Internet Books

When the news got out here in Australia that Fierce.com had finally landed in the "real" world, I raced out and bought a copy of "The Exclusive Book for Web Elitists" faster than you can say "Happy Hour at Sizzlers". Being a Fierce fan for longer than I care to remember, these guys have made me laugh over and over. And continue to do so now offline as well as on.

Tor and David are two of the craziest, abrasive, outspoken and out-of-control guys (with no particular quality attributed exclusively to either one) it's ever been my pleasure to come in contact with. And Matt is just plain unhinged. But all are hilariously funny and do the best "baffling with bulls**t" routine I've ever come across.

Just buy the book - it'll make you laugh, it'll probably make you cry and it will certainly make you look at the Web as it should be viewed - with one eye on the screen and the other on just how crazy and unreal (in the true sense of the word) this virtual reality world called the "WWW" really is. In other words - cross-eyed. (Well, it's worked for them!)

An excellent resource for "The best of the best", websites on the Internet. I will be visiting all of these websites and utilizing this book for quite some time to come. It was this book that brought me to Badpuppy.com, which I find to be the biggest best Gay & Lesbian Portal on the Internet. At the very least I now have a home on Badpuppy where I'm with many others who go through the trials and tribulations and the lifestyle questions the Gay & Lesbian community have come to expect.

Thank you Fierce.com for bringing all of these fine sites to the surface. I will be purchasing your book for years to come.

The Fierce-sters have been there, done that, and are eminently qualified to direct us to the ultimate best of the Web. Follow their advice without hesitation. You'll waste less time and find more quality in your Internet surfing. Not to mention enjoying their fascinating reviews.

These guys are incredible. They write about websites, but you hardly have to go on the web to enjoy this thing. It's really about the twisted lives and relationships the author's lead. That's what makes it funny.

I actually got the book as a gift from my mother because she knows I use the internet. She saw the book in the store and decided to buy it for me. I was nonplussed at first when I saw it. I mean, after all, who wants a book about the web for a present. I put it in my bathroom and took a gander one fine day and I could not stop laughing. These guys are so funny. And there're these fake parody type articles in each chapter of the book that are really bizaare and didn't really know what to make of but they're pretty damn funny, too. Anyway, it might be a shameful thing to say, but I know about a lot more sites now so, really, they make surfing fun. Thanks, Fierce.

Doug Florzak's Free Agent Marketing Guide is more than just 100+ marketing tips; its success comes from its combination of concisely-stated, actionable ideas, case studies,and resources.

The case studies bring the ideas to life, the resources point the way to carefully-chosen books and web site resources that can help readers learn more about a particular approach or technique.

At a time of rapid technological change, the Free Agent Marketing Guide provides a needed overview of tools and techniques combined with a one-stop, carefully-compiled "centralized resource" to keep everything straight.

A valuable bonus: the book is impeccably designed and produced. The design isn't "padded" with decorative touches that distract and unnecessarily increase the page count.

I live for checklists and ideas -- and that's what this book has in spades. When I get tired of the same old marketing activities for my business or they're not paying off, this is the book I turn to for a fresh idea to get going again.

Use this book to avoid re-inventing the wheel and pull out some great marketing ideas that will shake things up.

The Free Agent Marketing Guide provided countless resources to start, improve or enhance your marketing and sales effectiveness. The book is filled with short, easy to read, practical strategies to grow your business. Some of it is basic and some more advanced, but no matter where your are in your business cycle, you'll find words of wisdom and value. I bookmarked numerous pages and took advantage of the many of the vendors and websites recommended.

Another excellent book with sound advice by Florzak. His marketing techniques, both traditional and non-traditional, are practical and useful for both start-up and established businesses. The Resource information alone is worth the purchase price. Easy to see how implementing just several of his 100+ marketing ideas can pay off.

In The Free Agent Marketing Guide: 100+ Marketing Tips For Free Agents, Independent Consultants, And Freelancers, Doug Florzak (Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach and Associate Fellow of the Society for Technical Communication) provides 112 marketing tips thematically appropriate for time-stressed and budget-challenged freelance agents. In addition to his own impressive body of professional experience and expertise, Florzak also draws upon scores of resources and interviews with free agents who successfully implemented their own marketing strategies. To put it simply, The Free Agent Marketing can quite justifiably be considered as the "bible" for freelancers, free agents, and independent consultants.

