Internet Books

First off, I have to say that if you are expecting a how-to book on selling on eBay, this is not your book, although the author does periodically reveal some of her secrets. But if you are looking for a great traveling companion, you will not be disappointed, as each story is one page long, allowing you to read in spurts if you'd like. Like the 2nd book in this series, this one is a fun read. Lynn's engaging personality really shines through in her writing. Her chattiness really adds to the charm of the book. It's fascinating to see what people will pay for an item from a garage sale. The old adage that "one man's junk is another man's treasure" couldn't apply more! Lynn's skill at weaving her personal stories, about her eBay business and her family, esp her beloved grandmother, makes this book immensely enjoyable and hard to put down. Additionally, the simplicity of Lynn's eBay methods may just inspire the reader to get up and start selling on eBay!

Lynn Dralle does not lose steam in her 3rd book of 100 great things. Because it is essentially 100 short "stories" you can read as you have time. Since she teaches with laughter and sometimes touching stories I find the lessons easier to remember. While it gives ideas on how to do things, do not buy this as an eBay "HOW TO" book. She has a few of those too:-)

Gave this as a gift to a family member. They say this book had excellent, extremly helpful information for helping them achieve e-bay power seller status. Thanks for the outstanding, informative writing!

The 3rd 100 Best Things is another installment of examples of Ebay sales done by Lynn Dralle. This is the first book by her I have read, so I do not know what the other titles are like.

The book contains 100 items sold on the Ebay and:

1. The story of how they were obtained (estate sale, inheritance, garage sale, flea market, church charity sale, etc.).
2. Starting and winning bid totals.
3. Number of times the item was viewed on Ebay.
4. Total number of bids.
5. Where the winning bidder lives.
6. When the bid started.
7. Description of the item.

The book has several interesting anecdotes of the item's history, Lynn's family background, responses from winner bidders, and her vast knowledge of antiques and specialty items.

While such information was informative, I would have liked to have seen many more examples of her strategies and how she has been so successful on Ebay. Granted, the examples she did give were helpful (start the bid around $9.99, use the internet to research products, try to sell many lower priced items instead of a few high-priced items, etc.). However, I would have liked to have seen more strategies and examples that could be applied to whatever type of item you want to sell on Ebay. While Lynn seems to specialize on antiques and collectibles, there are several other categories of products on Ebay. Therefore, I would imagine that some strategies in selling antiques and collectibles may not necessarily work for other items.

Still though, a good and entertaining read. Recommended.

This book prefaces itself in that its intended purpose is not to cover all types of firewalls (e.g.corporate), but just personal firewalls. There are some great dives into previously unanswered questions I had:

1. Would I run a SW firewall if my DSL router already says it has a firewall built-in (answer is yes for a home LAN or a DSP WAN connection, no for low-speed dial up...)

2. How do various SW products (McAfee, BlackIce, ZoneAlarm) compare.

3. How do various HW products compare (DSL modems vs. Cable modems).(From a security viewpoint, there is a clear winner--you'll have to buy the book to find out though or else if I told you Time-Warner would send out someone to unplug my cable in retaliation)

4. How do I test these things once I get them installed? This topic was worth the price of the book alone...he emphasizes doing both Before & After tests to verify that insecure connections just become changed to secure connections. How many people might just install the SW or HW & then wonder "Did it really work? "What's different now than before?")

Overall, more useful information than I ever expected to find in this little book!

In the current environment where cyberbaddies are lurking everywhere, anyone who connects to the Internet without protection are a direct danger to themselves and an indirect danger to everyone they communicate with. There are many ways in which a user can find protection, and one of the primary ways to be protected is to install a firewall on your system. A firewall is either a software or hardware device that scans traffic to and from the system and flags or blocks any that is deemed suspicious.
Written for the beginner, the technical level occasionally rises up beyond what the absolute beginner can be expected to understand, but that is not a negative. As most system administrators will tell you when they are overcome with a fit of honesty, the ignorance of users is the greatest single security threat. Therefore, in my opinion, if a user cannot reach the point where they can understand all of the material in this book, then they are a threat and a prime target for a cyber attack. I consider the material in this book to be an expression of the minimal level of competence and commend the authors for being right on the mark.
The initial segment of the book is a set of explanations of what firewalls are and why they are needed. In the second segment, some of the most widely used personal firewalls are described in detail, including how to install and configure them. The third and final segment is a discussion of general security concepts and tools you can use to test the security of your system.
An excellent introduction to the critical role of firewalls in securing computer systems, this book should be read by anyone who does not know the basics of protection using firewalls.

