UK Radio Player for Mobile

Introducing the UK Radio Player for Mobile

The UK Radio Player for Mobile is an experimental, web-based application that enables you to listen to a wide range of British radio stations on any mobile phone that support Flash Player 9 or above, including almost all Android and Maemo devices; radio stations include Absolute, Capital, Heart, Kiss and Magic to name but a few.

To start listening, point your mobile browser at http://bit.ly/ukradio, which will take you to http://labs.mesmotronic.com/ukradioplayer/mobile/.

Until Flash Player 10.1 is finally released in the wild, touch functionality is fairly limited, so you’ll need to use your mobile’s arrow buttons to scroll for now.

Can’t find your favourite station?

If your favourite station isn’t listed, and it’s available online as an an MP3 or AAC/AAC+ stream, let us know by adding a comment to this post and we’ll see what we can do!

Wherever possible, please post the URL of the feed itself, rather than a link to a website or M3U/PLS playlist.

More content added to BBC iPlayer plug-in for DivX Connected

Loads of new feeds have been added to the BBC iPlayer plug-in for DivX Connected, meaning you can  now choose from TV Highlights, Most Popular programmes, a wide range of genres and a selection of regional programming, together with content from all major BBC television channels.

If you are already using the plug-in, simply select BBC iPlayer from the Plug-ins menu on your set top box to enjoy the new features, otherwise click on the link below to get started.

Download BBC iPlayer plug-in from the DivX Connected plug-in library
Take a look at the DivX Connected set-top box

Static initializers in AS3

Recently, several people have asked whether it’s possible to create some kind of constructor for static classes in ActionScript 3, and the answer is: yes!

The solution is  a static initializer. This is a block of code, surrounded by curly brackets but no function or var declaration, that runs the first time a property or method of a static class is called. Static initializers are called before any property value is returned or function executed, in the same way a constructor always runs before you can access the properties or methods or a regular class.

package
{
    public class MyStaticClass
    {
        // This is the static initializer
        {
            trace("Running static initilizer!");
            staticInitializer();
        }

        // We're calling a secondary method so we can use local variables
        static private function staticInitializer():void
        {
            var now:Date = new Date;
            baseColor = now.hours > 16 ? 0x000066 : 0x0000FF;
        }

        static public var baseColor:uint;
    }
}

Although it’s not strictly necessary to call a secondary method, Flash Player will throw an error if you declare local variables within the static initializer itself.

To prove that the static initializer is running first, simple trace out the baseColor property:

trace(MyStaticClass.baseColor);

If it’s after 4pm, this will result in the following output in the console window:

Running the static initializer!
102

Too good for 2.5… Mesmotronic Multiuser Server 3 is coming!

Mesmotronic Multiuser Server 2.5 was supposed to be a stepping stone to 3, but as development progressed it became clear that all the cool new stuff being added would go far beyond a simple point-release.

So, we’ve taken the decision to cancel 2.5 and continue development towards a new multi-platform release: Mesmotronic Multiuser Server 3.

More information coming soon…

BBC iPlayer plug-in for DivX Connected

Our unofficial BBC iPlayer plug-in is now available to download from the DivX Connected plug-in library!

The plug-in allows you to select and watch programmes from a wide range of feeds, including content from all major BBC television channels.

Programmes play fullscreen, but due to the way the BBC’s big screen playback page is offset from the left, you will need to manually centre the picture using the right arrow button on your remote control.

It is not currently possible to view items which require age verification.

Existing users will upgraded automatically as new versions become available.

Download BBC iPlayer plug-in from the DivX Connected plug-in library
Take a look at the DivX Connected set-top box

TWILGO Viewer for DivX Connected

Thanks to the new DivX Connected plug-in, you can now be enjoy TWILGO on your TV!

If you’d like to know more about TWILGO, or would like to submit something to the gallery, head over to http://twilgo.com.

What can you create in 140 characters?

Download TWILGO Viewer from DivX Connected plug-in library
Take a look at the DivX Connected set-top box

Introducing TWILGO: What can you create in 140 characters?

TWILGO is a simplified version of the LOGO programming language for Twitter. But, as that probably doesn’t mean anything to most people, all you need to know is that TWILGO is a cool new way to create awesome graphics using tweets!

By tweeting simple commands like FORWARD, LEFT and RIGHT followed by #twilgo, you can create a masterpiece. The only restriction is your imagination. That and Twitter’s 140 character limit, obviously.

So, what’s stopping you? You don’t need to be a master programmer to use TWILGO and if you’re not sure where to start, find something you like in the gallery, click ‘Use as template’ and you’ll be able to view the script in Twitter, enabling you to edit it and use it to create something of your own.

Find out what you can create in 140 characters at twilgo.com.

Get ready for Mesmotronic Multiuser Server 2.5

The next major release of Mesmotronic’s real-time server solution has entered the final stages of development and has been handed to our crack team of testers to put it through its paces.

Mesmotronic Multiuser Server 2.5 makes it even easier to add push data and real-time interactivity to you Flash, Flex and AIR applications by enabling ActionScript developers to build client and server functionality using nothing more than their existing knowledge and an easy-to-use ActionScript 3 API.

Watch this space for further announcements.

Essential Eclipse plug-ins for Flash Builder 4

With the recent relase of Adobe Flash Builder 4, we thought we’d flag up the update URLs for a few of our favourite Eclipse plug-ins to save you having to hunt around for them.

To install plug-ins:

1. Copy the appropriate URL to your clipboard
2. In Flash Builder, select Install New Software… from the Help menu
3. Click Add, paste URL in the Location field and click OK
4. Select the plug-ins to install and click Finish

If you’ve spotted anything we’ve missed, add a comment or  tweet it to @mesmotronic.

Eclipse.org

This URL contains links to most of the plug-ins hosted on Eclipse.org, allowing you to add functionality like ANT, JDT (Java Development Tools) and PDT (PHP Development Tools). You’ll also need to add this URL to Flash Builder to enable you to install other plug-ins, like soapUI:

http://download.eclipse.org/releases/galileo/

Subclipse (SVN)

If you’re a regular user of version control, and you should be, the subclipse plug-in is essential:

http://subclipse.tigris.org/update_1.6.x

soapUI

For anyone who uses Web Services, soapUI offers a great way to view and test your services:

http://www.soapui.org/eclipse/update/site.xml

Android SDK

Now that Adobe are launching AIR for Android, ADT (Android Developer Tools) isn’t exactly essential, but still worth a look if you’re hoping to develop mobile apps for something other than an iPhone:

https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/

Creating a simple HTTP proxy using PHP

Cross domain policy files, or rather a lack of them, are the bane of Flash and Flex developers’ lives. Whether it’s the Twitter API, data from Yahoo! Finance or one of any number of other data sources, the moment your SWF makes it to the web you’re faced with the same problem: Security Error!

The solution is to create a simple proxy on your server that can load the data for you and pass it to your application. If you’re using PHP, then this is about as simple as it gets:

<?=file_get_contents($_REQUEST["url"])?>

That’s it. Just paste that into a text file, save it as proxy.php and upload it to your server. You can then access any data you like simply by passing it a URL. Best of all, it works with both GET and POST, for example:

http://www.mydomain.com/proxy.php?url=http://blog.mesmotronic.com/index.php/feed

Happy proxy-ing!