MIT Has Come a Long Way - Book Review

The Massachusetts Institute of technology or MIT has always been on the cutting edge of technology, and years ahead of the rest of the world. Their engineers, students, and professors have brought forth significant innovations, concepts, and they have literally changed the world. To fully understand how incredible this institution is and how long all of this has been going on, it takes a little bit of a history lesson.

If this is a topic that interests you, as much as it does me, then perhaps I can recommend a very good book to you. It is a book actually that is on my shelf at home, and one that I use as a reference from time to time. The name of the book is;

"The Media Lab; Inventing the Future at MIT," by Stuart Brand, Penguin Book Publishers, 1988, (304pp), ISBN: 01-4009-701-5.

There are pictures, charts, and illustrations of what MIT was bringing to the market place prior to 1990. Some of the ideas and concepts will make you laugh because they are commonplace today, but now you know where they started, who started it, and the theory and technology behind it all. Each and every year there are new ideas and concepts which are being generated from MIT, and therefore it is interesting to study their past, present, and there ever increasing drive towards the future.

I invite you to read this book, think about it, and take the MIT magazine. I'd also advise you to take their online newsletter for the topics that interest you in biotech, energy, computers, Internet, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, or robotics. If you do this you too can be on the cutting edge of what comes next. Please consider all this.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes in MIT.

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Beginning SharePoint 2010 Administration - A Review

Take a look behind the scenes and you will understand... that's the key point of this book. If you are not familiar with SharePoint in general, basic concepts, or use cases and if you wonder why you (may) need SharePoint you should read this book. All of the questions are answered and in combination with basic technical administration tasks you will not only get an understanding of how to do it... you will also know why to do it. Let's start from the beginning... the book has 14 chapters written by Goran Husman and Christian Stahl:

Introduction to Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Building SharePoint Foundation Sites Office Integration Content Management in SharePoint 2010 Managing My Sites SharePoint Administration Building Intranets and Internet Portals Customizing SharePoint 2010 Using SharePoint Designer 2010 Backup and Restore Installing SharePoint Foundation 2010 Configuring SharePoint Foundation 2010 Installing Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Configuring SharePoint Server 2010

The writing itself is adequate, it's neither boring nor difficult or funny. The length of a chapter is around 30 to 50 sites depending on the complexity of the subject. Each chapter has easy to understand examples as well as graphics, diagrams and screenshots where necessary. With a summary at the end of each chapter you can sum up the things you have read.

The biggest strength of this book are the chapters 1 to 9 since these are the chapters telling you the concept behind each administration task. You will understand the task itself, the things you need and the things you have to consider. Chapters 10 to 14 are additional chapters... you should read them first because they tell you how to install SharePoint 2010. Here it's not that important to understand things from the beginning since on the one hand you need a running instance for chapter 1 to 10 and on the other hand the understanding comes with the use of SharePoint.

All in all a SharePoint 2010 Book which can be recommended.

Markus Ramirez is an independent SharePoint developer mainly in Switzerland but also in Germany and Austria. As a trainer he tries to sensitize people to take a look behind things in order to understand them.

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Review: FutureHype: The Myths Of Technology

Author: Bob Seidensticker

ISBN: 1576753700

In an age where there is considerable hype about the wonders of modern technology, Bob Seidensticker prods us to take a step back and put everything into a more realistic perspective or as he most aptly states, we should vaccinate ourselves against hype.

Seidensticker's principal theme in FutureHype: The Myths Of Technology Change is that the pace of technological change does not increase exponentially. According to Seidensticker, although we may be living in an era of fast change, this does not imply that we are the only ones to have experienced this phenomenon. In earlier times people had their own examples of fast change and to discover if our times are really unique, it is necessary that today's social change be compared to that of the past. In fact, as Seidensticker warns us, "the popular perception of modern technology is inflated and out of step with reality."

Divided into two parts, the book first illustrates how we fall into the trap of incorrectly and myopically seeing technology. Seidensticker underlines his contentions with several concrete examples that are elaborated upon throughout this first section.

As an example, we are reminded that a technology might be innovative, but the product that we build from that technology does not necessarily have to be revolutionary, particularly if our predictions are off the mark. It is to be remembered that predictions are often more of a picture of the present rather than the future and there is often a danger of careless extrapolation.

The Internet may be able to provide us with a great deal of information, however, will this lead us to being better informed. Probably not, as the downside is that much of the information is unreliable and pure garbage!

One of the hypes we are all bombarded with daily is that we should blindly trust modern technology and put all of our eggs in one basket. This is all great until the basket breaks, as we become increasingly dependent on software that sometimes is filled with bugs or where we have fragile and brittle technology. No doubt, all of this has created much of the insecurity we feel today in our modern world.

The second part of the book takes a look at the constancy of change in a broad spectrum of areas-popular culture, health and safety, fear and anxiety, personal technologies, and business. We are provided with an excellent survey of the history of technology that is illustrated with stories from thousands of years of human advance proving to us that technological change is not unique to our day.