I put this book on my "must have, don't loan it out," shelf right away.

I really like the approach and the presentation. The teaching style is casual and encouraging with a welcome absence of jargon. Don't get me wrong, if you follow the chapters you will get a FP site up and running, you just won't have to suffer a barrage of technical details to do it. Why utilize FrontPage in the first place if you are excited about the all the nuts and bolts of how web site programing works?

The included CD helps tremendously ... the combination of reading it and seeing the author go through the steps just further demystifies the process. Between the two presentations, you're bound to "get it." I watched some of the how to's, that I didn't even want to do yet. It got me interested and curious and gives you a sense of all the things you can do with FP2002.

I already had the FP Bible 2002 by this author. Did I "needed" the Virtual Classroom? ... Yes! The Bible is great for digging deep into the FP world, but the Virtual Classroom is clearly the right way to get yourself up to speed and in the running as a web site designer, painlessly. My advice, if you asked me, would be to get yourself a copy.

I found everything I needed in this book and the cd that comes with it. Having known nothing about FrontPage before owning this book now in just a couple of days I know a lot of things to create my perfect web site. Thanks David Karlins. You are one of a kind. I am looking forward to your other books to be published with the same format.

If you want to have an instant website without wasting a lot of time, this is the book for you. The CD takes you step by step to creat a fairly sophisticated website with input forms, scrolling/fly in text, differing themes, inserting pictures and video. etc. Using the CD, I really did not need the book all that much. Well worth it!!!

Text and multimedia combine in David Karlins' 384 page instructional reference guide, Frontpage 2002 Virtual Classroom to create an effective and "user friendly" learning experience. Readers will learn how to create large or small Web sites that are sophisticated and attractive, and effectively manage the organization, content, and style of their site. Readers can follow along on the CD-ROM as the on-screen guru explains and demonstrates the techniques discussed in the text. Frontpage 2002 Virtual Classroom is a confidently recommended "how to" introduction for all Frontpage 2002 users.

I am so glad I bought this book! It is truly a lifesaver! I learn better visually, so the CD Rom Virtual Classroom that's included helped me tremendously. Thanks to David Karlins' for sharing his knowledge of FrontPage. I hope to have my website up & running very soon!

This book addresses an incredibly important topic - and is well written to boot. The danger of reputations ruined by carelessness, or by deliberate ill will, should be understood. In fact, this book should be mandatory for human resources personnel and any search committee that uses the Internet to check on a potential employee.

Hopefully Solove will follow up soon with another book. Sites such as Topix, provide a frightening forum for people who are less than ethical. Although Topix provides an alternative format for news, there is no oversight for accuracy or even truth. If Orson Welles had had access to the Internet, perhaps we would all have learned a valuable lesson about questioning and independent thinking. Since Welles is no longer with us, at least we have Daniel Solove to encourage us to question timely issues.

Solove's book doesn't provide answers, rather it provides situations that help you ask the right questions.

As an extra bonus it is extremely well written and an enjoyable read.

Prof. Solove's latest book is a great follow up to The Digital Person (which I also recommend). What I have enjoyed about his writings is his ability to communicate not only to attorneys like myself, but also to a non-lawyer audience. His focus on Internet privacy impacts all of us, and as anyone who follows the news knows, the explosive growth of Cyberspace places a greater burden on the individual and on the legal community to bolster protections and to guard against invasions of privacy. Solove's work explains the terrain of this new digital era in a way that is informative, engrossing, and relevant. I'm looking forward to his future scholarship in this field.

The author, Daniel J. Solove, was kind enough to send me an advance copy of this book; it scored a KnowProSE.com 10/10:

"With actual real world examples gleaned from the internet and put in the limelight, the author seems to leave no stone unturned in a quest for answers. Many people will have heard of some of the examples but few will have looked at them in such a circumspect a manner - and even fewer will have done so with a legal background.

