Computers and Internet Books

Holmes's Book represent a clear vision of the paper of government's to deliver social services through technology infrastructure and confirm how government's processes have to modify its sense to deliver major benefits to more citizens. It is highly recommended.

I was given this book as a gift, one of the best gifts I have received. I also had the pleasure of meeting the author in person. Even though it was very entertaining to read, the best value is that it served as a guide.

I truly recommend this book to all the people that want to create changes in government.

This informative, well-researched and brightly written overview of government e-business will fill you in on how far governments worldwide have come in offering services via the Internet, and what more they have to do to make the most of what the technology has to offer. It's a fascinating read that highlights the Internet's incredible power in bringing people, causes and issues together in the name of social activism, politics and democracy. We from getAbstract recommend this book to all readers with an interest in better - or at least more efficient -government.

Now in a newly updated and expanded second edition, Electronic Democracy: Using The Internet To Transform American Politics by Graeme Browning (Editorial Director, Internet Policy Institute and Associate Editor for "Federal Computer Week", a key publication for technology news in the federal government) is a fascinating, authoritative, and informative guide to politics on the Internet. The issues and topics covered range from using the World Wide Web for grassroots organization to making one's email to Congress count, to the history and future of online voting and polling, to online campaign resources and projections for the future. Electronic Democracy is a compelling and very highly recommended read for motivated political citizens who want to better understand the profound impacts that the technology of today and tomorrow has upon our nation's government of, by, and for the people!

The Internet has taken on many important roles in recent years as a powerful communications and information medium. Apart from online marketing of businesses, perhaps no other part of our lives has been more influenced by the Internet than that of discussing politics and spiritual matters and making our particular points of view seen and heard by others.

Electronic Democracy (2nd Edition, 2002) written by Graeme Browning offers readers amazing insight of the powerful role that the Internet has played in transforming American politics. At no other time in American history have so many people been able to discuss issues that matter to them the most and actually been able to do something about changing the course of the American political landscape.

Throughout the book readers are presented with actual events - names, dates, places, and circumstances that led other people to take action. Readers will learn about political parties, special interest groups, and common everyday folks who took action to express their points of view and to seek change. The book describes in vivid detail the roles that numerous Websites, discussion groups, and e-mail campaigns had in electing politicians, removing certain politicians from office, changing laws, and affecting other matters of public policy.

The book serves as an excellent guide for becoming politically active in the American political scene - or for that matter, in any country around the world. Readers will learn how to mount their own grassroots campaigns - right from home. They will learn how to organize campaigns, raise funds, present issues, contact people, influence legislation, and to get the word out about their own particular causes - responsibly. They will also learn about the dark side of online activism - the abuses that have taken place to disrupt American culture. As they will read, dirty tricks are still very much a part of politics.

This is one book I couldn't put down easily. It's highly informative, gripping, thought-provoking, and will surely motivate people of all backgrounds and persuasions to become more involved in shaping the direction America will head in. It's must reading for anyone desiring to become an agent of change in American society. This book will help you get started today!

Browning's book should be the first stop for on-line activists. There are so many authors out there proclaiming the internet to be the salvation of democracy that Browning is a voice of moderation. I would recommend this book as your starting point for internet activism.

This book lays out the many concepts of all of the common devices, clearly. I have the signals book from this author as well, and both books are extremely impressive in my opinion. It's really hard to find good textbooks for school, and the "required" texts usualy stink, and are filled with explanations that are written to impress. This book is not like that at all, everything is clear and concise, tables and diagrams here and there sum up the past pages throughout the book. I'd give this book 10 stars if I could, when you buy this book you're also supporting a GOOD business, a business that's interested in making your process of "getting learnt" easier!
-pat

Compiled and edited by electrical engineer and academician Steven T. Karris, Electronic Devices And Amplifier Circuits With MATLAB Applications provides a concise and comprehensive explanations of state-of-the-art electronic devices and integrated circuits in a text enhanced with a profusion of real-world examples. Karris covers basic electronic concepts and signals, semiconductor electronics, diodes, bipolar junction transistors, field effect transistors and PNPN devices, operational amplifiers, integrated circuits, pulse circuits and waveforms generators, frequency characteristics of single-stage and cascaded amplifiers, tuned amplifiers, sinusoidal oscillators, compensated attenuators, and more. Each individual chapter showcases numerous practical applications supplemented with detailed instructions. Electronic Devices And Amplifier Circuits is an invaluable and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, and technical college electronic reference and resource collections.

