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6 Adobe AIR Apps Worth a Look
readwriteweb.com — Adobe's AIR platform allows developers to create web applications that run on your desktop without the need of a web browser. Now that AIR has dropped the beta tag (see our previous coverage), it's time to look at some of the AIR apps you can use today.
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- kianat, on 02/26/2008, -4/+11I already use Twhirl which is a powerful Adobe Air based App for twitter and the one made for Google Analytics.Adobe Air is really a potential structure for desktop Apps.
- kidcodea, on 02/27/2008, -10/+4wow. i wanna get paid also.
- bs0l, on 02/27/2008, -1/+3Does twhirl work for the latest version of AIR?
-EDIT- I overcame my laziness and read down the page, there's a prerelease. Thanks "ryanstewart". - yojiffyskippy, on 02/27/2008, -1/+2I tried the Google Analytics and it crashed twice in less than 10 minutes. I guess there's still some work to do on that app. Not sure about Adobe Air yet.
- sarahintampa, on 02/26/2008, -1/+20twhirl is the best twitter AIR app out of all the twitter AIR apps!
- TomScrace, on 02/26/2008, -0/+3Agreed. I used to use Snitter, but then found Twhirl and haven't looked back.
- wellyuk, on 02/27/2008, -5/+7Wow.. people actually use twitter?
What for, exactly?- trvr, on 02/27/2008, -1/+2Yes.
Microblogging.- Matt2k, on 02/27/2008, -2/+3It is so boring that I cannot even being to imagine using it.
- Matt2k, on 02/27/2008, -2/+3It is so boring that I cannot even being to imagine using it.
- trvr, on 02/27/2008, -1/+2Yes.
- embeemb, on 02/26/2008, -1/+2How does twhirl compare to snitter ?
- mkeefe, on 02/26/2008, -0/+0I have found Snitter to be more stable over the alternatives. It also has a good selection of features.. The unified timeline for one is very slick.
- hummer13, on 02/27/2008, -0/+3don't think i will be using a program one vertical line from *****.
- ricmac, on 02/26/2008, -2/+6Someone suggested an offline browser in the comments. cool idea.
- Scruffydan, on 02/27/2008, -0/+2I remember having one of those on my old palm III.
it worked great. I synced it in the morning before leaving the house and was able to read the news on the go. It is a shame they don't make it any more. Mobile internet is still to expensive for many people (especially in Canada).- cmpak, on 03/07/2008, -0/+0AIR uses Mozilla browser engine, so it is a web browser. You just need to add the component. That's it.
- Scruffydan, on 02/27/2008, -0/+2I remember having one of those on my old palm III.
- bobbyworld, on 02/26/2008, -4/+2I use Xdrive lite now for access to my 50 gigs of online storage
- bs0l, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1You paid?
- Scruffydan, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1why not just use jungle disk?
- Zwigby, on 02/26/2008, -1/+3I love twhirl, what a great nice small application
- ryanstewart, on 02/26/2008, -1/+6Make sure to note the original Twhirl page says that he's got a prerelease version for AIR 1.0 to download. Full version will be out soon. Here's a direct link to the 1.0 compatible version - http://www.twhirl.org/files/twhirl-0.6.3.air
- aksum4586, on 02/26/2008, -1/+5This is a nice intro into the new air apps, not just Twhirl.
- thenumber8, on 02/26/2008, -6/+18hmm, what about Pownce?
- MichaelEgan, on 02/26/2008, -3/+18Article is titled WORTH a look.
- kidcodea, on 02/27/2008, -0/+2did you REALLY have to ask?
it's gonna be a train of beating-on-a-dead-man posts. - bs0l, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1Pownce isn't working for me, on the latest version of AIR
- kidcodea, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1thats amazing, considering that pownce doesnt do anything anyway.
- synyster, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1can someone explain to me what is the point of pownce(i used it but don't really understand what does it use for).
- ivankraszl, on 02/26/2008, -14/+1No comment, but http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/apple_girlfri ...
- handsoffme, on 02/26/2008, -10/+17Strange, I don't seem to be able to use any of them today. Dirty Linux neglecting *****.
- trvr, on 02/27/2008, -2/+10Not sure why you're being dugg down. I agree completely. It took Adobe FOREVER to get Flash 7 or whatever working on Linux. They don't have a very good track record.
- sketec, on 02/27/2008, -3/+1I second that remark and leave my own. Their pure evil.
- bcswartz, on 02/27/2008, -0/+6Adobe's looking for volunteers to beta-test the Linux version; here's the info: http://www.jamesward.org/wordpress/2008/02/20/adob ...
