Adobe has launched the first official version of their new Air platform. Its goal is to bridge the divide between online and offline applications, something Google experimented with in Google Gears, though Air is on a larger, more open, scale. Installation was a breeze, with a small file to download and completing in moments. Anyone can develop applications that run on the Air platform and a couple of dozen are available now. Cream of the crop are undoubtedly eBay desktop, Google Analytics Reporting Suite and Spaz (for twittering).

The advantage to this method is that only the data is pulled from the web, meaning snazzy user interfaces can be implemented without causing any speed issues. In addition, data is cached so that when offline I can, say, browse through the last 100 eBay items I have viewed. Usability is key and each application appears just as any other software installed on your machine and is run in the same way and in its own window, not through a browser. In some cases the functionality of these apps is superior to their online counterparts, such as Analytics' use of a fully scaleable map interface. I have noticed a few bugs with the foreign shipping in the eBay application, but otherwise it provides a fantastic mechanism for searching and sorting auctions, as well as running in the background to provide alerts. Obviously any changes you make when using these applications are stored online and accessible as normal from anywhere.

The idea is not revolutionary and I was unsure what Adobe expected to achieve with this project. The result is really impressive, with even the early crop of applications featuring some gems that have a really professional polish. I have long been sceptical of the online-only applications that claim to replace traditional office suites. However this compromise — online service with offline application and access to data — seems ideal. Whether Air takes off as a platform depends on the applications, of course, but Adobe seem confident with their SDK. The early releases bode well so I'm keen to see what else emerges.

Twitter is one of those things that sounded quite interesting but didn't really serve any purpose in my digital life. This three consecutive days stretch notwithstanding, I am aware that my posts have become somewhat erratic and your clamour for more regular updates has not gone unnoticed. Here twitter provides a compromise. In the sidebar you will now see a twitter section which allows for short and sweet updates with whatever I happen to be doing. It's pretty self-explanatory and I will endeavour to keep that updated even when full posts are not possible. That way you can still read what I'm up to, and the eagle eyed will probably find it offers some insight as to what future posts may be about.

Google Reader has been my chosen feed reader for some time now, and they have recently added a new feature to share items with friends which show up separately in the interface. Currently I don't really share many posts as you'll see if you take a look at the P-2006 Shared News feed on our Feeds page. However if anyone else uses Google Reader and would like to make better use of this new feature to share interesting stuff, give me a shout.

Having been uncharacteristically positive about the iPod Touch (I wouldn't buy one, but I would say it's genuinely one of the best portable media players on the market), I do need to weigh in on the MacBook Air, the latest must-have for Apple fans, if only to redress the balance. It is stunningly thin, there is no question. Yet despite its high price this is the least powerful MacBook on the market. Now it's certainly true that if you're looking at an "ultraportable" power is presumably a lesser concern, but I would strongly question its portability in practice. You see, to make it so slim they had to remove the optical disc drive, replacing it with an external unit. So this lovely sleek machine cannot use CDs or DVDs unless you lug around an entire extra drive unit with you. For portability that surely must be a deal breaker. The end result is a laptop that resembles a size zero model: incredibly thin and there is a prettiness there, but somehow you can't escape the fact it's utterly useless.