Whether you are a beginner learning electrical engineering, or a practiced engineer who wants to bone up on the subject, then this, or any of Steven Karris' books are for you. They present just the right balance of theory and examples to give you the bedrock of the subject. As an engineer, I use his books to review forgotten principles, study for the PE exam, and learn to incorporate the use of MATLAB into my current work. And best of all, they COST LESS then the overpriced textbooks that most schools use....

This book was a great one to start out with if you'd like to know how to do what everyone (it seems) is doing on the net these days. Learning the basics isn't that hard, and this book does a good job with it.

It is quite unusual to find a book on the Internet written by someone for whom english is not a second language. And it is even more unusual for an author to not assume that you are already well-versed in the subject. Especially useful is McDonnell's section on search engines, which lists their websites and explains how to use them. For example, she tells you how to "...monitor what's being said about your favorite hot topic in the thousands of discussion groups on the Internet... you can easily search by subject, newsgroup name, date, or writer of the posted messages." I keep this book right next to my computer and use it almost every day.

There are a number of helpful Internet guides available in print today that target a variety of reading audiences. One of the better ones published in recent years for beginners is Sharon McDonnell's The Everything Internet Book. She offers a broad treatment of the Internet scene.

Readers will not thumb through this book for long before realizing that it covers just about every possible aspect of the Internet. Beginners will learn how to find an Internet Service Provider (ISP), how to install and use the leading Web browsers, e-mail programs, and plug-ins, how to search the Internet, how to send e-mail, how to design Websites, and how to select good domain names and avoiding registering the wrong ones!

McDonnell provides her readers with warnings of some of the pitfalls and dangers of operating online. She warns readers of computer viruses, of how easy it is for rumors to spread online, snooping, privacy, and legal issues. Employees for instance, are advised to think very carefully before composing and sending e-mail correspondence from their computers at work. Parents will learn how to keep their kids safe from online dangers as well.

McDonnell offers a number of valuable resources her readers can access for additional assistance. Many of the chapters include references to other helpful books and Websites. Readers are invited to grab free Web graphics, shareware programs, and loads of tips and advice made available online by others. A directory listing at the back of the book offers access to some of the better sites online today.

McDonnell does a great job opening up the world of the Internet for beginners. This is an excellent guide for anyone to get started with. Adults and children alike will benefit from the instruction offered in this fun, humorous, easy-to-read, and delightful guide. Great for gifts and classroom use!

The author has developed a comprehensive framework for describing the evolution of the World Wide Web and its implications for effective application development. Each of the four main chapters succinctly investigates a particular stage of Web technology and its key characteristics. By introducing an evolutionary perspective, the book offers readers the guidance they need to develop Web-based information systems that are feasible to manage, effective to navigate, and easy to expand as rapidly changing business environments require. The author presents automated methods to obtain and process feedback from users and competitors alike. The focus on evolutionary principles and the regular monitoring of Web content distinguishes this book from similar publications and makes it a highly valuable resource for researchers and students alike.

A great source if you are interested or engaged in the improvement of a Website's quality (as it is my job at the moment). This book provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of methods and criteria to evaluate the quality of a company's Web presence. The author refers to a tool that seems to be quite practical, because it enables to gain data about websites in an automated, scalable way, thus reducing subjectivity in the evaluation process. I can highly recommend this book to professionals and also newcomers, because both of them will find valuable information. Well, believe me, it took me a lot of time to find really good stuff on this topic ...

A great source if you are interested or engaged in the improvement of a Website's quality (as it is my job at the moment). This book provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of methods and criteria to evaluate the quality of a company's Web presence. The author refers to a tool that seems to be quite practical, because it enables to gain data about websites in an automated, scalable way, the tool seems to be well-elaborated and rather high-sophisticated. I can highly recommend this book to professionals and persons who want to become specialists in the field of Web assessment.

I've reviewed various books for learning Macromedia Flash MX 2004. This is the best. Along with this is "Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia Flash MX 2004". They are both wonderful and each have their own purpose. I started with Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia Flash MX 2004 in 24 Hours and use "...At Your Fingertips..." for an excellent reference guide. I recommend both books.

