Adobe AIR is a runtime environment that’s brought us a few pretty interesting (and visually impressive) applications over the past couple of years.  Perhaps the most attractive aspect of AIR is that it’s cross-platform, so developers can write apps for AIR that users running Windows, the Mac OS, or Linux can download and enjoy.

Now Adobe is working on getting AIR on mobile devices. And this could be important since such an environment running on multiple device types (Android, Windows Phone, etc.) could make cross-platform software design and distribution a simpler process.

It’s easy to imagine AIR coming to Windows Mobile (or Windows Phone 7) smartphones, and to Android devices (as shown below), but Apple allowing Adobe AIR – an application that could conceivably allow users to bypass the App Store – on the iPhone or iPad just doesn’t seem like a safe bet at this point.

Take a look at the video below to see AIR apps running on the Android-powered Motorola Droid, or for more information on Adobe AIR, visit the Adobe AIR web page.

via Download Squad

The latest version of the Opera Mobile web browser has been released for Windows Mobile devices. 

Version 10.3 adds support for non-touchscreen Windows Mobile smartphones (WM Standard), Flash Lite 3.1 support, Opera bookmark sync (if you happen to use Opera on your PC or Mac), automatic touch-to-dial phone number linking, and general fixes.

Visit the Opera Mobile web site for more information, or to download the new browser directly to your Windows Phone, go to m.opera.com from your smartphone’s web browser.

It’s been more than a year since the first release of Opera Mobile 9.5 beta was made available for Windows Mobile.  In that time the mobile browser has been a favorite of many Windows smartphone users and has received several important updates. 

But today there’s an entirely new version available.

The just-released Opera Mobile 10 Beta promises faster browsing, a more desktop-like interface, true tabbed browsing, auto-completion, an updated password manager, adaptive zoom, and more.  Version 10 is compatible with Windows Mobile 5, 6 and 6.5 touchscreen devices.

You can download and install Opera Mobile 10 Beta with your PC (via ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center), or for direct-to-device download just point your Windows Smartphone’s browser to m.opera.com/mobile.

Check out the video below for a quick walkthrough.

******************************************************************************

Handango is offering a 23% discount on all Windows Mobile software purchases of $13 or more now through October 31.  Just use the offer code “GHOST” at checkout.

A few months ago, we told you about Scan2PDF Mobile [Review], a Widows Mobile application that used a smartphone’s camera as a scanner for creating documents.

Today there’s a newcomer to this class of Windows Mobile software, Photocopy Mobile.

Photocopy Mobile does pretty much the same as Scan2PDF, but with a cleaner interface.  You can “scan” new documents, use existing photos, and more to create PDF documents. You can then mail the resulting files to anyone you wish, or transfer the files back to your PC for archiving and future use.

Features:

• Scan materials using the built-in camera
• Import images from storage card or device
• Change the order of the pages
• Insert blank pages
• View, zoom, rotate or crop images
• Delete images
• Create high quality PDF files from images
• Save PDF files to your device
• View PDF files with your default PDF application
• Send PDF files by email and share them with other people

Windows Vista has built-in programs for email, contacts and calendar, so why can’t Windows Mobile devices sync with these solutions?  As it stands, Windows Mobile can only sync with Microsoft’s  Outlook.  The answer is simple: Microsoft wants you to buy Outlook.

Well, now you can sync your Windows Mobile 5 or 6 (touchscreen and non-touchscreen) Smartphones with Windows Mail, Windows Calendar and Windows Contacts in Vista (as well as Outlook Express in XP) with Sync Express 4. 

Sync Express 4 is a sync plug-in for ActiveSync and Windows Mobile Device Center which expands your syncing options to include select built-in Windows PIM applications. 

If syncing with Windows Vista’s Mail, Contacts and Calendar apps is something you’re interested in, give SyncExpress 4 a go.  It’s free to try for 30 days.

Spb Mobile Shell is a very popular Today Screen UI replacement for Windows Mobile Professional (touchscreen) smartphones.  This week, Spb Software released version 3.5 of the software.

Mobile Shell 3.5 includes new widgets for Facebook and Twitter, a new email and SMS viewer, accelerometer support for the 3D carousel, updated weather functionality and more.

Other features of Mobile Shell include multi-page home screen, Facebook contacts integration, navigation gestures, photo speed dial, an app launcher, Internet tools and more.

Download Mobile Shell 3.5 Trial

=========================================================

Twitter is one of the most popular social networking services around, and over the last year it’s worked its way into many aspects of our lives.  For some time, however, the Twitter app selection for Windows Mobile devices was practically nonexistent.

But in the past several months, a handful of Windows Mobile Twitter apps have been released, and we hope to see their number continue to grow.

Our favorite Twitter client for Windows Mobile at the moment is moTweets.  There are several reasons for this, but the main reason we love moTweets is that it has an attractive Twitter-esque UI, just about every option a user could hope for and generally solid performance on touchscreen Windows Mobile smartphones. 

If you can’t stop tweeting, Twittering, or whatever you choose to call using Twitter too much, grab a copy of moTweets from Handango and try it for yourself.

Kinoma Play – one of the best Windows Mobile media applications – has just been updated with Location Awareness for Twitter, native YouTube and Flickr viewing, GPS-enabled local news, and general reliability and speed improvements.

If you love listening to music or watching videos on your Windows Mobile smartphone, and haven’t yet tried Kinoma Play, give this fantastic application a try.

Link: Get Kinoma Play Windows Mobile Media Software

Long before the Sony Reader or the Amazon Kindle, Pocket PC and Windows Mobile device users were able to read eBooks with Microsoft Reader.  This software, which has always been free to download, was once the only eBook option for Windows Mobile devices, though others came along over the years.

We haven’t seen or heard much about MS Reader in the past couple of years, but today we noticed a short post indicating that the software has been updated to version 2.4.2 and now fully supports Windows Mobile 6 and 6.1.

Microsoft Reader allows users to read eBooks in the .LIT format that Microsoft popularized between 2001 and 2004.  Though many of the major eBook sellers no longer sell books in this format, you can still find the files from some download sites.