Internet Books

The DOM these days is available in a multitude of programming languages and environments. Not so many people have the knowledge to properly handle the topic, moving back and forward across different languages and implementations, Joe Marini is definitely one of the few. As a matter of fact this is the first book ever available on the subject, and long awaited one! Joe covers much more than just DOM programming for browsers and the books contains a few gems like coverage of Xerces, Dreamweaver's API, generic DOM algorithms and a dedicated chapter on the future of DOM. A must have for anyone doing sophisticated client-side programming for web browsers, this book will be also very useful to anyone dealing with the DOM in any other environment

I have a great deal of interest in the document object model, as it is the basis of HTML and XML documents. Anyone interested in working with HTML, XML, DHTML in an advanced way should read this book and learn from it. This isn't a book for people with a passing interest in slapping together Web pages in Front Page, but it will give you a solid knowledge of the advanced topics of DOM manipulation using JavaScript.

The book starts with some solid theory and explanation of the DOM API, but quickly moves to some practical examples, such as some useful debugging tools, and some HTML interface components (popup menus, in-place list editing) which will get you off on the right foot thinking about how you can implement your own interface elements. That's really the strongest aspect of the book -- getting you to think in new ways.

I read through this book in detail, and I must say that I learned a lot about the DOM that I had previously glossed over. The DOM spec is much more powerful and interesting than what most folks assume. This book gives you insights on building real-world applications using the DOM, as well as helping to deal with cross-browser issues. As I said, it's a great resource for both web developers and web-based application developers.

This book rightfully deserves 5 stars. Is it revolutionary in the sense of "unleashing" DOM? No. If you love reading HTML documentation you can get pretty much the same scope at the W3C site (which the author himself acknowledges). It is more of a wake-up call for web developers.

The ideas presented in the book are very elegant which makes them very valuable. The author explains subtle and obvious differences in the DOM support as implemented by different browser vendors. It has been of great help in my work since I read this book.

Part III alone ("Practical Uses of the DOM") is worth the time and money for its real-life applications of DOM!

Dotcons: Con Games, Fraud, And Deceit On The Internet is a comprehensive, easy-to-read, informative and reliable instructional guide to protecting our selves, our families, and our business dealings from Internet frauds and scams. The rapid growth and development of e-commerce on the Internet is notorious for outstripping the abilities of local, state, and federal law enforcement efforts to deal with it. From stock manipulation by e-traders, to illegitimate entrepreneurs masquerading as established business, to auction site defraudings ranging from selling counterfeits and stolen properties to simply taking the money from a bidder and failing to provide the item offered, Internet based criminal activities are rampant, diverse, and widespread. If you seek to do any kind of personal or professional business on the Internet, you need to give James Thomes' Dotcons a serious and thorough reading!

I would have to agree with the TX review completely. I found this book to be extremely helpful before continuing to venture into other avenues relating to my online business. In addition, this book should definitely become a required reading for anyone on the net! In it's totality, I found this compiled source of information "hard to put down" as I finished the book in one hour. Are there additional volumes or books by James?

I agree with other reviewers that Dotcons should be required reading for everyone using the Internet. A play on words describing how the new 'dot-com' technology has been co-opted by modern day con-artists, the book is a well-organized survey of the confidence games, fraud and deceit that exist on the Internet. It explains what the threats are, how Dotcon artists deceive you, how to recognize them, and what you can do to protect yourself.

For an engineer, Jim Thomes, writes with the imagination and flare of a novelist. It is clear that he views the dot-com explosion of the last few years with some degree of caution when he argues that the rapid evolution of e-commerce on the Internet has outpaced our laws to regulate it!

He claims the fast pace and anonymity of business transactions on the Internet have produced new opportunities for fraud as well as modern versions of old-fashioned confidence games that are appearing every day. Quoting Federal Trade Commission reports of over 500 complaints a day, Dotcons describes how both individuals and businesses are being routinely swindled out of millions of dollars by illegitimate businesses setting up off offshore out of the jurisdiction of the laws of civilized countries, brash young hackers manipulating your portfolio for fun and profit, technology-savvy entrepreneurs with questionable business plans raising billions in capital, and one-man shops masquerading as established businesses, taking your credit card, and then disappearing into cyberspace with little or no chance of apprehension.

