Last week Matt Woodward and Peter J. Farrell interviewed me for their ColdFusion Weekly Podcast, and that podcast is now online.

Last month I demonstrated ColdFusion 8 at the internal Adobe employee meeting. We recorded a short video that was used as an introduction to my presentation, and it was so popular that we've posted it online, too. So, check out Brian Rinaldi, Jochem van Dieten, Barbara Oneal, Shlomy Gantz, Rob Brooks-Bilson, and Kevin Schmidt in the Here's what ColdFusion developers are saying about ColdFusion 8 video (and be sure to admire Rob's juggling skills!).

Check out the updated ColdFusion Developer Center, now with hot fresh ColdFusion 8 content, including:

• My introduction to CF8.
• Brian Szoszorek and Steve Rittler's overview of ColdFusion Ajax support.
• Charlie Arehart's introduction to server monitoring.
• Ryan Favro's introduction to CFIMAGE.
• Brian Szoszorek's ColdFusion debugger explanation.

If you are looking for the ColdFusion 8 IDE extensions (Report Builder, Dreamweaver extensions, Eclipse plug-ins, HomeSite language support) you can find them here.

I've mentioned ColdFusion 8 performance gains previously, and said that we'd publish the complete performance brief with the test specifics and details. That brief is now online.

Adobe ColdFusion 8 has officially been released. Details are all posted online along with the official press release.

Paul Hastings notes that ColdFusion 8's use of JDK1.6 has benefits when it comes to internationalization.

Job postings should make requirements clear, and should list any and all preferences. And I guess I see the value in telling potential employees what will cause their application to automatically be rejected. But, here is an example of how doing so can make you look petty, immature, and very unprofessional.

Rachel Unck of Rick Steves' Europe wrote to tell me about this really nice example of <CFDOCUMENT> at work.

Rey Bango has posted notes on how to shrink the Spry JavaScript files that ship with ColdFusion 8.

Three positions this week, including one in the UK:

• General Dynamics IT (UK) is looking for an experienced ColdFusion/Flex developer to join their development team. 3-5 years of current experience as a ColdFusion developer are required. ColdFusion certified applicants are given preferential consideration. Skills should include: ColdFusion MX 6.1 and above, MS SQL Server 2005, Flex, CSS, JavaScript, and XML. Also desirable is experience in one or more of the following: Ajax/Spry, Flash and RSS. Contact David Logwood or Kimberly Meek or go online and search for Job ID: W123268-01.
• Lynda.com (Austin, TX) is looking for web development manager (to manage ColdFusion development). Must have minimum of 3-5 years experience managing a web/software development team with proven excellence in leadership and project management, as well as experience with all Microsoft systems, platforms and applications. (Windows Server 2000-2003, SQL Server 2000-2005). Details posted online.
• Unnamed startup (Mountain View, CA or Phoenix, AZ) is looking for a local Flex developer for hire or contract-to-hire. Strong SQL and object-oriented programming skills required and ColdFusion experience strongly desired. Contact jobsatta@yahoo.com.

MySQL has released a beta of a new version of their Java driver. As per this post, MySQL Connector/J 5.1.2 is a Type-IV pure-Java JDBC driver that is suitable for use with any MySQL version including MySQL-4.1, MySQL-5.0, MySQL-5.1 beta or the MySQL-6.0 Falcon alpha release. And this new driver contains code that automatically detects ColdFusion and then adjusts settings to optimize performance for ColdFusion use. Thank to Tom Jordahl for bringing this one to my attention.

Ray Camden loves playing with ColdFusion, and has been coming up with creative projects to experiment with ColdFusion 8 features and functionality. His latest proof of concept is coldfusionBloggers, a ColdFusion blog aggregator which, as per the FAQ, is "2 CFCs, a front page, and a processing page". He has made the source code available too (see the FAQ page). Good stuff!

A week or so ago I offered discount codes for MAX here in the U.S., and lots of you eagerly grabbed them. And others wanted to know if I had discount codes for MAX Europe, and I didn't. But ... I do now! I don't have many of these, but if you want a one-time use discount code for 10% off the cost of MAX Europe, e-mail me now!

Jim Cassata sent me a link to The IT Crowd. Funny stuff! :-)

My laptop bag has scared TSA security personnel at several airports recently, requiring manual bag inspections each time. And when it happened again this week I finally figured out what it is that was freaking them out when the bag went through the x-ray machine - it's the spare laptop battery I always carry. This would never be an issue if the battery were inside the laptop, but the spare battery (depending on how it is laying in the back) can catch attention. But, TSA issues aside, look at the shape of the battery. You just have to wonder - what on earth was IBM thinking?

A while back I posted examples of using ColdFusion 8 Ajax support to power an auto-suggest control and related <CFSELECT> controls. Both examples required that the back-end CFC methods create arrays (1 dimension for the former, 2 dimensions for the latter). And I pointed out that I hoped we'd be able to tighten that syntax before we ship.

