Duke Listens!: Visit my main blog at MusicMachinery.com

A few years ago, for fun, I wrote a mashup web app called SnappRadio that would select and display images from Flickr related to the music you were listening to (on RadioParadise or Last.fm). My buddy, Sten, has just coded up a version of SnappRadio using JavaFX.

SnappRadio FX takes SnappRadio out of the browser and onto the desktop. Sten is using lots of the cool features that are built into JavaFX such as timelines, keyframes, reflection. Interestingly, although SnappRadio FX looks like a full 3D app, Sten says it really is a a 2D app - apparently JavaFX 3D doesn't exist yet. Sten also points out that the JavaFX performance is rather unpredictable: "Four out of five runs of the app may be smooth sailing, and then I’ll get a run with two second pauses between frames. Whaa? I hope this is a by-product of the preview build and that 1.0 will be more consistent."

Sten says that he'll be posting the source code for SnappRadio FX in the future. I'm really interested in seeing how the JavaFX code looks.

You can read more about SnappRadio FX, (as well as give it a try) at Sten's blog. (And while you are there, you might as well add Sten's blog to your regular reading list - he's been writing some great stuff lately).