Dotcons not only warns about these frauds, but also explains how to recognize and deal with them -- Advance Fees, Business Ventures, Investments, On-line Auctions, E-Shopping, Travel Packages, Rebates, University Degrees, Counterfeit Identification, Fenced Goods, Sweepstakes, Contests, Gambling, Prescription Drugs and dozens more 'opportunities' that you will find on the Internet.

Dotcons also addresses the privacy issues associated with using your credit card and personal identification on the Internet. Thomes coins the term 'Mass Privacide' when he asserts that violation of our privacy has become the norm while doing business on the Internet. He shows in detail how data mining scan websites, chatrooms, bulletin boards and e-mail for private financial data that is used to 'profile' you for manipulation by the media.

The format of Dotcons is friendly: it has short, easy to understand examples of scams and simple directions to deal with them. But the message of Dotcons is strong -- a very serious attempt to solve a problem faced by millions of people all over the world who are being confronted every day with new and different electronic schemes to cheat them. Dotcons is an ounce of prevention that's probably worth a pound of cure for your pocketbook and privacy. I liked it, and it sure changed my habits on the Internet.

After reviewing this book I'm a little wary to enter any information even in this column. I have been wondering if there are other books available that mr.thomes has written. Even though the book was rather short in length, the information I felt, was true well knowing the background of mr. thomes's life.

I thought this was an excellent source of informaion. I used it for a class and earned an A. Very thorough and easy to understand. Lay terms are frequently used and I found I learned a lot and found it very valuable.

An excellent general overview, covering drug use and regulation, pharmacological basics, in-depth analyses of the legal drugs, tranquilizers and stimulants, narcotics, hallucinogens, and marijuana, and comments on "a rational look at drug use." Well-documented with an abundance of relevant quotes and statistics; a rich set of references follow each chapter.

I bought this book to study for a quiz-out test for my Psych major. I read through three chapters the first time I picked it up. I usually have to force myself to complete an assignment, but with this book I just kept reading with no pushing whatsoever! I highly recommend this book to anyone taking a class in this subject, whether or not it is the required text. It would be a great additional information source. It is helpful if you or someone you know may be going through any type of drug or alcohol treatment--from caffeine to heroin. I also enjoyed the online quizzes you are allowed to access once you have the book. It really enforces what you have learned.

This book is the source for unbiased information on the sociological, psychological, pathological effects of "drugs" - this compendium covers everything from caffeine to antipsychotics to alcohol to psychedelics and everything in between. A review of the history of each drug introduces each chapter. Careful attention is paid to not only the effects of the drugs themselves, but the effect which they have on our laws and the way in which treat addiction.

As a former student of Dr. Ray's I can attest to the thoroughness of this work. It is the one book that doesn't tell you what to think about drugs - it provides you with the data to be informed to make your own decision. In fact the DEA uses this book in training! If you are looking for a comprehensive resource for school, your own interest, or just to be informed to talk to your kids, look no further.

This book isn't about some esoteric tomorrow, it is about the issues and the ideas that the church needs to adopt right now. It is a book that you will want to spend time with and make sure those around you read.

Cutting-edge, witty, and educated, Dying To Live is a prophetic message to the church of today and tomorrow that is certain to raise quite a few eyebrows. This is one of the most honest explorations of the post-modern mindset that I have read or heard. I would recommend this book to pastors, Christian leaders, youth ministers, and anyone looking to do ministry within the next 100 years.

An excellently written book, I found myself inspired and encouraged. Hohstadt is not afraid to state what he believes. It was refreshing to read. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to read and share this book. Finally I have found a book about what I believe, that discusses the worship and church of MY generation. I encourage anyone who desires a more intimate and interactive worship experience to read this book. I also encourage anyone with a desire to minister in the realm of cyberspace to read this book. I don't think they will be disappointed. Excellent insights.

