Macromedia today unveiled a public beta release of , providing a "new way for people to interact with Internet information without relying on a continuous connection." The Central public beta includes two initial beta applications: Movie Finder and AccuWeather, which will be part of a larger application library being created by third parties for Central. Since the start of the initial beta program this summer, close to 1,000 developers have joined the application development community for Central.

Movie Finder provides access to film ratings, showtimes, ticket purchasing, and DVD rental services, integrating information from Tribune Media Services, Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes and Netflix, while AccuWeather provides five-day forecasts, notification about specific weather conditions, and conveniently displays it in Central pods.



"I'm excited to create applications for Central because they'll have distinct advantages over conventional web applications," said Phillip Kerman, application developer and author of "Flash for Rich Internet Applications." "As a platform, Central removes boundaries to let you create applications that go beyond what we traditionally consider possible for web applications. Best of all, Central applications will easily reach my customers."



The developer program for Central will transition to a public SDK beta next month, enabling anyone to create applications. The next update of Central will ship later this year along with additional applications.

by MacNN Staff