Adobe has used its MAX 2008 show to announce new Flash technologies which it claims can speed up development.

The releases offer a complete set of tools designed to help in the development of web applications, but also content and video. The company said that by using the tools developers could ensure a consistent performance across operating systems and devices.

Included in the announcements were previews of Flash Catalyst and Flex Builder. Catalyst is a professional design tool that can be used in conjunction with Flex Builder to design and develop application interfaces without any coding. A beta version was handed out to attendees, but will be widely available early next year.

A public beta of Flex Builder, which is code-named Gumbo and offers improved workflow tools for developers, is available now.

Adobe also announced the availability of the next version of its AIR product, and an alpha version of Flash Player 10 for 64-bit Linux operating systems.

"Adobe Flash technology has empowered the developer community to revolutionise the web and how we interact with it," said David Wadhwani, general manager of Adobe's Platform Business Unit.

"The Adobe Flash Platform continues to evolve, providing everything companies need to rapidly design and develop compelling business-critical applications, interactive web content and dynamic video that will reach users across the entire web."

Continuing the open source theme Adobe's AIR includes the open source WebKit HTML engine, and the firm's SquirrelFish WebKit JavaScript interpreter. AIR is available now for Windows, while the Linux version is expected by the end of this year.

A pre-release of the 64-bit Linux version of Adobe Flash Player 10 is available through Adobe Labs. The firm also previewed Flash Player 10 for smartphones, which it said would help deliver a consistent experience across devices and browsers.

Adobe has also introduced a new cloud-based platform-as-a-service tool, codenamed Cocomo, which it said will let developers add real-time social capabilities to web applications.

Using a combination of Cocomo and Flex, Adobe users will be able to add collaboration features such as chat, audio and video to existing applications, or create new ones with ease, the firm claimed.

"In releasing Cocomo, we are making another leap forward towards enabling developers to deliver rich internet applications powered by Adobe platform technologies," said Erik Larson, director of marketing and product management for Adobe's Business Productivity Business Unit.

"Cocomo extends our strategy to give developers the power to create rich real-time social applications that will change the way people communicate and collaborate with each other."