Adobe Apollo: Cool demo
Adobe Apollo: apps work without a browser
Adobe has been pitching its Apollo technology since last year. It's the new platform that will let you install Web apps on the desktop. At Demo 07, we got a nice demo of an eBay app--a Flash interface to the auction site. The app kept working when the Internet connection was pulled. When the demonstrator's laptop was plugged back into the network, the app synced its data back to eBay.
Honestly, the idea of apps that work when disconnected is becoming less important as bandwidth becomes more ubiquitous, but it's still interesting, and the Apollo demos look really good. What's really important is not that they work when disconnected, but rather that they work without a browser. I look forward to seeing a growth of apps that use the Internet but that don't have to live within a browser nor inherit all the user interface elements that aren't necessary in a real app.