James Lockman's Blog

Learn how to use Acrobat.com as a Learning Management System for Captivate 5 projects.

2010-08-16T03:11:24Z

Learn how to use Acrobat.com as a Learning Management System for Captivate 5 projects. It's a great way to get started with eLearning without a huge investment in an LMS.

Adobe Captivate 5 includes Acrobat.com quiz reporting

2010-08-14T03:14:21Z

eLearning courses require a learning management system to keep track of who's taken what part of a course and who's passed or failed the assessments. What if you want to offer eLearning, however, but don't have an LMS? Enter Adobe Captivate 5 and its new integration with acrobat.com.

With Captivate 5, you can connect your assessment results to any SCORM or AICC compliant LMS and also to the Adobe Connect Enterprise LMS, now referred to as Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro in the prefs (which is interesting, since the product is now called simply Adobe Connect, but who's being picky...). New in Captivate 5 is the ability to report results to an acrobat.com account or to your own internal server. Of course, your own server would need a means of capturing the results, so you'd have to write a PHP, Cold Fusion or some other script to capture and record the results. We'll take a look at acrobat.com reporting in this post.

Take the quiz here to help me test the limits of the system. It's only four questions, so it won't take long.

Reporting to acrobat.com is easy. Open Preferences, then choose Reporting under the Quiz area. Enable reporting for this project, and then choose Acrobat.com. Click Configure... and enter your Acrobat.com credentials and the Company, Department and Course that define this project. Courses might have several parts, so you can aggregate several different assessments and projects into one course for reporting.

Once you click Save, Captivate will talk to acrobat.com and build the database to store the incoming quiz results.

The results are easy to get out with the Adobe Captivate Quiz Results Analyzer, an AIR app that comes with Captivate but which is also available for free at adobe.com. Results can be viewed directly in the Quiz Analyzer or downloaded as CSV or as raw XML. CSV can then be opened in Excel or another database, while the XML download contains a file for each response. These can be parsed individually or as a whole.

The Quiz Analyzer asks you to choose a server then enter your credentials for that server. The Quiz Analyzer can look into Acrobat.com and other servers that you configure in the preferences panel under the Options button. Once you enter your Acrobat.com credentials, it allows you to select projects by company, department and course. Once you have set these three selectors, click Generate Report, and the lessons will then appear in the detail panel below.

Double click the project to see the overall results per learner. Double click the learner to see the results per question. The CSV reports reflect the currently visible data, so you will need to export to CSV several times to get the full data for each learner. Consider using the SQLite DB file that coordinates the XML export, or importing the XML into your favorite database application or spreadsheet.

When I do my monthly talks about Adobe Connect for eLearning and Rapid Training (second Tuesdays of each month usually; check for actual schedule), I often get asked how to get the data after the fact. Now, you can use acrobat.com to get the data. Of course, a robust LMS will make it easier to manage large numbers of courses and learners, but if you're just getting started, this is a great way to get into the eLearning game.

Good News for collaboration and version control: Adobe Drive 2 comes to Adobe Labs

2010-08-13T16:55:59Z

Image via Wikipedia

Adobe Labs has posted a preview of Adobe Drive 2, its connector to Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems and version control systems.

While it's Windows only for now, it shows that Adobe is committed to DAM and Versioning, despite its decision not to continue development of Version Cue. When CS5 was announced, I got a lot of negative feedback from my customers who depend on Version Cue for project versioning and PDF review management. The killing of VC left them wondering where to turn for version control in the creative space as they transitioned to CS5.

While tools like Subversion and Git are popular in the software development arenas, there aren't integrated solutions for the graphics community to those repositories. Other DAMs and VC platforms exist, but their interfaces are often clunky and require several steps to check parts of a project in and out.

Version Cue provided in-app support for version inspection and reordering, allowing the user to promote a previous version to the current one without losing the current version. This would send a signal to everyone working on the project that the asset had changed, and that they needed to update it. VC also prevented simultaneous editing of graphics (Illustrator and Photoshop) and documents (InDesign and InCopy).

This quiet revelation has me itching to see the released product. I am eager to see whether it will include Git and/or Subversion connectors as well.

I wonder whether the acquisition of Day Software has anything to do with this.

Bloggin' from the iphone

2010-08-07T02:12:11Z

Installed the iMT plugin just now for my MovableType blog. Zero configuration; just drop it in and it works! Now I can manage and create entries from the iPhone. Imagine how much less real work I can get done now!

