Here Mike Downey presented a ton of new web possibilities using the Adobe AIR runtime - hence the keynote strapline: “The long arm of the web”. Sounds like a mix between a Tim O’Reilly soundbite and a totallitarian government mantra…

Happily the content was less opressive and more inspired than the strapline suggests! A few interesting facts about the AIR runtime were noted:

• Uses Webkit - the HTML engine that drives Safari.
• Includes a Javascript - Flash bridge for easier integration between technologies.
• Includes SQL Lite for database communication.
• Inbuilt remote application updater - allowing seamless upgrading for new releases of created apps.
• Background runtime doesn’t require GUI - allowing AIR apps to be created for background processes.

There was a selection of example AIR apps showcased:

• Acrobat.com for file sharing - a new online filesharing platform that can be downloaded as an AIR implementation.
• E-Bay widget - can monitor bidding progress on an active item, notify participants when their bid is exceeded and allow new bids to be placed.
• Finetune - A music player combining local desktop music with online music from the Finetune database
• Google Analytics - offers more visualization options, and data exports for excel spreadsheets etc.

Finally a few options were shown for the creation of AIR applications. Currently two methods exist:

• Using the AIR export option in the Flash CS3 update
• Using the AIR project option in Flexbuider3 (including a new components folder containing Flex components created specifically for AIR)

There was also mention of a 3rd export option in Dreamweaver, allowing HTML to be published directly to AIR, although it wasn’t clear whether this was an available release or something coming soon.