You’ve been eagerly waiting to get your hands on Adobe’s Apollo product and now you have it.  So what do you do next?  Here is a list of URL’s where you can find some great information, sample AIR files and tutorials:

•  Mike Chamber’s blog contains lots of great information about developing with Apollo.
• Christian Cantrell’s blog - Christian’s job at Adobe for the past while has been developing applications to test and validate the Apollo API.  Look for some great content on his site over the next while as he shares his knowledge with the community.
• Mike Downey is a Senior Product Manager or Apollo and has compiled a fantastic list of Apollo resources.
• Be sure to download the Apollo for Adobe Flex Pocket Guide.
• Finally check out Lynda.com’s Apollo training videos.

Good luck building your first Apollo app!

Justin Palmer (of Prototype fame) has a quick tutorial for Scripting Photoshop With JavaScript and Ruby. This technique uses a Ruby/AppleScript bridge (RubyOSA) to do most of the heavy lifting.

Chris Brichford, an engineer on Adobe Apollo team, talks about Leveraging HTML and JavaScript in Apollo Applications in a video from this year’s MAX in Las Vegas. There are some nice examples of how to manipulate the HTMLControl (an embedded web browser) by applying blurs and rotations, and how to mashup content from websites like Google Maps with a Flex UI wrapper.

One of the small gems in this presentation is when Chris talks about the selection of WebCore and JavascriptCore as the HTML rendering engine for Apollo. WebKit is open-source, has a small footprint, is mobile friendly and Apollo will be kept in sync with Apple’s Safari web browser. In the true spirit of open-source, Adobe is sharing a significant amount of code with Apple.

I’m sure it won’t be too long before somebody creates a very simple Apollo Web Browser that can be used by Windows and Linux users for testing web site compatibility with the popular Safari browser.

[Video link via Peter Elst]

Adobe has posted Mike Chamber’s recent presentation of Understanding Apollo E-Seminar. In the presentation Mike covers the core technologies that are supported by Apollo, he demonstrates a sample audio application, and shows you how to create a simple Apollo app.

Web developers should note that Apollo is not just for Flash/Flex content. Apollo will equally embrace web technologies such as XHTML, CSS, JavaScript and AJAX. If you’ve been ignoring this new product simply because you thought it was Flash/Flex based, you should take a serious look and discover how you can transfer your web skills to this exciting new platform.

[Link via Ryan Stewart]

ScaleNine (cool site name by the way) is offering free, high-quality Themes for your Flex 2 apps. There are currently 6 themes in the collection with more coming in the near future.

Ryan Stewart recently Interviewed Mike Downey who is a Senior Product Manager for Adobe Apollo. Apollo is a new product currently in it’s early stages of development that promises to provide a cross-platform desktop runtime capable of combining Flex, Flash, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and AJAX content into stand-alone desktop applications.

Adobe has just launched the Adobe - Flex Cookbook Beta site. The site contains a list of problems, solutions and explanations that will help you in your daily Flex development. I really wish this site was available a few months ago when I first started working with Flex 2.0. Upon first glance though, I can immediately see the value that this site will have for those beginning their Flex adventures! If you contribute a solution to the cookbook, you may a chance to have your solution published by O’Reilly.

I know that Flex ships with a comprehensive set of PDF documents but call me old fashioned - I like my books in print. I find them easier to read while sitting on my back deck, and hand references to have on my desk. A visit to the Adobe store show Flex 1.5 docs available - but nothing for Flex 2.0. Sure they are a bit expensive, but we’re about to begin a project with a six figure budget, so $130 is really small change. I know a few Adobe people read this blog so if they could shed any light on the availablitiy of printed docs, that would be appreciated.

On a related note, we’re more than likely about to choose Flex over AJAX to create a relatively complex RIA that models stormwater runoff. The tool wil help civil engineers, municipal planners and developers minimize the amount of rainfall runoff on developments. I have spent a couple of weeks evaluating Flex 2.0 and it is really a fantastic technology/tool/framework. I am really enjoying my time spent with Flex. If you haven’t played with Flex yet I would strongly reccommend that you take a look.

Veerle Pieters has a fantastic step-by-step tutorial on creating Header Backgrounds in Photoshop. She proves that inspiration can indeed be found in photographs as she creates an awesome header graphic by applying some Photoshop magic to an existing photo.

PhotoShop may not be free, but these 10 Free Plug-ins to Enhance Photoshop reviewed by ExtremeTech certainly are! OK - one or two of them may be a bit dorky but the others look quite interesting.