Kale-sagna

2010-07-29T12:58:13Z

I received some Kale from a friend as payment for some computer repair, and was puzzled as to what to do with it. She gave me some suggestions about how to prepare it, but it seemed like a lot of work. I, being of good New England stock, figured that boiling the heck out of it was the solution, but she was very clear that it would be ruined, or at least its kale-ness would be severely diminished.

After careful consideration, we decided on lasagna.

I cleaned the eight or nine stalks of kale of its grass clippings (she warned me about that, too) and removed the spines, then set the leaves aside. In a small frying pan, I sauteed olive oil, garlic and mushrooms. In another pan, I put two vegetarian bouillon cubes with some water and olive oil and set them to simmer.

Next, I added the mushrooms to the bouillon to simmer. I chopped the kale into 1-inch wide strips and added it to the bouillon to simmer, stirring occasionally. Once the kale turned a rich, dark green and softened, I turned down the heat.

My oldest son, Arthur, is the lasagna king of our house, so he layered the sauteed mushrooms and kale in addition to the browned Gimme Lean vegetarian sausage, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses, spaghetti sauce, and lasagna noodles into the baking pan. He cooked it about a half hour in our imprecise oven (it's a Monarch wood-coal-electric combination stove circa 1945 featuring a thermometer in the door with useful marks like "warm" and "hot."), and let it cool for ten minutes before serving.

Delicious!

Rori has a blog!

2010-07-27T00:57:04Z

My wife, Rori, has begun a blog. I've been bugging her for years to write about her experiences as a mom, as an advocate for a child with autism, as a headache sufferer, and as a community leader. People consult her all the time on how to cope with their kids, how to deal with DHS, and how to endure their cluster and migraine headaches, and how to fit it all together.

She has a lot to offer, and I am excited to see how it evolves. Read the blog and post some comments.

Go Lockmom!

White MacBook top case replaced without question

2010-07-27T00:07:27Z

Image via Wikipedia

I took Arthur's white MacBook to the Apple Store today to see about getting the top case replaced. The earlier white MacBooks (I have a black one) are susceptible to failure of the top case near where you rest the heels of your hands. In Maine, where the white MacBook is the Maine Learning Technology Initiative's computer of choice, there are a lot of white MacBooks around.

The top case contains the keyboard and the track pad, and it rests inside and slightly on top of the edge of the bottom case. The screen bezel has two little ridges in it that keep the screen from touching the keyboard when the computer is closed. When these computers go in a bag (like the bags that come with the computers when they are part of the MLTI...), there is additional pressure that gets applied to the top case by these ridges. The result is catastrophic failure of the plastic where the ridge touches the plastic.

I brought the computer in, and they took it without question. Quoting the Problem Description/Diagnosis portion of the Genius Bar Work Authorization,

Issue: Customer states there are cracks in the top case
Steps to Reproduce: Observed cracks at the bar
Proposed Resolution: Replace top case
Total cost: $0.00

Makes sense to me! I left the computer at the bar around 12:45 pm, expecting to get a call tomorrow. I got the call at 2:00 pm, telling me that the repair was complete. Go Apple!

In addition to the top case, the repaired computer also has a new screen bezel that includes the camera. AJ reports crisper images from the camera. Another benefit for him is that the case had become wracked as it compressed, making it difficult to eject CDs and DVDs from the slot loading drive. Discs now glide in and out with ease.

It is important to note that this computer was repaired without question and without an Apple Care contract. While I haven't been able to find notice of a replacement program at apple.com, this seems to be the real deal, at least in Maine.

Mikvah reopens at Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh

2010-07-26T15:13:36Z

The Mikvah at Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh officially reopened this weekend after more than a year of hard work by Mikvat Shalom, the nonprofit group that was formed to rejuvinate it. Read the Portland Press Herald article.

The Mikvah was a bone of contention between different interest groups in Portland: the women who need it for their monthly cleansing, the people who need it for conversions, the families who need it for kaschering pots and pans and other kitchen utensils, and the men who use it for cleansing prior to Shabbat and other holidays and festivals during the year.

My involvement in the Mikvah was a practical one. When the filters failed, I did my best to get them back in service. When we discovered a water routing problem in the backfeed system, I installed valves and pipes to correct it. When other maintenance tasks arose, I would lend a hand where practical to bring the Mikvah back to service. When the air handling system failed and mold overtook the building, it was clear that a more dedicated approach to maintenance was required.