FutureHype: The Myths Of Technology Change immerses readers with a challenging study wherein technology is to be considered neither good, nor bad nor neutral. As Seidensticker states: "a technology isn't inherently good or bad, but it will have an impact." It is the impact that is important, as it will have a good side and a bad side.

Bob Seidensticker has spent twenty-five years in the technology industry and he holds thirteen software patents. His broad experience is quite in evidence with his insightful and compelling study, as he alerts his readers to the dangers of technology infatuation. He also cautions us that we should never lose sight of the myths that surround technology and the unexpected ways it evolves and affects our lives, while at the same time examining its downsides. As he concludes his book, he leaves us with a very important warning, "don't be bullied into buying a particular technology because a vendor, an advertisement, or your nephew you tells you to." Ask yourself if the product is right for you?

Norm Goldman is editor of the book reviewing and author interviewing site http://www.bookpleasures.com/ and the travel site http://www.sketchandtravel.com/

Bookpleasures is a global Internet book reviewing and author interviewing village. Reviewers come from all over the globe and review all genre. There are over 6500 sites that link to Bookpleasures and many of the reviews are listed within the first 3 pages of the Google Search Engine.

Norm also offers his own personalized express review service where you can have a quick review within 15 business days from the receipt of your book. To learn more about this service go to bookpleasures.com

Norm is ranked among the top 1000 Amazon reviewers and he contributes his reviews to several other Internet sites.

In addition, Norm and his artist wife Lily meld words with art focusing on romantic and wedding destinations, inns, and other hospitality properties. You can read Norm's travel articles and view Lily's art work that is always for sale at sketchandtravel.com

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The Minimum You Need to know to be an OpenVMS Application Developer - Book Review

Do you want to be an OpenVMS Application Developer? If you don't know what that is, then you probably don't need this book, but if you do, you've found the seemingly most comprehensive and readable guide to doing so. Roland Hughes' offering, "The Minimum You Need to know to be an OpenVMS Application Developer" is an abundance of information that you cannot afford to be without.

Here's some background: "OpenVMS (Open Virtual Memory System) is a high-end computer server operating system. As a multi-user, multiprocessing virtual memory-based operating system (OS), it is designed for use in time-sharing, batch processing, real time, and transaction processing. It offers high system availability through clustering and distributes the system over many machines." In other words, you need to know this!

This isn't a beginner's guide, to be sure. However, those in the IT industry will be thankful to Hughes as he describes uses of: the MMS and CMS tools from the widely used DECSET OpenVMS software development toolkit CDD FMS the RDB and MySQL databases. He describes other tools found in OpenVMS application development such as VMSMAIL, and PHONE. The book works readers through and around a single application which is developed in each of DEC BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, C and C++ using a variety of tools. On the accompanying CD, full source code is provided.

Hughes' language is easy to understand. He doesn't speak over the heads of the readers, nor talk down, and his tome is not the dry textbook form you may be used to. He uses humor and easy going guidance, making this likely one of the most readable IT guides out there.

Drawing on his vast experience and knowledge, Hughes rewards himself and the reader with a final chapter on the IT field. His guidance here is not so technical but rather personal when deciding where a developer wishes to work. His attention to company restrooms is something I did not expect to read about but is likely very valuable information. If you want to be an OpenVMS Application Developer, this is the book you need.

"The Minimum You Need to know to be an OpenVMS Application Developer"

By Roland Hughes

ISBN-10: 0977086607

Review by Heather Froeschl

Heather Froeschl is an author, award winning editor, and book reviewer, at http://www.quilldipper.com/ and http://www.bookideas.com/

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Book Review: Computer Investigation by Elizabeth Bauchner

Who is the target audience for this book?

Make no mistake. This book is not targeted for computer professionals. If you have a degree in Computer Science or just know a lot about computers, you won't learn anything from this book. This book is targeted to children in the middle school age group, but it would also be a good introductory book for adults.

That said, what does the book talk about?

What is the science of computer forensics?

Computer forensics is a two-part process. First, data is retrieved and then the data is used. It is different from other forensic sciences because the data usually stands on its own and does not need to be interpreted.

What are the many duties of a computer forensics technician?

While doing their job, computer forensic specialists must preserve evidence, not introduce viruses or worms into a system, handle data properly, keep evidence within the chain of command, reduce the impact of the system's analysis on any businesses affected, and make sure privileged information is not divulged.

Following those rules, computer forensic professionals find hidden files, swap files, and temp files used by the operating system and by applications. They access these files and protected and encrypted files, searching for information relevant to the case. They analyze the data found, especially in areas normally considered inaccessible. They perform an over all system analysis and list all relevant files. They provide an opinion of the system's layout and who authored which files. They make notes of attempts to delete or protect files, and they provide expert testimony and/or consultation in court as needed.

The book gives definitions for commonly used words, or jargon, in the industry.

A hacker is someone who is really interested in a piece of technology and learns all possible about the technology.

A cracker is someone who uses their hacker knowledge for bad.

Hackers are white hat, and crackers are black hat hackers.

A phreaker was a person who scammed the telephone company to get free long-distance calls.

