Jared Rypka-Hauer shares his thoughts on ColdFusion and the community in an Adobe era over on Fusion Authority.

When I travel on longer trips, especially international trips, I bring along snack food with me (things like snack bars, dried fruit, nuts, crackers and peanut butter, etc.) - quick protein snacks (for the most part). I've been doing this for years, and never a problem. Until yesterday. I usually carry the tiny 1 ounce peanut butter containers (use once and throw), but I could not find them this time and therefore brought along a 3.4 ounces jar. And the TSA agent in Detroit Metro got quite upset at my little plastic peanut butter container. He held it up and sternly declared "you can't carry gels!". Ok, I know that you should not aggravate or mess with TSA agents, but I could not help myself, and burst out laughing. "A gel?" I asked him. "Do you know what a gel is?" He was not amused. I explained that TSA rules prohibit carrying liquids, gels and aerosols over 3 ounces, but that thicker paste like substances are not prohibited (with the exception of the very dangerous toothpaste). "Let me get this straight, peanut butter is a gel?". "This is a gel!" he replied. I (slowly) tried to explain that the definition of a gel is a liquid that has become semi-solid, and that a gel is only a gel if it can revert back to a liquid (usually by heating or shaking). I also pointed out that no one has ever complained about this before (even when I have carried the deadly 3.4 ounce jars), and that he seemed to be making up his own rules. To no avail. "This is a gel, and you can't bring it on board!" was his final statement, and he then told me to check my bags if I wanted to bring the jar along. So, there you have it - contrary to what common sense dictates, peanut butter is now a gel.

I just arrived at the Hotel Nikko in Tokyo, venue for MAX Japan which starts tomorrow. I have several sessions that I need to present, and so before I do anything else, I need to walk around and figure out where everything actually is. I'll be back ...

David Tucker has written an article for Adobe Developer Connection entitled Managing Adobe AIR updates with ColdFusion 8. While the article is about using ColdFusion to manage updates to an AIR application post-deployment, David does demonstrate lots of ColdFusion/Flex/AIR integration techniques that are useful to any ColdFusion developers looking at AIR and Flex.

It's hard to believe that MAX Europe was two weeks ago, and MAX U.S. just two weeks before that. And now we get to do it all over again ... I am about to head out of here for the 13+ hour flight from Detroit to Tokyo for MAX Japan. After that I'll make a slight detour via China (for meetings in Beijing and a presentation in Hangzhou).

rtePad is a web based rich text editor. If you want to truly be amazed, check out these examples! It's all client-side JavaScript, so it is back-end independent (and they note that it can indeed be used by ColdFusion).

Mark Drew has posted notes on getting ColdFusion to run on Mac OS X Leopard (which is not officially supported yet).

Futsal is an indoor version of Soccer, and the game is hugely popular in Japan, where many companies have employee teams. Adobe Japan created the Adobe MAX Cup 2007 Futsal Tournament (with the final game set to coincide with MAX 2007 Japan later this week), and teams from Adobe, Intel, Microsoft, SAP, Yahoo!, as well as several Japanese companies, are all taking part. And it's not all about fun and games - the tournament is supported by a variety of sites and applications, and the Adobe Japan team used the opportunity to leverage Premier Pro, AIR, AMP, Flash, Flex, Flash Media Server, and of course ColdFusion (which powers the official Adobe MAX Cup 2007 Futsal Tournament site).

As previously announced, I'll be in Australia next month for CFCAMP events in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Perth. The events are going to be partial formal presentation, partial free form bar camp, and should be lots of fun. Registration for these events is now open.

Tech Republic is running a story by Brian Kotek entitled Why developers should check out ColdFusion 8, stating that CF8 is "a force to be reckoned with in the application server space", and that "the recent release is by far the most compelling version since they moved to the Java platform - and possibly even the most compelling version ever". I couldn't have said it better myself!

Earlier this week Adobe announced that Flex Builder 2 would be made available "at no cost to students and faculty at educational institutions worldwide."

I just received confirmation that we'll be doing a series of ColdFusion 8 events in Australia in November (primarily ColdFusion events, but we'll cover Flex and AIR, too). The planned dates are:

• November 20th: Sydney
• November 21st: Brisbane
• November 22nd: Melbourne
• November 27th: Perth

It's been a few years since I visited Australia (Tim Buntel represented ColdFusion at WebDU for us), and I'm excited to once about be spending time with the community down under! I'll post links as soon as I have them.

I am in Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, about to head back to the U.S. After last night's Brussels event we drove for 2 hours to The Hague for the Netherlands Adobe Business Exchange. Again, I presented ColdFusion 8 to a very appreciate, interactive, and engaged crowd (very few of whom are yet running CF8). And now I get to spend a few days stateside before heading to Tokyo next week for MAX Japan.

Tim, Kristen, and I flew in to Brussels early this morning. We spent part of the day with a big European ColdFusion customer discussing ColdFusion 8, and then headed over to the Adobe Business Exchange 2007 event. I presented an in depth technical overview of ColdFusion 8, and Tim (in his new role) is discussing Flex (with a ColdFusion twist) right now. Next stop, The Hague.