This books leaves a mixed impression. First of all, although the book is called "for absolute beginners", it is not written as a book for housewives who never saw a computer before. It is interesting, informative, and the reader is assumed to be knowledgeable and capable of making informed decisions. In fact, one has to have a certain understanding of Windows (yes, it is not oriented towards Mac users) and TCP/IP to understand what the author is talking about. The author obviously has very extensive knowledge of internet security, and the book includes much of his practical knowldge. The negative side is that less than 1/3 of the book is generic and applicable to any firewall, i.e., discusses why home networks need to be protected, and where are the potential areas of vulnerability. The rest is step by step description of how to install and configure several commercial firewalls. Frankly, I do not understand who needs all these details since installation/setup guidelines are always included in the software manual which one gets in printed or electronic form together with the purchased program, whereas it is an obvious fact that any particular version of the program gets obsolete very quickly. I doubt that any of the descriptions of software from the book remains relevant two years after the book came out in 2001. I would rather prefer to see more generic (and less dependent on the software version) discussion of how to take advantage of the features present in most firewalls (blocking certain protocols, applications, IP addresses, etc.). All this said, this book is "beginner's guide" only because it does not get into too many details of what exactly firewalls do, and how they do it. However, those few items which are discussed are covered in significant depth and on a good professional level.

If you have a high-speed always-on cable or DSL connection then you need a personal firewall to protect yourself and your computer or home network from Internet hackers. This book covers both hardware and software based personal firewalls, including ZoneAlarm, BlackICE Defender and McAfee. You'll also learn how to lock down Windows security and test your computer's defenses by using any of a number of free Internet scanning services. Best of all, with this book you don't have to be a security expert or even know what a personal firewall is to get started using one. Highly recommended reading!

I have a new three level house and wanted to connect all the family computers onto one network. Drilling holes in the floors and running wires all over the place is definitely not my thing, so I started to look around for another solution. After learing about wireless networking (wi-fi), I can't imagine why anyone would use anything else.

This wi-fi book answered all my questions. Even though I was nervous about opening up a computer and putting a wi-fi card in, this book took me through it with steps and pictures. I've looked at the other wi-fi books at the bookstore, but this one definitely stuck out. Lots of good pictures and directions.

I read this book knowing little about wireless networking, but over the course of the book I learned not only about how to set up my PC and my home for Wi-Fi, but also something about the technical details of Wi-Fi and where it will be going in the future. Although I knew enough to know that I wanted Wi-Fi in my home, reading this book definitely helped me choose the right products and learn to make the most of them. Thanks Harold -- without this book I'd still be working within a twelve-foot radius of my cable modem!

It was with a little trepidation that I decided it was time to go Wi-Fi. Being a Harold Davis fan for some time, I picked up a copy of his book. Good decision! To start with he helped me decide whether to get a wirelss card for my old faithful laptop, or to get a new one. I went for a new machine (SONY VAIO TR3A). Setting it up was easy. With his book's step-by-step instructions, it was almost as though I had the author at my side. Highly recommended.

If you want to find hotspots, connect to hotspots, or set up your own wireless network, all using Wi-Fi technology, this is the best book for you. Everything in this book is very simple, but you find information here you will not find elsewhere. So this book is useful and also lots of fun. I highly suggest.

As a novice web page designer, this manual provided detailed, hands-on instructions that were easy to follow on everything from basic page creation to adding more complex design elements. The manual's format and structure is easy to follow and was valuable both as a primer becoming familiar with the software, and as a reference tool now that I've become more comfortable with the software. A great, practical resource for anyone using Dreamweaver.

As a graphic designer who does web sites only occassionaly, I use my manual extensively when I forget a Dreamweaver technique. It's easy-to-understand, clear content is a great guide.

I've used this manual extensively to create my own website and I refer to it over and over again for quick reminders on the Dreamweaver application. I had first purchased "Dreamweaver the Missing Manual" and "Dreamweaver Visual Dictionary" but found this Noble Desktop manual easier to follow. It has concise instructions and tutorials that are very useful and needed knowledge when designing in Dreamweaver. Whether you are looking for just a basic intro or a more indepth look at some of the bells and whistles of Dreamweaver, this manual is a must have.

the book gives you step by step (hence the name) commands to work on your own to create your own web sites. I was able to do it, although the complexity of the program precludes it from being effortless (would that it were). And the manual didn't have dummies in the title. Boy did i feel smart

I was also able to attend a tutorial session by the folks at Noble Desktop and I have to say that they are very thorough and consise in their direction for people like me who have always had a problem with this particular program. I was even able to go home and follow the easy step by step directions that are illustrated in the training books. They are highly recommended.

This workbook is a great learning tool if you're just starting out in flash. There is a cd included that has files and activities for you to work from. The book is very clear and gives you helpful tips throughout. You'll learn the very basics from using the tool palette to applying sound and inserting video. Overall, well worth the money.