Spoofing is mimicking a website (or an email) so the receiver thinks the sender is someone else.

Phishing is trying to get information from people, like their user accounts and passwords, and social security numbers.

A virus is a program, attached to another program, that infects a system when the program is opened. The virus can't do anything unless the program is opened and ran.

A worm is like a virus, but it can replicate itself without other programs being opened.

A Trojan horse is a program that pretends to be a different kind of program.

Denial of Service (DoS) is when a cracker tries to prevent a system from being accessible by its normal users.

Gwen Nicodemus has two children that she's been homeschooling all their lives. Gwen also teaches science and math classes in a local homeschooling cooperative. As a temporarily retired engineer, Gwen keeps her brain active by writing unit studies and little books for her kids whenever someone gets interested in a new topic. Check out the great free resources, including unit studies, videos, tutorials, and little books at http://unitstudiesbygwen.com/

©2010, Gwen Nicodemus

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Machines That Think - A Book Review

In the 1980s a huge number of books were written on artificial intelligence. From as early as 1980 books started really producing solid content on the topic. No, the concept obviously originated decades the prior, but by the early 80's computer scientists were really getting a handle on it, and towards the end of the 80s there were some really excellent books that honed in on the future.

Much of what we think of today and the direction we are moving in AI programming really stem from this period. So, if this topic interests you, I'd recommend that you read at least a few works from that era. Let me recommend one book that is fully illustrated and straight forward, one which will really get you on the right track, by allowing you to see from where all of this once came. The book is:

"Thinking Machines; the Search for Artificial Intelligence," by Igor Aleksander and Piers Burnett; Alfred A. Knoff Publishers, New York, NY, (1987).

The authors address the age old question; What is intelligence? And this chapter has a great overview of originality of concept, and all of Alan Turing's philosophical thoughts. It indeed brings it up to date to the mid-1980s. Then the authors talk about the ever elusive "Universal Machine" and then they really help us understand the difference between humans and the future of AI, which one could now say is in the present.

Learn about the thoughts on The Machinery of Vision and sensors, and the philosophical and historical significance. The chapter; "Inside the Machine" is of supreme interest and one you will enjoy. Indeed, I liked the authors' topic; The Myth of the Super Intelligent Machine, and these authors seem to indicate, in the end, no matter what, it is still a machine, not a human and it can only work a certain way. The Future may confirm this, but with the neural networking it may prove them wrong too.

Lance Winslow - Lance Winslow's Bio Lance Winslow is also Founder of the Car Wash Guys, a cool little Franchise Company; http://www.carwashguys.com/history/founder.html

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Netbook Review

You may or may not have heard of the term "Netbooks". They seem to be all the rage in personal computing these days. So what are they? Netbooks are the new class of mobile computers that offer an alternative to laptops. Basically, they are a smaller version of the laptop, both in form factor and computing ability to execute resource intensive computing applications. They may very well be the next revolution in mobile computing. Computer manufacturers are now offering a scaled down version of the ubiquitous laptop. The alternative they are offering is one that is smaller, thinner and inexpensive. Inexpensive as compared to the price of a regular laptop and in some cases even less expensive than a mobile phone. So is this scaled down version of a computing platform for you? Are you willing to give up your laptop for a netbook?

Before you decide on purchasing a netbook, it would be good idea to identify and understand your requirements for a mobile computing platform. What do you do with that current laptop of yours? Chances are that you use it more often to surf the web, run office applications for document processing, spreadsheets, presentations, email, etc. If you are a savvy web user, you probably could do all of this on the web. Is there any local application on your laptop that could utilize the entire computing resources of your laptop? This probably is a rarity for most laptop users. Games, photo, video, music editing applications, etc., could be part of the mix but even some of these have online alternatives.

Most netbooks run windows software. The operating system that comes installed is mostly Windows XP. So there is nothing new on the OS front that users would require to learn. Specifications in general include the Intel Atom N series chip with a clock speed rating of 1.6 GHz and installed RAM at 1 GB with the ability to expand to 2 GB. A screen size of 10.1" TFT may be a limiting factor for some users, but given the clarity of screens today and the primary motivation being a smaller form factor, this could be easily overlooked.

Netbooks are available from most major computer manufacturers most notably from Acer and Asustek. Both Acer and Asustek have a wide product variety and attractive price points, especially suitable for students and business users. Netbooks could serve as the standard computing platform for students in schools, colleges and universities. Small and medium business owners and corporate executives who are out and about, could also benefit from netbooks. Sales force personnel who are constantly on the move visiting customers, could use netbooks to connect with back office applications over the web from a customer location.

Today, more work is being done on bringing netbooks capable of working with different operating systems (e.g. Linux), chip sets etc., to make low cost computing feasible for all user groups. Looking forward into the future, you can expect to see faster, thinner and less expensive computing platforms. Click on Netbook Review to see a list of the latest netbooks available. Compare features and specs to find one that would suit your needs the most.

