Short Version: There will be no pleasing either side of the Apple fanboy divide with this review so I’ll say it up front: If you’re looking for an alternative to a heavier Apple laptop – a MacBook Pro, say, or an Apple Powerbook 170 – and you travel, the MacBook Air is an excellent choice. If you rarely travel and/or are not a Mac fan, you will probably be better served by a cheaper netbook. → Read More
Apple keeps giving Adobe the brush-off—what with the new MacBook Airs shipping without Flash and Apple’s prohibition (recently rescinded) on porting Flash apps to the iPhone. Without Apple, industry observers are asking “Where does Adobe go from here?” Apparently, right into the arms of Android.
On Monday, Adobe will be releasing AIR 2.5 at its Adobe MAX developer conference. The latest version of AIR, which up until now has been a platform for creating desktop apps, will extend the runtime to smartphones, tablets, and TVs running the Android operating system (as well as the Blackberry Tablet OS). For the most part, that means Android phones, Android tablets, and Android-powered Google TVs. Just last week, Adobe Connect Mobile became available for Android, and Adobe Reader X extended the ability to read PDFs to Android mobile phones, Windows Phone 7, and Blackberry tablets. SInce becoming available earlier this year, Flash 10.1 for Android has been downloaded 2 million times, and will be pre-installed in future Android phones. → Read More
I’ve done it. I’ve worn the battery completely down on one of the new MacBook Airs. As such, I thought I’d post some initial thoughts about the machine. This isn’t a huge all-encompassing review — I haven’t even used it outside of my apartment yet — but rather my initial thoughts for those of you thinking about rushing out to buy one.
All day, I’ve been testing out the 13.3-inch model. After playing around with the 11.6-inch model in the demo area after Apple’s event today, I decided that while it is freakishly, insanely small, I’d rather carry the extra .5 pounds and get the extra 2 hours of battery life that the slightly larger model offers. And I think that was the right choice, I’ve been using it all day and the battery just wore out.
The iPad has spoiled me. I often look at my 5.6 pound MacBook Pro with dread now. It’s simply too bulky. And considering I have never used the optical drive on the thing, I can’t figure out why I need some of that bulk. This new MacBook Air eliminates it.
Bottom line: so far, I love this thing. → Read More
The AIR for Android runtime is now available in Android Market, enabling developers to push mobile AIR apps built with Adobe’s developer platform. You’ll need a handset equipped with Android 2.2 (Froyo) and obviously this doesn’t mean you’ll be able to run your native AIR desktop apps like you know them on your phone.
They’ll need to be specifically built for mobile devices, as Adobe evangelist Ryan Stewart points out. → Read More
The bane of all mobile app developers is the need to rewrite the same app over and over again for different devices: the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm Pre, Nokia, Windows Mobile. Adobe is positioning its Flash platform (which includes the Flash player, AIR, developer tools, and media servers) as the write-once, deploy-anywhere solution for both the mobile Web and apps. Today at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, it will announce plans to bring Adobe AIR to mobile devices, starting with Android and Blackberry phones.
AIR is currently used to create desktop applications, but it will soon be used to create Android and Blackberry apps as well. These mobile AIR apps will be able store data locally on the phone, access other data on the phones such as photos, and be distributed as regular apps in the Android and Blackberry app stores. Not only that, but the same apps created with Flash developer tools will be exportable as iPhone apps. Adobe wants developers to create their apps using its developer tools and then output them as AIR apps for Android and Blackberry phones, native iPhone apps, or Flash apps on the Web. → Read More
The industry is all a buzz with the latest entry in the “I’m the thinnest laptop” competition. The latest Dell Adamo is definitely a strong contender, at 9.99 mm at some points. Of course, that’s just the official figure. I would have tested it myself but I forgot my calipers. → Read More
From blogs.adobe.com
Adobe AIR Marketplace is a central resource that allows developers to make their applications available to millions of potential users and makes it easy for consumers to find them.
