Alright, Unless I'm missing something; Isn't this doable many years ago ever since Flash Communication Server (currently Flash Media Server) was released by erstwhile Macromedia. Isn't this an SWF with wmode set to Transparent and use Flash Media Server to relay connected users' mouse.
Unless there is anything extra, we did this during 2004!
Adam Wride
· 1 year ago
Technology doesn't matter. It is how it is used. I'm not saying that Firefly is awesome, but to say that "this could be done back in XXXX" is irrelevant. Facebook could have been built back in 2000, but no one did.
Brajeshwar
· 1 year ago
Ok, read the blog's article -- He just gave me a demo and my first reaction was "You can't do that,"
Well, it is not "You can't do that", as it was done before - long time back.
How Firefly implements it and makes it a good product is a different story.
Brent Ashley
· 1 year ago
It's not that nobody did it, it's that nobody noticed. That has been the way with lots of things - the whole Ajax epiphany came at least 5 years after the techniques were in wide use, for instance.
Bloody hell, that's quite cool. Thanks for sharing.
Chris Nixon
· 1 year ago
Very interesting product. It may be limited beyond the novelty factor, but if it can be expanded, and kept spam-free, then it will be worth a second look.
Jimmy
· 1 year ago
This is NOT a product. Hardly. This is a socket server running through a full screen SWF. Interesting use, but weak....
zacksback
· 1 year ago
I dunno, Dave - it's like an ADD Twitter. But oddly compelling. It took some effort to stop.
RAGZ
· 1 year ago
For me, this all depends on whether it's used to help me if I'm obviously lost, or to hurt me if I'm constantly assaulted with changing ads or crazy admin messages following the mouse pointer. I can't really think of a time when someone would follow the mouse pointer to help me, because I'm not often lost. I think it's for targeting the most expensive CPC ads to go where the pointer goes.
Here (firefox2/linux), it works, but it doesn't appear over the content, it appears on a blank page of its own. Seems a bit pointless in that context.
Matt Harwood
· 1 year ago
Very weird feeling using Firefly. A fellow chatter (couldn't tell who anyone was) pointed out "who owns the data?" - very valid point in my opinion. Seems buggy on Gecko engines (crashed Camino for me, others have problems with Firefox) but an interesting tool..
Is it specific to scripting.com, or the page where you click it?
James Vasak
· 1 year ago
Any chance you could use this to produce a real-time heat map of your site? Might not be able to track the users' eyes (yet), but at least you'd be able to see where their mouse was moving.
Ruben Puentedura
· 1 year ago
Dave, thanks for hosting this demo - I haven't had this much fun with a product rollout since Twitter first showed up.
I've just written a "first reaction" post on my blog - more later, once I've had a chance to see what other people do with Firefly.
Ted Dziuba
· 1 year ago
Doesn't work. I just get "loading" then my browser hangs. FF 2.0/Linux. Awesome.
sundoggy
· 1 year ago
This is very interesting (yes, very shiny comes to mind Michael). Seems to work very well in a webkit based ap (Netnewswire 3.1x) until I tried to leave this comment and it wanted to chat. I am at a loss for actual applications, though I suspect real-time chatting with other readers would be the basis. What would make that really cool (and more valuable from a blog owner AND reader standpoint) is a log/transcript of the chatter. It will be interesting to see how this evolves and where is goes.
Thanks for hosting the demo, and cool demo, Firefly. Can't wait to see what you (and others) do with it.
paul
davingreenwell
· 1 year ago
I notice it hijacks my ability to scroll using the page up/page down keys. That is annoying.
This could be utterly brilliant for web developers working with designers though.
Sanford Dickert
· 1 year ago
Dave - if you are still in the area - give me an email/call.
Bill
· 1 year ago
This post is preventing Scripting.com from loading in IE7..
All Comments
Unless there is anything extra, we did this during 2004!
-- He just gave me a demo and my first reaction was "You can't do that,"
Well, it is not "You can't do that", as it was done before - long time back.
How Firefly implements it and makes it a good product is a different story.
Take Q42's Quek in this case: http://www.quek.nl/q/index.jsp?url=http://www.q...
I first noticed it in 2001. http://www.ashleyit.com/blogs/brentashley/2001/...
It took some effort to stop.
Is it specific to scripting.com, or the page where you click it?
I've just written a "first reaction" post on my blog - more later, once I've had a chance to see what other people do with Firefly.
Thanks for hosting the demo, and cool demo, Firefly. Can't wait to see what you (and others) do with it.
paul
This could be utterly brilliant for web developers working with designers though.