Yahoo! Flash(R) Blog

Tripp Bridges
Tripp has been working in flash since ActionScript 1. Early on, he saw the possibilities that Flash player’s ubiquity provided. For the past 2 years, he has been designing and developing front-end video solutions for national media outlets using Flash, AS 2, and JavaScript. Before that, he developed ad solutions and custom media for online advertising. Tripp has a BA in Anthropology from the University of Georgia.

Alaric Cole
Alaric has been working in Flash since ActionScript was created. Coming from a background in web design and JavaScript, he saw the power and flexibility Flash provided. He has been working primarily in Flex since its debut, developing enterprise applications for financial institutions, interactive galleries for media companies, and content management systems for the non-profit sector. He has consulted on Flex projects worldwide including the largest Flex release to date. Alaric holds a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Arkansas and a degree in Information Technology from Hankuk University. When not writing software, Alaric is usually in front of a computer editing a documentary or tagging photographs.

Michael Hoch
Michael is the Director of the Flash Platform at Yahoo!, where he sets strategy and drives adoption of platform solutions to mainstream status. His approach is using a close collaboration with product groups and focusing on product design and user-centric solutions.

Before Yahoo!, Michael was at Sony, working on novel interfaces for peer-to-peer communications on mobile devices, as well as graphics programming for broadcast games. He also produced interactive installations at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, Germany and managed research projects at the ZKM Center of Art and Media. His work has been shown at Ars Electronica (awarded the Golden Nica), SIGGRAPH, and ZKM. Michael holds a Masters in Computer Science and a Ph.D. in Computer Graphics. In his spare time, he can be found windsurfing the San Francisco bay or planning his next trip to Maui.

Allen Rabinovich
Allen Rabinovich architects and develops Flash and Flex components and libraries for use both inside and outside of the company. His approach to development centers on addressing real user needs, applying concepts of usability and simplicity to interfaces, and balancing performance and functionality.

Prior to joining Yahoo!, Allen did undergraduate and graduate research on rich web applications, collaborative software and usability, and worked on projects for Samsung and Microsoft. He holds an SB in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from MIT (where he worked at the MIT Media Lab under the mentorship of Dr. John Maeda), and a Masters in Computer Science and HCI from Stanford. Allen was born in Russia and spent his teenage years in New York, which he considers his home. In his “free” time, Allen enjoys solving puzzles, taking digital photos, and being a fan of Richard Feynman and Cher.

Josh Tynjala
In late 2004, Josh Tynjala began working with Flash and ActionScript 2. Since the beginning, he’s had a strong interest in building components and creating compelling user interfaces and visualizations. Josh discovered Flex and ActionScript 3 in 2005, when the first public alpha of Flex 2 appeared on Adobe Labs. Immediately, he knew it would revolutionize RIAs and the Flash Platform. Since then, Josh has explored many of the deepest corners of the Flex SDK’s source code and has contributed several useful projects to the open source community.

With the release of Flash CS3, Josh began tinkering with the inner-workings of the new component set. After discovering many advantages over previous Flash components, he suggested that the team build some additional components to complement Adobe’s work. In particular, he felt this simple framework would make an excellent base for a set of charting components he had started building. Between the small file size of the component set and the fast execution of ActionScript 3, he knows the charts will be used in places where Flash Player can truly shine.