Richard Bates is a software developer and author in Athens, GA. Specializing in Adobe Flex, AIR, and PHP development, he has served in this capacity in projects ranging from refrigerator magnet designers to interactive applications for world-wide brands. A dedicated open-source community enthusiast, Richard has written developer how-tos for Zend DevZone, AOL Developer Network, Adobe Developer Connection, and php|architect magazine, among others. You can contact Richard about this series, his articles, or his open-source projects through his blog at http://flexandair.com.