How to Play Flash (SWF) inside C#

Playing Flash (*.SWF) inside C# program with the ability to play ,pause and forward the movie :

All what you should to do in the first is to import the this two reference in the project as in this figure .

In the InitializeComponent function from Form.Designer.cs define your flash object as this :

this.AxShockwaveFlash1 = new AxShockwaveFlashObjects.AxShockwaveFlash();

then

//
// AxShockwaveFlash1
//
this.AxShockwaveFlash1.Enabled = true;
this.AxShockwaveFlash1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(12, 12);
this.AxShockwaveFlash1.Name = "AxShockwaveFlash1";
this.AxShockwaveFlash1.OcxState = ((System.Windows.Forms.AxHost.State)(resources.GetObject("AxShockwaveFlash1.OcxState")));
this.AxShockwaveFlash1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(525, 266);

To fill your Flash Object by SWF file:

AxShockwaveFlash1.Movie = “c:\ahmed.swf”;

To forward or pause the flash object :
AxShockwaveFlash1.Forward();

To Play the flash object :
AxShockwaveFlash1.Play();

To download the complete demo :
http://ahmedessawy.googlepages.com/Flash_player.rar

Silverlight for Linux [Moonlight Project]

Posted by: Jack Vaughan on June 25, 2007 DIGG
Miguel de Icaza and his Mono project cohorts have quickly produced an implementation of Silverlight for Linux. The effort is called Moonlight.

Silverlight is an extended subset of the 2.0 .NET framework that can support rich media on multiple browsers and platforms.

Various developers worked intensely to create the first version of Moonlight, which de Icaza demonstrated at a European Microsoft MIX event last week.

de Icaza blog on Moonlight

Moonlight Project page

Microsoft Code Name "Acropolis"

Brief Description
Microsoft Code Name “Acropolis” is a set of components and tools intended to make it easier for developers to build and manage modular, business focused, client applications for Microsoft Windows on the .NET Framework

Overview
“Acropolis” builds on the rich capabilities of Microsoft Windows and the .NET Framework, including Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), by providing tools and pre-built components that help developers quickly assemble applications from loosely-coupled parts and services.

Download http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=72386ce5-f206-4d5c-ab09-413b5f31f935&displaylang=en&tm#AffinityDownloads

Photosynth

Photosynth is a collaboration between Microsoft and the University of Washington based on the groundbreaking research of Noah Snavely (UW), Steve Seitz (UW), and Richard Szeliski (Microsoft Research).


The Photosynth Technology is a taste of the newest and most exciting way to view photos on a computer, yet ,uptil now, a bit slow even for DSL users. The software takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and then displays the photos in a reconstructed three-dimensional space, showing you how each one relates to the next.

You can access gigabytes of photos in seconds, view a scene from nearly any angle, find similar photos with a single click, and zoom in to make the smallest detail as big as your monitor.

On the project presentation on TED talks*, You can see how Photosynth really collaborates the images contributed by of thousands of people enriching the value of each with the value added by networking all these images together...

Here's the main site for Photosynth by Ms Live Labs
Where you can have a try also have a blog & other nice stuff to check...& Guess what It even works on firefox quite well, actuall on my PC I it didn't even work on IE6 just on Firefox. You may be asked to download and install a couple of things

*Also here's a presentation for the project on TED talks
You can watch it in browser or download it in MP4 format...

ENJOY!!!

Wireless Security

Wireless technologies have been growing fast in the last decade, which has introduced a wide range of attacking threats. Corporates or individuals that use wireless technologies should be aware of the consequences of using unsecured wireless devices.

To introduce the possible well-known threats, the Evil Twin threat is the perfect start.

The Evil Twin is one of the most popular threats to Wi-Fi users (also known as WiPhishing). It's an access point that replicates another network name, pretending to be that specific network. Some users find unsecured networks connections and think that it’s just another lucky day; actually its not!! Evil Twin typically awaits users that sign into that false access to do the desired attack on the user. Applications, which automatically detects the change of security settings prevents such attacks, are published and easy to use. Or simply stay away from unsecured wireless networks.


The Promiscuous Client (sniffer) is very similar to the Evil Twin. The thing is that it is not based on fooling a user that finds a free unsecured network, it forces him to connect to it. The Promiscuous Client is simply a user roving around armed with a Wi-Fi enabled laptop, a strong Wi-Fi sensor and directional antenna creating a wireless access point, Offering an irresistibly strong signal. 802.11 wireless cards often look for a stronger signal to connect to, so Promiscuous Clients simply transmit their wireless traffic through their fake access point, making their data transmissions accessible to others and their networks vulnerable to potential attacks. It is suggested to use a wireless "sniffer" that can help in monitoring and testing the network airspace.

Bluejacking and Bluesnarfing is all about attacking the Bluetooth wireless technological devices. It’s extremely dangerous to leave the Bluetooth device connection open, where Bluejacking, for instance, allows unauthorized users to send unsolicited messages to the Bluetooth-enabled phone. Bluejacking doesn’t really cause any harm, howerever, it can cause the client to panic or even think that the device is malfunctioning. Bluesnarfing is another Bluetooth threat, but in a harmful way, not like the Bluejacking. Bluesnarfing can steal data from the device. Bluesnarfing can only be controlled by stopping any incoming requests through pairing devices, allowing the trusted devices only to get access to the data. The problem with those attacks is that they are untraceable, so the user is the only one that can protect him from them.

Wireless network viruses (mobile viruses) are electronic viruses that targets wireless-enabled devices. It has become very difficult to secure the devices against attacks in the form of viruses or other malicious software (malwares). Wireless viruses are different than normal viruses, they can detect inner wireless networks, spread among them, attack and harm. To avoid this, install suitable antivirus and keep it up to date constantly.

Defending the threats:
1- WPA or WEP for access control and privacy. WPA and WEP are technologies that encrypt traffic on the network, where all the systems using that network need a key (password) to access it.

2- End to end encryption where encrypting at the network level only isn’t enough, so end to end encryption (typically SSL) is needed for privacy. The thing is that the entire conversation between the client and server is secured, not just the connection.


For further readings:
http://techdir.rutgers.edu/wireless.html http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/technology/broadband_mobility/6_wireless_threats_to_your_business.mspx http://www.wikipedia.com/