Ohhhhhh a few new tid bits given out at Flash on the Beach. Mike Chambers posted his presentation slides containing details outlining new features coming in Air 2.0. Its obvious that Chambers is also enjoying his new camera as the PDF presentation is 10mb and has some pretty cool texture backgrounds [ Download here ] [ Slide share version ]

But a simple summary:
“Athena” : StorageVolume APIs

• “Athena” API
• Monitors mounting and un-mounting of storage volumes
• USB / Firewire
• Cameras and Devices that mount as drives

“Athena” : NativeProcess API

• New API in AIR 2.0
• Can call and communicate with external applications
• Requires application be distributed as native installer (no AIR files)
• Cannot execute applications within application directory
• Must add “extendedDesktop” to support profiles

AIR 2.0 : Launch Default

• Allows files to be launched with default application
• Works in any AIR application
• File cannot be in application directory
• File type blacklist

Update: Also Raw microphone access YAY: http://theflashblog.com/?p=1426