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Codin' For the Web by Charles Wyke-Smith - Book Review

The full title for this book is Codin' for the Web: A Designer's Guide to Developing Dynamic Web Sites and that is an accurate description of the contents of this book. The author also wrote Stylin' with CSS: A Designer's Guide. With this book he completes the loop. In the first book he had shown you how to make the site look good with style sheets divorced from code. In the latest books, he leads you through an education in how to use the php scripting language to create full featured dynamic page web sites.

The book is well designed with comprehensive screen shots and code listings. The code is available for download. This is always appreciated as it avoids the tedious practice of typing code from a book page during the learning process.

The book starts at the most basic level with an introduction to php and a simple explanation of statement syntax, variables, operators, etc.

Chapter 1 introduces the reader to coding principles. Types of variables, functions, control loops and much more are covered comprehensively. By the end of this chapter, the student has the knowledge and tools to write well styled php code.

Chapter 2 deals with form processing. The author covers input forms and the checking of data for completeness, correctness and security. Creating, reading, and writing flat files is covered.

Chapter 3 covers the creation of a mysql database. Code examples show how to add, modify, delete, select, and retrieve data. This is a good introduction to the power of the combination of php and mysql.

Chapter 4 continues using the database material to begin designing a content management system with the creation of database tables and the necessary administration section or back end of the site. Style sheets and editing functions are covered.

Chapter 5 is about cookies, sessions, and authentication. These are required for limiting access to areas of the site and for tracking visitors. The chapter gives example code for a members only site.

Chapter 6 extensively covers building a website with php. The value of include files for effective site maintenance and modification. The best practices for site navigation and the creation of dynamic page titles are given their own sections.

This book is highly recommended as a beginner/intermediate level introduction to building dynamic web sites with php/mysql. No book can give complete coverage but this one will take you a long way and the author does a good job of telling where to get more information. All this in a visually pleasing well designed book makes a book that you will want to add to your library.

John Paige is a writer, researcher, and student of how technology can be used to enhance the quality of life.

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The Minimum You Need to Know About Java on OpenVMS - Book Review

The Minimum You Need to Know About Java on OpenVMS

By Roland Hughes

ISBN 0-9770866-1-5

Stop right there. If you haven't read Roland Hughes' first book in this series, "The Minimum You Need to Know to be an OpenVMS Application Developer" you'll need to do so. Think of it as the prerequisite of a college course. Now, you are ready for the second book, "The Minimum You Need to Know About Java on OpenVMS." Why two books? Java wasn't covered so thoroughly in the first. Believe me; you'll be glad you have both.

The concept of this book is "how to convert your existing core business application to use Java, yet still preserve your investment in the most stable platform on earth." In other words, Hughes shows programmers how to create all the tools you need to make Java a usable language on OpenVMS. Java is an object-oriented programming language somewhat similar to C and C++ but really very different. Hughes goes into great comparison. Java has classes, but has a unique class called an Array with no defined constructor. This means values can be stored anywhere and in no specific order. You're going to learn to build the tools you need to build the tools you want. Pretty simple, right?

As in the first book, Hughes uses the same application to demonstrate each new tool, in this book, using Java with FMS and RDB. He shows how to develop a generic class that will be usable by Indexed Files, also how to use JNI to access RMS, FMS, system services, and operating system provided libraries. Programmers learn to create an infrastructure MMS Procedure and how to use the supporting classes the procedure creates. Hughes also shows how to access RDB via the JDBC driver, demonstrating the importance of SQL. An accompanying CD-ROM contains the Class source.

This isn't just flat textbook reading though. Hughes uses humor and casual language to engage his readers. He comfortably refers to things like geek books and nerd attitude. He knows that this work is on the intense side of life. The information within the book is very professionally presented, with detailed analysis and explanations, troubleshooting and error experiencing tips, and exercise quizzes that test your knowledge. You have to know these things!

The final chapter examines the future of IT and the choices you make going into it. So you want to be a computer programmer huh? Are you sure? Don't listen to your guidance counselor without reading this book (and the first) first. Triple digit hourly rates, six figure salaries...maybe not. Downsizing, layoffs, feast or famine? Maybe so. When looking for sage advice on IT, go to the guru, Roland Hughes.

Heather Froeschl is an author, award winning editor, and book reviewer, at http://www.quilldipper.com/ and http://www.bookideas.com/

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Computer Book Review - DOS

One of the biggest problems with computer users is that they really do not understand how their computer actually works. They do not fully comprehend the binary codes, which everyone should understand. They do not understand how the electronics work in their computer; they just do not get it they do not know how things work like the mother board, CPU, hard drive or understand the software or how it all works.

Perhaps, worst of all they do not understand operating systems and thus, are beholden to whatever they see on the screen and are fine as long as everything is working and nothing crashes. They do whatever the screen tells them without thinking or considering their alternatives, as they believe they do not have any, ah but they do, they just don't know it.
Everyone should understand the operating system on their computer, these things are not that difficult and once they do, it opens a whole new world. And believe me you do not need a computer degree to understand the operating system on your computer. Of course, if you want to learn about operating systems, principles and the philosophy of how and why they work, I suggest you start at the beginning and learn a little about DOS.
Now then, I'd sure like to recommend a very good book to you that will clear up much of the misconceptions that folks have with regards to operating systems and I believe it is a book that will help you with the basics and therefore, an excellent place to start:
"DOS for Beginners; No Experiences Regurgitated" edited by Robbin Markley; 1993

"Lance Winslow" - Lance Winslow's Bio. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/.

