Adobe AIR Takes Rich Internet Apps Beyond the Browser

Adobe Systems' Adobe Integrated Runtime, more commonly known as Adobe AIR, has become a popular target for enterprises looking to create rich Internet applications that run outside the browser on multiple operating systems.

The New York Times Co. and Adobe recently launched a new version of the Times Reader—the electronic version of the newspaper with online/offline capabilities, powered by Adobe AIR. The enhanced version of Times Reader 2.0 resembles the printed paper even more closely, and content is updated every 5 minutes, or even more often if users choose, with the latest news from the New York Times, NYTimes.com officials said.

In a blog post, Rob Larson, vice president of Digital Production at NYTimes.com, said, "We’ve built TimesReader 2.0 in response to the feedback we’ve received from you, our community of subscribers. A constant theme in that feedback has been to design the reading experience to capture the best aspects of print. We listened and now it is."

Some of the latest improvements to Times Reader 2.0 include:

• Availability for all Windows, Mac OS and Linux users, since it’s powered by Adobe AIR;
• Blends the best of the print and Web worlds—just like printed news with columns of high-quality text together with the dynamic flexibility of the Web, including search, links and up-to-the minute headlines;
• "News in Video" section provides the latest videos from NYTimes.com;
• Browse mode allows readers to zoom out and take a look at the visual overview of New York Times articles similar to browsing the print edition;
• New full-text search; and
• Integrated interactive version of The New York Times daily crossword puzzle.

Meanwhile, in another prominent use of Adobe AIR, TIME and Hewlett-Packard launched the TIME 100 application powered by Adobe AIR on May 1. The TIME 100 application on AIR is available for users across operating systems, and was optimized for the HP TouchSmart PC user, providing TIME readers with touch-enabled, interactive access to TIME’s annual list of the world's most influential people.

TIME's new application allows users to navigate pin points on a globe or a series of floating images for more information on all past and present TIME 100 designees. Touching an image on screen will bring up a profile, along with any related TIME content, including photos, videos, articles and cover images. With the HP TouchSmart touch-screen interface, information about the world’s most influential people is at the user’s fingertips, TIME officials said.