Mikvat Shalom was organized by Marilyn Fried, then the Executive Director of Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh, on whose land the Mikvah sits. She saw the decrepit state of the Mikvah as an opportunity to build community among the competing interests. Representatives from Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh, Congregation Bet Ha'am, Temple Beth El, and Chabad of Maine as well as unaffiliated Jews from the community came together to take on the challenge of restoring the Mikvah and creating a center of renewal and cooperation.

During the dedication, Rabbi Akiva Herzfeld remarked that he did not know of another Mikvah that had the support of the entire Jewish community. I am proud of our community for having come together to achieve this goal and having created a vibrant and welcoming Mikvah.

New promotional video for CS-Magic: Styling Buttons in Flash Catalyst

2010-07-24T12:52:09Z

Here's the second in a series of short videos featuring Flash Catalyst. It talks about buttons and how to reuse and style them.

iOS 4 upgrade nightmare

2010-07-19T21:44:06Z

So, here I sit, in the Apple Store in South Portland, Maine, while my wife's new iPhone 3GS (we both had our 3GS phones replaced due to case cracking yesterday) continues to not work properly.

Upon replacing the phone and restoring it from the last backup, the phone (now iOS 4.01; the backup was iOS 4, and the phone was OS 3.x until a day or so before the swap.) exhibits the following symptoms:

Safari crashes when visiting any site
App Store crashes when updating the one app that needs updating
We determined that other apps that depend on the network may or may not fail; there isn't a definite correlation between what makes them crash.

So, we restored the phone to factory new, and then synced it with her computer.

Initially, surfing the web crashed Safari, but we wiped out the bookmarks and the cached pages and cookies, and we could surf the web. Yay! Although we could surf the web, we couldn't set up any email accounts. Boo! Google Apps (gMail, actually) claimed that the password was wrong, but I was able to setup the same account on my iPhone without any trouble. Quite easily, in fact.

I then removed all of the apps from the phone in the hope that there was an app that was causing the conflict with iOS 4. That didn't do the job.

Out came another brand-new iPhone 3GS, and we moved the SIM card and began the restore process. Unfortunately, the phone was iOS 3, so it had to be upgraded to iOS4 before we could continue. Unfortunately, the phone failed the OS upgrade, with the ever helpful "Unknown error."

Moving the new new phone to another computer for restore, it failed, so we declared it DOA. Now, back to the one we got yesterday for another try.

After restoring it to factory new, we were unable to surf the web. So, now I have had three different iPhone geniuses poring over the phone, and all are puzzled.

Next, we take the new phone (not the DOA one from today, but the replacement from yesterday) and restore it to new phone state, without ever connecting it to my wife's computer. In this factory new state, the phone wouldn't run Safari! Now, we have at least a diagnosis: the new phone has some issue with its network hardware that prevents it from working properly. Unfortunately, between my wife and I, we have exhausted the on-hand phones, so there is no replacement phone available. One was ordered, and should arrive tomorrow or Wednesday.

All in all, we had three computers attached to several iPhones in different combinations for over three and a half hours with a diagnosis, but no satisfaction. Now, the new phone is back to its hobbled state, able to work as a phone and get email, but unable to surf the web.

Promotional video for my Flash Catalyst webinar at cs-magic.com

2010-07-18T15:16:18Z

In this teaser, we convert an Illustrator file to Flash Catalyst. The project is an e-book reader made specifically for Alice in Wonderland. Learn more at cs-magic.com

iOS 4.01 gives me larger but FEWER bars

2010-07-15T21:19:30Z

Once again, I am left scratching my head by an Apple update. First, we are told that the algorithm used to calculate how many bars to display for signal strength was flawed, and that the number of bars shown did not correspond properly to the signal strength. Then, we were told that in order to make signal strength clearer to the user, Apple would increase the size of the bars that the iPhone would display.

I installed iOS4 just now, and was struck by two things:

First, the bars are indeed a little bigger. Now, I won't be left wondering whether one bar (which looked like an underscore) was really zero bars.
Second, the number of bars my iPhone 3GS displays in my dining room is now LESS than it was prior to the update.

So, I guess that for me, the phone was giving me an optimistic response to signal strength before the update, and now it's telling me truthfully how lousy my AT&T coverage is.

