Multimedia Books

HyperStudio for Terrified Teachers was just the lifesaver I needed when attempting my first HyperStudio project with my fifth grade students. Armed with false knowledge after a two day HyperStudio workshop, I foolishly attempted a science ocean project in which I would have "drowned at sea" had I not had my "raft" or this fabulous book to rescue me. Not only are topics arranged in an organized manner that are easy to find, but computer screen displays are printed, allowing for step-by-step planning of lessons for students.In the chapter entitled Animals, I learned a more simplified format for my students'ocean project. I have since then ventured into "new waters" and used this book to guide me through reading projects and Open House introductions for partents. I find that I am no longer a terrified HyperStudio teacher--as long as I have my book in tow to bail me out when I find that I am sinking.

The iMovie 3 Visual Quickstart Guide is a thinner book than most others
in the VQSG series. It has only 170ish pages and is labeled for the
beginning to intermediate user. After looking through the book, though,
I don't see any topic that is not covered (and I have used iMovie
pretty extensively). So I think that maybe there isn't such a thing as
an advanced iMovie user; advanced users are probably using Final Cut.
For any iMovie 3 user, this book would seem to satisfy the need.

iMovie is meant for the novice user; it is meant to give the average
person the ability to produce videos that look semi-professional and
can be easily burned to CD-ROM or emailed. This book undeniably meets
this demand. OK, you say, but what about iMovie 4, the newest version
of iMovie? Well, I chose this book for two reasons: first, there is not
a good selection of iMovie 4 materials yet, and second, only buyers of
iLife '04 and new Macs (since March 2004) would have that program
whereas iMovie 3 is still a free download and usable by anyone with
10.1.5 and up.

Although people argue that iMovie 4 is worth the upgrade, that is
another discussion. My focus on the utility of this book is intended to
reach a larger audience. This book contains EVERYTHING you need to know
about iMovie 3 and has added sections on using a digital video camera
and integration with iDVD 2 (only available on Macs with a Superdrive).
The iMovie 3 VQSG is an excellent resource to have around and will
likely find a home in my classroom where my students can benefit from
it.

iMovie and iDVD are two of the iLife programs that ship with your Macs. Many folks think that, because they are the "simple or basic" programs, that they don't have a lot of features or can't do professional looking movies.

The fact is, you can get VERY nice results with these applications. There was a fellow who won a prize at Sundance Film Festival for a movie he made entirely with a cheap miniDV camera and iMovie. If you have budding aspirations as a filmmaker, or you just want to video a birthday party or wedding, you can get great results, too.

Jeff Carlson's book is aimed at beginner-to-intermediate users. It takes a visual, step-by-step approach. Everything is explained well and accompanied by lots of photos.

I was really pleased to see that he devotes the first 50 pages of the book to explaining how to use the DV camera, including how to take good video to start out with. He covers focus, depth-of-field, lighting, composing your shots, how and when to move the camera, etc. The term "garbage-in-garbage-out" was invented for computers, but it is really true with video and photography, as well.

Part 2 covers iMovie in logical order. He starts with an overview, then tells you how to import footage, edit video, edit still pictures for video, edit audio. He pays nice attention to the audio portion, including how to adjust the audio that came with the video, adding sound effects, music from iTunes and GarageBand, and adding audio from other sources. He also covers transitions, adding titles and making them look good on-screen, and adding visual effects to the movie.

Carlson calls Part 3 "Sharing." He tells you how to get your finished movie back to video tape or export it in other formats, such as QuickTime. Depending on the QuickTime compression scheme, you can put your movie on a CD, the web or send it via e-mail. And ... of course, you can send it to iDVD, complete with chapter markers.

Part 4 tells you everything you need to know to make a DVD. He tells you how to apply themes, customize them, create sub-menus, add chapters to an existing iDVD project, and creating slide shows with background audio. Then, he shows you how to create a project archive and burn the DVD. He finishes up with a chapter on troubleshooting.

iMovie Fast & Easy is just that...FAST AND EASY! Kevin Harreld does an incredible job of breaking down the information for the beginning user and helps them turn bad video into entertainment. The easy-to-read format and helpful tips create a great "beginner's guide," and a book that even the seasoned user will refer to over and over!

INCREDIBLE!

Master your spoken Indonesian from the most well-known self-study language publisher. The book comes with the audio cassete so that you can hear how exactly the native say the words. A must have for every serious Indonesian language student!

So...you want to write the next Zork/HHGTTG/Lurking Horror. Or maybe you never played any of those games but you have a fresh story idea that is perfect for IF. Either way, this is the place to begin. The perfect (or for me ESSENTIAL) companion to DM4, this book will get you well on your way to writing your first game in INFORM.

Order this book for your class! The vocabulary you can't, or are unable to teach...but that your students need. I bring a copy in each term, and pass it around. Routinely, 90% of my students order it after a first look-through.

If you use Hyperstudio, then this book is for you. With the use of Hyperlogo you can dramatically change the design and increase the level of do it yourself designs to professional looking projects. Without this book Hyperlogo is a foreign language.

This book offers valuable insights and methodologies in the world of performance testing and engineering. Sadly, there aren't many books on the subject in the market. This one fills a much wanted gap.

Author talks about best practices and methodologies and even offers concrete metrics to measure, monitor and tune. A good discussion of all layers (Web -Web Application server and Database) along with all industry leading tools (+some more) is presented. The book is full of tiny bits of useful real-world information that alone are worth the cost. In all, it is a very comprehensive compilation of best practices and methodologies as it relates to the performance testing, engineering and tuning.

This book provides useful and realistic standards for creating the best possible interactive products and then tells you how to get there. The emphasis on both instructional and entertainment media is very valuable.