I was reading the rather brilliant AS3.0 book by Colin Moock today, when a thought suddenly popped into my head: what if the iPhone could run the Adobe Air runtime. Just think of this scenario:- I could create a RIA in Flash using AS3.0 which I could deploy on a website. Lets say its a Rich Text Editor, or Blog editing tool. I could then easily convert this to run on the desktop for Mac, Windows (and soon Linux) without much or any extra coding. I could then also deploy it straight to the iPhone. The idea of create once, and deploy many could be a real reality.

Some may ask, what is the point of having an offline web-app for the iPhone when it is connected to the net 24/7. Valid point, but Air has the ability to integrate fully into the OS, so in effect we could create full blown integrated applications with ease.

For me this would be brilliant as I am already a Flash developer so there would be no need to learn yet another scripting language. I think actionscript, VB, asp and asp.net are enough!!

With the new Flash player running at up to 10 times faster than version 9, and Flash’s ability to capture and display video, exciting and interactive mashups could easily be created. I have already shown how a webcam can be used to create a motion sensitive interface. Imagine that on your iPhone: not only could you use finger jesture, and the rotate function to interact with your phone, but you could literally wave at it (this would require a front facing camera, but you get where i’m going with this).

I think if Apple and Adobe, got together properly on this then the growth of the web-connected desktop would take a huge leap forward!!

Just to prove that I don’t just rave about Mac’s and slag off Windows, this post is about Apple’s latest treat – The MacBook Air. Apple is back at doing what it does best. Marketing a product that isn’t that great, so well that you feel you can’t live without it (iPhone, iPod Touch).

I’ve decided to gloss over the good points in favour of the bad.

After purchasing a MBP last year, I was jealous to hear that a newer and sexier model was out. The jealousy soon turned into glee as I read the specs.

However Apple may like to jazz it up, the MBA (MacBook Air) is crap. As a mobile machine, carrying an external drive, usb hub and god knows what other peripherals around is just silly. The lack of an optical drive Apple says is due to the fact that you can download your Movies right from iTunes. But what if I need to rip a CD or burn a DVD when I forget to take my external drive with me?

What if I want to use my Mighty Mouse, and my USB stick at the same time?

What happens when I decide I need a boost of Ram or increased HDD?

Apple has created a wonderful machine, but it’s only good if you already own a desktop Mac. My point is that if you would use a desktop and notebook, then your the type of user that demands a higher spec than the MBA currently offers.

Saying that, with the lack of peripherals it will still run better than any Vista based machine!!

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)