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PC Secret Formula Review - Transform Slow PC Into Speed Monster

Having a slow PC can be a pain in the neck, and it certainly takes the fun out of using your computer. But before you throw your sluggish PC out of the windows and go buy a new one, check out an ebook PC Secret Formula first. It could save you some money.

Also, don't call the computer service man and pay him $50 an hour to do some basic things like cleaning up your PC or defragmenting the hard drive because you can do all these by yourself easily even though you know nothing about computer except for switching it on and using Microsoft Excel. PC Secret Formula will show you how to transform your slow PC into a speed monster in minutes.

So don't worry if you're not a technically-challenged type of person, the author of PC Secret Formula has done a great job in making the report and the video tutorials very easy to understand. Anyone who can read or watch a video can follow the steps in PC Secret Formula. There is no complicated jargon, it's all step-by-step and screenshots are provided where needed.

And all the tweaks, tips and techniques presented in PC Secret Formula will NOT harm, erase or damage any aspect of your PC because you are not going to touch any of the files or registries, so please dont worry. You're going to learn advanced PC performance techniques that most people (even the professionals) haven't seen before. After reading the report/ebook and apply some of the tips, you will not only notice immediate improvements in your computer performance but I'm sure you would like to show off your new found skills to impress your friends :-)

Everyone knows that a slow PC is a pain to use. But you can't avoid your PC performance to degrade over time, this is due to the amount of programs we install and uninstall over a period of time. Sometimes we forget how much junks we have installed on our PC. I remember buying products and services that cost me over $200 but they fall short on delivering their promises in improving my PC performance :-(

Here is the sneak peek inside the PC Secret Formula report:

Part 1: The First 5 steps to a Blazing PC.

You'll learn five secret steps used by the author to transform your PC into a speed monster. These are the exact techniques used by the author for his clients and his own computer.

Part 2: Secure Windows.

If security is your concern, you're going to love this part. You'll discover THREE vital things on how to protect and secure your PC that most people don't have a clue about.

Part 3: System Tweaks.

You'll be amazed by how a few simple and harmless tweaks can transform your sluggish PC into a blazing one. Awesome tips indeed!

Part 4: Windows Services Guide.

In this part, you'll learn how to free your PC from those useless programs that are hogging the precious resources. Your PC will breathe a lot better after you implement these steps, so to speak.

Part 5: Windows Cache & Disk Defrag.
Now this part of the PC Secret Formula alone is already worth much more than the price of the report. You're going to discover some secret places to download some amazing FREE software. These are high-quality software and they are free (the owner only asks for voluntary donation, so if you love the tools you can donate some money to the owner). I have installed and used the tools, they are safe and very effective. And you know what? There are many websites that are selling similar products for $40. I know this because I bought those products before. Again, simply amazing! PC Secret Formula is perhaps the best deal on the Net that I've come across so far.

Part 6: Speed Up Windows Boot Time.

Have you ever experienced that after switching on your PC, you'll go and make a cup of coffee, and when you come back to your desk, your PC still not finish booting? Perhaps I exaggerate a bit here but I have seen some PCs that boot so slowly that I feel like wanting to take a short nap. If you've felt this way before, you'll love this part of the report.

Conclusion:

The performance tips revealed in PC Secret Formula are very practical and effective yet they are so easy to implement. You don't need to understand any technical jargons in order to use the tips. If you use PC everyday, you want to have this report by your side. It's a very useful report and it has only 27 pages. I've printed the report and put it in a folder so I can refer to it easily in the future. I will rate this report 10 out of 10 without a single doubt and this is one purchase that I will never regret!

You can find out more info about PC Secret Formula in my blog and also find out how you can be entitled to receive 3 great bonuses. These bonuses are related to online business. So, if you're doing online business, you may be keen to check them out.

Copyright © 2008. This article may only be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached and all hyperlinks are active. Leon is an Infopreneur dedicated to sharing his online discoveries across the net. You can visit his sites Online Business Success and Self Improvement Tips

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Computers and Keeping Track of Your Employees - Book Review

Most people don't realize it, but after the advent of computers and as the cost became less and less, more and more small businesses were able to afford them. Therefore, they were able to keep track of all their employees, their payroll, and they have nice printed out spreadsheets to give them all the information they needed. Prior to this, everybody had to do things the hard way.