....

Get a pen and a highlighter ready because Dying to Live is full of things you wish you had said. Or atleast I wish I had said,or could say it that well. Hohstadt paints an accurate picture of the church entering a digital age that is blindsiding evangelicals. I really liked this book!

E-Service is a practical and logical book. It will provide focus and meaningful direction for my team. The author's passion for superior customer service is driven throughout all of his books.

EXCELENT!! - FIVE STARS!! John Tschohl's books have been my secret weapon since his first book years ago.

What I just read in his new e-Service is exactly the missing link for dot coms: how to keep customers coming back again and again.

If you are on a leadership position in any company involved on e-commerce, you MUST buy this book right away. And when you do, you'll agree with me that it's worth the reading time by a factor of a thousand, for e-Service describes exactly what is the secret to making money on the Web (and HOW you can take advantage of it NOW).

This book is about two things: 1) How to make money through a fanatic level of customer service; 2) How to use technology to get closer to the customer (instead of alienating people).

When organizations forget the reason because they exist (to create value for shareholders and customers), then they fail.

As I was reading this book, I could only wonder why so many companies have been so blind: when customers receive great, unbeliebable customer service, they buy more, they come back, and they talk about it.

John Tschohl teaches exactly HOW to build an organization in which everyone is involved in the commitment of making customers feel happy, so they make you more money. A fairly simple concept. But a powerful one.

John Tschohl's book will challenge you to think about your business and what you have not been doing.

It will hit you over the head like a 2 x 4 and bring you to the realization that you literally have 1000's of competitors that may sell the same product,at the same price,or even for less, and the only thing that you have to differentiate is "your exceptional and noteable e-Service".

How's your "e-Service" doing? Is it costing you thousands of dollars of lost sales or is it a primary profit center?

This book will fill your mind with multiple ideas on how to make e-Service a trademark of your company that drives sales.

The book was very easy to read and follow. I enjoyed splitting it up over four days to give myself more time to absorb this powerful message of necessary change.

My Husband teaches third and fourth year university students, and found this to a valuable resource for an e-commerce management paper. His comments:
This is well written (interesting even!) and informative on business models and relatively current cases, the book avoids getting into technical detail. Excellent for the purpose of getting IT strong students to think about where they fit and how their skills can complement others.
I would suggest that this text be useful for senior IT or Management students alike.

I am passionate about E-Commerce. But, I am disappointed with most books on the topic. This is a HUGE exception. This is a great book that captured my imagination and pushed my thinking. This book does a great job explaning the CONCEPTS and IDEAS that drive E-Commerce. I HIGHLY recommend it to anybody whose job involves E-Business or E-Commerce.

Managing the e-commerce operations of a function effectively is crucial to the long-term success of any company these days. This is one of the rare books that provides an in-depth look at all aspects of e-commerce management. I highly recommend it.

Sandeep was the instructor for our E-commerce MBA class (University of Washington Bothell, Class of 2002), and we had the pleasure of 'revewing' initial drafts of some of the book's chapters. Most e-commerce books have been written by IS professionals and academics, focusing on information architechture and process redesign. A key reason for my preference of this book over other similar books, is the author's big-picture yet detailed focus on business models, maketing and technology (technical overview of the Internet). I suspect the author's background in marketing played an important role in designing this book with this three-pronged, interdisciplinary approach.

disclaimer: I have contributed information to the NTT DoCoMo Case Study.

I have only read about half of the book so far and already I have used many of the tips and scripts. All the scripts mentioned in the book are available online so you don't have do all that typing. Many of the hacks are not really hacks, but tips and recommendations on how to do things.
The only minor complain I have is that the book references other chapters, but you have to go back to the Table of Contents to find the page number for the chapter. I think each page should have the current chapter number on it.
Each page does have the hack number on it so it makes it easy to find a hack without going back to the table of contents.

If you use eBay (as a buyer or seller), this is the "user's manual" or best practices guide that should be part of your signup... eBay Hacks by David A. Karp.

