waxpraxis

I'm currently finding out what information we're allowed to share about how the avatar works and what went into developing it. The problem is we're so far down the totem pole I probably won't know for a while yet. :-/

http://automatastudios.com/automata-gives-ibms-watson-a-face...

I've been working on the periphery of this project for about a year now (my company created the on screen "avatar" that's shown at Watson's podium on stage) and it's been amazing to watch as Watson has progressed.

Some of the early matches I got data from were downright funny. Lots of nonsense answers and weird correlations that kinda made sense but made it obvious Watson didn't really understand the problem space.

In case you're interested the avatar gets realtime data from Watson and visualizes both Watson's internal state and the game state. The core bit is a collection of "threads" that swarm around the surface of a sphere. The speed, variability, color, and length of the threads are all tied to the data we get from Watson. The colors roughly correspond to confidence, and when the threads bunch up it has to do with what Watson is "doing" (i.e. if he gets an answer wrong the threads will go slow and gather to the bottom of the sphere, if one of the other contestants is answering the threads will gather on that side of of the sphere, etc).

The designer and my team agreed early on that there would be exactly 42 threads. ;-)

Oh, and when Watson speaks the threads push off the surface of the sphere to the intensity of the audio. It also makes a subtle glow in the center of the sphere brighten in an homage to Hal.

Ah certainly. They are all tools - you use the correct tool for the situation. For entertainment purposes I would want to make sure Flash was in my tool belt.

The specs are public and unencumbered: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/swf/

What would submitting to a standards body give them? If they are to continue moving Flash forward with new versions every 18-20mo they can't wait for a standards body.

This is going to be a very interesting debate moving forward. Flash has shown what happens if you let all elements of a page have the same rights to resources - and Adobe is working on ways of dealing with the issue.

Now HTML5 is going to have to deal with the problem and they we'll have to wait until browsers make their own implementation of a solution that will probably be similar to Adobe's eventual solution.

Ah, but why then was Flash at the same kind of penetration #s prior to Flash supporting video (Flash 6)? Also, as I mentioned in my post not all video is meant to be in a little rectangle on the page.

Maybe YOUR lizard brain, but we ALL have to remember - we're geeks. One of my son's favorite sites is http://www.pigeonpresents.com/ (don't bother looking at the source if you prefer your sanity). It's a simple site for kids, but doing many of the things the site does with HTML5,etc would be quite painful if they were possible at all.

What do you mean by "small definitions of better"? Can you do a cartoon with synchronized sound with HTML5? Better is a matter of "does it work for enough of your audience that it makes sense to build it".

If you know your audience and can push the technology, by all means go for it! GitHub has exactly that audience. They aren't idiots for going with canvas - for them it's a savvy move. But the Flash option is still there for a reason too.

Some browsers can do all of those things - but you've still only scratched the surface of what Flash can do TODAY with 98% penetration. As for webcam support, some people feel that HTML 5 as a spec will be fully out there and usable by 2022. I wonder when enough browser makers will start on their PROPRIETARY webcam interfaces?

Do you think Flash will stand still in that time? Suddenly jump from 98% to 0%?

Sure - but it's a constantly running cycle, people seem to forget that. HTML 5 will get adopted given enough time - but by that point Flash will have moved on and will do more and do it better. Then HTML will catch up again... etc.

You can push HTML 5 and canvas all you'd like - but from a pure business standpoint if I can reach 98% of my audience with Flash, but only 40% with HTML5/Canvas I'd be an idiot to not choose Flash.

It will be WONDERFUL when I can use canvas to draw realtime graphs and know it will reach 98% of my users. That day is not today and it won't be for some time to come. Now, that being said I and doing exactly that task with canvas for a project - but it's as a backup of the Flash version since the client expects a sizable iPad/iPhone audience.

How more open do you want it? You are free to make your own player against the open specification.

Fully open isn't the answer for everything. Flash is the most widely distributed piece of software ever - it got that way by NOT being forked and offering what HTML didn't both in terms of consistency and features.

Right - but when did XmlHTTPRequest first rear it's head? 1999. When did AJAX actually take off? 2005.

Six years.

During the same time Flash went from a no scripting (well it was essentially programming via madlibs with Flash 4) to ActionScript 3 (Flex 2, the first place AS3 was used, was in early beta at the time I believe).

New versions of the Flash Player only take a few months to hit 90%+ penetration rates.

Ah, but necessary is the key word there. Very little that Flash is used for is necessary, it's almost always about entertainment. HTML 5 is well suited to overtake some of the reasons developers have to use Flash - inline video players and many Flex apps.

The HTML 5 technology stack is not well positioned to do everything Flash can do though - and I pointed out three key places where that's absolutely the case.

The biggest point though is that HTML creeps slowly forward through a standards process that is laborious at best. Flash, being a de-facto standard controlled by one company doesn't have to wait - it can push and prod forward and let developers explore new ideas and create new experiences. Even if you don't care for Flash, you should appreciate what it does for pushing the web forward. Sure there are missteps - I think Flash ads are awful too, but the work and because of that HTML5 and canvas will be used to build just as annoying ads in the future.

Hi! I'm one of the creators (Branden). For folks that are interested - HYPE is a creative-coding framework for ActionScript 3 (Flash). The idea is that there's a lot of power in the language, but there are a lot of designers and other new developers that have a hard time tapping into that power. That's not to say it's just for "n00bs" - HYPE can make many tasks just plain easier for developers of all stripes.

Unlike other frameworks with the same kinds of goals, HYPE doesn't put training wheels on the language. Instead it makes things easier and more consistent. For example, if you're working with time with HYPE, then it's a Rhythm - no matter what kind of "time" frame-based or clock-based. HYPE bridges the different APIs so that you have ONE way to think about time.

Josh and I aren't trying to save the world - we think HYPE is pretty cool and wanted to share. He's globe-trotting high-end designer and I own a software development company that does, well, just about everything. But we met back in 2001 at a Flash conference and the Flash community has always been important to us and our careers. This is our way of giving back to the very vibrant that helped us launch our careers.

As for the folks who see stability - I hate to say it, but I'm fairly sure that's a player issue. I'm kicking around Chrome with the 10.1 beta player and I'm not having any issues.