Review: FLASH MX 2004: At Your Fingertips; Get in, Get Out, Get Exactly What You Need

The title of this book: FLASH MX 2004 At Your Fingertips; Get in, Get Out, Get Exactly What You Need, really says it all! The book is so well organized and tabbed that the information is truly "at your finger tips". The reader can get in, find exactly what is needed and get out quickly and easily. The problem is that you can never do that with this book! You get in, and in, and in... it's a veritable black hole that sucks you into its instructional depths and keeps you there forever. When your fingers go numb and the book accidentally closes, you realize it's the next day and your brain is about to explode with new and exciting things to try with the program. Well, that may not happen to everyone, but for computer geeks like me, watch yourself! Beginners don't be afraid, you too can be victims! This book is written for every level of user and for both PCs and MACs. The graphics and text couldn't be a better combination unless some how Sham and Jen could transport themselves into your living room to accompany their words and pictures. As applications manuals go, this one's a "keeper"- it keeps you.

FLASH MX 2004: At Your Fingertips; Get in, Get Out, Get Exactly What You Need is composed of five sections and a special inset section all about color (which is actually in color!); 1) Flash Workspace, 2) Authoring Tasks, 3) Scripting Tasks, 4) Testing and Publishing Tasks, and 5) What's New. The color section is all about panels, pickers, spaces and video color. Included with this section is a gallery that shows some really interesting examples that will challenge your understanding of design and development (deselopment - a new word for me).

A nice thing about the interface overview section is the contents outline that delineates Windows versus MAC. Right up front you have the information you need as a specific platform user. Being a MAC user, I knew right off which sections I could skip and didn't have to "double read" any of the sections pertaining to Windows users.

Quick tips and cross-references are listed in the outside page margins that give you chapter and section references for more information, alternatives and related activities. Both Windows and MAC keyboard short cuts are listed in the margins as well, saving an incredible amount of time in finding the short cut keystroke as well as referencing the short cuts at a later time.

FLASH MX 2004: At Your Fingertips; Get in, Get Out, Get Exactly What You Need is crammed full of screen shots and examples that help the reader understand what is being explained. An unusual, but extremely helpful addition to this book is the little black labels that match the text. These quickly draw the reader's eye to the area of the screen shot or graphic being discussed. There is no confusion and no guessing about what is being demonstrated or shown, or where to find the corresponding item.

I found the scripting section to be extremely helpful. While I am still not crazy about writing script, I did like the authors' explanation of scripted animation versus timeline animation and creating timeline flow with scripts. While all of the scripting components are discussed at length (button, checkbox, combobox, list, loader, numericstepper, progressbar, etc), the authors don't forget to add explanations of basic things like spell checking and creating a custom mouse pointer for the beginning user.

For those who are veteran Flash users, the new v2 components (some of which are listed above) make life in the fast developer lane just a little more efficient. FLASH MX 2004: At Your Fingertips; Get in, Get Out, Get Exactly What You Need now has enhanced import options for Adobe PDF and Illustrator files as well as enhanced supports for MP3 meta tags and runtime loading. The de-bugging panel works like a charm and can be manually changed during an SWF run session. The "What's New" Appendix provides a great chart of enhancements and where to find the corresponding information. No long dialogs about new improvements to wade through - just a simple, easy to read chart and a reference to find out more... if you want.

All in all this is a great reference book for FLASH MX 2004. Although the title says "Get In, Get Out, Get Exactly What You Need" - be forewarned. You may get in but getting out is a bit harder! And you will get much more than you need.

I absolutely LOVE the new layout in this book. Instead of having to go through pages and pages of explanation to find one specific topic, this Fingertips book is divided into specific topics, with very specific information related to what you are looking for. Using the table of contents, you can easily find what page the tip is on, go to that page, and get the specific you need for that topic. Most tips are on one or two pages. I hope this 'fingertip' idea is used in other application books! Thanks for providing this great reference book!

This is an extremely comprehensive volume that covers all the ground that designers, budding designers and photoshop enthusiasts need to know...The case study even tells you how to create a postcard ready for the printers and how to create your own site using ImageReady. There's stuff on printing, workflow, image correction, filters, as well as the obvious like layers and selection... This book is another winner from friendsofED!