Most of my time spent reading this book was spent nodding - I knew about 70% of the stories, but then I've been around a while and have been following the Internet closely- more so than most people on the internet. Still, in most instances the author was able to show me at least one new side to it. This seemed a job which makes the Herculean quest of cleaning the stables seem simple - there is no river to divert here, but there is most certainly a lot of manure. Perhaps the book is the start of the river's diversion. Cyber-bullying, Internet Vigilantism, libel, defamation... mountains are easily grown from molehills in cyberspace.

The book is very easy to read, it flows and takes on a life of its own. I could not put it down; even knowing some of the stories did not deter my interest. After much contemplation, I have decided to give the book a KnowProSE.com 10/10 score. Only one other book has been given that status, and both books have received this status because they were interesting books that were well written and important, and do one other thing in particular: they will stand the test of time. Daniel J. Solove is rapidly becoming to privacy what Lawrence Lessig is to copyright and the public domain.

If you are reading this review, you need to read this book. Who knows? My next blog entry might be about you. Of all the people who need to read this book, I think bloggers are the ones who need to read it the most: being aware of the consequences of what one writes is important in an age when everyone can write, but not everyone considers the consequences to others. Would that we all understood this better."

Once I started The Future of Reputation, I could not put it down. The book brings alive how online gossip, social networking sites, and blogs increasingly define who we are and how were are perceived in today's Information Age. The stories it tells are, at once, laugh-out-loud funny and terrifying. We see the lives of others distorted by vengeful ex-lovers and mocked by teachers. Online commentators shine light on bad behavior to shame people. Our reputations are out of our control.

What I loved about this book is that it asks us to rethink assumptions about how we define ourselves in an age where search engines tell our story to future employers and old high-school classmates. The book helped me appreciate that online shaming plays a new and perhaps important role in shaping behavior but also has serious costs. It offers thoughtful suggestions for what we can do about these problems without sacrificing so much of what is liberating about our online interactions. This is a must read for anyone who is interested in living a full and informed life in the Internet age.

I like this book so much, I've purchased it 3 times! (My first copy was "borrowed" by one of my designer/producers, my second copy was left at Ubisoft SF, and this is my 3rd copy for myself.)

Great mixture of theories, old-school practices, and new-school techniques.

Although I personally disagree with some parts of what this book teaches, it this game design book is one of the most comprehensive I've seen. Well-recommended.

This might be a good book for teachers looking for material in their classes gamedesign or gamedevelopment. It may also be a good book for selfstudy, if you have the discipline to do the exercises. You need to have played a lot of the classic videogames though, otherwise you might not be able to do the exercises, which are mostly about thinking about gamedesigns and making little designs or design alterations on existing games.

Few people realize just how big a business digital gaming has become. Think of it this way: It's bigger than the domestic box office of the film industry. The amount of time spent playing games by young people now exceeds everything but television in time spent on entertainment. The main factor driving the development of the new extremely powerful computers is gaming, slower machines are capable of handling almost all office tasks.

The authors of this book have a great deal of experience in both designing games and teaching how to design games. This has given them an understanding of how beginning designers grasp the structured elements of games, common traps they fall into, and certain developmental exercises that help the student learn to make better games.

Note that this is not a programming manual, nor is it a graphics design manual. It is on game design. What are the characteristics that make a game, how can you prototype and play test the game without a horrendous programming expense, and finally some input on the game industry and how to decide on how you might like to be employeed in that industry.

I consider this an excellent book on game design. As an amatuer board game and basic computer game designer, I found a lot of the material extremely useful in the *process* of coming up with a game from start to finish.

The chapter on prototyping did a great job in showing how to go ahead and create a prototype from a game idea, while keeping it simple and concentrating on the "core gameplay mechanism."

The chapter on "Playtesting" and "Functionality, Completeness, and Balance" builds on the prototype chapter by emphasizing the iterative nature of design where one go aheads and evaluates, tries new things, identify problems and keep evolving.

The next chapter following is maybe the most important chapter that discusses whether you game is fun, goes in to some theory of what makes a game fun, and relates various techniques of improving player's choices so as to make the game fun.

