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Hugs!
Alison
Emo Bears
That's awesome 
Thank you for sharing. I can't wait to try your pattern out too 
Julia,
Have fun with the pattern. Did you see the video that they embedded in the artist profile? It was really cool to read the article then get a personal tour of her studio. And, I loved the little video commercial of the puppet ad! The puppets were cute but I wouldn't want one based on the photo ad. Once the video played, I wanted one of each! I did talk to TBR while they were working on this issue and they said they have no intention of discontinuing the paper magazine. They are just are keeping up with the times by adding the digital version as well. I really enjoyed it, especially because I could share it with my family around the country for FREE!
Hugs,
Alison
YorkshireThank you Alison for passing this info on. I really enjoyed looking through an issue of this magazine, now I'm just waiting for Austrialian Creations to go digital for the full package I've put your pattern on my to-do list
Hugs Ali
Boechout, AntwerpHi Alison,
Thanks for letting us know that TBR is online now; I've been trying to get it here in Belgium, but it seems virtually impossible.
And, I loved the little video commercial of the puppet ad! The puppets were cute but I wouldn't want one based on the photo ad. Once the video played, I wanted one of each!
That was so great and funny; I never considered buying a handpuppet, but watching this video ... I WANT SOME AS WELL !
Hugs, :hug:
Peterbear
Peter,
Aren't those puppets great. The whole family has picked out which puppet they want. If nothing else, those of you who haven't peeked yet
must flip through the pages until you see these puppets. I just wish my kids were younger so I'd have an excuse to buy them. Now I'll just have to admit that I'm a kid at heart and couldn't resist.
Hugs,
Alison
Uppsala, SwedenWonderful! I have a problem to get that magazine here in Sweden and finally it´s on the internet!
I have printed your pattern and will sew a bear from it as soon as I can!
Thank you so much for sharing the link with us!
hugs
Birgitta
Brigitta,
Make sure to email me when you make the bear from my pattern. I would love to see it!
Hugs,
Alison
What a wonderful magazine! I'm definitely going to subscribe :dance:
The ad for the puppets is a stitch! I know I'm going to watch it several times... 
Thanks for letting us in on this, Alison.
Becky
PennsylvaniaThe whole site is written in Flash.
Flash uses more bandwidth (slower to load), the image quality isn't any better than other delivery methods and it is often LOWER quality for the same bandwidth.
Flash allows something called "cross-site scripting" which means it is possible to go to one website but, unknown to the user, content from ANOTHER location is loaded without telling you. If Javascript was used, it would be possible to block that. Therefore, it is easier to get a virus from a website that uses Flash over Javascript.
There is nothing Flash can do that a good programmer who knows Javascript and Cascading Style Sheets can't do. They would be far better off if they just hired people who know how to make a website the correct way.
Sorry, it might be a nice LOOKING site but I'll never know that. The second I saw that it was in Flash, I clicked away from it. I will likely never return.
A good 10% - 15% percent of the people on the web do that. They just click away when they get to flash. (For various reasons.)
Webmasters: Ask yourself a question. Can you afford to literally throw away 10% of your business because your website is in a format that people can't or won't access?
Bad business decision!
UsBears,
Interesting. 
If you used Linux as your operating system, perhaps you wouldn't be so paranoid about getting a virus. The site is really lovely but you can always buy a paper copy of the magazine. The editors told me that they have no intention of discontinuing the magazine in print form. I don't work for the magazine, just wanted to pass on the info. You can always go to their website and let them know your concerns, http://teddybearreview.com/ Meanwhile, us 90% will flip the virtual pages.
Alison
PennsylvaniaI happen to be sitting in a room with five comptuers: One is Windows. One is Mac OS X. Two of them dual-boot in either Yellow Dog Linux and Mac OS X. One boots in Ubuntu Linux. My mother's computer (in another location) runs Ubuntu Linux, too.
I'm not so concerned about my own computers but at work, I have to manage about a dozen other computers of varying operating systems and vintages. On top of that, many people come to me for advice about computers. My concern about viruses is more broad-based than just my own machine(s).
Another thing about Flash. Search engines like Google and Yahoo don't crawl flash sites very well, if at all. They can't. Regardless of what Google, et. al. promise about developing their ability to parse Flash, they STILL don't do it very well.
If you want your site to get rated on Google or Yahoo or any other search engine you must put it in a format they can read or you won't get any traffic from on-line searches.