Just like the classes given at Nobledesktop, the training manual is straightforward and easy to understand and follow. The exercises are practical, giving you the tools to get up and running quickly and to accomplish tasks that you will use daily in real life Flash production. Heavily illustrated. Gives instructions for both MAC and WINDOWS users.

After struggling forever with Flash, I just wanted a book that explained everything in a straightforward manner. I didn't want to read a 500 page manual to get what I wanted. This book was exactly what I needed. It's not that long, and just tells you what to do to make a simple animation. Basically it walks you through a lot of great examples and once you're done you can go do your own stuff. I feel like I *finally* get this program!

"Advanced Sharepoint Services Solutions" is the second book by Scott Hiller, on Sharepoint Technologies. The first one was about building basic web parts. This book is for developers who have good knowledge of Sharepoint technologies. It is also assumed that you have already built some web parts and also have good understanding of .NET development. If you are looking for basic Sharepoint stuff, refer to his other book "Microsoft Sharepoint Building Office 2003 Solutions".

The Advanced book is not a complete reference on Sharepoint technologies. Instead it contains 8 chapters, which covers widely different areas. There are few chapters which are not covered by other Sharepoint books. This book is good source for CAML, Information Bridge Framework, Business Scorecard Accelerator, Sharepoint and BizTalk Integration, and for Sharepoint and Content Management Server Integration.
Since these topics are usually not covered in regular Sharepoint books, it becomes good source for these topics.

The book has good amount of source code (in C#) along with the text and provides some great ideas for system integrations. But as I said before it is not a complete reference book, just some great solutions for customizing and integrating Sharepoint technologies.

Well, so Hillier's first book on SharePoint wasn't enough for some readers! Apparently, he found demand for explanations of broader, more advanced usages, that he furnishes here in this book.

Perhaps the more important of these are discussed in the second half of the book. Microsoft has developed several other intricate applications, independently of SharePoint. But consider how it integrated the various parts of its Office suite, so that you can easily go from Excel to PowerPoint, say. In similar wise, Hillier explains how SharePoint is compatible with Information Bridge Framework, Business Score Cards Accelerator, BizTalk Server 2004 and the Content Management Service. Granted, none of these is as successful and widespread as something like Excel. These packages are far more specialised and their usages might often involve some programming effort. Thus too, using SharePoint with them also necessitates programming.

Ok, there are parts where you might pass an XML data file to an application, where this file tells it much of what you want it to do. And the XML approach is declarative, not procedural, so it minimises your programming effort. But typically, there are places where you still need the latter.

My impression of what Hillier describes is that Microsoft is not done with further refining of this integration. There are simply too many low level programming steps to be currently dealt with. No fault of Hillier's, naturally. He's calling it as it is. But let us hope that Microsoft continues improving these products.

Scot Hillier is the best SharePoint author - period.

For example: developers need to write web parts. Web parts are custom controls. Can't view a custom control at design/development time, right? Need to install it into SharePoint, run it, test. Right?

Wrong! Scott shows you how to design, develop, and debug at design-time. This little tidbit alone is worth the price of the book.

All of his books will help you become the best SharePoint developer out there.

Sharepoint is so confusing when you get into the backend and this book answered almost all of my questions. Best book I've found. You can tell the author spent a lot of time digging around in the guts of SP and was probably as frustrated as most of us are trying to figure out how to do the simplest of things. Small book, high price. WORTH IT.

The book was band new just like the seller said and arrived in a timely manner. I would buy from this seller again.

I used this book in my introductory level computer science course. I found this book to be an essential tool in my early undersanding of how computer works in general and more importantly how to develop working algorithms. This book is well designed and easy to read and easy to understand. This book comes with a CD ROM. I believe this is the key feature to this book. On the CD ROM there are emulators of various computer operations. (eg. Compiler tree breakdown, and many other emulators. An Excellent book!

Deckers gives you a concise tour of computer science. Not enough to turn you into a programmer, given the space limitations of the book. But he covers many key ideas in the field. Including Usenet, email, virtual communities [think Second Life], and the World Wide Web. Naturally, he has to explain HTML, as the graphical language of the Web. HTML is so simple that he essentially explains all its important points. Including the crucial hyperlink tag.

The book then segues naturally from HTML to XML. Where you can now write your own tags. Immensely flexible and popular.

It is only after this, that the book goes into the traditional topics of computer science. The explanations of what makes a programming language. He uses JavaScript as one example of such a language. So you learn about constructs like for loops, if-else and while statements.

The book is really dominated by the Web. The pedagogy stresses this.