We (Tim, Kristen, and I) are in Stuttgart for a few hours, presenting CF8 to a local group. We arrived a little late, but the crowd waited patiently, and then sat for almost 3 hours as we walked through ColdFusion 8 features. The response was great, and our Intergral hosts were more than gracious and accommodating. And then, a few hours sleep, before we have to get up at 5 to fly to Brussels.

I spent the day in Italy today, presenting a full day seminar (with Tim Buntel and Ted Patrick) at Pavia (near Milan). Kristen Schofield, ColdFusion's new product Manager (who promises me she'll be blogging shortly), is also here getting to know the locals. They stayed here after MAX Europe last week, but I flew back to the U.S. in between, and almost didn't make it here today. When I arrived in Amsterdam this morning for my connection, they announced that the flight to Milan was going to leave early (for those that could get through security and to the gate in time) because Italian air traffic controllers were about to strike and only planes already in the air would be able to land. And then when I did land in Milan, police had blocked access to the terminal so the driver could not get in to pick me up. Oh, and then our next flight (Alitalia to Stuttgart for an event tomorrow) just canceled and we're having to get a later flight cutting it really close. This is not the first time this has happened to me in Italy - actually, it seems like something that occurs with some regularity, especially judging by the nonchalant reaction to all of this by most locals.

But, travel issues aside, the event went very well - and the crowd listened attentively for about 8 hours or so! And then they hung a large homemade sign on the wall (it looked like it was written on the back of a tablecloth) pleading for a "ColdFusion Builder" IDE. We'll take that under advisement, guys! ;-)

Just two this week, and both are requests from recruiters for unnamed clients:

• Brooksource (Farmington Hills, MI) is looking for a senior ColdFusion developer. Requirements include at least 3 years of experience with ColdFusion MX or later, as well as experience with Oracle, and object oriented design. Experience with Java, .NET, Flex, and SQL Server is a plus. Contact Steve Grimm.
• Blue Wave Solutions (Calabasas, CA) is looking for a ColdFusion developer for a 4-6 month contract position. Requirements include at least 3 years of experience with ColdFusion, JavaScript, SQL Server and T-SQL, as well as experience with OOP and SOA. Contact Charles Napue.

Long time Australian ColdFusion advocate, Kay Smoljak, has started blogging about ColdFusion on SitePoint. And her first post has already generated lots of comments worth reading. Keep an eye on this one!

"Thermo" was the talk of MAX, both in the US and in Europe. And the Thermo team is looking for an engineering manager and a QA manager (both positions are in San Francisco). Oh, and the Flex Builder team is also looking for an engineering manager.

We're in the middle of the MAX Awards here at MAX Europe in Barcelona. Next up is Sneak Peeks (I am going to be presenting the CF/AIR sneak), and then comes the party. In addition to the keynote yesterday, and the Sneak Peek momentarily, I also presented a hands-on ColdFusion Powered Ajax session, a session on ColdFusion and AIR, and a (rather heated) BOF discussing ColdFusion in Europe. It's been hectic, and we're not done yet. Still, this has been an amazing first MAX Europe, and planning has already begun for MAX Europe 2008.

A ColdFusion user asked me (at MAX) how to get ColdFusion's Ajax calls to use POST instead of the default GET. The answer, courtesy of ColdFusion team member Rakshith, is to use <CFAJAXPROXY> to define the proxy CFC, and then use the setHTTPMethod() method to set the method type. Here is Rakshith's example:

MAX Europe started this morning, and it's great to see the crowd and feel the enthusiasm, especially as this is the first MAX here (prior attempts never materialized). The opening keynote here starts at 11:30am local time (any minute) - the stage is ready (and massive), the room is full, the music is blaring, lights are dimming, the intro video is starting to roll ... wow, is it just two weeks since we did this in Chicago? Definite sense of déjà vu!

I just arrived in Barcelona for MAX Europe 2007 - I got here later than I had hoped, but, I'm here, and we're now prepping for tomorrow's opening keynote. The venue is right off the beach, and my hotel room overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the east. Not that I expect to do much sightseeing, but hey, I least I can see the sea!

I am on the way to the airport to catch a flight to Amsterdam, and then on to Barcelona for our very first MAX Europe. See you soon!

Three positions to post this week:

• Unnamed company (Dallas, TX) is looking for a senior ColdFusion developer for a full-time position. SQL Server experience is required, as is XML and JavaScript experience, as well as experience using CFCs. Flex experience is preferred. Contact Ann Smith.
• Experian (Omaha, NE) is looking for a ColdFusion developer. Requirements include experience with SQL Server, JavaScript, and more. Flash / ActionScript experience preferred. Details posted on Monster.com.
• PMA (Newark, DE) is looking for a ColdFusion developer. Must have experience with ColdFusion MX 7 or later, CFC's, SQL Server, and JavaScript. Model-Glue / OOP is a big plus. Contact Jeff Gladnick.