using the Folio Builder
Testing a folio locally
Publishing folios
Building viewers for iPad and Android

Duration:

2.68 Hours

RIM sets up BlackBerry PlayBook Bus in NY

2011-05-03T12:17:30Z

RIM, the makers of the BlackBerry Playbook, set up shop today on the corner of 34th and Broadway. Their bus and sidewalk tables allow the curious to kick the tires, so to speak, on their tablet computer. I can say that the device is a delight to hold and use. Its operating system is a leap forward for mobile computing, with additional gestures and true multitasking. Its video capture and playback is stunning, too.

My son, Arthur, and I each developed apps for PlayBook under a developer challenge that RIM issued last fall. Now that the SDK is up to speed and Flash Builder 5.5 is out, apps are being made fast and furious. I am working on a blog entry on my Adobe Blog about using Flash CS5.5 and Flash Builder 5.5 to build one app and deploy it painlessly to iPhone, iPad, PlayBook, and Android. I am amazed at how easy it is to get the project done now.

Great article in the Register about Flash's present and future

2011-02-14T18:08:23Z

I came across this article in the Register about Flash's present and future on desktop and Mobile.

The title is the provocative: Adobe Flash: 20m phones flip Steve Jobs the bird and it refers to the meteoric rise of Android phones.

I am most intrigued by the claim that Steve Jobs' personal vendetta against Flash is the best thing to happen to Flash since, well, Flash. Jobs' claims of instability and of the player not being ready for mobile spurred Adobe in to high gear, and Flash Player 10.1 and 10.2 are the result.

The article also mentions that although Flash Player is forbidden on iOS devices, Adobe's AIR is allowed after a brief period where it was walled out by the terms of the Developer Agreement.

Since AIR is running on a plethora of Android and other devices as well as iOS, it seems that AIR is a smart choice for companies wishing to develop cross-platform applications quickly and with a minimum of recoding.

Add to this Adobe's next releases Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder (in public beta at Adobe Labs), which cater to multi-screen development, and you've got a complete app development environment for just about all screens.

Adobe Releases Acrobat 10.0.1 right on schedule

2011-02-09T02:02:26Z

Adobe has adopted a quarterly update schedule for Acrobat. The second Tuesday of the last month of Adobe's quarters will be update Tuesdays, and Adobe hit this one right on schedule. Acrobat 8,9 and X all got updates today.

System administrators appreciate schedules. They also appreciate software that updates on a schedule. Adobe is offering these quarterly updates via the desktop update mechanism as well as through a SCUP catalog for system administrators. This allows sysadmins to better manage the deployment of updates to Acrobat.

You can read more about today's updates here.

Captivate 5 title available now on DVD from lynda.com

2011-01-29T14:18:40Z

I just got word that my Captivate 5 Essential Training course is now available on DVD.

Captivate 5 Essential Training

$99.95

http://store.lynda.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=1101

with: James Lockman

In Captivate 5 Essential Training, author James Lockman demonstrates the core features of Captivate 5, the popular tool for authoring e-learning content such as interactive presentations, click-through simulations, and customized assessments. He shows how to import and sync PowerPoint presentations, add interactivity, and incorporate audio, video, and voiceovers. The course also includes tutorials on assessment reporting and integrating with SCORM-compliant learning management systems. Exercise files accompany the course.

ISBN: 1-59671-706-8

UPC: 6-70557-02964-1

SKU: 02964

Duration: 7.25 Hours

On 2 DVD-ROMs

Includes Closed Captions

Even the Menorahs are reduced in these lean times...

2011-01-06T04:19:01Z

Walking down 9th avenue this afternoon, I was amused to see the attached menorah painted on a restaurant window. I guess that the painter wasn't looking at a Hanukkah menorah when painting the image. OK, Hanukah was a month ago, so maybe they're slowly weaning the customers out of the season. Probably not.

AJ gets an app up into the BlackBerry AppWorld

2011-01-01T16:04:19Z

Back at Adobe MAX 2010, RIM announced a plan to encourage development of applications for their forthcoming PlayBook tablet. They promised a PlayBook for anyone who put a PlayBook app into their AppWorld prior to the release date of the tablet. I've blogged about the PlayBook previously, and I feel that it represents a significant step forward toward making a tablet a user's primary computer.

My son Arthur, who blogs about technology and creates YouTube training videos, took the challenge seriously. He dug into the public betas of Flash Builder and Flash Catalyst, got the PlayBook SKD, and went to town.

He developed in Flash Builder, which has several advantages to using the native language. Adobe includes many output paths from Flash Builder, including AIR Desktop, AIR for Android and (with the PlayBook SDK) PlayBook. It is also possible to package for iPhone, but it's a command line task as of yet. I do expect to see Flash Professional-like packaging in Flash Builder before too long, though. Having one development environment makes app creation, testing and deployment so much faster.

Along the way, he encountered one major hurdle in the development process: there's no device on which to test the app! While RIM offers a VMWare simulator, it lacks some key features like multi-touch screen interactions, accelerometer behaviors, geolocation, and more. While these features are accessible in apps, they are hard to simulate on a laptop.

