AS3 KeyboardEvent

Author: Tommy Leung | 08.02.2008 | Category: Internet, Programming, Technology

I’ve been working with ActionScript 3 a little bit more as of late and one rather confusing problem that seems to come up often is one with KeyboardEvent–it doesn’t seem to always work. The solution that I’ve come up with is to always add the KeyboardEvent listener to the stage of the root.

So, you will want to use addEventListener in the main class:

stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN, KeyDown);
stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_UP, KeyUp);

And that’s it! This way has worked well for me so far. I actually use a KeyManager class to initialize the events and the stage is passed to that class.

Txting Boosts Literacy

Author: Tommy Leung | 05.27.2008 | Category: News, Technology

Txt messages are amongst the most popular ways to communicate on our cellphones today and a lot of us can’t even imagine not being able to txt. There are just times when an actual call is unnecessary or you happen to be in a meeting, lecture, movie theater, etc. Studies show that txting boosts literacy amongst children. It is believed the the use of “imaginative abbreviations” help with reading and writing.

So with kids getting cellphones younger and younger, this is certainly good news. The smarter our kids, the better our country.

All-Electric Saturn Sky

Author: Tommy Leung | 05.24.2008 | Category: Business, Technology

I have been dying for all-electric cars to become mass market products. That Tesla Roadster has had me salivating ever since I first found out about it. Advanced Mechanical Products is taking orders for 300 converted Saturn Sky Roadsters that are all-electric. They can go up to 150 miles on a single charge, 0 – 60 in 6 seconds, and up to 90 MPH. It’ll cost $50,000 for the conversion and AMP intends to start shipping them in 2009.