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Adobe AIR, the Rich Internet Application framework that brings together the responsiveness of the desktop, the connectivity of the web and the dazzling good looks made possible by working in conjunction with other Adobe apps, has hit an important milestone this week. The company announced last night that the software has now been downloaded more than 25 million times.

Update: Adobe PR wrote us to clarify that the announcement is not in fact that 25 million people have downloaded AIR but that 25 million AIR apps have been downloaded. That's less clear and less exciting, but is exactly the kind of PR fluff that agencies issue all too often. Have you got any real news or do you not have any real news? This kind of stuff drives us nuts and we apologize to our readers for the misunderstanding.

If you've been wondering when AIR would become more than an edge case platform to develop on, that time could be now. In fact, more than 850,000 developers have already downloaded the AIR software development kit, according to Adobe's Ryan Stewart. We think this is really good news.

After the DEMO presentations yesterday, a lot of people were discussing favorites sites and services from the day's sessions. Based on buzz alone, one of the more popular applications appears to be the new service Alerts.com. With this service, instead of visiting multiple sites to stay up-to-date with the latest news and and information, you can have the news come to you. You can configure alerts that are relevant to your interests and then have them arrive in the method you choose: SMS, voice, email, IM, or on your desktop via an Adobe Air app.

Directly after Invision.tv's demo, another startup with a similar goal presented: ffwd (pronounced "fast forward"). Like Invision.tv, their web app also offers you a way to browse through internet video from one portal - the site at ffwd.com. However, their take on how this browsing should look and feel is a bit different. Which one will you like better?

Over at last100 [RWW's Digital Lifestyle blog] we've been focused a lot on mobile lately. We reviewed two touch screen phones: HTC's Touch Diamond and Samsung's Tocco (in case you're wondering, they're no iPhone killers). We also looked at the whole Netbook craze, including a review of the very capable MSI Wind.

In Android-related coverage, we put the case of why Google should have developed a GPhone of its own, and we also looked at the implications of Android's pending Marketplace for third-party applications. Lastly, on the trends front we examined why the mobile browser maybe more important than any one mobile operating system.

At DEMO, a company called Cerego just launched a new adaptive learning system for English speakers who want to learn a new language: iKnow! Think Rosetta Stone, but online, and mashed up with a social network. Using a specialized algorithm tailored to the individual learner, iKnow! can accelerate knowledge acquisition by having you review items at the optimum point in time - that moment right before you're likely to forget it. At launch time, iKnow only supports English and Japanese, but four other languages will be added within the year.

At first glance, it seems like SkyData is trying to do too much. This mobile app mashes up data from your email contacts, your social network contacts, your business contacts, as well as business data from CRM applications like Salesforce.com, location-based info from sites like Yelp, travel info, news and RSS feeds, and even Google Maps. Is this a case of info overload or is this an app every business user will want to have?

To capitalize on the growing mobile market, a company called HeyCosmo is launching two new location-based service designed for use on both the web and the phone. The first service, HeyCosmo Concierge, wants to help you save time on everyday tasks like making dinner reservations or finding an affordable contractor. The second, HeyCosmo Blaster, is a social event planning tool.

The DEMO Fall conference today saw the launch of a number of interesting online photo applications. Out of this group, one service that especially caught our eye was Photrade, which not only gives you an online photo album, but also the option to easily sell copies of your photos and license them to other web sites. During the open beta, Photrade is giving all users a Pro account for the next year, with the ability to upload an unlimited amount of pictures. After this first year, Pro accounts will cost $25 a year.

With the recent caps put in place by ISPs like Comcast, some people are saying that the future of Internet video is not downloads, but streaming. If that comes to pass, a site like the newly launched Invision.tv could become an invaluable resource for searching through the wide variety of online video available on today's web.

RSS and centralized integration of activity data from multiple social networks are the kinds of technologies that only early adopters are interested in, right? AOL has the exact opposite kind of audience, does it not? Those assumptions appear to be facing serious challenge, if what TechCrunch says are leaked screen shots of a forthcoming AOL redesign are real.

AOL is apparently going to put an RSS reader and a window for participating in multiple 3rd party social networks right onto its front page. This could change the lives of millions of people - snide commenters can take note that with 60 million unique visitors monthly AOL.com still gets 3X as many visitors as Digg. Check out these screen shots below.