- sketec, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1 I still don't regret my remark. Rather, I celebrate it! Thanks for the info though, I'll take a look see.
- RobotBuddha, on 02/27/2008, -0/+3Why do they even bother? They hardly ever seem to pay much attention to bug reports from the linux flash betas. At least with them, there were enough eyes to do a lot of the legwork for them. It sounds like by going into closed beta we'll get the worst of both worlds. As much as I'm happy there's a linux client at all, the company seems to have an amazing talent for raising up our hopes and then dashing them again.
- Mrdudeperson, on 02/26/2008, -1/+2Sweet. I travel a lot and am not able to be online all the time. This is great.
- superkendall, on 02/26/2008, -4/+6I liked Air better when it was called "Java". At least Java has the kinks worked out now...
- sirdaz, on 02/27/2008, -1/+3The UI widgets in AIR are a tad better than Java swing widgets..
(I think it's called swing in Java anyway)
- sirdaz, on 02/27/2008, -1/+3The UI widgets in AIR are a tad better than Java swing widgets..
- gmillerd, on 02/26/2008, -1/+2i love the apps with the 'just released today' description.
- AustinChicken, on 02/26/2008, -15/+2I probally like Java better to like:
http://digg.com/software/6_Adobe_AIR_Apps_Worth_a_ ...
superkendall I agree!
-Austinchicken
www.austin-chickeninfo.blogspot.com
- And ***** is not the word to describe linux it rocks handsoffme - - chromerium, on 02/27/2008, -4/+8Uh, wow, these apps really suck. Reminds me of the first AWT apps that came out. Completely ignored the look and feel of the native OS, was sluggish and slow and used poor UI design ... really really long way for this pile of ***** to actually be useful. Oh, and they want $110 for the project management app? Hahaha yeah, right. Get real :)
- queerbag, on 02/27/2008, -7/+0http://www.badjasmine.com/index.php?key=qtx5vxlexg ...
- DannySpace, on 02/27/2008, -1/+2So what about the safety issues with Air Apps? Doesn't running them give access to certain areas of your comp? Can anyone clarify this?
- bs0l, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1Yeah I'd like to know more about AIR. I finally decided to try it out, also to finally check out Pownce.
- yojiffyskippy, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1Depends on the app but yes some apps have "full" access to your system.
- scooterMX, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1It's got a pretty good sandbox actually. I've built some SaaS scheduling apps that are pretty tight, and I haven't seen any issues in security yet.
here: http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/AIR:Articles: ...
- TheTaint, on 02/27/2008, -4/+1I'm guessing these are six Adobe AIR apps that are actualy worth a look?
- yojiffyskippy, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1Make it five. I tried one and it sucked. It looked nice but crashed.
- CrudeDarkness, on 02/27/2008, -2/+3please someone explain! The only thing that I understood is that adobe air lets developers develop things that are desktop interactive. Why should I (the average joe user who happens to not know crap about any of the geeky skweeky hi techi nerdy stuff) be excited?
- hamoe, on 02/27/2008, -1/+1This is an arguably substantial step in the direction of rich internet applications, which as a user you should look forward to. AIR is just Flex taken out of the browser, so perhaps AIR alone is not exciting for you, but it is an important part of a bundle of really cool technology being put out by Adobe right now.
- hamoe, on 02/27/2008, -1/+2Not mentioned on that site is eBay Desktop (http://desktop.ebay.com/). I think it is a good demonstration of Flex/AIR, and should be interesting to any developers thinking about diving into this stuff.
- FFIO, on 02/27/2008, -0/+4What about these:
http://a.viary.com/tools/?
Aviary is a suite of web-based applications (RIAs) for people who create. From image editing to typography to music to 3D to video, we have a tool for artists of all genres. All of [their] tools are based right in your browser or as downloadable AIR applications.- JesseJ, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1Looks promising!!!
- darkane, on 02/27/2008, -1/+3I don't get it. So it's a platform for running web applications on your desktop. Don't we already have something like that? I think it's called a 'browser'. If offline scenarios are the only true potential, then this is just another widget platform. And if you don't want to call it 'another widget platform', then you can call it what it really is: Another layer between the application itself and the hardware. Is that what we really need?
- hamoe, on 02/27/2008, -1/+5Richer web applications would clearly benefit from file system access, local database access, drag/drop support from other applications on your system, and the ability to use a system-native menu (eg File, Edit, etc). The browser does not allow any of this, hence AIR. So, do we really need it? Maybe you don't, but many people weigh the pros and cons of a desktop application to a web application, and this technology will be used by many to sidestep those concerns completely.
