RefreshingApps.com

Blimey Adobe have been very busy and there is now so much focus on AIR and AIR applications, it’s an exciting time.
Adobe announced a few days ago a new pre-release program called Adobe Wave.

It’s a desktop notifications system using a hosted API by Adobe to enable single call updates for trusted social networks and newsletters. It is a SaS (Software as a service) system by Adobe using a REST API that gives developers the ability to reach users without having their own desktop presence like ...

The new Adobe software code named Thermo has been demoed at conferences and online quite a bit since Max last year. It is still very much in pre-release development however Adobe have released the actual product name for Thermo – Flash Catalyst. I think it is a very good name due to the very nature of where the tool sits within the new CS4 suite and upcoming Flex 4.

If your not familiar with what the application offers, it works with the new FXG format that Adobe is integrating with Flex 4 ...

I heard this rumor sometime ago but Adobe has now made a statement at it’s Max conference in San Francisco. The technology will work on ARM powered devices to enable Adobe Flash 10 and Adobe AIR on supported devices. This will provide hardware accelerated media and graphics to not only mobile phones but also set top boxes and in car systems that use the ARM chip.

This is game changing and the though of being able to deliver AIR applications for mobile devices is very exciting. Will be ...

Yes the next big release for Adobe AIR is finally out in the wild. The pre-release guys have had access for a while but now all of you can get the latest update and start playing with Flash player 10 goodies, encrypted local database and for HTML developers the new JavaScript engine Squirrelfish that offers up to 35% faster performance.

So head on over to the download center to grab yourself the new SDK and go here for the Adobe AIR runtime.

Adobe have been hard at work getting Growl support for AIR applications when used on the Mac OS X platform. While you can achieve cross platform notifications using AIR, Mac fans appreciate the Growl integration of native apps and it has been requested many times.

So Mike Chambers has announced that they have been working with the Growl team and it is now possible to get Growl support into your AIR application. Read the blog post as you will need to get the bleeding edge version of Growl and ...

Ted Patrick has started to collate a list of ActionScript 3 API’s primarily for the Adobe MAX keynote but should be a great source of info for all you AIR mashup people out there.
https://adobemax.dabbledb.com/page/cloudapis/IylZKLSG

The BBC have announced their plans to take the iPlayer concept cross platform using the power of Adobe AIR. The blog post by Erik Huggers (director of Future Media and Technology) outlines the future vision for the iPlayer to conform to the corporations platform neutrality aspirations.

Primary drivers for this move are cross platform desktop application that works on Apple OS X, Windows and Linux. The ability to locally save programmes for viewing later or even offline, gives the license fee ...

Bit late on the uptake with this but early this morning Adobe released Flash Player 10 for general download and announced that Creative Suite 4 can now be purchased.
So go and get your hands on the greatest Flash Player ever.

Following the £5k Future of Web Apps competition to turn your ideas for a great AIR application into reality, the winner is UpshotApp.com. Following a Dragons Den style panel (called the AIR dragons!) the winners had to pitch their ideas for an Adobe AIR application.

Adobe will be on hand to help as you define the scope for your AIR application and will also help promote your application upon release through the Adobe AIR Marketplace

Yes and not forgetting RefreshingApps.com ...

I’m thrilled to be speaking at this years Adobe Max conference in Milan (December 1st – 4th). My session is titled ‘Perfecting the users experience with Adobe AIR’ and is scheduled currently to take place on Monday the 1st December at 14:00.

Don’t forget to check out the other Brit’s speaking at Max Europe this year, Andrew Shorten has the lowdown on his blog.

So if you are heading along to Max Europe this year stop by my session or tap me on the shoulder for a chat.

Automotive giant Fiat, has just lauched an AIR application as part of an integrated system called eco:drive. Fiat owners of certain models can plug a USB stick into the car that records lots of data about the way you drive. This is then loaded into the AIR application for analysis to give the drive an eco:index rating. The blue & me technology is developed by Microsoft but Fiat wanted a solid cross browser solution, and naturally AIR was the perfect choice.

As I don’t own a Fiat I can’t ...

Adobe have announces the new Creative Suite edition 4 that appears to offer better RIA development across a range of the tools. You can now create Adobe AIR interfaces in Fireworks CS4 ready for deployment to HTML, SWF or Flex.

This is really going to open up the toolset to more designers which in turn gives us more cool AIR apps! So get ready to get your hands on the new Creative Suite 4.

Adobe AIR 1.5 SDK (code named Cosmos) is now being included with the latest Flex 3 nightly builds. Aiming to bring the build process of Flex and AIR tighter together. There are some great things mentioned like the new JavaScript engine SquirrelFish, and fixes for the annoying opening of new browser windows.

Mike Chambers has a detailed post on the developments so check out his post.

TO get you hands on the nightly builds head on over to the Adobe Open Source site for Flex.

The guys over at Carsonified together with Adobe are running a competition at the Future of Web Apps Expo. You don’t even have to build the application, just describe your ideal, ground breaking Adobe AIR application in under 200 words. Then bring your completed entry to the FOWA Expo in London for your chance of winning.

There will be people from Adobe on hand to help you with any AIR questions you may have about developing compelling desktop applications with AIR.a

So don’t delay head on ...

Over at the Adobe Dev Centre there is an interesting article covering some common mistakes when developing AIR applications. It’s written by AIR guru David Tucker who is an AIR and Flex developer for Universal Mind.
So go and give it a read, you’d be mad not to.