Paul Mignard wrote a report of his trip to MAX back in October. And he created a Scorpio Man cartoon (see page 23 of the PDF). It's a bit more aggressive then I'd have liked, but still pretty cool! :-)

Flex Data Services provide rich data management and messaging capabilities. But what if you are not using a Flash client? What if you are using good old JavaScript, including Ajax type clients? Well, as first sneaked at MAX in Las Vegas, now JavaScript clients can leverage FDS using Ajax Data Services just posted on Labs.

Andrew Muller has posted a great MAX 2006 report on Builder.au (Australia's Builder.com).

I guess it was to be expected. The online MAX store has created a Scorpio Man t-shirt. ;-)

Ashwin has posted his highly rated MAX Scorpio Server Monitoring presentation online.

With the MAX announcement last week of a $100,000,000 fund created by Adobe to invest in Apollo projects, Ted Patrick has posted some useful info on VC 101 and what you need to know if you'd like a slice of the pie.

I am in Taipei, capital city of the Republic of China, Taiwan, and home to an estimated 2.5 million people. My hotel is right next to the tallest building in the world, Taipei 101.

I got in late last night, and have ColdFusion and Flex related customer meetings today. And then MAX Asia starts tomorrow morning.

I am in Kansai airport in Osaka, Japan, and have an hour layover here. The airport has free (but s-l-o-w) WiFi, so I logged in to upload/download e-mail. Next stop, Taipei and MAX Asia.

I am on my way to MAX - MAX Asia that is, in Taipei, Taiwan. I'll be presenting on both ColdFusion and Flex, and will also be presenting some of my MAX keynote content from last week. MAX Asia continues in two other Asian locations that I will not be attending as I have to be in Europe next week. Others will indeed be attending multiple locations, including Ted Patrick who will be in Taipei and Singapore.

For the latest on Apollo, go to http://www.adobe.com/go/apollo. The page has just been updated based on information released at MAX this week.

I just got back to Michigan. I left Las Vegas earlier today, after my final session (the 4th time I presented a hands-on introduction to ColdFusion Powered Flex).

The sneaks general session this morning went very well, with attendance better than I expected for an 8:30 morning-after-the-party event. The ColdFusion sneak was not a sneak for many by this point, as we had been demoing the server monitoring in sessions previously (we'll be showing more of Scorpio as we move from alpha to beta). Still, the crowd were pleased to see what we have planned (and seemed to get a kick out of Scorpio Man!). The FDS/Ajax sneak was very impressive, as were the Dreamweaver and Flash 9 sneaks.

These past few days have been a blur of meetings, sessions, presentations, chatting with attendees, some partying, and not much sleep. The general consensus seems to be that this was one of the best conferences ever, which was great to hear.

And now I need to get to work on my content for MAX Asia next week.

Jen deHaan has posted detailed blow-by-blow descriptions of MAX Day 1 and Day 2 keynotes. These are the best summaries (if you can call them that) I've seen yet, and are a definite must read!

It's been a long day here at MAX. This is the first chance I have gotten to get to my computer, and it looks like all of the bloggers here have beaten me to the punch. But, here are some thoughts on MAX thus far:

The opening keynote was superb, definitely one of our more exciting keynotes, and without a doubt the loudest. After several "let's tease Ben" segments courtesy of Kevin and Shantanu, I got to present two segments. The first concentrated on ColdFusion. I talked about the CF/Flex integration in CFMX 7.0.2, showed the ColdFusion Flex Application Wizard, and then discussed "Scorpio". I did not have time to cover Scorpio in detail, but mentioned the sessions on server monitoring and .NET integration, and then showed a little of the imaging capabilities, a subset of what is covered in the image session. The second (which, apparently, surprised many) was on PDF/SWF integration. I first showed some current PDF functionality, concentrating on PDF form field recognition and turning forms into live intelligent forms. I then showed a sneak at the ability to auto-generate a SWF version of a PDF form by running wizard in LiveCycle Designer. I also pointed out that Scorpio, when it ships, will also integrate with PDF forms and allow PDF file manipulation.

This afternoon I presented a 90 minutes session on getting started with CF powered Flex. Despite some initial logistical and technical hurdles, the session went really well. I present that session three more times over the next two days.

We also hosted two ColdFusion BOFs this evening. The first was an open discussion on ColdFusion IDEs, the interaction was far less contentious than I had expected, and we received lots of great feedback. The second was our annual "Meet The Team" session, this time featuring several former members.