- darkane, on 02/27/2008, -1/+1I don't know why people are burying you. Regardless, this doesn't seem to be a solution that hasn't already been beaten to death. What does AIR do that Java wasn't capable of doing 10 years ago? Don't get me wrong, I hate Java as much as the next developer. But the fact remains.
- BossKey, on 02/27/2008, -0/+2"Don't get me wrong, I hate Java as much as the next developer."
You may have answered your own question. Sometimes, it isn't matching the specs that adds value, it's streamlining the process.
Apple (and to some extent Adobe) have built businesses on this concept. - Nogger, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1How about "it is not Java"? Adresses a different audience. The ones who don't know Java, but know HTML, JS, CSS and Flash.
- BossKey, on 02/27/2008, -0/+2"Don't get me wrong, I hate Java as much as the next developer."
- RobotBuddha, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1One could just use curl and get all of that, with native look and feel. Plus the ability to weigh the cost/benefit for native Vs. interpreted languages. The only thing it seems to really offer is the ability to port an actionscript based web app to the desktop without much extra work. Which is good, but not really revolutionary.
- darkane, on 02/27/2008, -1/+1I don't know why people are burying you. Regardless, this doesn't seem to be a solution that hasn't already been beaten to death. What does AIR do that Java wasn't capable of doing 10 years ago? Don't get me wrong, I hate Java as much as the next developer. But the fact remains.
- hamoe, on 02/27/2008, -1/+5Richer web applications would clearly benefit from file system access, local database access, drag/drop support from other applications on your system, and the ability to use a system-native menu (eg File, Edit, etc). The browser does not allow any of this, hence AIR. So, do we really need it? Maybe you don't, but many people weigh the pros and cons of a desktop application to a web application, and this technology will be used by many to sidestep those concerns completely.
- wbienek, on 02/27/2008, -6/+2They suck. But Im sure soon good junk will come in time.
--
..and more importantly .. do they run well on the Mac 'AIR'?..
Digg me down now .. ;) - TheGorilla, on 02/27/2008, -1/+8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKzsWH0sQHs
- WayOfTheIronPaw, on 02/27/2008, -0/+7Digg this guy up. It's an actual video of AIR apps. Which is about as close as I (as a Linux user) will get to seeing AIR for some time, I guess.
- MtheoryX, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1Dugg up for the Hell's Kitchen "Non-stick" rant.
- oxygenws, on 02/27/2008, -3/+4Why they don't use HTML5 (eg. Storage feature) and Prism? They are more more simpler!
(OK, AIR has some small differences, I know, but you can forgot them)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html5
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Prism - mimilena, on 02/27/2008, -0/+4The Google Analytics one is quite useless. There's nothing new and using it is harder than the Google Analytics website.
I prefer using the original web version at google.com/analytics. The problem with the AIR application is that it's not responsive and it's too slow. The graph is too curved and when you hover over the graph, it takes awhile before the numbers show up. Also, the fading in and out of windows makes everything one second longer.
If the developer stuck to making it more normal instead of trying to make it look fancy (curved graphs, fading windows, etc), it would have been a usable app.- eighties, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1It also seems to store passwords in cleartext in the SQLite database...
- TeatimeGrommit, on 02/27/2008, -1/+3Why exactly do I want to access the web but not open my browser again? Twhirl, almost like IM but no one's signed up yet? Really? I think I'll just stick with gmail.
- geoffpado, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1There are *tons* of people on Twitter, enough to gather quite a celebrity following. For instance, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have their own Twitter accounts, and Obama at least even links to his from his campaign site.
- geoffpado, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1There are *tons* of people on Twitter, enough to gather quite a celebrity following. For instance, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have their own Twitter accounts, and Obama at least even links to his from his campaign site.
- schumpert, on 02/27/2008, -1/+1I'm sorry to hijack this a bit - but I cannot get AIR to even install on my mac - I downloaded the .dmg file and it just hangs during the installation process.
Any ideas?- Matt2k, on 02/27/2008, -1/+1Not really.
- schumpert, on 02/27/2008, -0/+0good. :)
- sketec, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1Kick it.
- Matt2k, on 02/27/2008, -1/+1Not really.
- bdeonline, on 02/27/2008, -1/+2Didn't we already have such a thing in '96 called "Java Applets". I really don't see the point its just rendering html. Do you really need to break up all your browser tabs into individual apps? With the things being done with javascript / ajax & browsers becoming more standards complaint. Why put your web apps into a proprietary format?
- sketec, on 02/27/2008, -3/+1BUZZ WORD BUZZ WORD
- martoony, on 02/27/2008, -1/+0i actually like the Neopets application. this seems like a decent idea and i like how it can connect to their site for new items to be used in the app. saving locally as well. pretty cool and different.. http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9878909-2.html
- flarn2006, on 02/27/2008, -2/+1Does it work on the Macbook Air?
