The major new improvements are as follows:

• Blob Tool for painting outlined strokes
• Separations preview
• New Gradient Tool with transparency in gradients
• Revised Smart Guides
• Key objects for alignment
• Tabbed interface

(Source: Adobe Illustrator CS4 Review)

Here is the code example from the clientside blog:

  var num1 = new Request({ url: '/wiki/simple.php', data: {num: 1, sleep: 1}, method: 'get',
 
      onComplete: function(response){ console.log(response) } });
 
  var num2 = new Request({ url: '/wiki/simple.php', data: {num: 2, sleep: 1}, method: 'get',
 
      onComplete: function(response){ console.log(response) } });
 
  var num3 = new Request({ url: '/wiki/simple.php', data: {num: 3, sleep: 1}, method: 'get',
 
      onComplete: function(response){ console.log(response) } });
 
  var myQueue = new Request.Queue();
 
  //you can add them one at a time
 
  myQueue.addRequest('num1', num1);
 
  //or in a single call
 
  myQueue.addRequests({ num2: num2, num3: num3 });
 
  num1.send();
 
  num2.send();
 
  num3.send();

As per the announcement by Jens Halm (Spicefactory) on osflash.org, Pimento Data Services offers management for persistent entities for Flex and Flash Clients with the following features:

• Automatic import of JPA/Hibernate configuration

• AS3 EntityManager remote service based on Cinnamon and the binary AMF3 protocol

• Managed AS3 entities and client-side cache

• Guarantee that there is always only one instance representing a particular entity

• Sending only change sets on merge operations

• Managed primary key values when persisting new entities

• Support for inheritance, managed and optionally lazy associations and collections

• Perform JPAQL and Named Queries from the Client

• Server-side Interceptor Architecture (allows to observe all CRUD operations initiated from the client)

• Support for Integration Tests written in AS3, with automatic database population

• Getting Semantic With Microformats, Introduction
• Getting Semantic With Microformats, Part 1: rel
• Getting Semantic With Microformats, Part 2: XFN
• Getting Semantic With Microformats, Part 3: hCard
• Getting Semantic With Microformats, Part 4: hCalendar
• Getting Semantic With Microformats, Part 5: hAtom
• Getting Semantic With Microformats, Part 6: hResume
• Getting Semantic With Microformats, Part 7: Themes & Issues

A few other sound maps (as listed on Google Maps Mania) to lookup are as follows:

• Woices - a worldwide sound map
• Sound Seeker Google Map - A map of sounds from around NYC
• Puget Soundscape - A map of recorded whale sounds
• Terrasound - ’soundwalks’ in Portugal, Turkey, Switzerland and California
• GeoGraffiti - a ‘free verbal message board’
• MyVox - add your own voice to Google Maps

 (Source: Google Maps Sounding Off)

“Yes, that’s a bold statement, but I’ve waited 13 years to be able to say it.  If you’ve followed this (http://learnjavafx.typepad.com/weblog/) blog or have heard me speak about JavaFX, you know that I was disappointed with the browser wars in the late 90s that fragmented and slowed down the ubiquity of the Java Virtual Machine.  Instead of writing rich-client Java applications, the last 13 years of software development has largely consisted of trying to make browsers do what they were never designed to do.  If I may speak plainly, the result has been applications that consist of a big mess of varying flavors of JavaScript, HTML, etc. that leave developers overwhelmed and users underwhelmed.”

James believes the release of JavaFX 1.0 “….will be a tipping point in software development that will play a big part in restoring sanity to rich internet application development”.

Whether JavaFX will really shine or not is yet to be seen, however, its good to know that it will finally be available. You will be able to download it from JavaFX.com on December 2nd.

What do you think? Will it really have an impact of the scale that JavaFX proponents are claiming.

(Source: Adobe Groups Launched!)