For those that were not around before such computer use they probably don't realize how computer systems for personnel and employee matters revolutionized business. If this topic interests you, then I'd sure like to recommend an excellent book to you because in its day, it told of a bright future, and the solution to the paperwork nightmare that most businesses faced. Luckily, the future is bright and these computer systems make doing business all whole lot easier. The book is;

"Planning and Using a Total Personnel System," by Richard A. Kaumeyer Junior, 1982

Perhaps, the author can explain it better than I, and enlighten you to the differences of before and after; that is to say manual systems versus computer systems. When these systems first came out they had many options and features, not everyone thought they needed all the features, today, all the software systems have all the features, you can choose which one you want. However, this author has the chapters on such things as;

Choosing the Types of Reports You NeedTraining Your Personnel and Computerized Training SystemsThe Future of Personnel Systems

Interestingly enough, the author did peg the future correctly, and when you read the book you'll smile because he was absolutely right. Indeed I hope you will please consider this.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes in efficiency always and forever.

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My New iPad: A User's Guide Book Review - No Starch Press Book

Wallace Wang, best seller of My New Mac and My New iPhone for the No Starch Press publisher has written a new book detailing everything you need to know about the iPad in a book called "My New iPad: A User's Guide." No Starch Press provided a reviewer's copy of "My New iPad: A User's Guide" for this review.

"My New iPad: A User's Guide" includes seven chapters including: basic training; customizing your iPad; getting on the Internet; sharing data with your iPad; video, music, and eBooks; organizing yourself and additional tips. Each chapter is small and comes in easily consumable chunks of information that can instantly help new users complete a certain task with easy to follow step by step instructions.

The first chapter called "Basic Training" teaches you how to turn on and off the iPad, what the various buttons and slides perform and how to use and customize the virtual keyboard. Apple changed the Screen Location Lock since the book was published so information has changed since the publish date resulting in incorrect information.

"Customizing Your iPad" is the second chapter that details how to customize your home screen, set the date and time, restoring and resetting your iPad and installing and uninstalling iPad apps.

The third chapter called "Getting on the Internet" shows how to use the email client and web browser called Safari including some intermediate information such as how to use bookmarks and automatically fill out forms with Safari.

If you do not know how to transfer content to your iPad, chapter four is perfect for you. "Sharing Data with Your iPad" shows how to synchronize with iTunes to transfer media such as photos, movies, TV shows and even podcasts. The chapter further goes on to show steps to synch your eBooks, Audio Books, Contacts, Appointments, Mail, Notes, Bookmarks and even iTunes University Courses. The book is light on how to actually configure Yahoo! or Google services with your iPad however.

The next chapter focuses on content consumption on the iPad and it titled "Video, Music and eBooks". This chapter shows you how to watch your photos to listen to your music to watching YouTube videos.

Chapter six focuses on how to use the iPad to keep yourself organized using included iPad apps and is called "Organizing Yourself."

Finally, the last chapter called "Additional Tips" provides some additional miscellaneous tips including how to update the iOS or use foreign languages. This last chapter also includes a section called "Best iPad Apps" which includes some good apps but is dated. To keep up with the best iPad apps, you should watch for articles that continually are updated such as the Gizmos for Geeks Favorite iPad Apps monthly updated list.

I started and finished "My New iPad: A User's Guide" in one afternoon. The book is geared towards new users of not only the iPad device but of Apple's iOS devices including iPod Touch and iPhones and definitely not towards advanced user's of the iOS. For example, this book would be ideal for my parents since they have never used an iOS device, but I found the book way to simplistic to really become engaged.

Doug Felteau enjoys blogging about the latest gadgets and anything technology related and maintains a monthly article on Gizmos for Geeks listing the best iPad apps. An avid iPad user since the device was released, Doug has integrated the device and apps into his everyday life.

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Artificial Intelligence Everywhere - A Book Review

Do you ever wonder how our modern day computers came into existence? If you do, then perhaps, you'd like to read some incredible history, and consider all the philosophical debate on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and some of the future perceived uses of this technology. If so, then I'd sure like to recommend an extremely interesting book to you. One that was well ahead of its time, and one that today would still make you think.

Yes, if you are asking, this is a book that's in my personal library. And it is a good book that I'd recommend to you, if this topic interests you. The name of the book is;

"Soft Architecture Machine" by Nicholas Negroponte, MIT Press, MA, 1976, (140 pp), ISBM: 978-02621-4018-8

So, imagine a self creating artificially intelligent CAD CAM software program, which could design buildings, all by itself without a human operator, and these would be buildings that would be more pleasing to humans, than even the buildings that humans build themselves. Now consider artificial intelligence inside your home which constantly manipulates your home for your needs. Sort of like the Bill Gates high-tech home of the future on steroids.

Climate control just happens, it would sense if you were warm or cold or what was needed. Walls would move in, open up as needed, light would be redirected, entire kitchens would fold away, and even the pictures on the wall would change depending on who was walking down the hallway. All that stuff now doesn't seem so exotic, most of it exists, and the rest seems like a very possible future. However this book was written in 1976.

And the folks at MIT were busy figuring out how to design all that back then. Well it's here now, or most of it and the rest will be coming soon. Indeed I hope you will please consider this, and purchase this book if it interests you. Think on it.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes believes in AI.

