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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Who Moved My Blackberry

I've just finished reading "Who Moved My Blackberry" by Martin Lukes with Lucy Kellaway which is a hugely funny dig at the corporate world and electronic communication.

It shows the fallout of sending delicate emails to the wrong people, what can happen when you align yourself to the wrong side even when you suspect all is not as it should be, and the perils of letting your Blackberry get into mischievous hands. Totally unlike the book "Who Moved My Cheese" by Dr Spencer Johnson (www.amazon.co.uk - oe3.99), which could do with falling into more hands!

I know there's lots of negativity around communicating by email but I love it. I haven't got a Blackberry but I do have wireless internet so I can do all my emails in bed if the fancy takes me - yes, OK, sometimes it does! As I see it, it's all about how you use it. It's great for setting up meetings, keeping in touch with people when you haven't always got time to phone, or even making arrangements for a verbal chat.

I think the negative publicity kicks in when it's used as a distraction. It can aid procrastination and stop you from making decisions. It can help you put off jobs that you should be dealing with. It can become an obsession when you can't stop checking your email to see if you have new messages, or it can make you feel driven as you feel you can't switch off from it.

Like many people, I use email to aid my business but have become a bit obsessed with it on occasions instead of sorting out the real issue. When you realise how much time can be wasted without achieving anything it's quite a shock, and time to take stock.

Only checking emails at certain times, having a "must do" list of other things, and adopting a more relaxed attitude to it are all strategies that are good for keeping it under control. After all, if someone wants to contact you in a hurry, they'll use the phone.

Oh, and maybe not taking your laptop and/or Blackberry to bed with you is also a good strategy!

Dammit! I'm still saying maybe -

Pam Stokes is a Business & Personal Development Coach. Besides coaching, she provides interactive online programmes for busy people, supervises newly qualified and trainee coaches, runs workshops in stress management and a Diploma Course in NLP. Free downloads www.pamstokesassociates.co.uk [http://www.pamstokesassociates.co.uk]

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Windows 7 - The Missing Manual

Windows has recently been going through a tough phase of its glorious legacy in the world of technology which it has dominated for the past few decades. Its internet Browser "internet explorer" is getting upstaged by other browsing engines like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome while it also went through that fiasco of Vista which really was shockingly bad.

So it was no surprise when I found myself holding onto XP and waiting for what else Microsoft would come up with. Trust the worlds richest man and he came up with the Windows 7. Though I wanted to do a head bang on it right away! the prospect of going through another technical manual which would have me scratching my head was not exactly tempting.

In computer book land, you either get lame introduction type material which leaves you with only the basics and at times actually makes you feel like a lost soul, or you get a thoroughly informative book that puts you into a short lived coma.

At this critical juncture of time enter Windows 7 - The Missing Manual.

The Missing Manual is a guide to everything that you need to know regarding Microsoft's newest adventure. One may ask how is it any different from the other manuals that continue to bore us to death. The answer lies in the fact that it does exactly the opposite of what the other manuals do i.e. it does not bore you. The language used by the author is a conversational one that everyone can comprehend making the material extremely simple to grasp.

The flow of this book allows you to move from section to section without there being a "hard" interruption in between, the index and appendix are top notch for anyone choosing to pick helpful nuggets here and there. The bad aspect of other books are that the humour in them is so false that it actually irritates you rather than lightening your mood. Although the book will not make you roll all over the floor, it will bring a lot of smiles to your face making your read enjoyable.

If you want a comprehensive manual for Windows 7 that is useful for beginners through to advanced users then get the book that Microsoft forgot to put in your box.

If you would like to read a chapter of this comprehensive guide click here

For your chance to get a free iPad or Amazon Kindle do check out http://powerfulreviews.com/ thanks.

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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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How Roll Top Computer Desks Reduce Clutter

The roll top computer desks are coming back into play these days. At one time a they were considered your grandmothers desk. In contemporary designed households this style has not been in good taste. It just reminds people of older times when bulky was the thing to have.

But not anymore, now owners are once again finding real value in these desk. They are finding out why these desk were so popular in the 1950 and 60's.

Computer desk have always been a concern of many household. Hell, as I look at my computer desk I see plenty of wires and paper lying around with no where to put them. Roll top computer desk make it possible to ride all the clutter or at least organize the clutter into meaningful organized information. First of all they make it possible to tuck away and cover every part of the computer. That includes the CPU, the monitor and the keyboard. Now depending on how large your system is, you may have to tuck away the printer and scanner in another piece of furniture.

Roll top computer desk also have another great advantage over traditional computer desk. It is feasible to have a them in public areas of the home. This is very advantageous for apartment dwellers that just don't have the room to dedicate an entire room to a home office. When the desk is down, the desk looks like a normal piece of furniture.

They also have a large selection of draws to store away books and important papers. Some desks are equipped with secret draws that are only accessible by the owner. The owners are the only ones who know how to open or even get to these draws.

Roll top computer desk is a revamp of a old favorite. They are very flexible and should make a great addition to any home.

Get you very own roll top desk. Also check out the flexibility of these roll top computer desks.

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