This is a great book that gives you the necessary tools to go ahead and be able to at the very least create a viable prototype of a game that is possibly fun and playable.

This was an excellent introduction to high-speed internet access and the "pipes" over which it runs, very appropriate for anyone who needs to connect a LAN to the internet.

It provides a nice bridge between the beginner's guide to the internet and the serious gearhead textbooks that make up the majority of internet books today. Very little fluff and not too much that the non-technical reader will have to skip.

Read it!

Andrew Sullivan

I've always been happy with my readings in the nutshell handbook series from O'Reilly, but this book tops the heap. A survey of all the hardware and software necessary to set up a dedicated link from any organization to the internet is contained herein, from HDLC to setting up networking on a mac, from SONET fiber rings to ISDN lines. A must read for any user who's ever wondered, "What does T1 REALLY mean?"

Here at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas we are installing a T1 line from our ISP. I wanted to understand the real technology that's behind all the hardware we are installing. This book is perfect.

If you are looking at installing and configuring large bandwidth lines or backbones, start with this book. No matter how much you already know about Windows, Unix, Cisco, you will definately learn something. It's staying on my desk forever. Worth every penny!

After working at an ISP for 6 months, i still had questions that no one could answer in a way that made sense to me. This book answered all my questions and more! If your serious about learning how an ISP really works, buy this book. It won't sit on a shelf like all those 1500 page books you wasted money on, you can actually READ this one!

I just started work at a company offering Internet connectivity, and this book was the best learning tool I used. It came highly recommended from the company's VP's. The boss is always right, it turns out! You can pick up this book and learn, whether you're a pro or not.

I bought this book at full price when I saw it (not through Amazon - though I wished I'd waited) because I needed a book that would explain the ins and outs of wireless data in an enterprise. This is an excellent guide to thinking through the processes needed to establish a new wireless network. Although I would not recommend it as a sole resource, it does provide the person considering wireless a series of case studies, questions, and definitions that are quite useful. I found out about this book in an add in back of my new Newton's Telecomm Dictionary, which is a MUST for all telecomm folks.

Going Wi-Fi: A Practical Guide To Planning And Building An 802.11 Network is a straightforward manual by information technology and Internet/Intranet expert Janice Reynolds for installing a "Wi-Fi" wireless network, whether within an existing corporate network or starting from scratch. An overview of "Wi-Fi" history; an introduction to its technology; and a "walk through" of the individual steps to get started, Going Wi-FI also addresses such critically important concerns as security issues, antenna positioning, troubleshooting, and more. Packed from cover to cover with a richly detailed and "user friendly" text, Going Wi-Fi is an indispensable how-to resource for understanding and implementing Wi-Fi technology at home, in the workplace, or at school.

This large book (with small type) covers everything about WiFi, from the theory behind the underlying technology to the way it can be used in both private wireless networks and public "hot spots." It is probably the widest-ranging book on the subject.

Imagine a world where you can communicate with anyone, anywhere, and at any time without interruption. This is the world of wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) that is coming of age. Author Janice Reynolds has done an outstanding job of presenting this wonderful technology at our doorstep.

Reynolds begins by defining what Wi-Fi really is. She then goes on to explain the benefits of Wi-Fi with regards to its freedom and mobility. According to Reynolds, "Wi-Fi use is experiencing an explosive growth." She maintains that the "successful, long-term development of the Wi-Fi industry is contingent upon the availability of spectrum for its expansion." Next, the author covers signal modulation, whereby data is superimposed on or encoded onto a carrier signal wave by means of a process, which is referred to as modulation. Then, she explains why and how all of this is happening; and, how important it is to understand a bit about Wi-Fi's technology, its standards, history, and even its future. Next, the author explains why wireless LAN's foundation is built upon wired technology. Then, Reynolds examines why WLAN deployments are growing by leaps and bounds. Next, she looks at wirelessly bridging, through the use of Wi-Fi technology to provide a perfect way to connect two buildings. Then, the author gives you a valuable insight and practical knowledge of the different aspects of wireless networking technology, some general issues that each Wi-Fi flavor presents, and awareness of specific problems that may arise during implementation of the various Wi-Fi technologies. Next, Reynolds looks at how the WISP industry encompasses all businesses (for-profit and non-profit) that operate under new, although varied, business models with a common theme: providing publicly available Internet access via Wi-Fi technology. Then, she will help you determine what is best for your wireless networking environment. Next, the author provides a quick tutorial on antennae in a WLAN environment. Finally, Reynolds looks at Wi-Fi's open future.

