Flex

Recording Services and the IT department are both talking about having video broadcasting be a thing that they do, so I'm interested in pushing for this even more.

Flex can do this:
http://www.swfflex.com/blog/1/2008/11/Flash-Video-Chat.cfm

I'm going to check this out too.

Serial to Socket Server

So, to use an Arduino with some computer software, the communication comes in as serial data, which Pd and Max/MSP can use, but which don't work in internety things like Flash and Air. Apparently it's a bad idea to give control over serial ports to things that are internet-hackable. *shrug*

So, to use an Arduino with Flash or Flex/Air, we have to set up a Serial to Socket Server, which doesn't seem to tricky... so yeah, more investigation:
http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Interfacing/SerialNet

Also, I bet the kind of recording/playback we want from the "button" button could be achieved with a combination of Flash and Flex, all the audio stuff happening in Flash. Recording may not be free in Flash, in a really bad way. More investigation:
http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorials/Flash/Audio/1