Sebastopol, CA--Buzz continues to build over the release of Adobe AIR 1.5. And O'Reilly's latest, "Adobe AIR 1.5 Cookbook ($44.99)--the first book available on Adobe AIR 1.5--is the up-to-the-minute reference you need.

The new book includes dozens of recipes from rising stars in the AIR development community--David Tucker, Rich Tretola, Marco Casario, and Koen De Weggheleire--along with the best solutions posted by visitors to the Adobe AIR Cookbook community website hosted by Adobe and O'Reilly (www.adobe.com/go/air_cookbook).

Thoroughly vetted by Adobe's AIR development team, "Adobe AIR 1.5 Cookbook" addresses fundamentals, best practices, and topics that web developers and application designers inquire about most. The hands-on recipes in this cookbook help you solve a variety of tasks and scenarios that you may encounter using Adobe AIR to build Rich Internet Applications for the desktop. It's an ideal way to learn the nuances of Adobe AIR, with practical solutions you can use right away, and detailed explanations of why and how they work.

These recipes will help you:

- Build an AIR application with Flex, Flash, or HTML and Ajax
- Create a database and connect it to your application
- Put together native menus for PCs and Macs
- Work with the Service Monitor Framework
- Utilize the Adobe AIR Update Framework
- Create branded desktop experiences with custom chrome and custom application icons
- Distribute your AIR application with the Seamless Install Badge

So if you're ready to expand your skill set with Adobe AIR, this is the book you've been waiting for.

The book includes a foreword from Lee Brimelow, Platform Evangelist, Adobe, who adds “This is the first book that covers Adobe AIR 1.5 and you couldn't ask for a better group of authors to help teach you the ins and outs of AIR development. This book will find a permanent home beside my keyboard whenever I'm doing any AIR development.”

About the Authors
David Tucker is a software engineer working on Flex and AIR applications at Universal Mind.

Marco Casario owns Comtaste, a company dedicated to exploring new RIA frontiers.

Koen De Weggheleire teaches Flash Platform Solutions at the Technical University of West-Flanders.

Rich Tretola is the Rich Applications Technical Lead at Herff Jones Inc., and Community Manager at InsideRIA.com.

Read more from Rich Tretola.