LiveCycle Data Services 2.6 is now in public beta. The update includes better support for Flex 3, support for AIR offline storage and data management, improved performance, and more. And yes, it can be used with ColdFusion. You can get LCDS 2.6 beta from Labs.

The Share team has posted details about updates just released in version 1.3.5 of the Share service, including details of some of the new features and offerings being made available.

Title says is all. Go to Adobe Labs for the alpha version of the Linux AIR Player. We've also posted an update to the Flex Builder 3 for Linux alpha, adding support for AIR creation.

The AIR based Adobe Media Player (demonstrated at MAX 2007) is up on Labs for download.

The alpha of Flex Builder 3 for Linux is up on labs.

With the big announcement of the release of open source BlazeDS on Labs, ColdFusion users have been trying to figure out which option is better for them - the full LiveCycle Data Services (LCDS) which is included with ColdFusion 8, or the new open source BlazeDS option.

BlazeDS is, for the most part, a subset of the full LCDS. It supports remoting and messaging, and it can be used with ColdFusion. And it's free. However, BlazeDS does not support data management (including the data synchronization functionality) which is one of the most appealing aspects of LCDS for ColdFusion users.

ColdFusion 8 can be installed with an embedded LCDS engine. If a license is provided then it is a full LCDS implementation, otherwise it is LCDS Express which has a single CPU license restriction.

So, should ColdFusion users stick with the integrated LCDS or use the new open-source BlazeDS?

If all you need is messaging (the ability to push from ColdFusion to the client), then BlazeDS may be a better option, if for no other reason than there is no license to worry about. But, if data management is important then LCDS is the better option.

We've been busy! AIR Beta 3 is on Labs, and here is a post that describes what's new in beta 3.

Title says it all. We just posted the latest (and final) beta of Flex Builder 3 on Labs.

BlazeDS is an open source Java remoting and web messaging technology that enables developers to easily connect to back-end distributed data and push data in real-time to Flex and AIR applications. Previously these were only available as part of LiveCycle Data Services, and today we announced that BlazeDS will be released under the LGPL v3, and along with it we'll also be releasing the specification for AMF (on which Remoting is built). BlazeDS is now on Labs, and Christophe Coenraets has posted lots of details.

"Brio" is the codename for the preview of the next generation of Adobe Acrobat Connect. Brio is a web meeting service built with collaboration in mind for individual professionals and small businesses. With Brio, you can instantly communicate and collaborate through an easy-to-use, easy-to-access online personal meeting room. And Brio is now on Labs.

Rob Christensen (Senior Product Manager for Adobe AIR, nee Apollo) has written an article highlighting six must-see AIR applications.

Last week I mentioned that CF8 public beta downloads had already exceeded our expectations. I was looking at updated stats yesterday, and the downloads numbers are now significantly higher than when I made that post. That's phenomenal! But I also noticed something else of interest - of the versions downloaded thus far, here is the platform breakdown: Windows 76%, Mac 16%, Linux 7%. That Windows number is pretty consistent with ColdFusion use in general, but the Mac number is far greater than what we've seen before, and is great to see.

Here is some more information about the first public beta release of Flex 3 (now available on Adobe labs), the first major deliverable for the open source Flex project (including a public bug base, and the beginning of public nightly builds) ...

Some of the new features in Flex Builder 3 are:

• Built-in support for the new Adobe Integrated Runtime (formerly Apollo)
• Code re-factoring
• Memory and performance profilers
• SWF file size reduction using a persistent framework cache in Flash Player
• Advanced datagrid (this is the one I've been eagerly awaiting)
• CS3 and Flex integration
• Web service introspection

Create an AIR (formerly Apollo) application, enter it into the Adobe AIR Developer Derby, and you could win the trip of a lifetime - a travel certificate valued at up to US$100,000, to be used for the travel of your choice! Other cool prizes too. Details online.

Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR), formerly known as Apollo, is a cross-operating system runtime that allows developers to use their existing web development skills to build and deploy rich Internet applications to the desktop. And you can get it right now on Labs.

Yep, the Flex 3 beta is now available for download from Labs.

Adobe has announced plans to open source Flex under the Mozilla Public License. This includes the source to the ActionScript components from the Flex SDK (which have been available in source code form with the SDK since Flex 2 was released) as well as the Java source code for the ActionScript and MXML compilers, the ActionScript debugger and the core ActionScript libraries from the SDK. The Flex SDK includes all of the components needed to create Flex applications. Details posted on Labs. Scoble has posted comments, interviews, and more.

Flex Component Kit for Flash CS3 has been posted to Labs. This kit allows you to create interactive and animated content in Flash CS3, and then use that content in your Flex apps. This way the designers on your team get to use Flash, the coders get to use Flex, and everyone gets to contribute to the development process.

Wow, this is Labs week! Newly posted to Labs is Flex Data Services 2.5, now known as LiveCycle Data Services. Go get it!

Apollo, the cross-OS runtime that allows developers to leverage their existing web development skills (Flash, Flex, HTML, Ajax) to build and deploy desktop RIA's, is available for download from Labs.

Another Labs release, this time an update to the XMP Toolkit. XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform) is a labeling technology used to embed metadata within media files. The XMP Toolkit allows developers to programmatically access metadata in AVI, EPS, INDD, JPEG, MOV, MP3, MPEG, PNG, PS, PSD, TIFF, and WAV files. The update to XMP Toolkit 4.1 adds Java support (among other things) which means that the toolkit can be used within ColdFusion applications.

Subject says it all, the pre-release version of Flash Player 9 for Solaris (both Sparc and x86 systems) has been posted to Labs.

Now there is one less barrier to Flex experimentation and adoption. In addition to Flex Builder and the free Flex SDK, you can now write Flex code and compile it on the fly, just like you do ColdFusion (or ASP, JSP, and PHP). The Flex Module For Apache And IIS has been posted to Labs.

An update to Flash Player 9 has been posted to Labs. Changes include a new full screen mode, support for Windows Vista, and some bug fixes. More details posted by Emmy Huang on her blog.

Spry is a JavaScript framework for creating Ajax applications, a library that makes it easy to incorporate XML data into HTML pages using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Want to learn more? Paul Gubbay has written an introduction to Spry. Spry examples are posted on Labs. And you can download Spry from Labs.