Three guys from AOL. “We’re making a big bet on AIR; why? Two reasons (three if we had more time):
– Make it easy to upload data to share it
– Recapture some of the UI richness that was lost when the Web gained prominence
They’re now showing off Xdrive, which provides 5 GB of on-line storage. They have a new AIR interface for it that was launched today. It’s a file browser a la Windows Explorer or OS X Finder for browsing the files on your Xdrive.
You can see your local filesystem from within the AIR application, and you can drag-and-drop to upload and download, or you can simply drag files from the actual desktop into the AIR application. You can even drag-and-drop folders.
They also have the ability to share documents in the Xdrive and control fine-grained sharing permissions.
“We just stayed up late finished this last night… Thanks to Adobe for all their support.”
Now we’re looking at the “Top 100 Videos” application. They want to create a new distribution channel for the content so they can grow their audience.
Unlike the UI for Xdrive, the UI for Top 100 Videos is very polished and aesthetic.
They use SQLlite to store your favorites videos persistently, etc. They also have a full screen view and a few different widget views.
Available right now from music.aol.com.
Q: What’s the biz model?
A: “For Xdrive you can buy more storage.” Upgrading the free storage is the model. (Spaced out during the Top 100 Videos monetization answer.)
Adobe’s been a fantastic partner for us at every level.
Ben Galbraith 