Balaji reviewed Adobe AIR for JavaScript Developers Pocket Guide by Mike Chambers, Daniel Dura, Kevin Hoyt and Dragos Georgita and gave it 8 out of 10 horseshoes.

If you are a beginner and don’t know anything about AIR, then this book is the best bet. ... The authors have given lots of code snippets while explaining a topic instead of lots of theoretical text. ... The most interesting part in this book is the “Mini cookbook”. [It] contains worked out samples with complete code explanation that can help you understand (from AIR perspective) Application Chrome, Windowing, File API, File Pickers, Service and Server Monitoring, Online/Offline, Drag-and-Drop, Embedded Database, Command-Line Arguments, Networking, Sound.

You can read the full review and discuss it here.

Marc reviewed Java Fundamentals I and II (Video Training) by Deitel and Associates Inc. and gave it 6 out of 10 horseshoes. (Amazon)

This was basically fourteen hours of staring at code already written in a NetBeans editor while a faceless (and somewhat monotone) voice explained how the code works. The mouse pointer moves around or highlights some text to point out a particular area of code, the lessons sometimes shift to JavaDoc or a diagram, and you see Paul's face while he gives the intro and summary of each lesson – but it wasn't enough to keep me engaged. ... Overall, this LiveLessons DVD pack isn't horrible - I simply think the Deitel book is a better value ...

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Marc reviewed Service Oriented Java Business Integration by Binildas C. A. and gave it 5 out of 10 horseshoes.

I was hoping to simply learn more about Java Business Integration. The first 70 pages are a decent start on this. Following that, however, Apache ServiceMix component tutorials abound, and not in an entertaining cover-to-cover read kind of way. ... There isn't much of a practical flow from chapter to chapter, the "Use Cases" never really explain the problems that the samples solve ... If you're working with ServiceMix but are frustrated by a lack of documentation, then this book might be the right fit for you. Otherwise I recommend you save your money for something else.

You can read the full review and discuss it here.