Check out the demo of a prototype Android tablet running Flash and AIR applications, being demonstrated the at Web 2.0 Expo. Of course we all want to know what the hardware is, but it’s clearly a proof-of-concept device that Adobe got together, with help from Tegra 2 as it tuns out, to remind everyone that Steve may not get everything he wants after all. Stay tuned…

(via engaget)

IPad does not show the blue Lego icon that they formerly used to indicate that Flash is not supported on a given device. This may mean that Apple doesn’t see iPad’s lack of support for Flash as a shortcoming of the device, but instead as deficiency in the site you’re choosing to view on iPad, which doesn’t use tech that iPad can handle.

Some people, Grant Skinner for instance, think that the hardware is actually what is missing something, and Skinner went to the trouble of creating created the blueLego edition of SWFObject 2.2, which could theoretically be used to put that blue Lego piece right back into place.

(Free Bonus: Did you know that he word ‘Lego’ is a shortening of the Danish phrase ‘leg godt’, which means, ‘play well’?)

Mojombo (Tom Preston-Werner) rewrote Network Graph in JavaScript and Canvas over the course of about four days, and tells us his thoughts on doing a Flash-to-Canvas conversion. It is by no means a Flash bashing; he calls Flash clearly more refined in some ways. Just one man’s opinion on where where Canvas/JavaScript is better than Flash and vice versa; since Chrome, Safari, and Firefox have got the HTML5 Canvas draft specification nearly fully implemented on them (and since the Flashless iPad tsunami is apparently upon us) it’s probably timely.

Check out this interesting Flash app for doodling online, by Mario Klingemann at Quasimondo. I sense that it’s about exploring possibilities in Flash as much as anything. There’s a lot more to it than meets the eye at first.

When I watched the introduction of the iPad the other day, the first time my jaw dropped was when I saw ol’ Steve open up the New York Times site, showing an enormous blue box where flash content might otherwise have been. I thought “I can’t believe Steve Jobs is showing me this in 2010″.

My knee-jerk reaction was that this was a shortcoming in the device, but not because I necessarily think that Apple is obliged to make iPhone and iPad play nice with Flash. It’s that it will be perceived as a shortcoming by users who are not tech-savvy and know nothing about Apple’s decision to keep flash off iPhone & iPad OS. They will only know that their cool new iPad is not delivering 100% of the experience they no doubt expect.

A fascinating battle seems to be gaining momentum as mobile devices by Apple that do not run Flash gain a greater share of the browser experience. As undeniable as their popularity has been, it seems unthinkable that Flash alternatives will be explored/used on a large scale by developers as a response to Flash not running on what is still a small percentage of devices. I am not convinced, especially with Adobe’s 10.1 coming up. But John Gruber makes a good argument that Apple will not relent and allow Flash on iPhone & iPad OS, that this situation might instead deal a real blow to flash penetration in the surfing experience of the future. “Developers go where the users are.”

This Scobelizer post opines that Adobe had better have a good story to tell by the time SXSWi rolls around in just six weeks, and is also worth a read.

So what do you think? Will HTML 5 render Flash and Silverlight irrelevant?

Over at United Mindset Jonathan Campos has an excellent write-up on Adobe Flash Catalyst. As a developer he thinks of it as the missing visual editor for Flash Builder, as you can really edit and create within Flash Catalyst, and get the generated code to copy into your Flash Projects. He walks us through creating a new custom button with plenty of screen shots and generated code. Excellent short tutorial.

At Adobe MAX, Adobe is showcasing Flash applications for iPhone/iPod Touch, created with the new Flash Professional CS5. This is not a policy change from Apple though; developers can use the Flash developer tool to convert Flash applications into apps that work on iPhone without having to build iPhone apps.

Here is a nice tutorial on creating custom Flash Components with Actionscript 3.0 and XML, using Flickr image search to show images. On a related note, Digital Media Minute did a post a while ago about photo gallery components that still has relevance.

Flash developers have a lot more control in using and manipulating elements in Flash 8. Now you can directly manipulate bitmaps on the fly within Flash, and also control a movie clip’s transformations via its transform matrix. Here’s a long and lucid explanation of Flash 8’s transformation matrix, the Matrix class in Flash and the methods by which it manipulates matrices, and some of the math behind those operations if you’re interested.

Interested in trying a different Flash debugger? De MonsterDebugger is an open-source debugger for Adobe Flash, AIR, and a Flex debugger to boot. From De Monsters Design Studios, and built with Flex and AIR.

Hey, speaking of debugging, have you seen our very popular JavaScript debugging using Firebug screencast yet? You have? That’s terrific!