Quick dive into Flash Builder 4 (formerly Flex)
It has been a while since I have opened Flash Builder 4 Beta, but having to fill in the survey for testing, I gave it another shot yesterday.
Downloaded the last build "253292" from adobe prerelease repository.
I spend like couple of hours reading the docs and trying this and that, there is a lot of improvements, but what really caught my eyes is the tooltip help when you mouse-over a component, it gives you a more detailed information than before.
And what really was a WOW for me is the changes in the Data menu, now with the simple wizard you can create a connection to web service, PHP, BlazeDs, and others.
I tried the PHP one, and it went very smooth, I could even without writing a single line of PHP, enter the database credentials, and select the table I want to have access to from my flex app, and in few click, flex created the service in PHP and the mirroring AS classes, It even downloaded the Zend Framework AMF component.
It is much different than before, I had to do a lot of hard coding to get to this point, now developers will have more time to concentrate on the application itself, rather than on connecting to database and making it work.
It is worth trying and developers should read the migration docs from previous versions to get ready for it when it released.
Download Flash Builder Beta : http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashbuilder4/
Flash Builder 4 Migration Doc. : http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/gumbo/flex4featuresandmigration.pdf
Zend Certified Engineer
Hi mates,
finally i have got certified as Zend Certified Engineer on 10th of this month.
i have been decided to take the exam since a year, but was too busy to hold myself at home and revise the manual and prepare for the exam, but this month i said this is it.
The exam is very tricky with lots of confusing questions, it tests your ability of thinking and your real experience with php, web development, security and many other topics that some people will not expect to exist in PHP exam, it is real benchmarking to your abilities.
I must say that preaparing for the exam has opened various topics for me to dig deep in, and it was a great experience.
And being one of the only 2 certified in Egypt is cool 
Ubuntu / Open Source Presentation in Cairo Univeristy
IEEE has organized an open source week in Cairo University, for Engineering Students, i have been happy to be recommended to present the first day.
http://www.ieee-cusb.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=78:open-source-week
I started with a presentation about Open Source, definitions and different lisences, and what is the whole story about, then a presnentation about Ubuntu and a live Demonstration, then installation session where more than 150 Ubuntu CD was distributed.
The audience was about 200 student, and some graduates also, was a great day, it is such a pleasure to help people kiss the blue screen of death Goodbye 
Free Adobe Flex Builder 3 Professional for unemployed developers
Adobe Flex Builder 3 software is currently available for free for software developers who are affected by the current economic condition and are currently unemployed.
Follow the below link to download your Free copy
https://freeriatools.adobe.com/learnflex/
New Home Page Layout
I dunno if anybody has noticed this cause most of the visitors come to the blog directly, i have deployed a homepage for the site http://www.php-architect.com , it contains no graphic, just some ajax / css tricks with some theme.
i was obsessed by the idea that i couldn't wait until i finish the content of the pages, and i deployed it.
waiting for suggestions to improve it and i will upload the content soon.
Programmer Productivity Tips At Work
Some nice tips in an article that caught my attention, Most of the tips are general, but some are specifically suited to programmers/engineers in situations with long compile/simulation phases (compiling is the act of building an executable, simulation is the act of running it to completion).
Appcelerator :: Building RIA Apps and Use Cases with ease
Yesterday i was browsing Zend Framework Webinars, and i stopped by the title :
Get "Rich" Quick : Building Ajax-based RIAs with the Zend Framework and Appcelerator
i didn't hear about the Appcelerator thing before, but the title was really interesting as i use Zend framework extensively and it is a great idea to add some interactivity and UI to my apps.
after watching the webinars, i really liked the idea of being able to build the full prototype and have it working with no server side code, and then in the development phase with some slight changes to the prototype, it becomes the working front end interacting with the server side code with no problems @ all.
i went to try.appcelerator.org and gave it a try on the fly, that got me more interested. so i downloaded the sdk installer for MAC and installed it, the installation was at ease, even creating the projects and testing.
Appcelerator supports what we call "technology driven agile development" and we call that process Interactive Use Cases.
Aroma Systems – Be Guided By Your Senses
It has been 3 months since i joined the team at Aroma, and i have to say i enjoyed every single day.
Since i have been always a chaser to my dreams, i found the environment there suitable for me, it gives you the time and the conditions that will make you learn, develop, apply and innovate.
During these 3 months i have finished many projects, i learned a lot, and applied a lot of what i have been learning before during my career.
The team there is amazing, i enjoy working with them, we brainstorm on crazy ideas that looks impossible and we do it 
,
We always focus on the new and top technologies that helps us build secure and fast application with very attractive user interface, and since the team is experienced in them and certified from large companies like Adobe, IBM, and Beta Testers for the technology makers like Zend "The php company" we know how to use the tools well to get the best output ever.
We made a new page to demonstrate our work, u will find a video there and some shots behind the scenes, i am sure u will like it. the video is quiet large but it is worth it, be patient
The link to the page is http://systems.graphicaroma.com
Aroma Systems is a department of Aroma Design & Solutions
we are working now on some projects that will rock the market soon
wish me good luck
Adobe to contribute AMF support to Zend Framework
Hey folks,
i have read this great news yesterday, that Adobe has made a proposal for an AMF (Action Message Format) component in Zend Framework.
what a great addition to the strong & superior framework.
this will facilitate my work a lot with my colleagues here that works with Flex, we have been developing some Air applications, and as a solution of the interaction between Flex & PHP we used web services to exchange the data in Json format between us, it works fine, but having the options of AMF will make it more powerful and smooth.
long live ZF, long live flex
here is the link for the news i got :
http://andigutmans.blogspot.com/2008/07/adobe-to-contribute-amf-support-to-zend.html
and here is the link for the proposal :
http://framework.zend.com/wiki/display/ZFPROP/Zend_Amf
Enjoy
Google Calendar SMS Reminders Active in Egypt
Well, as u can understand from the subject, now the sms notifications of google calendar works with egyptian providers, i tried with vodafone and mobinil and it works smoothly.
steps are easy :
1- go to www.gmail.com and open your mail account.
2- click on the calendar link on the top left of the page.
3- in the calendar page click on settings on the top right of the page.
4- click on mobile setup tab.
5- enter your mobile number and then you will recieve a confirmation code,
6- enter the confirmation code and verify.
7- you will be redirected to notifications page, enable all SMS notifications, and setup default reminders for each event, you can setup up to 5 reminders.
you are done, and you can setup repeated events, for example i setup a daily event to wake me up by sms every morning.
another trick if you want to send sms to another person and you have no credit , just enter a new event, with the title