Furthermore, webmasters who want to meter site traffic won't be able to tell how deep into a website the users get or how long they stay on the site if the entire thing is in Flash. The system's weblogs will only show that "user 123.45.67.89" downloaded "flashfile.swf" on "04/Oct/2009:03:10:05-GMT." You can not tell what parts of the site are most popular with users. You can not tell which parts of the site entice users to stay longest.
Smart webmasters don't use Flash.
I might send a message to TBR but it usually does no good. Corporate types usually don't know squat about computers and they are easily hornswaggled by any sweet talking web developer who can wave pretty pictures in their faces. The webmasters won't listen because they are getting paid big bucks by the corporate suits they just swindled to make the website. They aren't going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
And, yes. 90% of the people will happily click from page to page. But let me ask this: If you were making $1,000,000 by operating a website and somebody offered you another 10%, wouldn't your ears perk up?
But, strangely enough, companies would rather use unsuitable technology and deny themselves that extra $100,000.
Then they wonder why the economy is in trouble.
Flash allows something called "cross-site scripting" which means it is possible to go to one website but, unknown to the user, content from ANOTHER location is loaded without telling you. If Javascript was used, it would be possible to block that. Therefore, it is easier to get a virus from a website that uses Flash over Javascript.
Err, woah there. Flash has nothing to do with XSS, anymore than using a fork means you can prang yourself if you're not careful -- just like the same thing can happen if you're using a spoon. And as it happens, XXS is much more likely through bad JS validation than it is anything else. Please don't dare confuse the two, or dare suggest there's some inherent correlation. I spend my livelihood as a security consultant.
There is nothing Flash can do that a good programmer who knows Javascript and Cascading Style Sheets can't do. They would be far better off if they just hired people who know how to make a website the correct way.
Confer XSS. Flash is nothing more than a container anyway, so using something like gnash, or some other tool to extract the content, were you that paranoid would be the way to go.
But all of this is completely and utterly orthogonal to what the original post was about --- and I do not want your (perhaps unintended) FUD post to put people off viewing the content --- you're entitled to your opinion about not *liking* flash, but that's all it is.
This is not the first time, perhaps rather annoyingly I've seen you try and promote your own services here through FUD -- I wouldn't want to take you on as a consultant for anything I've done, based on what you've written here, and to pray on those people here who're trying to do good through no other reason other than "because you can" continues to annoy me.
-- Thomas Adam
PennsylvaniaI don't do web development. Only video and graphics plus, through force of habit in my job, general system/network management. Sorry if I gave that impression.
Posts: 1Us Bears,
Your concerns about the usage of Flash are not completely unfounded. However, your comments and thoughts might be better if placed in a support group arguing against proprietary software in general? Regards.
PennsylvaniaYou're right. I was getting a little more upset than I should have.
There's something else at play that I haven't explained.
Give me a little time to collect my thoughts and I'll explain.
Thanks.
Uppsala, SwedenAlison
I am cutting out the pattern in brown alpaca 22 mm, hoping to get to sew in the weekend! Of course I will e-mail you as soon the bear is ready. Though I had to straightend the arms a bit to fit the piece of alpaca I had left. I hope that is okey??? :pray:
By the way I have never got a virus to my computer from a flash site. I have virusprotection, don´t you?
:hug:
Birgitta
Teddy Bear ReviewI know this is quite a bit after the fact, but just to clarify, our website is not written in Flash--our digital editions of the magazine are. We use Zmags to publish and send our digital editions; they are also used by bigger companies such as Volkswagon, John Deere, Toys "R" Us, 3M and Ikea.
While we have never had any safety issues with Flash or Zmags, if this is a concern for some of you, the good-ol' paper edition still exists and will continue to be printed. (Though we're not responsible for any paper cuts you may fall victim to.) 
Jessica Franchuk
Editor
Teddy Bear Review
www.teddybearreview.com
www.dollandteddyexpo.com
Bubble Up Bears!Thanks for the update. :)
I am not worried about any risk viewing it.
I love the on line edition but I'll never give up my paper magazine!!!
I just love those paper cuts!
The Littlest ThistleAlas, since Borders has gone bust this will be the only way I can check the magazine out, thanks for resurrecting the thread, had a nice read last night
Bubble Up Bears!Katy if we lived near by I would loan you my copy.
The Littlest ThistleAww, thanks Cyndee. I might subscribe if you can read online - some of the paper mags over here do that, you can either buy an online or paper subscription, I'll have to check it out
Bubble Up Bears!I subscribe to TBR and am able to view on line.
