What are the Best Free Adobe AIR Apps

30 Responses (Add) | Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 3:01am

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Adobe AIR is Adobe’s entry into the field of widgets. It’s a better idea than just something on your desktop. Developers are able to create a potentially rich experience, and have it run cross-platform. Even though I think the whole Adobe AIR platform is quite ready yet, some of the apps that are available are truly getting there. I found a few of them that I think are pretty good, and I now have on my own computer.

FotoBooth is an application built for fun where you can quickly snap pictures using your webcam. It offers a dozen different filters to distort your images and also integrates with flickr for one click uploads to your flickr account..
iSpy uses your web cam to take a quick snap shot and save it to your local disk whenever it senses motion. If there is a level of motion that exceeds the sensitivity level, it will either take a quick snap shot and display on screen or if “Save pics to disk” is checked it will also save a copy to the user’s picture/iSpy directory.
ReadAIR is an OSX Themed Desktop Client for Mac or Windows.
PandoraBoy allows you to control your music with global hotkeys or your apple remote. Additionally, it supports growl notifications so that you always know what you’re listening to.
ShrinkOMatic lets you resize photos easily. You can set size and ratio limits, change the output format, and then drag and drop your pictures.
WebKut allows you to feed it a URL and you can snapshot it. It will save the page out as a .PDF file with just a couple of clicks of your mouse.
Clevr is a seriously easy way of creating and sharing panoramic photos. It not only helps you create stunning panoramas, but it also lets you turn them into interactive images that you can move around and navigate.
CL Desktop is a user friendly way to browse Craigslist. Setup just the right searches to find what your looking for, and save them for instant access anytime you need. CL Desktop is an application that runs on your desktop to bring you a better view of Craigslist postings.

So those are just a few of the applications available for Adobe AIR that you might want to check out if you haven’t already. What other AIR apps do you use and enjoy? I’d like to hear about them.

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30 Comments

Tom

June 27th, 2008
at 3:34am

twhirl is about the only air based app I use. Its the best crossplatform twitter client I’ve seen. In fact I think its the only crossplatform client I’ve seen! Keep up the good work mate.

Tom
UK

embee

June 27th, 2008
at 3:42am

Snackr the RSS reader proved to be very handy. And Twhirl ofcourse..

sean808080

June 27th, 2008
at 4:40am

well i really dig the google analytics suite. for those of us that care about metrics it’s a responsive alternative to the google interface to their analytics tools.

i also am _really_ digging the pandora air app. it’s just a simple interace to pandora goodness but it’s responsive and very easy to use.

thanks for pointing out some new ones…i’m going to have to check em out.

Saran Scout 27/6/08

June 27th, 2008
at 8:21am

[...] Chris Pirillo gives an in-depth review on the best Adobe Air applications around till date. [...]

oli kenobi

June 27th, 2008
at 10:41am

Nice apps.

I use Paparazzi! on the Mac to capture websites. WebKut is a little less intuitive, but it’s cross-platform thanks to AIR…

Here’s a link to Paparazzi!
http://www.derailer.org/paparazzi/

Landon Miller

June 27th, 2008
at 2:40pm

I am actually impressed with the Google Analytics AIR application. It allows me to track all my stats from the desktop and offers a great interface. It’s still in beta, but works like a charm.

YOUTHERE1.com's Web Articles

June 27th, 2008
at 3:08pm

Ryan Kenneth Hamel (techhelper1)

June 27th, 2008
at 5:59pm

i think adobe air is a another platform like java. But then Sproat Core is coming.

Dilyn Corner (Pure)

June 27th, 2008
at 6:25pm

Hey Chris, would you happen to know if there are plans of Adobe AIR coming to Linux anytime soon? It sounds really interesting, and as of right now, there isn’t a way that Linux is directly supported for it. But, it sounds great and if I used Windows/Mac OS then I would definitely download/install it and use it.

Kuuler

June 27th, 2008
at 6:29pm

Nice apps you just find out (and review), Thwirl is a good Adobe Air soft too (Twitter Desktop Client) !
There is a link, http://www.twhirl.org/

Skyler

June 27th, 2008
at 6:33pm

iSpy rules defenitly, Its easy. Good for all Webcam users out there.

jason jennings

June 27th, 2008
at 6:41pm

i like the widgets in opera my fav is the clock:)

Dilyn Corner (Pure)

June 27th, 2008
at 6:44pm

Hey, Chris, I was just wondering if you knew if Adobe AIR apps where going to come to Linux anytime soon. I go to their website to download it and it says that my platform isn’t supported. I hope they plan on supporting Linux soon, because Adobe AIR looks really neat, I’ll have to try it out.

Zakman

June 27th, 2008
at 9:00pm

I use those apps all the time!!!! i also use Brand Up,
Finetune: Finetune Desktop, and StudioCloud

Nick Rector or Rectorna

June 27th, 2008
at 9:02pm

Hey chris,
I have tried out 2 of these air apps fotoboth and iSpy. Fotoboth is ok in my view I like how simple it is to use but I agree with you the program is still a little rough. Now iSpy i really like becuase my dumb sister aways come and takes my laptop out of my room and now I finaly caught her. Thanks for the tips.

ParadigmHack

June 27th, 2008
at 9:34pm

I use the Hulu app all the time now. Awesome tips as always!

jonnyboy

June 27th, 2008
at 9:35pm

good point. i think abobe air is going to become awesome. i use twirhl and it is pretty awesome. adobe air is really the new WIDGET!

erillanos

June 27th, 2008
at 10:01pm

I really like those apps especially the
picture thing or that thing that lets you scrool
thx for letting us now about these apps

Formula1freak

June 27th, 2008
at 10:02pm

Let me tell you Fotobooth is simply amazing! It is really fun to mess with, i sadly enough do not own a mac, but i am fortunate enough to own a notebook with webcam, and let me tell you, it makes for entertaining at parties and small get togethers :)

Xenaol

June 27th, 2008
at 11:03pm

I would like to have tried the Adobe AIR platform having become fascinated by this project, however I found that much to my dissatisfaction, my platform (Ubuntu 7.10) wasn’t supported. Maybe it is their way of acknowledging that they are not grown up enough to realize that Linux is growing up. Who knows?

It is probably a good thing though, because Ubuntu does seem to be having a few disagreements with my computer’s specs to the effect of my CPU barely able to cope with me writing this comment. =)

Jay-R

June 28th, 2008
at 12:32am

I just installed the craigslist app. in my opinion, it works great. although, it seems to lag just a bit on my MBP. Also I would like to see the app as a widget.