MIH SWAT

October 2009 saw my return to San Jose for one of the top conferences on the PHP calendar – ZendCon. Other than taking place a month later and the conference venue shifting locations slightly, much of the format of this year’s ZendCon was the same as last year’s.

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Would you like to work at SWAT ?

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Douglas Crockford wrote in a 2001 article that javascript was the world’s most misunderstood programming language. In another article, from 2008, he explains why: “Its obvious defects, its unfashionable programming model, intentional mispositioning at its introduction, and its ridiculous name caused it to be rejected as unworthy by most knowledgeable programmers”. And then, he recognizes: there was AJAX. And AJAX gave javascript a second chance.

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There were many exciting announcements at the Adobe MAX 2009 conference hosted in Los Angeles. As a Flash Developer in the MIH SWAT team, this year’s MAX was the perfect event for me to attend, as it focused on Flash Platform related news. In this post I give a rundown of the MAX 2009 Flash Platform news, but more importantly, I discuss what the announcements may mean for us in the future. These are all my own predictions and I would like to hear your thoughts and insights in the comments below.

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Ffmpeg is a very fast video and audio converter, and even supports live streaming. Here at SWAT we use ffmpeg as an adapter for a multimedia component. This article explains how to compile ffmpeg, which includes the libavcodec library, as well as other known and fast libraries to use together with this powerful tool.

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Being the in-house SEO & Web AddiCT within the SWAT team attending SMX East was a must. It was like the stars aligned when the topics presented in the various tracks fitted right into the types of companies within the Naspers Group. The only problem was that there was only one of me and 5 different tracks happening simultaneously.

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In the past I blogged about SPL (the Standard PHP Library) and how it makes PHP Developers’ life’s easier. Since then i have noticed a lack of SPL recipes on the web. If you are getting to know SPL, the use of the available classes can be a real mystery. So I decided to add more posts on SPL for Google to add to its index. This is the first in a series of posts.

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Security is a recurring topic when discussing Technology. Taking security for granted when you are developing an application, even if it is a very simple application is a huge mistake which can have grave consequences.

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Coming from a Flash Developer background I have had no experience with mobile application development. From the time I saw the first phone to run Android, the G1, I have been itching to get into Android development. So when I was recently given the go-ahead to take this journey into the Android world, plus a shiny new Android phone , I was both excited and nervous

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I recently used an iPhone for the first time, and my reaction to the device was decidedly negative. Because I am a long-time and dedicated Blackberry user, you may not be surprised by my reaction – but I feel it is worth exploring why I dislike the device.

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