With the preceding in mind, the author does an excellent job of making Wi-Fi an outstanding candidate for building out mainstream data networks not only in the developed world, but also in emerging markets, such as Africa, India, and China, where cost is a very important factor. Finally, with a Wi-Fi-enabled wireless infrastructure serving as the cornerstone, it is now possible for many areas of the world to leapfrog over more developed nations into a high-speed environment.

I'm a technology consultant for a Wi-Fi company, so I'm interested in books that go beyond how to set up a nice network in your home or connect to the hotspot at your local café.

I've researched quite a few books and while many offer insights into Wi-Fi, this is finally a book that offers the depth and coverage that I need.

The book covers the entire spectrum of information (pardon the pun) from the history of Wi-Fi down to the gritty details of just what a radio signal looks like, how antennae function, the nuts and bolts of the various standards, and what it really takes to roll out a secured hotspot for the home, the local café, or the business enterprise.

I especially enjoyed the insights into the entrepreneurial aspects of Wi-Fi. The book covers various business models, how the market was segmented at the time of writing, and who the players were.

The only drawback is that as a hot technology, the landscape is changing quickly. I did find that the book was dated in several areas just because it is already a few years old, and the market is changing quickly.

I do consider this a must-have on the shelf of anyone who either works with Wi-Fi or is managing projects that involve Wi-Fi, and especially those companies tapping into delivery of Wi-Fi solutions as a business model.

I am new to computers & find this book very helpful. I am going through it like a text book to learn how to use WIN. ME. I have wished before that there was a book to show how to do everything on a computer & this book sure helps!

This book is excellent! I'm not that great on a computer, but this book has answered every question I've had so far and usually given me step by step instructions too. I had movie maker working in 15 minutes after reading the movie maker chapter. A great book - and a great price for its size!

I'm 62 and Windows Me is my first computer. I used a few other books trying to figure out how to work the system, but this one is clear and tells me exactly what do for just about anything I've needed so far. This one stays on my desk.

I just purchased a computer with the Windows ME operating system. This book was very helpful and easy to understand.

So I am not a complete geek, but I spent about four solid months navigating Windows Me for about 4-6 hours a day. After having to re-install my OS after performing an update, I figured that it was time to do some reading.

Most of the info can be found in the interactive help menus, but I feel that it is important to have another source. The book is set up intelligently and has little tips and tricks that you might overlook or forget about when you are trying to figure out why the performance levels are degrading.

Greg Smith has done a very good job of providing a comprehensive and comprehensible resource. While Greg's approach to parenting might sound autocratic to some parents, but the fact is that it is ultimately a parent's responsibility to protect his kid (not that school and society at large are not responsible to protect our kids). While it educates technically non-savvy parents with the innards of the technology, it also provides a clear strategy to adopt the technical tools, corresponding to each age group. It is not a high level book, rather a hands-on approach book. He mentions many tools for monitoring, filtering and blocking purposes and one such tool is familyarmor.com.

Excellent Job!

The Internet and Web have so much to offer for both adults and children. I use it everyday and my children are also online daily. I check the news, email, and do research. I even met my spouse online. Also, my kids play games, chat with friends and explore. It's a great learning tool and allows them some freedoms to explore their interests. However, as the Web and Internet continue to impact our lives, there are very real dangers that I want to know about so that I can be sure my kids are safe when they are online.

What Greg Smith has been able to provide in his book are the specifics of how you can take the necessary steps to make sure that the Internet and Web is a safe place for your kids. Many books and guides speak in terms of general rules and ideas, but what Mr. Smith provides is real details and tools that you can put into action. He identifies the risks and issues being exploited and provides the leading tools, his experiences, and recommendations to protect you and your children. Even experienced technology professionals will find the comprehensive list of tools and technologies in his book a huge help. I have been using the Internet and Web for a long time and there are several things in his book that I did not know about, and that I want to keep my kids from knowing about.