Contents: Diplomacy and Feedback; Searching; Bidding; Selling; Working with Photos; Completing Transactions; Running a Business on eBay; The eBay API; Index

Most Hacks titles consist of 100 tips and tricks related to the subject matter being discussed. In eBay Hacks, you get an extra 25 for your money. What a deal! :-) Regardless of whether you're a complete newbie to eBay or you actually run an eBay storefront, you'll find things in here that will save you time and money on a regular basis. Reading the chapter and hacks on feedback, I learned that there are ways to prevent negative feedback even after it's been given. Since so much of who you are on eBay relates directly back to your feedback rating, this can be a critical factor in getting buyers to trust you (or others to sell to you). The chapter on bidding went into the act of "sniping", or bidding at the last second, so that you can stand a much better chance of not being overbid at the last second. I didn't realize there are third-party services that will do this for you automatically. No wonder I've lost some things I really thought I had nailed. Karp even goes into how best to compose photos that will draw people to your auction rather than send them away for something that looks more appealing.

Obviously, you can use eBay without this book and information. I'm sure you'll do fine. But the first time you find an auction miscategorized (because you were looking for that condition) and you launch a bidding strategy that gets you the deal of a lifetime for next to nothing, you'll wonder why you waited so long. Good stuff here...

Author: David A. Karp

Description:
eBay Hacks by David A. Karp
Published by O'Reilly ISBN 059610068X
Reviewed by Jim Lauria-HuNTUG member

From the introduction: "Essentially, you'll find in this book the tools to help you trade smarter and safer, make more money, and have fun doing it."

This second edition-revised and updated to June 2005-provides the eBayer with tips and tools (aka hacks) for successful bidding, buying and selling on the premier online auction web site.

I found the hacks provided by the author to be extremely helpful and informative, easy to use and understand. As a long time eBay seller I had become complacent with the tools and techniques which I had been using for months or even years. This book has given me new ideas and approaches to make my eBay business better.

Karp provides clever shortcuts and powerful tools to do all sorts of neat things like create better titles, listings and descriptions to fancier photographs (Hack 74) and even how to cultivate a good reputation and protect yourself and your $ (Hacks 25 & 85). He also provides warnings about your safety, privacy and money matters.

Included is a chapter on eBay's Application Programming Interface, XML, Perl, PHP and RSS and development of custom software apps that can be worked in to one's own business apps and can also be passed along to others-hey maybe even for a small fee!

The book is well written with plenty of photos, screen shots and lots of code to get you up and buying/selling in quick fashion. 438 pages that read through really quickly and are packed with plenty of good stuff.

I would recommend this title for anyone-novice or pro-who is or would like to make or save some money using eBay or just to have some fun while selling your wares. The book lists for $24.95-less online.

I give this one 5 stars.

One of my favorite activities in my spare time is buying and selling on eBay. It has quickly become the world's largest virtual mall of just about everything you can possibly think of. When I received this book I was eager to learn some of the "tricks of the trade" and found a lot of useful material, albeit some of it is geared towards power sellers and not the average user.

The book itself is packed with 125 "hacks" for eBay, which can range from the basics (leaving feedback) to the more complex (setting up your own online check-out). A lot of the hacks give you tweaks and twists on the normal way of doing things, or take a task and show you a different, sometimes a little more dynamic, way of doing it.

Some of the more advanced topics will only be feasible if you are a powerseller. The author covers a lot of third-party tools as well, which can quickly run into the big dollars if you are just selling a few things each week. However, there is a fair amount of material devoted to the mom and pop sellers, like many of us are. One of the shining points of this book is that it does show you how to do a lot of tricks yourself if you are willing to roll up your sleeves and play around with Perl.

However, the book is for more than just sellers. A lot of tips are there for buyers as well. Such things as how to snipe effectively, and how to take advantage of bid increments in the auction to get the item for the lowest price. Even though the author is writing for both parties, the buyer and seller, he does a good job of not taking advantage of one over.

