Crenk

Everyone seems to be talking about Adobe Air these days. The applications have been really taking off and they seem to so slick in design and functionality. A month or so ago Seesmic made the acquisition of Twhirl, which made Twhirl the first Adobe Air based application to be acquired. Since then Air seems to have become even more popular.

Up until the last few days there has been only one place to find a full list of Adobe Air Applications, and that has been in the Adobe Air marketplace on the Adobe site. However, a new marketplace has launched and it is called FreshAirApps.

FreshAirApps is written on the ExpressionEngine software and really has some great functionality and design. On FreshAirApps applications are showcased and then users can vote for the best applications. Currently, there are only a totally of about 500 applications written on Adobe Air, so the marketplace will be starting off slowly, but will soon pickup speed in the coming months. FreshAirApps also shows users how to implement and install Air apps through the tutorial section.

That all being said Air is easy to install and their are already great applications on the platform, such as eBay, FineTune and NASDAQ applications.

Twitter is now a service that has been on the rise for over a year. This being said there are more and more Twitter related applications being launched, but still no monetization strategy for Twitter directly.

Last week Twhirl, a Twitter Adobe AIR application was sold to Seesmic, making this the first AIR application which has been acquired, just showing the popularity of Twitter and AIR.

Other applications out there are, Spaz, TweetStats, Twitterholic, Twitter Fan Wiki, Snitter, Twitstat, Twittervision and over 100 more applications. In coming weeks I will be running through some of these applications and actually work out which ones are worth using.

In terms on monetizing this is an interesting issue for Twitter to develop. At present Im not aware of their monetization strategy. I think they have some very basic options to choose from. 1. display advertising. The ads can be displayed at the bottom of the right hand side bar. This seems like a simple way to monetize the site and also very unobtrusive. 2. Sponsored Tweets. Messages could be sent to a certain demographic of Twitter users, obviously for a tailored price. 3. There also might be a way to monetize friend following. We all know the more followers you have on the site, the more discussions your have and potential for clicks off Twitter to your own site.

Are there any more monetization strategies I might be missing?

Seesmic which claims to be the Twitter for video has just acquired Twhirl. Although Seesmic is still in Alpha this seems to be a good purchase on the outside. Twhirl is one of the most popular Adobe AIR apps and allows users to post to their Twitter, Jaiku and Pownce accounts. This is the first acquisition ever of a pure AIR application and im sure it wont be the last.

For other coverage on this acquisition take a look at BlogHerald and Mashable. Im also interested to see what Arrington has to say about the acquisition, because he is an investor in Seesmic, however Mark Hendrickson did the review for Techcrunch of the story.

Adobe AIR is having quite a buzz at the moment around the web. They are trying to bring more of the web directly on to your desktop, and they seem to be having quite a successful time achieving this. AIR actually stands for “Adobe Integrated Runtime”, and this article looks at some of the best free applications using AIR.

Twhirl - Twhirl is a Twitter tool. It delivers all your latest tweets directly onto your desktop. It will also allow for multiple account sign-ons if you have more than one account. No more refreshing of your Twitter home page, Twhirl is the way to go. Download it here.

Finetune - Finetune has to be one of the most impressive music tools in the marketplace at present. The AIR application syncs all your playlists and let you hear the best music around straight from your desktop. The interface for Finetune is just world class. It is so clean and very web 2.0 shinny finished. Download it here.

Google Analytics - This has to be one of the most popular AIR tools out there. Google Analytics is one of the most used traffic analysis tools and this desktop AIR version allows you to do everything as if it were on the web, but a little quicker. Download it here.

Color Browser - This tool is great for designers and is the AIR version of the popular Kuler, from Adobe. Pick the colors, save them, go back to reference what you’ve one in the past and what you’re currently working on. Download it here.

NASDAQ - The dynamic application gives users instant insight into extremely detailed trading activity in the market at any time during the day. Investors can use Market Replay to help validate best execution and Reg NMS compliance. Brokers and traders can use the tool to reconstruct the events around their trade to determine whether there was a missed opportunity or an unforeseen event. Download it here.

eBay Desktop - With all the amazing features already found on eBay, this desktop version will blow you away. It has a much slicker and simplified search tool and desing. Download it here.