It’s every Mac fanboys wet dream to embed an OS X touchscreen computer inside their ride. When RIDES does a mobile Mac workstation though, it’s more of an Apple Store on wheels with – get this – two Mac Mini’s, a MacBook Air, iPod Touch, iPhone 3G, 20-inch Cinema display, along with a bunch of car audio wares all within the surprisingly sexy Hyundai Genesis sedan. Words cannot do this car justice though. Even if you are on the PC side of things, head over and check out the car anyway; it’s a work of technology art. → Read More
It’s just tradition that when a new, hot gadget launches, someone has to tear the sucker apart thus producing what is affectionately called circuit board pr0n. Besides the pretty pictures though, sometimes hidden details are uncovered as is the case with these new Apple notebooks. → Read More
The MacBook Air, being a newer design than the aging MacBooks and Pros, got little more than a bump in specs today. But it was a good, solid bump! Here are the changes: SSD drive increased in capacity to 128GB Processor now up to 1.86GHz with a faster (1066MHz) FSB and 6MB L2 cache GeForce 9400M 256MB video card (thank god for that) Mini Displayport instead of Micro-DVI (probably a smart move) Very nice. I think people buying the Air are probably pretty Apple-committed, so the new display connector will be just dandy for them. It’s still short on ports, but you knew that. You’ll be able to get them in November. → Read More
Is your cubicle located on top of a pile of garbage? If so, you might want this USB-powered air purifier. The product’s manufacturer, Brando, says “We are surrounded by polluted air every day. Wherever you may be, you will be breathing in the nasty polluted air.” Gee, that’s inspiring. So what should I do, Brando? Got any bright ideas? “This USB Ionizer Fan with Aroma Diffuser is designed to refresh your environment by purifying the air, eliminating odors, particles and pollutants. Just plug it into your computer via the USB port to get fresh air all the day. It can refresh the air at home, office, car, etc.” Ah, perfect. Thank you. Surely this device costs hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars, right? Wrong again. It’s $19 and can be powered by three AA batteries or via USB. Product Page [Brando] → Read More
The X300 is official and it’s fabulous. It starts a $2,799 and includes a 64GB of solid-state hard drive space, GPS, and a DVD burner. It’s lighter than the Air, runs Vista, and comes in rich, Corinthian rubber. Road warriors, begin salivating. Release → Read More
http://www.collegehumor.com/moogaloop/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1797523&fullscreen=1 Yeah, fine. I’m a sucker for parody. via CH → Read More
Pretentious? Have $29.95 lying about? You’re in luck! Product Page → Read More
http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/452319854 “All thin notebooks have compromises,” says Mr. Mossberg and we have to agree. Clearly the Air isn’t for all of us, but folks with a huge, nasty IT-department Dell will think of this as a breath of fresh “air.” Ha! Willie! → Read More
Josh just pointed out his original post on the Air. This was back in June, people. Trust us. We’re professionals. Back on June 20, I reported that there’d be new, slimmer MacBooks coming in October that along with being made from new materials would also feature some “speeds and feeds” updates to the internal components. Today, another “trusted source” told us this was correct and added that the iPhone’s multi-touch technology is theoretically supposed to roll out with all the new laptops, including those coming out in October. The feature will be built into the touchpads, allowing you to navigate through your notebook’s files, applications, etc. the same way you can on the iPhone. (Yes, I know you can already scroll with them, that’s nothing new. I’m talking about all the other finger gestures that can be done on the iPhone’s screen.) There’s no reason to believe that Apple isn’t capable of adding this functionality and it would definitely be a sweet addition. Just having it for flipping though your iTunes Library and for zooming in on photos or docs or sites would be great. Here’s hoping this comes true. Multi-Touch On MacBooks In October [CrunchGear] → Read More
First, let me just say that the Air is an extremely impressive piece of technology. The miniaturization, the optimization of space, the blatant disregard for current standards — it’s everything a revolutionary machine should be. Except it isn’t one. It’s a flight of Apple vanity that is completely impractical for anyone who needs to do more than the most basic functions with their computer. Find out why inside. → Read More
