As if the promise of HTML 5 wasnt cool enough, watching the new TRON trailer using the new <video> tag gets us all hot and bothered. Check it out here along with other cool demos on new HTML 5 features. Looks like the pluggin-based web may be getting the End of Line from Master Control.
We are proud to announce that one of our most recent products is now up and running with a new public website! AVANT is a core part of the product design and development team for CIVIO and has partnered with CIVIO, LLC to share in the success of the platform. We also designed and developed the new public site.
Our work on CIVIO reflects a core principle at AVANT that building community is important. Experiencing ideas outside one’s immediate sphere of influence inspires and educates, and that is precisely what CIVIO does for customers and communities it serves. The product itself is one of three successfully launched products AVANT contributed to in 2009. We are optimistic that CIVIO is going to be a great success and help change the world for the better.”
- Michael Kemper, AVANT Founder + Principal
The CIVIO application is available to potential investors, existing customers and VIP’s, but for now everyone else in the world can learn about the vision and direction for the product here. Congratulations to the CIVIO team on a snappy launch!
More and more websites are incorporating the latest web standards to deliver content – optimized especially for devices. But there are plenty of reasons to celebrate these new standards for the desktop “browser-based web”, too. For over a decade I have been using Flash for creating rich application and website interfaces – and later Silverlight – (I contributed to iterations of both of those platforms) – but AVANT is eagerly awaiting the broader acceptance of HTML5 standards. Not only is HTML5 making page structure easier to architect which cuts my cost as an agency; consider all of the features like drag and drop, audio and video playback (typically reserved for Flash/Silverlight implementation). Not to mention extendabilty to a litany of devices without having to extensively recode an interface. As AVANT anticipates the W3 recomendation to use HTML5, (which will make the technology more pervasive), Draft5 is a great resource for boning up on the next important evloution of the standards-based web (another month, another W3 draft update): Draft 5.
The next web is without a doubt going to be mobile and device-driven. But the current limitations of devices are many and varied, especially considering rich web experiences. Flash is the most common web-based rich experience technology available, unfortunately they just cant seem to crack the OEM “nut” (Original Equipment Manufacturer), meaning they cant get their plug-in accepted on the broader set of available devices. Adobe is going to need more then Nokia to push it over the line. If one does happen to have Flash on their phone, the process for a developer making compliant Flash Lite apps is a mixed bag of version control and specific bug tracking to get the experience solid. The result is few (useful) apps for your phone – limiting your technology experience. This is something I know a bit about having worked directly with the Adobe Mobile group a few years back. It saddens me to think that one of the technologies I have built my career on may not cross the device threshold and become as relevant in the next 10 years as it was in the previous decade. Perhaps the new $10 Mil fund for the development of Flash and AIR apps announced by Adobe recently will impact the OEM problem, assuming the apps that come out of that effort woo the manufacturers and service providers over to their side. But what else can possibly take the place of Flash? Windows Mobile? Riiiight… That being said, it’s not the only limitations: there is still battery life, browser standards specifically for phones, and network bandwidth – then again Flash tends to drain on those, as well.
In the spirit of other well informed PSA’s, all of us at AVANT wanted to inform you of an epidemic that plagues the digital world: ICD (Icon Confusion Disorder). Quality icons in an intuitive interface is the right of every software application. Clients tell us that their top priority is visitors that are happy and excited about media. AVANTians understand and know whats best for UX; and they know how to improve usability. We do that by removing the clutter and providing a safe and nurturing environment to select games, videos, images, and even galleries that is free of confusion and mixed metaphors. We have to get users ready for apps; but on the other hand we have to get apps ready for users. Testing tells us that icons matter and they have a rightful place in our apps. Iconography at every level improves user achievement. AVANT is committed to working hand in hand with you to ensure that each app is an enjoyable and meaningful experience – so your app is started on the path to a bright future. Please join us by downloading and using these free media icons in your apps – Today!
BizSpark is an innovative new program that unites Startups with entrepreneurial and technology resources in a global community with a common goal of supporting and accelerating the success of a new generation of high-potential Startups.
A core strategic component of AVANT’s mission is to design and develop products that focus on compelling new platforms and disruptive technologies. A large portion of our clients are also partners that we are developing products with to effect change and make a big impact on enhancing communication, education, culture and engaging audiences. As a member of BizSpark, we are now able to accelerate our client’s success by providing fast, affordable access to current, full-featured Microsoft tools and technologies, plus production licensing for hosted solutions.
Our economy is evolving. Attention is scarce. Time is the new currency. How do we focus our attention on the things in life that really matter? How can we keep track of the events in our lives that are meaningful? Today, AVANT launched the Clockerbox Community to correspond with our demonstration at MIX09 in Las Vegas. Clockerbox tracks the progress, learning experience, and success or failure of individual goals. It’s built in the Silverlight platform and runs on .NET. Join our community and start something you’ve always wanted to do at www.clockerbox.com. Sometimes getting started is the hardest part, now you have Clockerbox to help.
We will have AVANTIANS at MIX09 this year, and to give you something to talk to us about we thought we would post info on Microsoft projects some of our team members have worked on in the past.
Michael Kemper, Founder + Principal
Kemper has worked with Microsoft for over two years starting with a project called TopBanana which debuted at the MIX07 keynote. Some other projects he worked on include:
_ Silverlight 2 Component Set (Keynote 08)
_ Expression Media Encoder (Silverlight Galleries)
_ Microsoft Surface Products and Demos (Runner up for keynote 08)
_ DigitalForum (Featured at WPC)
_ Zune Social Card (including the facebook implementation)
_ AOL Silverlight Mail Client (keynote 08)
Jeremy Stover, Senior Developer
_ Top Banana
_ Silverlight 2 Component Set (Keynote 08)
_ Expression Media Encoder (Silverlight Galleries)
_ DigitalForum (Featured at WPC)
_ Zune Social Card (including the facebook implementation)
_ AOL Silverlight Mail Client (keynote 08)
_ and several more…
We hope to meet you and talk about everything Silverlight (and maybe a little Flash 
).
Part of our new Clockerbox platform will be shown at MIX09 this year. Jeremy Stover and Kemper designed and built a Clockerbox community tool using Silverlight. The application tracks life events from community members and tracks progress. More on that to come soon.
