A new Flash CMS has appeared on the scene: Flashmoto. Once again it is a Flash CMS that uses “Flash” as the main UI to edit Flash.  The interface of the CMS is very well polished. Dialog boxes are well labeled and it seems to have a easy enough user interface. I signed up for a beta and spent some time playing around. One test that I use for how easy a CMS is to use is the “Famous 5 minute Test” basically if I can’t get new pages created and edited in under 5 minutes the UI is not so good. How does Flashmoto perform in the “Famous 5 minute Test”? well, I could create new objects and edit existing things, but adding new pages seem to allude me. (Maybe it requires a smarter user than me!, and keep in mind this is very beta software!) The developer for the project has some great plans for the software. I’m told it will support deep linking, SEO and the back button may actually

OK, this is an oldie but a goodie. I wrote this book many moons ago. Thanx to FITC it is now a free sponsored ebook you can download. I get many emails from people asking advice about going freelance. This book is the answer, and hey you can’t beat the price =) So download your *FREE* copy today! (no strings attached, really!) And if you could as a favour link back to my site “airgid.com” on your blog if you like the book or find it useful in some way. Google link credit always helps.

Airgid Media Inc. is proud to announce the launch of our new book “CO2 and You: Teach young children how to reduce their eco-footprint“. The book features hand crafted (in 3D Studio Max and zBrush) 3D characters and a custom made puppet called “Leo”. Look for the companion animated short on DVD the end of 2009.

Over the past few weeks the stream of resumes filing my in-box has grown significantly. It is a sign of the times that many 9-5′ers have lost their jobs and are now trying their hand at freelance. For those among you who can not find work and have decided to do the freelance gig I have some advice for you. Since your probably so freaked out right now you probably don’t want to read alot here it is in small pieces…

The FlashBlog has a really great interview with the company that built all the futuristic interfaces for the various Star Trek ships. OOOii is the same company that brought the Minority Report UI to the silver screen as well. Of course all done in Flash!

” For Star Trek, senior developer Dave August created a complete ActionScript 3 framework for compositing and sequencing various effects that was used live on the set during filming. He also created an AIR application which was used for authoring the various sequences and also to control them as the actors manipulated them.” [via The Flash Blog ..]

Electric Rain – Swift 3D PS Plug-in for Photoshop looks to do a much better job of 3D than Photoshops own built in 3D interface (which I think sucks BTW). I’m a big fan of eRain products and this one seems to be very easy to use. Sadly it’s only for the PC so Mac users are out of luck. Now the marketing copy from erain.. Swift 3D PS is a fun and easy-to-use Photoshop plug-in that will have you exploring entirely new hemispheres of Photoshop CS4 Extended. It accomplishes simple 3D tasks in seconds with remarkable results and places your 3D text, extrusions or models back into Photoshop as 3D layers. These layers remain fully editable by Swift 3D PS, even after Photoshop’s array of layer styles and filters are applied. Swift 3D PS offers the same powerful capabilities of our standalone product, but works within the confines of the Photoshop environment.

Determining what to charge for your services can be very a difficult decision. “It will forever dominate your destiny”, as Yoda once said to Luke in Star Wars. In my experience, you do not want to start your hourly rate too low, because once you land a few larger clients you will have great difficulty migrating them to a higher hourly rate (that is, if you decide to charge hourly). What you charge hourly should reflect what the market would bear. So in other words, you should try to charge as much as clients are willing to pay …..

Sharing things you have learned is one of the best (and free) ways to gain more business. Clients will come to respect your opinion if you become recognized in your field for a particular area of Web development. For instance, I co-authored a book on Flash usability called Flash 99% Good: A Guide to Macromedia Flash Usability. The book generated a lot of positive PR. Macromedia (now Adobe) featured the book on their site, and the related book site won numerous national design awards …

One of the biggest struggles I have found being a freelancer is keeping in contact with my clients. Sometimes my clients will go five months before they do another project with me. Over time I have learned I need to keep my name and e-mail address in front of them constantly, so they think of me first when they have a new project they are considering. But how do you do this without bugging the hell out of them? These are busy people, so sending them jokes and ? ˜hi how are you doing?’ …

In December 2002, Randy Cohen of the New York Times answered a reader’s ethical question regarding a friend who had used Google to do some background checking on a man she had been on a date with. When she learned that the man, a doctor, had been involved in several malpractice suits, she had a much lower opinion of the man, which presumably affected the relationship.