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Computer Book Review - Microsoft's Next Leap Forward

One of the greatest success stories of all times in the business world is perhaps the story and history of Microsoft. Selling software is a great business because once you create it, you can indeed sell it millions of times. And Microsoft has the advantage because their operating systems run on 95% of all computers in the World. Under the leadership of Bill Gates in all his creating brilliance and genius, he created one of the most dynamic and largest companies on a surface of the planet.

But now that Bill Gates has left the company, many are wondering what comes next. Microsoft is no longer just a software company, as they are involved in the Internet, they run the second largest, and many would agree the best search engine and they are involved in online advertising. Microsoft is also a media company amongst other things. Their research and development departments are on the leading technological edge of just about everything.

Many its software industry analysts wonder what will be the next step for Microsoft. Will Microsoft break off into a spinoff companies? Now that the Federal Trade Commission's unwarranted attacks are completed with Microsoft and the now that Bill Gates has left the company, where will they go today? Indeed, there seems to be a lot of pretty strong opinions and countless predictions on this subject.

One author has some things to say on this issue and whereas, I think she has some very good points, I do not agree with all of her contention, but she brings up some very interesting and philosophical questions. Thus, I'd like to recommend this book to you;

"Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to Stay Relevant in the Post Gates Era," by Mary Jo Foley, John Wiley and Sons Publishing; 2008.

"Lance Winslow" - Lance Winslow's Bio. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/.

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PDF Hacks - 100 Industrial Strength Tips and Tools by Sid Steward - Book Review

If you have ever downloaded free ebooks, product manuals, consumer guides, etc from the web you are aware of PDF files. These files owe much of their popularity to the fact that they can be read on any computer with the free Adobe reader. Also, most word processing programs have the capability of converting a document to PDF format with a mouse click. PDF is the acronym for Portable Document Format, a format created by Adobe Systems for document exchange. I was a passive use until I picked up a copy of "PDF Hacks" by Sid Steward. This book really opened by eyes to the many features of this tool.

The first to interest me was PDFtk, or PDF Tool Kit. This is a set of command line tools available for both windows and linux. With PDFtk the user can select specific pages of a document, rearrange them, combine with other books, and essentially create customized reference documents. As an example, I have the usual collection of ebooks on article writing. By combining my favorite pages from each, I had one handy reference source. I even added my own notes to various sections to tie the material together and document the tips and procedures I had discovered.

For some time I have been using the free open source program Inkscape to create vector graphics. Inkscape has many of the same features as Adobe Illustrator. Sid shows how to use pstoedit to create vector files and embed them in a document.

There is a section on adding web style navigation to your PDF document. Buttons can be used to link to online material. It is easy to style these buttons to get away from the usual gray institutional looking buttons.

Hack #66 shows how to copy protect the PDF document you have created. This is very important because of the ease with which documents are passed around on the web. It is very frustrating to spend a lot of time and research developing a commercial product that has real value for the reader only to find that is being distributed by others as a free document.

I knew that Visual basic could be used to access and manipulate PDFs. What I didn't know but learned in Hack #95 was that I could do the same thing with perl. Perl is free, well documented, and has an extensive support community. There are many available perl modules to simplify the code for any project.

PDF Hacks is a great book. Grab a copy and start creating your own books.

John Paige is a writer, researcher, and student of how technology can be used to enhance the quality of life

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A Review - Adobe Photoshop CS One-on-One

As the title implies, Deke McClelland gives the reader a one-on-one approach to the wonders of Adobe Photoshop CS. The book provides a comprehensive walk through of the features of Photoshop in a classroom setting where the reader is the lone student and McClelland the teacher.

Deke McClelland is an Adobe Certified Expert and a member of the PhotoshopWorld Instructor Dream Team. He was inducted into the National Association of Photoshop Professionals' Photoshop Hall of Fame in 2002.

This full-color book includes two hours of video tutorials in CD. It features a step by step presentation of real-world projects that are sure to help the reader gain proficiency with Photoshop. The reader is give a rich amount of graphics theory, best practices, and tips for avoiding Photoshop disasters. McClelland's approach to learning Photoshop bridges the gap among available literature on the subject and provides a unique educational experience.

The book is created with the intention of making the seemingly monumental task of mastering Photoshop look like a walk in the park. Inside are twelve lessons, each made up of three to six exercises, illustrated with more than 600 photos, diagrams, and screen shots. Each book-based lesson comes with a corresponding video lesson, included on a companion CD. The exercises are project-based, culminating in real-world projects that readers can show off when they've finished.

The book also contains "Extra Credit" sections that show readers how to tap into Photoshop's powerful features to give their projects a professional polish. Multiple choice quizzes follow each lesson, providing a great teaching tool for educators and a way for new users to test their knowledge.

Rich with "Pearls of Wisdom" gained from McClelland's years of experience, "Photoshop CS One-on-One" is accessible to complete beginners while still offering tips and secrets that even the most experienced Photoshop users are unaware of. Readers are sure to find that the combination of step-by-step lessons and video introduction provide the best learning experience of any Photoshop resource on the market.

The exercises included with each lesson are interesting and fun to do. The end result is almost always something you can be proud to say you created.

