And Odd Issue With CF 8 Sandbox Security

I've been struggling lately with setting up Sandbox Security in CF8, and running into some odd issues! The official press says there is no major difference in the sandboxes from v7 to v8, however I never ran into these issues in v7.

When I try to lock down the webroot (only has 1 dedicated app), to simply remove tags like cfexecute and cfregistry etc, I start getting java errors thrown out all over the place. The main error is access to the C: drive level java exe when I attempt a file upload. Anyone ever run into this before? In V7 I never needed to give the sandbox permissions on the OS partition to perform basic tasks, so this is a bit frustrating!!!!

Adobe Brio Beta

Adobe has the Brio beta up on the labs. It is the next version of Adobe Connect. You can sign up for a free beta trial and get a permanent (for now) url for your company/org etc and play around.

First impressions, the design is a bit more refined from the current Connect. I really enjoy the interface changes so far. The feature set will feel extremely familiar and comfortable to anyone who has used Connect so far.

Buzzword

Adobe Labs has up a page now for buzzword, although really its mostly an external link.

Buzzword is an online word processor, that will further add to the rumor mill of Adobe's future plans (my .02). An air client is upcoming according to the labs page.

After my first round of playing with it, I really like this a lot more than Google Docs. More to follow..... anyone else?

ColdFusion 8 Developer Security Guidelines

Adobe has published a white paper in the Security Dev Center for CF8 best practices and security guidelines. It weighs in at almost 50 pages, and is a must-have in my opinion.

ColdFusion 8 Developer Security Guidelines (direct pdf link)

Adobe Licensing Site

Does the LWS give anyone else a headache? There is just something about this site that makes my brain shut down when I log in. I still haven't quite figured out what bothers me about it so much, I suspect its also worthwhile to factor in our purchasing process at work complicates the use of that site unneccessarily as well.

I had a talk with an Adobe Govt. rep. today who confirmed I wasn't the only one who found the site a little confusing and heavy handed to use regularly. They had said that all my questions and issues were things that regularly come up in phone calls they receive.

I'm wondering if anyone else out there has similar stories, or maybe some tips on how to organize things better with LWS? I currently have about 5+ logins because of how things are organized.

Hands On with Adobe Share (beta)

I had a chance to play with Adobe SHARE this morning, so I thought I'd write something up quick for anyone who hasn't tried it.

In case you're not up on your labs work, Adobe SHARE is a new beta application to share files online. I'll save you from reading the rest if you have attention span issues.... it is the equivalent of Pownce focusing on file sharing instead of twittering mashups. Its not a bad thing, just a niche application.

My first experience began with having to close all my tabs and install flash player 9. There are many side discussions to be had there about how some places you work are roadblocked immediately from using this, but lets get back on track. OK, so I'm back in. I use my Adobe login to get in and I see a screen for sharing files and contact....redirected...huh? back to the login screen with no feedback. OK, I'll log in again. Aha! A message that I must verify my email address. Thats all fine and good but, from a usability standpoint, that process needs some refinement.

Finally I am in and cruising around. The app has a very familiar feel if you've used many of the labs products like AMP. It has a very clean layout and is easily intuitive for its subject matter. You have the ability to add and remove contacts, upload files, browse your library via filtering, and change file permissions from public to specific contacts etc.

An Image file will show a thumbnail, PDF's show up in a nice flashpaper embedded display, so on and so forth. I'm not really encountering any WOW! moments yet, but its very functional and exactly what you would think it should be. There is a built-in zoom feature for all the types of content I've uploaded so far (mostly images and pdf). If you click on a specific item, it provides a url link to that item for sharing purposes. This functionality will be familiar to anyone who has used the embedded YouTube url link buttons in the past.

All in all it was a good experience. Honestly, if Pownce added a few features you would basically have the same application, but with the social stuff included. There wasn't anything that really blew me away, but that doesn't mean it isn't a solid application with a good primary focus. I could see some mashups in the future of several of these labs products into a suite that could leverage some of those buzz words you hear everyday (collaborative, real time, on the fly, mashup, etc).

I did have one small issue that was possibly on my end. When I tried to view the gif I had uploaded in firefox, it simply hung the first few tries. It worked immediately a second later in IE7 however. When I went back a few minutes later with the fox, it worked like a champ. You can try it for yourself with the sample image I uploaded.

Adobe Media Player (AMP)

Adobe has put up a new media player on labs called AMP. I decided to give this a whirl this morning. First, calling it a media player is a little dubious. AMP focuses on video podcasts and internet tv, and doesn't allow for you to play music, or even locally saved video podcasts of specific mime types (this may have been my computer I suppose, but they worked fine in itunes/WMP). Its not a bad thing, I just had maybe expected more for the title myself.

First things first, if you have AIR installed already from B1 or prior, this install will NOT work. It even says right on the amp page, you must use a clean AIR install. That was a little annoying, but understandable I suppose.

The interface is clean, but nothing to get too excited about. Thats not a bad thing, just an observation. You also have to take into account that this is an early build of the product. Unfortunately unless I'm missing something, there appears to be no way to pause the video you are watching and check your downloads, then go back to the video you were watching where you left off. When I had tried it simply started my video over again. Its not a big deal I guess but it would be nice to see, especially given the 'framed' nature of the layout.

I fired up the latest episode of diggnation, which I had already previous watched a few days ago on direct download. First off, the video quality was extremely grainy. If you are a diggnation direct downloader, you would notice the difference immediately in my opinion. It also doesn't help that at the 2:38 mark Alex announces they are broadcasting this episode in HD, heh. The audio faired a bit better than the video and was mostly spot on, outside a few incidents of 'buried under a wave at high tide' syndrome.

I tried AMP both at work and home, which have vastly different internet connectivity (cable modem vs something significantly bigger). I noticed some skipping, and choppy video on both connections, albeit it was nothing that completely hindered me from watching the video.

Overall I'd say its a nice niche product, that is an early build and maybe needs some tightening and some wow factor to lure you away from your iTunes or media player of choice.