A few of the topics he covers can be a bit controversial, depending on how you look at it. Things such as withholding feedback and sniping can be frowned upon by some -- but it is all perfectly legal in the world of eBay and the author tells you how to take advantage of it.

Overall, a good book for those who want to get more out of eBay than just the casual buyer/seller. If you want to kick-start your eBay selling career, this is one of the books you will want to have to help guide you; Whereas if you want to learn the tricks of the buying game, you couldn't have picked a better reference manual.

I've been waiting for this book for SIX months!

If you read the first book by Brad and Debra Schepp (eBay Power Seller Secrets) You'll love this book, if you didn't read the first book, eBay Powerseller Secrets, I highly advise that you buy both! Brad and Debra Schepp write with an easy to read style. I feel these two books have more value than the other 40 eBay and ecommerce books I have on my shelf. I like the fact that this book delves deeper into the culture of eBay sellers than most other eBay books.

You won't find anything about the SYI form or how to list your item. This book is far more advanced and gives you insight into who the successful PowerSellers are on eBay and why, it may as well be the who's who of eBay PowerSellers. Brad and Debra are associate members of the Professional eBay Seller's Alliance, they seem to have the inside track on everything eBay. They even write for the auction industry news authority Auctionbytes.

Unlike other authors that pretend to be experienced eBay experts, Brad and Debra don't, they bring you the stories and facts from the experts in a far more valuable format that reads more like entertainment than a boring business instruction book. I do advise that when you sit down to read this book to have highlighter or sticky notes handy, the concepts fly at you and you can't put this book down, do yourself a favor and mark the spots when you have those million dollar AHA moments while reading. Instead of getting the perspective of just an author, Brad and Debra bring you the perspectives of many different sellers. Brad and Debra put some soul and personality into the book bringing wisdom from what appears to be over 100 of the top sellers on eBay.

They touch quite a few topics that are near and dear to my heart.

How to find products (the simple and cheap way)

Multi Channel Sales (Our New Mantra)

The future of listing enhancements (Free pictures, audio and even video)

Google Adwords, Froogle and Gbase.

Your eBay community and interaction with it. (Sharing with others produces returns)

Bonus section (Top 500 sellers and the top 200 fastest growing sellers on eBay)

Brad and Deb's first book eBay Powerseller Secrets:Insider Tips from eBay's Most Successful Sellers encouraged me to start my own me page and helped develop processes that I use today. They are solid no bull writers that practice what they preach, I'm sure if they wanted to , with all the information they have gathered, they could be one of the top ten sellers on eBay, but you can definitely tell when reading their books that their passion is writing about eBay and technology, they capture the soul of eBay and bind it for you. If I could only have one eBay book, this would be it.

Authors talk to top eBay PowerSellers and reveal their secrets to success. Useful, actionable advice. Highly recommended.

Brad & Deb Schepp really know how to give eBay sellers what they want! As a long-time eBay PowerSeller and Certified eBay Education Specialist, I know first-hand, what it takes to become successful and all the pitfalls that one must go through to obtain PowerSeller status. eBay PowerSeller Million Dollar Ideas has it all! The information is invaluable and easy to read. I learned so many new ways to save time and money, just in the first few chapters and there are sooooooo many fabulous tips and tricks, that it was hard to figure out which one I wanted to try first!

I really enjoyed reading about all the different ideas of my fellow PowerSellers and felt like I had made a whole new group of friends, after reading all of the "Meet A PowerSeller" profiles. The personal touch was a great addition to all the technical information.

This book is a must-read and well worth the cover price, as the book will pay for itself over and over again. This will be required reading for all of my future eBay students! -- Stephanie Inge aka Stephintexas

Fantastic book! Even better than their first Powerseller book (which was wonderful). If you are looking for creative ways to improve your eBay business, this book will set you off on a running start.

It is full of specific examples from quality eBay sellers and real world examples: search engine optimization ideas, customer relation ideas, marketing and advertising, and even selling beyond eBay. Plenty of screen shots for great visual examples.