Because of its comprehensive approach, understanding this book fully will take some time. Take it slowly and at your own pace. McClelland's wit, literary allusions and breezy writing style help turn a cumbersome, complicated and sometimes mysterious computer application into a user-friendly tool.

Did you find this article useful? For more useful tips and hints, points to ponder and keep in mind, techniques, and insights pertaining to Photoshop, do please browse for more information at our websites.

[http://www.infozabout.com]

[http://www.photoshopcs.infozabout.com]

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The Minimum You Need to Know About Logic to Work in IT - Book Review

If you are an IT college student, you are likely being gypped. Logic is no longer taught and it really is something you need. According to Roland Hughes, in his book, "The Minimum You Need to Know About Logic to Work in IT," "Logic is the fundamental tool of IT."

This book has nothing to do with Leonard Nimoy and Spock's form of Logic, but I'll bet that character would have had knowledge of it! This is where you will be taught what you should still be getting from college professors. So, what's it all about? Yes, there are the basics of flowcharting and pseudocode, and there are chapters on fundamental data types, searching and sorting, decision order (with multiple exercises to work on), and even more on linked lists, hash, and relational databases. And what happens during a major disaster? Surviving the Fire is a must read chapter.

Hughes' familiar style permeates the book. His wit and humor make for interesting reading of what could be bone dry material. His decades of experience shine through, leaving readers thankful and wishing he were a college professor at their local university. If this is your first introduction to Roland Hughes, be sure to check out his other works, such as, "The Minimum You Need to Know to be an OpenVMS Application Developer," and "The Minimum You Need to Know About Java on OpenVMS." If you are going into the IT field, Roland Hughes should, and will, become a familiar name to you.

The Minimum You Need to Know About Logic to work in IT

By Roland Hughes

ISBN 0-9770866-2-3

Heather Froeschl is an author, award winning editor, and book reviewer, at http://www.quilldipper.com/ and http://www.bookideas.com/

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Review of Mastering C++

Mastering C++ is a book written by K. R. Venugopal, T Ravishankar and Rajkumar. The book teaches the computer language C++ from the scratch to the professional level in a very friendly approach to the learning of the otherwise very difficult language.

First published in 1997, the book is recommended by most of the programmers. Basically written with C programmers in mind, this book caters to novices as well.

My brother advised me to read this book as I was desperately trying to learn the language but was unable to do so. At the first sight of the book, I thought," This book can't help anyone. This is just another book for engineers and is full of technical jargon."

Almost two years later I learned 'C' language from the book "Let Us C" by Yashwant Kanetkar.
That book helped me clear the basic concepts of programming and get some technical jargon of computers, giving me the break I needed.

I learned the concepts of OOPs from the reference books of NIIT. After that, I was ready to learn C++ in detail. I started from chapter-one which helped me get acquainted with thinking in terms of OOPs. And the following chapters till chapter nine taught me the basics of C++ (non-OOPs) and from 10 to 19 the OOPs side of the language. Chapter 20 was based on the management of software projects.

So after learning it, I decided to write some programs and got disappointed because I could write only console based programs, as standard C++ does not specify the platform independent GUI programming.

Though Mastering C++ is good for learning, to gain expertise in language one must not rely on this book alone. Specialized books in the field of data structures, network programming, games development etc should also be read and kept as reference.

But as far as the question of the language is concerned, this book can be trusted as it teaches the language and its constructs in details. To become expert in any field the base should be firm. And this book does the job.

Best of luck for your adventures in C++.

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How to Build a Computer - Complete With Resources - eBook Review

It seems like everywhere you look online there are hundreds of eBooks to teach you how to build a computer. A lot of these eBooks have a pretty price tag on them too, especially when they are sold in volumes.

This is only one of the reasons I like the "How To Build A Computer - Complete With Resources" eBook as it seems to sum up all of the steps of building a complete computer in one eBook.

Some computer building eBooks are written with too many technical terms for most people and all the high tech jargon that most people will not understand or even need to know in order to build a computer.

The PDF layout of this eBook is very intuitive and it is written in simple to understand instructions so that almost anyone can understand it. Building a computer while using this eBook is a fairly simple step by step process as you piece it together one piece at a time.

Since this eBook is in a PDF file format and the entire eBook is only 15 pages long, printing a copy of it from a laptop or another computer to use while building a computer is a snap.

In our world today, computer assembly has been made so simple that almost any average Joe (or Jane) can build a computer without having much of a technical background and this eBook seems to prove it since it is complete and only 15 pages long.

I think you would like this eBook too, as it even teaches you about choosing the right hardware that is compatible with each other, how to prepare your case for installing all of the hardware and even has a list of all the hardware components needed to build a computer.

Whether you are planning on building a computer or not, this eBook is worth reading.

I hope you have learned something from this article and I would like to thank you for taking the time to read it. If you would be so kind as to visit this link and possibly rate or comment on the webpage found there, the feedback would be much appreciated.

Click here to visit the free information on how to assemble a computer

and/or

Copy and paste this url into your browser http://squidoo.com/how-to-assemble-a-computer

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