Excellent book.

Greg Smith has written an important book for parents. Using his experience as a senior IT leader and a parent, he lets parents know the risks of children being connected and how to protect them.

The author makes the reader aware of the many dangers of connected electronic devices, not only computers but also cell phones. At a very young age, children are using computers and the age when children have their own cell phones seems to creep down every year. Many parents are not as technically sophisticated as their children, especially parents of teenagers. He urges parents to take control by learning about technology, using the tools available to safeguard and monitor children's activities on-line, and talking with your kids. His easy to understand recommendations let parents know what they need to do, going as far as recommending specific products and providing "How-to" instructions, customized for the age of your child.

As Mr. Smith states in his book, "You're just two clicks away from just about anything." Make sure your children are safe.

This book provides useful and easily understandable information for parents regarding protecting their children on the Internet. Even if you think your kids aren't using the Internet, they are. Statistics show that 96% of 13 yr olds use the Internet on a regular basis. So as parents, and as a teacher, it's important to know and understand how to keep your child safe.

I highly recommend this book for all parents. Even if you think your child is safe or that you know all there is to know, you can never be to safe when it comes to your children.

This book goes into great detail of what you, as a parent, need to do to keep your kids safe on the Internet.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that has children on the Internet.

I read this book several years ago when I first got in to web design. This book was so easy to follow and clear to understand that it only took me a few days of reading before I was able to build my first web site. While this book is a little old by technology standards, the information it has about HTML is still valid and current.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning HTML.

A good primer on HTML and web publishing in general, if you don't want to get too deep. The tags are laid out clearly, and the methods to achieve certain looks or feels are plainly illustrated, but the book doesn't teach that much theory, so you are generally stuck with the methods they teach. Some of the methods are somewhat non-standard, which worries me, but as a whole the book is sound and easy to read. I would recommend _HTML 4 for the Worldwide Web_, by Elizabeth Castro, instead. It is very clear and basic, but it covers more of the theory so you can be a more powerful designer.

This book is so wonderful! I thought the "For Dummies" series would be easy enough, but I've found those types of books often have excess information I really don't care about. I will be taking a class in a few weeks that requires knowledge of HTML, so I needed to learn it easily, and quickly. I'm the type of individual who learns best in bulleted or outlined lists and HTML In An Instant is laid out just this way.

The book is setup perfectly and takes you from the basic concepts HTML structure, all the way up to Java applications. It's not too big and is consistently formatted throughout.

I had previously purchased the Visual Quickstart series and quickly found out these are not so "quick." Frustrated, I finally just sat down in a Borders and pulled out several HTML books and selected this one. I can't rave about it more....

This book is good well designed for someone who has not time to cut through a text book just to find a simple way of coding one thing in HTML. The pictures are clear and precise. You can have a website or any other HTML document up and working before you have to learn the theory behind it. Even for experts a quick reference can help. This book is also the basics behind all the extended languages. Some people use the skills learned in this book just to make their Discussion Boards more colorful and add the dimension of pictures and sound.
Table of Contents:
1. The internet
2. Introduction to Creating Web Pages
3. Getting Started (display Web page in Web Browser)
4. Change Appearance of Text
5. Add Images
6. Work with Images
7. Create Links
8. Create Tables
9. Add Sounds and Videos
10. Create Forms
11. Create Frames
12. Advanced Web Pages (JavaScript and Java Applets)
13. Set up Style Sheets
14. Using Style Sheets
15. Publish Web Pages
16. Summary of HTML Tags

There are thicker books out there but none so graphic.

It is exactly what I was looking for. I have VB experience but am new to HTML. The whole book is examples of code with screen shots of how a web page would appear. It even goes into creating classes, style sheets, and adding Javescript. It is a good reference for someone with experience (I have had developers borrow mine) and simplistic enough for a beginner. I definatly recommend it.