AOL Accelerates Consumer Adoption of Personal Media Products with Enhancements to BlueString and Xdrive.New Series of Embedded Applications Enable BlueString Functionality Across the Internet Adobe Flex Adobe Flex is a software development kit and an IDE for a group of technologies initially released in March of 2004 by Macromedia to support the development and deployment of cross platform, rich Internet applications based on their proprietary Macromedia Flash platform. and Adobe AIR Implemented to Deliver Web-Enabled Applications on the Desktop LAS VEGAS Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. -- AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. today announced major enhancements to its leading personal media products with new features in BlueString (www.bluestring.com), the first free Website that enables users to easily upload, store, consume, manage and share digital media; and the upcoming release of a new beta version A pre-shipping release of hardware or software that has gone through alpha test. A beta version of software is supposed to be very close to the final product, but, in practice, it is more a way of getting users to test the software in the first place under real conditions. of Xdrive (www.xdrive.com), the leading personal hard drive on the Internet allowing consumers to store, access, share and backup their files. Both products will be demonstrated at this week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and are scheduled for general release in the first quarter of 2008. Beginning today, a series of embedded applications called, "My Memory Gallery," which allow consumers to access and use BlueString on Facebook(r) can be found at http://apps.facebook.com/mymemorygallery. They will also be made available in the Facebook Application Directory. Generic versions of these applications will soon be available for inclusion on blogs, other Websites and personal homepages. In addition, an enhanced version of Xdrive featuring a new user interface will be released into beta in early 2008. Both are being built with Adobe(r) Flex(tm) and Adobe AIR(tm), Adobe's rich Internet application See RIA and rich client. (RIA (Rich Internet Application) A Web-based application that approaches the speed and elegance of a local application. An RIA may refer to a browser-based application that uses AJAX or another enhanced coding technique. ) technologies (www.adobe.com/go/ria), which combine the reach of the Web with the richness and ease of use of desktop applications into AOL's Web-based products. "AOL is advancing personal media products to make them more intuitive, user-friendly and easily integrated with other products, applications and Websites," said David Liu David Liu is a Taiwanese figure skater. He represented Taiwan at three Olympic Games: the 1998 Winter Olympics, where he placed 27th; 1992 Winter Olympics where he placed 17th; and the 1988 Winter Olympics, where he placed and 25th. , Senior Vice President, Social Media, Messaging and Homepages, AOL. "By using innovative technologies such as Adobe Flex and Adobe AIR, we can deliver powerful, application-like Web-based tools that allow users to access media wherever it may be stored (on the PC or on the Web), create shows that truly express the moments of their lives and easily share their personal media privately or publicly via BlueString, Xdrive or another Website of their choice." Scheduled to leave beta during the first quarter of 2008, BlueString will include an enhanced user interface based on Adobe Flex and Adobe AIR enabling simple drag-and-drop of photos, videos, and music across online and offline storage Refers to disks and tapes that are kept in a data library. Offline data cannot be accessed from a computer or terminal until it is mounted in the drive. , and eliminating the need for consumers to explicitly upload files before they create with or share their digital media. The market-ready version of BlueString will also offer consumers the ability to access personal photos, videos and music from a variety of third-party media sites and popular photo, video and music-sharing sites. The new Xdrive beta will feature a simplified and easier-to-use design. Also built on Adobe AIR, this version of Xdrive will integrate the consumer's desktop directly into the online application, giving users the ability to simply drag and drop A graphical user interface (GUI) capability that lets you perform operations by moving the icon of an object with the mouse into another window or onto another icon. For example, files can be copied or moved by dragging them from one folder to another. files directly from the desktop into Xdrive. The updated version of Xdrive will also be fully integrated into AOL Mail, allowing users to send attachments larger than the current 16 MB limit, creating a seamless email experience for people sending files up to 5 GB. "BlueString and Xdrive leverage the power of Adobe AIR and Adobe Flex so people can enjoy, customize and share their digital media over the Web within dynamic desktop applications," said Michele Turner, Vice President of Product Management and Developer Relations, Platform Business Unit at Adobe. "We're excited that AOL's BlueString and Xdrive are showcases for Adobe RIA technologies, which enable businesses and developers to create engaging applications that combine the power of the desktop with the reach of the Web." About BlueString: BlueString provides the ability to manually or automatically upload photos, videos and music and easily create rich multimedia shows to share with family and friends. An innovative feature called "String it" makes it easy to collaborate, allowing several people to add media assets to one show. BlueString offers up to 5GB of free online storage without limiting file size or bandwidth consumption and will soon give users the ability to link directly to video clips and photos from a number of leading third party media sharing sites without having to upload or move them. Any user with an active email address See Internet address. from any provider can register to use BlueString for free. Any AOL or AIM user can register with their existing screenname for free. About Xdrive: Xdrive is a free service available to all Web users at Xdrive.com. Any AOL or AIM user can register with their existing screenname for free. It manages an online storage platform that provides consumers with 5GB of free storage without limiting file size or bandwidth consumption. Upgrades to 50GB accounts are available for $9.95 per month. Xdrive is a Verisign Secure Site, and provides password protection for all sessions and stored assets. Xdrive's high volume network and horizontally scalable processor complex provide the performance and reliability that consumers demand. About AOL AOL[R] is a global Web services (1) Loosely, any online service delivered over the Web. Such usage appears in articles from non-technical sources, but not in IT-oriented publications, because definition #2 below describes the correct use of the term. company that operates some of the most popular Web destinations, offers a comprehensive suite of free software and services, runs one of the country's largest access businesses, and provides a full set of advertising solutions. A majority-owned subsidiary majority-owned subsidiary A firm in which more than 50% of outstanding voting stock is owned by the parent company. of Time Warner Inc., AOL LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control is based in Dulles, Virginia Dulles, Virginia is an unincorporated census-designated place located in Loudoun County, Virginia, part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. The headquarters of AOL, Orbital Sciences Corporation and ODIN technologies and the former headquarters of MCI Inc. are located in Dulles. . AOL and its subsidiaries also have operations in Europe, Canada and Asia. Learn more at AOL.com. Facebook[R] is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc. |
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