SizzlaBlog

I have recently updated my Flash based desktop RSS reader to an Air application. Air is Adobe’s answer to a cross browser runtime that allows developers to further blur the divide between web and desktop.

For this example the user can select an RSS feed and view the contents away from the browser. There are two feed’s; news and downloads. Students on my asp.net course can now use the application to quickly and easily check for new tutorials or news on the site without having to launch the browser. As Air has the advantage over the Flash Player of being able to read and write to the clients machine means that as a developer I have far greater scope for the app. In theory I could initiate a download to a specified folder as soon as the app is launched, meaning that the user automatically has the lastest tutorial resources (at present the user can click a link to get the resource).

I am still very new with the whole Air thing, but so far I like it a lot.

There is a built in installer, which makes the process of getting the app a lot easier.

To check my app out for yourself download it from here. (you will need Air aswell)