Regardless, he got an app working and submitted to the store. The app is a browser for our CommuniPix service. He plans to expand it to be a more functional interface to the service, including camera access, in-ap ordering, and more. I look forward to seeing what he cooks up after he gets his hands on a device. Now, to get busy on my app...

Captivate 5 Essentials Training available at lynda.com #AdobeCP

2010-12-21T18:53:38Z

Image via Wikipedia

I spent a week out in California back in November working on a Captivate 5 essentials training course with Lynda.com. It's now available, and here's the description and link. Please share with your friends in education and HR who might be making online training materials and presentations.

Captivate 5 Essential Training

with: James Lockman

...is now live in the OTL:

http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=73283

Course Description:

In Captivate 5 Essential Training, author James Lockman demonstrates the core features of Captivate 5, the popular tool for authoring e-learning content such as interactive presentations, click-through simulations, and customized assessments. He shows how to import and sync PowerPoint presentations, add interactivity, and incorporate audio, video, and voiceovers. The course also includes tutorials on assessment reporting and integrating with SCORM-compliant learning management systems. Exercise files accompany the course.

Topics Include:

Touring the interface and workspaces

Building a basic project with shapes, objects, and text

Branding a presentation using master slides and object styles

Exploring user-based content at Captivate Exchange

Animating with the Timeline

Adding buttons, rollover images, and captions

Creating branching presentations

Working with templates

Recording a simulation

Creating assessments with customized questions

Setting up quiz reporting on acrobat.com

Exporting and sharing a project

Duration:

7.25 Hours

Click here to view the intro movie on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fUKkbQvVfA

Blogging from the Droid X

2010-12-18T02:18:12Z

I got a Droid X today. I also have an iPhone, and will be comparing the two over the next few weeks. I've been making tons of spelling mistakes as I get used to the larger keyboard. I have begun to get the hang of swype, which I like and will need to practice more. I definitely am slower with swype but more accurate. I am very excited about having Flash on the phone, too. I've got some apps I've written that I can test now. As pig right now, the only thing that is missing is Netflix. Come on, Netflix!

Microsoft Office 2008 update 12.2.8 fixes ability to selectively download images in email messages

2010-12-17T22:05:27Z

In addition to other updates and bug fixes, Microsoft Office 2008 Update 12.2.8 seems to have restored our ability to download images in our email messages.

In an earlier blog post, I had lamented the loss of the "Download Images" link at the top of the email message window. An astute commenter remarked that if you resize the email message window, then the link would magically appear. The link is back to normal after this most recent update.

In truth, I really don't care, though, since I've made the upgrade to Office 2011 and Outlook. Since I now work at Adobe Systems and we use Microsoft Exchange, Outlook is a great way to keep synched with my colleagues. I'll keep Office 2008 around, however, because you never know when you might need it.

Just finished my second week at Adobe...

2010-12-03T22:30:08Z

For the first time in my life, I'm working for a "big" company. This particular "big" company is Adobe Systems, Inc. I must say that I am so far enjoying the challenge of learning big company processes. Coming from a small print shop and then from a one-man shop, it's somewhat overwhelming to have to think of every word or action in terms of how someone else may interpret it. I'll settle in soon enough, though.

One thing that I'm learning is that I haven't found a bad apple yet. I know that there are over 8,000 people working here, and I've yet to meet them all, but these last few weeks have been a steady parade of one pleasant, helpful and sincere person after another. Being a person who thrives on personal interaction, I am very excited to have joined Adobe.

My office is in Times Square, which is pretty cool in and of itself. I must look like an office worker, because I don't get accosted by the tour guide hawkers on the street every day.

I'll report here from time to time on my life in the big company and in the city.

Captivate Reviewer permissions problem solved for Mac users

2010-11-19T05:41:40Z

Users of Adobe Captivate 5 can use acrobat.com or their own server to host reviews of their Captivate projects. This process is called a Shared Review and involves starting a review from an open project in Captivate, adding some reviewers, and then publishing the review document to acrobat.com. Reviewers download a .crev file and open it with Adobe Captivate Reviewer 2.0. The reviewer adds comments with the Reviewer Application and publishes them to the comment repository. Comments appear in the Comments panel directly on the timeline in Captivate 5.

On the Macintosh, this process fails because the AIR security model prevents the Reviewer application from copying files into its internal file cache. The problem manifests with the following messages:

"User does not have required privileges. Ensure that the user is part of the application owner group."

"The SWF file could not be loaded"

In order to enable the application to function correctly, you need to change permissions some folders and add yourself to the group of which the Captivate Reviewer is a member.

Based on the name in the screen shots in this tech note, it's Sanoj Kumar who deserves the credit for arriving at a solution to this issue.

The solution involves some work in the Terminal, but it misses an important point.

In order to execute the step entitled "Assign write permission to owners and groups", you need to enable the root user. In addition, you need to add the "sudo" command before the following steps in this section:

sudo chmod -R o+w Adobe\ Captivate\ Reviewer\ 2.0.app

and

sudo chmod -R g+w Adobe\ Captivate\ Reviewer\ 2.0.app

You can disable the root user when you're done with updating permissions. Thanks, Sanoj, for posting this fix. This had been a very confusing error for a lot of people.