This book is one of the two texts in FSU's COP 3502: "Introduction to Computer Science" course (a required course in their Computer Science degree). As the authors state in the preface, they "wanted to design a 'CS 0' course that was a true survey course." They did an excellent job. Basically, they start with the assumption that the reader has never turned on a computer in his life and take him through its history, how to use it, what programming is about, and how the hardware works. They even teach a bit of HTML and JavaScript. There's very little I can say that is bad about the book. It comes down to some typgraphical errors, an incorrect web address for the online portion of the book (easily figured out from the page their web address takes you to), and my belief that they took out too many steps in describing computer switches, gates, and circuits. Frankly, I'm amazed that they reasonably went from a neophyte level to a fully-grounded level in one book. I rate it as 5 stars out of 5.

I think it is a much needed and valuable item that every Internet connected animal lover should own. This book gives greaet Internet addresses. It has everything you need to spend many hours of fun and discovery on the Internet with other animal lovers!

The Animal Lover's Guide To The Internet includes nearly 600 Web site addresses and decriptions. In addition, Bonnie included several chapters in the book to help newcomers. The first time I attempted to get on the Net, I felt like I was lost in the twilight zone. Nothing made sense and the books I read on the subject just confused me more. This book is written in simple, easy to understand language and is focused on getting you up and running quickly and painlessly!

An excellent reference guide for animal lovers to the world of Internet in six easy steps to the site of general interest, health, chats, newsgroups and on-line publications about birds, cats, dogs, fish, rabbits, reptiles, horses and even dinosaurs.

First of all, the cover illustration by Bonnie Shields is adorable. Aptly depicted animals gathered around a computer monitor are a visual treat. Look for the cat that is curled around the monitor's base. He is shown rather true to form. The inside illustrations by Sharon Redfield are charming and show an eye for detail. This is a great gift for the animal lover in your family or circle of friends. More so if that animal lover is yourself. Happen to have one or more grandchildren or a niece or nephew with a computer? Animal lover or not, this book would constitute a wonderful study tool. As a comprehensive, yet easy to understand manual for everything from choosing the right computer, accessing the Internet, to fossil hunting, this book excels. The author's words are friendly, warm and serve as the wisdom of a knowledgeable friend. I feel this makes for a perfect package. Well organized, with more than 500 Internet addresses for you to explore, you will find the material broken down into easy to understand classifications. Have fun reading and exploring. I did!

Hopkins' Applescripting QuarkXPress - It's really nice book including a lot of good examples. And I think there's no applescript book specially relating to quark. So I can tell this book is really cool choice to make script for quark. But it's not good for beginner. If you have experience in programming, you can refer applescript manual from web site with this book. You can do something like me.

It doesn't get any better than this. I even learned some things about AppleScript that I didn't know before. Between the instructions and examples in the book and the scripts on the CD, you should be able to AppleScript anything that's scriptable in Quark with this book. I also like chicken and tacos, but not chicken tacos.

If you want to script quark then this is THE book to own. I hadn't done any scripting before and the literature from quark is pretty useless for beginners. This book has taken me in wonderfully easy and well explained steps, from a beginner to an extremely proficient user. For quark it is invaluable, and by working through it also helps you understand how applescript structures itself,making it much easier to learn how to script other applications. To put it in a nutshell, this book was for me what the discovery of making fire was to the cavemen.

I found this book to be an excellent source to Applescript in QuarkXPress. It gives tons of examples along with a CD. Without this book I wouldn't have been able to figure out the sentence structures in Script Editor for the goals I wanted to accomplish. Thanks Shirley!

I make my living by helping clients brand themselves. It's not easy. People really have no idea what they need to know and do to create a brand. They don't understand what it takes to look and actually be credible online.

This book answers many of the questions that online business people wonder about daily. It hits on issues that you often don't even consider and there are no other books (that I know of) that cover as much, so well.

I recommend this book to all online marketers and those who advise them.

A great read for anyone looking to improve their branded website. This book
breaks down the digital branding process into a number of logical, easy to
understand steps and focuses on what's really important in the eyes of the
consumer. It's also written in a very fluid style so it's also an
entertaining read (not stale and crusty like some business books!). "The Art
of Digital Branding" will be of particular interest to students, General
Managers and Marketers who are looking to improve their knowledge of
branding online. Web designers may also enjoy it, but as it isn't
particularly technically focused they may not find it detailed enough for
their needs.

I am a business adviser and often get asked what constitutes a good website - in future I will just ask people to buy this book. Its an excellent reference for any company that wants to improve it's online image as it nails every concept and explains the likes and dislikes of the average web consumer in detail - including the emotional responses that certain aspects of the website are likely to generate. I also found it humorous and well written - a refreshing change from some of the stuff that's out there.

A great book for those looking to understand the basics of online branding. Concepts covered included positioning, segmentation, basic design, technology, charities and online shopping. I've read a number of online marketing books lately, but from a branding perspective this one is the best so far as its casual humour and easy going language make everything easy to understand and it focuses on the real emotional issues that are likley to influence consumers. The "real world examples" are also a big plus, as are the author's references.