Consumer Reports passes on iPhone 4; Apple should take a hint from Honda

2010-07-13T03:34:57Z

Consumer Reports has decided to not recommend the iPhone 4 due to what it calls an antenna design flaw.

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2010/07/apple-iphone-4-antenna-issue-iphone4-problems-dropped-calls-lab-test-confirmed-problem-issues-signal-strength-att-network-gsm.html

This is in direct conflict with Apple's unbelievable letter to the public that the phone's problems are with the software that displays how many bars you have, and not with the antenna design. Come on, Apple, fess up and fix the problem. It's a sign of a good company that makes exciting products and keeps the public energized about its brand. It a sign of a great company that owns up to its mistakes and fixes them before they become a public relations nightmare.

Look at Toyota. Their recall problems over the last year are legendary. However, have you heard that Honda has had similar recalls? Sure thing, my Honda Odyssey and a whole slew of other Honda cars were recalled for braking and transmission problems. Hmm, sound familiar? The thing is, though, that Honda reached out to us owners through the mail and through communication from the dealer to get us in to the dealer and get the problems solved. I didn't have to learn about it on the evening news, and I feel a lot better about my Honda.

I believe that Apple's customers would feel a lot better about their iPhone 4 purchase (and, of course, future technology purchases from Apple) if it would take steps now to fix the phones and get new ones into the hands of its customers.

I am the New Economy (V)

2010-07-13T03:01:13Z

Image via Wikipedia

The motor on the lawn tractor was having some serious problems, and I wasn't about to take it somewhere to be fixed. The motor was running as if the choke was on all the time, which I knew wasn't a good sign.

With my son, I did some tests to determine if we had the three elements of internal combustion: fuel, spark and compression. We had all three of these, so we turned to see which of the cylinders wasn't working properly. Pulling the ignition wires one at a time told us which cylinder wasn't firing, so we swapped the spark plugs to see if it was the plugs. The same cylinder wouldn't fire, and when the engine ran, it was backfiring.

I pulled the cowling and found that our friendly mice had packed fiberglass insulation around the cylinder head on that side, which probably caused the cylinder to overheat and seize. I took off the valve cover, and voila! There were the bent valve push rods. I removed them, straightened them, and put them back in the motor. I buttoned it all up again and it turned over like it was new.

The important question is: why did the push rods get bent? I believe that the mice and their insulation caused the cylinder head to overheat, and the cylinder must have seized there when we shut it off last. When the cylinder seizes at the top of the stroke, the valves will crash into it and the push rods will bend. My expectation is that the cast iron parts are much stronger than the push rods, so they failed as designed, protecting the innards of the cylinder.

I feel it is a good idea to put new push rods in there, so I got the part numbers from the manual and headed on over to Sears. Turns out that they closed their parts depot, and no longer carry parts. Customers must use the online parts service to get replacement parts. I tried to get them at a couple of local small engine shops, but they don't have the cross references to the Sears parts, even though it's a Briggs & Stratton engine.

So, I'm now at the mercy of Sears. It is sad that the once mighty and convenient Sears has been reduced to an online parts counter. I know where I won't spend my money when the time comes for my next tractor.

Flex 4 Framework and Flash Builder CS5 rev for Mobile

2010-07-03T11:47:17Z

Adobe pushed out updates to Flash Builder CS5 and made available the Flex 4.1 SDK the other day. #AdobeCP

This release updates the Rapid Application Development environment to Flash Player 10.1, which opens the door for mobile Flex development. According to Adobe, some of the improvements include:

The new Layout Mirroring feature for repurposing Flex UIs for deployment in right-to-left locales
Native support for Flash Player 10.1 and AIR 2 in the Flex SDK
Native support in Flash Builder 4.0.1 for building apps targeting SDK 4.1, AIR 2 or FP 10.1
Many critical bugfixes and enhancement requests for both Flex SDK and Flash Builder

Adobe also released Hero, its latest iteration of the Flex SDK. Read about it here. It is intended to unify the development paths for desktop and mobile, and provides a single framework for developing Rich Internet Applications as well as desktop applications based on AIR2.

I am in the midst of creating a mobile application, and we have been complaining internally about how easy it would be if only Flex (Flash Builder) supported Flash Player 10.1. Targeting Android and Blackberry devices, we now can create one app using Flex and AIR rather than several different apps with different development kits. It is true that the player isn't ready on the devices, but by the time we're done with the App, Flash Player 10.1 should be widely deployed on Android and RIM as well as Palm and others.