I have volunteered to be a judge of the 1st annual Web Pro Community Challenge. I am waiting with great anticipation to see the applications that will be submitted for review in this contest.

To enter a team in the challenge please visit:
http://www.webprochallenge.org/enter-now.html

Here is the prize list:

* 1st Place

o $500.00 cash or equivalent gift card (for a total of $1500.00 per team)
o Adobe Creative Suite Premium
o Gold Certificate with Plaque
o Honorable mention on the Web Pro Community Challenge site and official press release
o Web Pro Community Challenge T-Shirt
o 1 year WOW Membership
o Certificate for 1 WOW certification exam

* 2nd Place

o Silver Certificate
o Mention on the Web Pro Community Challenge site and official press release
o Web Pro Community Challenge T-Shirt
o 1 year WOW Membership
o Certificate for 1 WOW certification exam

* 3rd Place (maximum of three individuals per team)

o Bronze Certificate
o Mention on the Web Pro Community Challenge site and official press release
o Web Pro Community Challenge T-Shirt
o 1 year WOW Membership
o Adobe certification voucher

So, here is the current situation with AIR and the concept or NativeMenus. First, if you are not yet familiar with AIR and NativeMenus, please see the images below.

AIR NativeMenu on Mac OS X

Two AIR NativeMenus on a multi window application on Windows XP

OK, so here is the dilemma. On Mac OS X, NativeMenus are only able to be set on the Shell of the application and there may be only one NativeMenu per application. On Windows, NativeMenus can only be set on either a NativeWindow or Window component and may not be set on the Shell of the application.

So, I would like to get the opinions of my fellow AIR developers as to what you plan to do to build applications that can deploy on both Mac and PC and still have a consistent navigation. Will you even use NativeMenus as all?

P.S. - I have no idea what will happen on Linux. If you have any info on this please post comments on this as well.

My article “Taking a Flex app to the desktop” is now live on the Adobe Developer Center. The contents are a step by step walk through of my MAX presentation last week.

I know I saw some pictures being taken as well as a video camera during my presentations at MAX last week, if anyone has any pictures or video from either session listed below, please contact me:

Date Time Session Title Room #
Mon, Oct 1st 2:00PM - 3:00PM RA217W: Taking a Flex Application from the Web to the Desktop with Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) 194b
Wed, Oct 3rd 1:45PM - 2:45PM RA217W: Taking a Flex Application from the Web to the Desktop with Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) 187c

Did you miss the AIR Developer Derby? Well MTV is running a new contest that has a December 31st deadline. Here are the categories and prizes.

Total Request Application - Grand Prize

* Two night trip for two to New York City
* MTV “VIP” Night On the Town
* “Pitch Session” with MTV Networks Product Development Team
* Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection
* MP3 Player & One Year Subscription to Rhapsody Music Service

Pimp My Assets: Mashup - Finalist

* One night trip for one to New York City
* “Pitch Session” with MTV Networks Product Development Team
* Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection
* MP3 Player & One Year Subscription to Rhapsody Music Service

Making The Wildcard - Finalist

* One night trip for one to New York City
* “Pitch Session” with MTV Networks Product Development Team
* Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection
* MP3 Player & One Year Subscription to Rhapsody Music Service

Here is the official link to the MTV site.