I've had Photoshop for over a year. I've spent most of that time being frustrated with the program. I bought Foundation Photoshop 6 a little over a month ago and am now learning in leaps and bounds. Foundation Photoshop 6 is truly excellent for beginners, providing easily understood instructions, explanations and exercises. With this book, anyone can learn to create amazing graphics. I highly recommend it.

For me as a beginner it was really helpful and covered a big range of topics

Great ideas that have worked very well for me!

This money-saving book is helping me pamper my poodle the way she deserves. When I bring home the discount brands of dog food or doggie treats, her nose turns up before it's even out of the bag. This helps me find ways to afford the quality stuff. Plus it offers a lot of other advice on good buys for your pet.

I got the greatest collie for free and am now using other ideas from the book to get free dog food and toy samples, and cut rate vet visits. I really recommend this book to all animal owners and lovers.

I didn't think there would be anything easier than the "... for Dummies" instructional books. However, this FrontPage 2000 for Visual Learners by Chris Charuhas and all of his Visual Learners series, by far, are he easiest to follow. Every step, even graphically showing you to click the right mouse button, enables even the most challenged computer user to program web pages and designs. The pages have simple one to two lines of written instructional text and mainly graphics to allow users to visually see each step. Definitely a must for anybody learning to develop web pages.

I've been a Information System Director over 35 years with my Masters in Computer Science. Staff size 30 to 140. During this time I've seen and used about every type of manual dealing with computers as one can imaging. Thus far these are the best. Not only are the manuals easy to understand, the people behind this concept are never too busy to take my seemly-mudded questions and reply with a simple to the point answer. Their writing plus the pictures make each manual a winner. I for one thank you for your straight forward approach

This book provides both a great way to learn FrontPage 2000 and a super resource for quick reference. I am a technology educator in a K-8 school with a masters in educational technology. I strongly believe we should not do for children what they can do for themselves so my review has to include a child-centered test. I like to teach them to use reference materials, because what they do from year to year both in school and after will always be slightly different. I want them to grow up knowing how to follow written directions when working with technology. Part of my criteria for purchasing is that books can be used by students. To test the value of this book, I placed it in my classroom library and allowed students in grades 5-8 use it as we worked on web building. I actually used the book to teach a related unit to younger children (3rd grade) about web page construction.
They did a marvelous job! I got exclamations from many children! Although I have several other resources this book quickly became a favorite. This book is definitely a valuable asset in my library. I recommend it to anyone learning or teaching FrontPage to anyone; at home, at school or in the workplace.

This book won't teach you how to design games, but what it will do - and what it does very well - is to give you an insight into what the Games Industry is really like. The lifestyle, terminology, how it works, how it's changing with the sudden mainstreamification (yeah, I know that's not a real word!) of Games.

By various measures, the Games Industry has or will soon overtake the Film and TV Industry in terms of turnover. And yet, the infrastructure, the job descriptions, the career paths - all of these are just evolving.

Issues like the increasing age of the average gamer (around 28) and the impact that's having on games design are discussed by a wide variety of experienced Industry veterans.

Appendices include real-world examples of flowcharts, storyboards, case treatments, status reports and other everyday documents that will really help a newcomer to the Industry not feel completely clueless on Day One in the office. For all they teach you in a Games Development course at college, this is the kind of practical information that is often overlooked.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone considering entering the Games Industry. It will give you a really good insight into what it's like to work in this crazy, rapidly growing field. And then, when you hit your first 'crunch' time and end up working 18 hour days and sleeping under your desk - you can't say no-one warned you ;)

Deb Todd has been a leading force in game design for 15 years (or so) and this book echoes her profound knowledge of it. The recent explosion in interest in game design has brought many parvenues to the field. This book is the opposite: solid advice from a proven expert. She also interviews many key people whose advice is valid and worthwhile.

From the initial blue-sky sessions to pitching for a green light, Deborah Todd's guide uses exercises and examples for all kinds of games to build a working knowledge of the game design process, from brainstorming and character design to content, testing, and flowcharting. Interviews with top game producers supplement the author's position as an award-winning designer and writer, with exercises and a puzzles checklist at book's end for maximum learning and reinforcement. Any college-level collection strong on games development needs this.