Wallop was a social network initiative that was originally started by Microsoft to rival Facebook and Myspace. It was revolutionary from the perspective that it was primarily all in Flash.

Today I went to the main Wallop website:

http://wallop.com/home.html

And found a site that is marketing applications for other social networks. After seeing this I decided to check out the Wallop members site:

http://members.wallop.com/

And it redirects to the same page.

I then found a techcrunch article:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/15/wallop-takes-a-leap-into-the-deadpool/

So it is true, it is dead.

The Target Corporation has agreed to pay $6 million in damages to plaintiffs in California unable to use its online site as part of a class-action settlement with the National Federation of the Blind.

As part of the settlement, announced Wednesday, Target will place $6 million in an interest-bearing account from which members of the California settlement class can make claims. The settlement also requires Target to use internal guidelines to make its site more accessible to the blind by Feb. 28, 2009, with assistance from the federation, an advocacy group for the blind.

The retailer and the National Federation of the Blind agreed to a three-year relationship during which the advocacy group will test the site to make sure it is accessible to the blind who use technologies like screen-reading software.

After reading more about the whole Adobe announcement, they really seem to be pushing SwfObject 2.0. Why? Simply because it not only makes use of Javascript, but uses the older embed tags that we used to make use of before the whole IE "Click to Activate" issue.

This may also seem familiar if you publish an HTML file directly from Flash. It not only uses JavaScript, but has a no-script area that uses the older embed tags. To my knowledge Flash has already been doing this since Flash 8.

The problem with doing this is that it doesn't allow you the opportunity to make a search engine friendly version of your site. I know that this is the purpose of the Adobe announcement, but it is unproven technology. Additionally there is no way for a developer to test it or program Flash to have things show up properly in Google or Yahoo.

Currently creating an search engine friendly version of your flash site affords you the ability to have control over the way search engines will see your content. It also affords you the ability to create a non-flash version of the site for users that don't have Flash at all. So in theory you are creating a highly accessible version of your site by using .NET or something similar to transform the XML and assets that are used by the Flash into an XHTML version of your Flash.

It isn't all about search, it is also about making your content accessible to everyone, even those that don't have Flash.

I just had to turn comment moderation on until I can find some other method of protecting my postings. I have captcha, but that has been defeated for some time. Is there any other option at this point?

I have also started logging IP addresses hoping to find the spam bots that are doing the comment spam posts.

Is Nike a consumer-products or a new-media company? It sounds like a ludicrous question, until you consider the shifting resource focus of Nike's brand gurus highlighted in this week's Louise Story article in The New York Times. "We want to find a way to enhance the experience and services, rather than looking for a way to interrupt people from getting to where they want to go," says Stefan Olander, global director for brand connections at Nike, in the article. "How can we provide a service that the consumer goes, 'Wow, you really made this easier for me?'" he continues.

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This is bad news for all e-commerce sites and will have people scrambling to find a solution. This will also directly impact Flash sites as well. As the Web 2.0 revolution continues, could this verdict bring the revolution to a crawl?

A federal judge in California certified a class action lawsuit against Target Corp brought by plaintiffs claiming the discount retailer's Web site is inaccessible to the blind, according to court documents.

Judge Marilyn Patel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California also rejected Target's motion for summary judgment in the case, according to the ruling filed October 2.

According to the ruling, plaintiffs -- including the National Federation of the Blind -- claim Target.com violates federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination against the disabled.

"This is a tremendous step forward for blind people throughout the country who for too long have been denied equal access to the Internet economy," Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation for the Blind, said in a statement.

"All e-commerce businesses should take note of this decision and immediately take steps to open their doors to the blind," Maurer said.

"Target is committed to serving all of our guests and we believe that our Web site is fully accessible and complies with all applicable laws," Bloomberg quoted Target spokeswoman Carolyn Brookter as saying in an e-mailed statement.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071003/ts_nm/target_blind_dc_4;_ylt=AhEZ_F2c0l4eo9RLnTOZBMIE1vAI

Hello Everyone,

Many of you may not know this, but my wife is a cancer survivor. When she was only 17 she had two deadly forms of Leukemia at the same time, which is rare. She was treated and even though she has been in remission for 14 years, she is still affected by the disease everyday. In 2002 and in 2004 she had hip replacement surgery due to the steroids she had to take when she had cancer. We need your to help find a cure so that future generations won't have to go through any of this or even know what the word cancer means.

Here is the message from my wife:

I am walking in honor of myself and in memory of all the friends I have lost along the way. I am walking so my daughter may never know what the word cancer means. Please help us raise money to fight this horrible disease. A little about me: I was diagnosed with Leukemia during my junior year of High School. I was diagnosed with two forms of Leukemia ALL and AML. I underwent a bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy shortly thereafter. I have been in remission for 14 years. If it wasn't for the money raised by people to sponsor research I would not be here today. Today I have a beautiful family and I am planning on walking with them. Please help fight this horrible disease with me. I was actually the LLS (Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) Woman of the Year a few years ago and on the Gelatin Slide Committee for many, many years. This year I look forward to joining many people as they "Light the Night" for people who have been affected by blood related cancers like me.

Research is responsible for increasing survival rates for these diseases; the battle is far from over. Did you know that:

· Every five minutes, someone in this country is diagnosed with blood cancer: Every ten minutes, someone loses the fight.

· Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children.

· Lymphomas are the most common blood cancers.

· The myeloma survival rate is only 32 percent.

Please make a donation to support my participation in the Light The Night Walk. By doing so, we'll both be helping save lives and I'll be getting a work out! Be sure to check my Web site frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!

Help us to collect money that can be used to find a cure for cancer.

http://www.active.com/donate/ltnMelvil/2074_jaimefall

Your help is greatly appreciated,

-jeff

Who is going to MAX? I am going to MAX this year in Chicago. This makes the 3rd time for me, 2 times to MAX and once to DevCon. Any sessions that you are looking forward to in particular?

Here is my schedule:

Monday, October 1

• Hands On: Building your First Rich Internet Application With Flex 3
• Introduction to OOP with ActionScript 3.0
• Design Patterns in ActionScript 3.0
• Building Stunning Flex Applications with Flex Builder and Creative Suite 3

Tuesday, October 2

• Building Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) Applications Using Flash CS3
• Hands On: Introduction to ActionScript 3.0
• ------ open slot ------ going to skip into some undecided session.... tbd
• Flex Roadmap

Wednesday, October 3

• Inspire Session: Big Spaceship, Digital Creative Agency
• If You Build It Will They Come? Designing Your Web Application for Smooth Web Analytics
• Adobe Platform Roadmap
• Font Perspective: The New New Typography

If you don't see what I am talking about look at the 4th item on the left nav. For those that still don't see it, they are touting FutureSplash...

"FutureSplash is a plug-in used to display animations and graphical interfaces. The images used with FutureSplash vector based instead of pixel based, which makes the files very small and fast to transfer. The plug-in is very small also, download it now and watch our demo!"

http://www.4dm.com/files/tech/tech.htm

A rising middle class, cheap start-up costs, increasing penetration of PCs and Internet-enabled cell phones, and an ability to tap the local market better than multinationals like Google or Amazon.com, among other factors, is fueling a rush into Web sites, online games and companies with novel advertising pitches.

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