- tofaroni, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1thank god pownce wasn't added. would have completely discredited the list.
- MCCULLAH, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1so this creates things like joost? or veohtv?
- TheGorilla, on 02/27/2008, -0/+0Another good video of a commercial application of this. More explanation if you are 10:00 worth of interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry-rabnflEI - skinturtle, on 02/27/2008, -0/+0vapor ware
- bcswartz, on 02/27/2008, -0/+0How is it vaporware? There's over 100 AIR applications out there (see http://airapps.pbwiki.com/). Some are useful and well-designed, some...not so much...but they definitely exist.
- rath01, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1I'm amazed how such a simple idea hasn't been done as yet. Why hasn't Google/Microsoft or the general open source community done this yet?
- rowjimmy, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1because web browsers already exist?
why take the time to make a web app that runs in a different looking window? i can slightly understand the earlier comment about syncing web for later mobile offline browsing, but even that will be pointless in a few years with wap everywhere and more mobile devices able to use that and/or mobile broadband.
anybody who wants to use any of the web apps the company i work for designs wants to use them when they have internet access, and needs to as they deal with data stored on our servers. if you want to do local file manipulation, use a program built for that (eg, use photoshop to edit images, reason to edit audio, etc) not some bastardized web app made to run locally. - jorisb, on 02/27/2008, -1/+1google gears
- rowjimmy, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1because web browsers already exist?
- Buu700, on 02/27/2008, -0/+4erm... I seem to notice that Adobe doesn't provide a Linux binary of AIR...
- mkeefe, on 02/28/2008, -0/+0They are working on that one now.
- Nabu45, on 02/27/2008, -0/+0thanks for this post
- brettmurf, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1Man, the first like 10 parent comments feel so staged that it hurts. I could just be paranoid, but until you read the responses it doesn't feel like digg at all. This is like the third AIR article that started off this way, and everyone on here, including myself, don't even get why they are making this in the first place. There is no demand for this at all so the excitement feels somewhat feigned.
- justindrake, on 02/27/2008, -0/+0really like the sound of the flv editor, especially the ability to export audio as mp3.
- synyster, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1does adobe air apps runs on linux? cos i thinking most of their apps need flash support which there is no flash on 64 bit linux.
- daft89, on 02/28/2008, -0/+1http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=476924
- jharlequin, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1I have been working with the prerelease of AIR since the alpha ( about a year ). I am a web developer. I don't know java or c or the like. Not that I couldn't easily switch over to them but again I am a web developer. AIR has some real strong points from what I can see over java or anything else for that matter:
A) AIR is cross platform. Linux isn't out yet but it will be soon enough and when that time comes it should work just like it does on Windows or Mac.
B) AIR apps very easily can be utilized as web apps. So many of the projects we have envision came with ideas for both a web and desktop version. This is great for development time.
C) To a user this bad boy will seem like any other application they install. They will use the same amount of precaution they would have to use for any installed app built with any language.
D) Flash is geared towards the creative. A lot of flash can be gaudy and horrible just as java apps can be ugly as sin. More designers and creative types are likely to be found in the web world. AIR opens them up to the desktop.
E) HTML and Javascript developers can create AIR apps. So if the majority of front end web developers are now able to take their skills and utilize them in more ways I only see that as a good thing. Again I am sure there will be a lot of crap coming out but the night is still young.
I am quite excited to see what awesome things people will surely put out. Now back to my project ;) - rajeshk, on 02/27/2008, -0/+0I think top 100 video air app has a very clean design among all the apps. Its got pretty solid exclusive music content.
http://music.aol.com/help/syndication/desktop-widg ... . - joltjake, on 02/27/2008, -0/+1lol, no one likes pownce
- designmadhu, on 02/29/2008, -0/+0Best Air Application from AOL - AOL TOP 100 Videos Widget. Cool Design with pretty good videos in fullscreen.... :)
- phoopee3, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1someone should write an air app that integrates updates from/to pownce, jaiku, and twitter into one app, that'd be intense (and popular)
- XaeroVincent, on 03/01/2008, -0/+0Adobe said they may make a AIR version of Photoshop, which would make it cross-platform and available as a web and desktop app.
If Photoshop were ported to AIR then wouldn't that make this platform far more versatile than just rich internet apps? - cmpak, on 03/07/2008, -0/+0Any FLEX based apps can be easily converted to AIR apps that support additional features like a DB, drag-drop files, etc. I developed a FLEX based blogging tool and have a plan to convert it to an AIR web. Check out and give me your feedback. flexylog.com
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