It is very well written and easy-to-read. More importantly, it's easy to reference. At the end of every chapter there is also a wonderful "Meet a Powerseller" write-up.

If you are serious about your eBay business (or any online business), this book is a must-read. Have a highlighter ready. You'll need to use it!

With the publication of The Elements of International English Style, Dr. Edmond Weiss has provided writers a "Strunk and White" for the 21st Century and the Internet. He does this through a stimulating presentation of coherent principles -- simplicity, clarity, correspondence, cultural adaptation; through rules of usage presented as 57 tactics for writers; and through numerous helpful examples and illustrations. Writers of English in a global environment have a wise and valuable guide and resource in Dr. Weiss and his book.

I think Dr. Weiss's new book, "The Elements of International English Style" should be compulsory reading for anyone who creates documentation, with the possible exception of literary works. He rightly places the responsibility of the legibility of a document on the writer, rather than the reader who should be concentrating on the ideas or processes discussed, without having to struggle with the medium. Well done!

Nurel Beylerian Ph.D., PE

For about 10 years, I have given every new employee of my engineering firm a copy of Edmond Weiss's 100 Writing Remedies. I came across International English when I was ordering new copies and now I'm going to give this one to new employees also. There's something that business and technical people need to know on every page. And I had a shock of recognition when he explained why "yes" doesn't always mean "yes" in negotiations with "high context" suppliers. I hope the business schools will make this book required reading.

As a translator and writer who often produces English documents for readers who are not native speakers of English, I have long wrestled with the problem of how to adapt my English writing style so that it is understandable to the widest possible audience. This book offers many useful ideas and pointers for people like me: avoid ambiguous and culturally-bound expressions, anticipate how individual words will be translated by readers into their native languages, avoid sarcasm and humor, and much more. I thus recommend this book strongly.

I wish, though, that it had been more carefully edited. In my first few minutes of skimming through it, I came upon several embarrassing errors: "The shorter Oxford English Dictionary has 25,000 entries" (p. 17) should be "The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary has [some much larger number of] entries"; references to "German-English" and "Hebrew-English" dictionaries (pp. 21-22) should be to "English-German" and "English-Hebrew" dictionaries; the example sentence "an investigate trail is cold" (p. 23) must be a typo (of "an investigation trail is cold"?); examples of hyphenation usage (p. 74) are unclear because the examples appear at the ends of lines; and an example text that is described as being in a mono-spaced font (p. 82) is in fact in a proportional font. Such mistakes distract from the book's overall worth.

This book gave me a lot of great ideas for the Second Life platform. I had no idea of the type of businesses that were in Second Life. Now that I have an idea of how to purchase land and have seen the various software applications being used to create product, I plan on experimenting with it for the next 90 days or so. From there, I'm going to continue using the platform to launch my Second Life business. This Book is fabulous!

Lanesa Stubbs

outstanding. this step-by-step guide is well-written, informative, and easy to navigate. the structure of the book allowed me to get straight to the topics i was interested in - it's clearly laid out and having first-hand advice from residents/experts was extremely useful and gave me confidence - there's a great chapter on Setting Up Shop, for example. It's a comprehensive how-to that makes the metaverse accessible to everyone.

Entrepreneur's Guide to Second Life: Making Money in the Metaverse

I figured this would be a useful book because when I was interviewed for it the questions were in-depth, thoughtful, and non-fluffy. And it turns out that the book is even better than I expected. This is a GREAT book for anyone who wants to start an in-world Second Life business, or for someone who wants to improve their existing business. I would have turned a profit quicker if I'd had it when I was a newbie!

This book is a great way to learn about the many financial opportunities that await you in Second Life. The layout is clean and colorful, the examples shown are interesting and inspiring, and it is a good examination of Second Life overall. The lessons ignite the imagination...where would I like to concentrate my efforts as an entrepreneur? What does it really take to make a business successful? How have others done it, and what can I learn from their experiences? Terdiman did his homework on this project and the guide provides a realistic look at what it would take to create your dream career.