Overall, Day 1 has been a phenomenal success. The buzz is good, the crowd excited, the noise level high, the sessions well received ... today felt like MAX is supposed to feel.

The only bummer is the venue. Don't get me wrong, The Venetian is an amazing hotel, and Vegas is, well, Vegas. But I am reminded of why I am not a big fan of these type taking place here in Vegas. There are too many distractions, too many other events going on, too much distance between rooms ... it's hard to find folks just hanging out. Still, this has been a great Day 1.

Tomorrow's keynote concentrates on mobile and devices. Yep, we've done that before, but this year we have an announcement that should make the content far more relevant. Stay tuned!

I am in Hall D of The Venetian going over tomorrow's opening keynote content. Opening rehearsals are going on behind me, and this opening will blow you away. Remember the laser light show in 2000? This tops it! The opening is being kept top-secret, I absolutely can't share any details. Sorry. ;-) The keynote starts at 8:30, be there earlier for the best seats! Trust me on this one, DON'T SHOW UP LATE!

In what seems to be an annual ritual, my flight to Las Vegas was delayed and delayed and then delayed again. And then when we landed we were delayed and delayed waiting for a gate.

But I am here, finally. Now where are folks hanging out?

I'm on way to Las Vegas! MAX 2006, here I come! To those of you already partying, I mean working, see you this evening!

(This message is being sent from my new Nokia E62, about which I have very mixed feelings).

I was just looking at final MAX registration numbers, and yes, we did it! As far as I can tell, MAX 2006 will be the best attended event ever (beating the previous record of 3000 attendees set by Allaire Developer Conference 2000 in Washington, D.C.). Yeah! Can't wait to see you all next week!

BTW, online registration is closed. But we will be accepting walk-up registrations at the event. So it's not too late!

Steve Erat has announced that the Online ColdFusion Meetup Group will be meeting offline Tuesday evening at MAX. It's great to see more and more unofficial events and impromptu meetings cropping up. After all, networking (the social kind, not WiFi) is a big part of the MAX experience.

Lots of you have been asking if there will be WiFi at MAX this year (as there has been in the past). And yes, there will be WiFi available in the exhibit area, as well as in the foyers on levels 3, 4, and 5. The SSID and access code will be prominently posted, too.

So yes, you can blog away and post Flickr pictures to your heart's content. And I guess you can work too, if that is absolutely necessary.

Looks like I'll be heading over to Taipei the week after MAX for MAX Asia (well, the first venue, MAX Asia will actually be held in three locations). I was last there for MAX Asia 2004 (MAX Asia 2005 was in Hong Kong) and am excited to be going back.

Greg Cannon uses ColdFusion, Flash, Photoshop, and more. He's involved with the Las Vegas Adobe Users Group. Oh, and he also happens to work for The Venetian (home to MAX next week). So who better to keep is informed of the MAX bar scene?

As per Greg, this is how you should be spending your non-MAX time:

• Sunday: MiniMAX at "The Beach"
• Monday: Tao (at The Venetian) starting 8:30, cover is waived, no line with Max Badge
• Tuesday: V Bar (at The Venetian) starting 7:30, cover is waived, no line with Max Badge
• Wednesday: Max Special Event
• Thursday: V Bar (at The Venetian) starting 7:30, cover is waived, no line with Max Badge
• Friday: Las Vegas Dreamweaver Users Group event

Just one note of caution - "I was up late partying" will not be accepted as an excuse for showing up late to my early sessions! ;-)

Sure, The Venetian is one of Vegas' hottest properties. And it's also home to both the Vegas production of Phantom of the Opera as well as Blue Man Group. And then there are The Grand Canal Shoppes and the spectacular new Venezia Tower. That's all great. But what is really appealing about The Venetian is that The Venetian web site is powered by ColdFusion MX 7!

And you thought we just picked any old location for MAX! ;-)

Joe Berkovitz created ReviewTube, a Flex application that lets you write captions for YouTube movies. Joe explains the app online (and makes the source code available), and will be discussing design patterns and best practices involved in creating the app in his MAX session.

Looks like I will indeed make it to CFDevCon on November 9th in the U.K. My topic has yet to be finalized (I am working on nothing but MAX this week, and btw, online registration and session selection closes this evening!), but you can be sure that it'll involve Scorpio, sneak-peeks, and ... well, I'll figure it out after MAX. ;-) I'm really excited about this event, this is long overdue and I am pleased to be able to be a part of it. See you there!

ZDNet's Ryan Stewart is excited about the upcoming MAX, and MAXUP in particular. Read why.