Well, we did. In the final CF8, the CFC method bound to auto-suggest can return a simple list (a string), and the CFC bound to a <CFSELECT> can return a query. This makes the code orders of magnitude simpler. I am not going to update those entries just yet (as these enhancements won't work with the public beta), but ...

The CFC method to power an auto-suggest could be simplified like this:

The CFC method to power a <CFSELECT> could now just return a query. And the <CFSELECT> control would then use the existing VALUE and DISPLAY attributes to specify the query columns to be used, like this:

These are great little enhancements, and I am glad the team was able to get them in just in time.

The annual MAX Awards recognizes the best of the best uses of Adobe software for creating engaging experiences. Awards are giving in seven categories, and then there's the People's Choice award, too (selected from among finalists by attendees at MAX 2007 in Chicago). Have an application you'd like to nominate? The nomination form is online waiting for you.

Come on, I want to see some killer ColdFusion powered nominations. ;-)

New to MAX this year are developer bootcamps, and we're holding one dedicated to ColdFusion. For those of you yet to experience bootcamps, these are very informal, highly interactive, audience driven, hands-on, free-form, anything-goes type sessions - try to picture a semi-organized free-for-all. And these are big time fun. The ColdFusion bootcamp has no fixed speaker list, and no definite agenda. Instead, you get to set the agenda - for all 3.5 hours of it. Want to see examples of how to do cool things with CF8 Ajax support? You'll be able to do just that. We'll put an expert up front, and you'll get to see exactly what you want to see. Have your own example to show? Great, we'll put you up there, too. Want a walk through of getting the new ColdFusion debugger configured and installed? Sure, we can do that. Want to share code and follow along? That's encouraged, and we'll have lots of USB flash drives loaded with software for you to share and use and try. As I said, a semi-organized free-for-all for you and hundreds of your peers.

So, just to make sure we are on the right track, have you ever taken part in an event of this format (or lack thereof)? What would you like to see discussed? Would you like to present, and if yes, what? Any thoughts and comments are welcome and appreciated!

Lots of positions this week, include one at Nike and one at AT&T.

• Unnamed company (Boston, MA) is looking for a ColdFusion developer for 5 month contract. Strong SQL skills required. Contact Jennifer Ledet at Strategic Staffing Solutions.
• Unnamed company (Silicon Valley, CA) is looking for a ColdFusion developer, initially for a 6 month contract, and possible to hire in the future. Requirements include 3+ years of ColdFusion experience, strong RDBMS (preferably Oracle) experience, and experience with AJAX and web services. Flash and Java experience is a plus. Contact iTalent Solutions.
• Nike (Beaverton, OR) is looking for an eLearning Application Engineer with 2+ years experience with ColdFusion MX 7, Flash ActionScript 2.0, SQL, HTML, JavaScript, AJAX and CSS. Requirements also include a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Instructional Design, or a related field. Details posted online.
• NY Department of Motor Vehicles (Albany, NY) is looking for a ColdFusion developer for an 18 month engagement. Requirements include at least 5 years of ColdFusion experience, as well as experience with SQL and data analysis, JavaScript, XML and XSLT, and Ajax. Contact Chenna at Talent Consulting, Inc.
• AT&T (Hoffman Estates, IL) is looking for a ColdFusion developer with extensive SQL Server experience. Contact Erica Nyland at Algomod Technologies Corporation.
• Unnamed company (Indianapolis, IN) is looking for a ColdFusion developer. Strong SQL skills required. Perl, Java, and VB experience preferred. Contact Tina Harpenau at Technisource.

Title says it all, check out the pics.

Mark Lynch e-mailed me to let me know that he has blogged about a project his company has been working on. The application delivers mobile phone and IM based learning solutions, uses VoiceXML and Jabber/XMPP, and is powered by ColdFusion. Cool stuff!

The Adobe User Group is hosting an official ColdFusion 8 launch event on July 31, 2007 in Washington, DC. Oh, and if the thought of ColdFusion 8 being launched were not tempting enough, they'll be raffling off an iPhone, too. Sign up today for this event.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the official ColdFusion 8 release date is not July 31st, 2007. ;-)

Flash maven Aral Balkan (who has been a rather vocal critic of MAX in the past) has announced that he will be speaking at MAX this year (and explains why the change of heart). Good to have you on board, Aral!

You are invited to join the Adobe team at Flex Camp on July 27 2007, to be held at the Adobe San Francisco offices. Flex Camp is a free one night gathering with food, drinks, coding and time with the Flex and Apollo engineers covering everything you need to know about the upcoming release of Flex 3 and Adobe AIR. Bring your laptop, we'll provide the food, drinks and extra goodies. Registration is required, and the events is almost 90% sold out already, so register now!