Digital Design Books

iPhone For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

Edward C. Baig, Bob LeVitus

Amazon Price: $14.95 List Price: $21.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: For Dummies Amazon Marketplace: 48 new & used starting at $11.81

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Handheld & Mobile Devices
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Peripherals
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Networking -> Wireless Networks

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The iPhone 3G is here! You’ll want to make the most of it, and iPhone For Dummies, 2nd Edition is ready to help. Master the multitouch interface, send text messages, enjoy rich-HTML e-mail, use GPS maps, and more, with this full-color guide to show you how!

Edward C. Baig and “Dr. Mac” Bob LeVitus, two giants of Mac-dom, have packed this colorful little book with tips on every cool feature of the iPhone 3G. They’ll show you how to find and download hundreds of cool apps from the new Apps Store, sync up your contact lists with MobileMe, browse the Internet, take photos, download music, and much more. For example:

• Use 3G wireless technology to surf the Web faster, send and receive e-mail, and talk on the phone, all at once
• Play music, watch videos on the widescreen display, or download a game from the App Store
• Navigate Web sites or photos using tap, flick, and pinch
• Get turn-by-turn directions, view a map, get live traffic information, or find services near your location with the GPS feature
• Synchronize data, calendar entries, and address books between your desktop and your iPhone
• Snap, share, sync, and save photos
• See how the touch screen lets you type, surf, dial, download, play music, and more, all with a simple tap
• Use the new scientific calculator
• Find out what Microsoft Exchange has to offer

You already love your iPhone. With iPhone For Dummies, 2nd Edition, you’ll find more to love!

After Effects Apprentice (DV Expert Series)

Chris Meyer, Trish Meyer

Amazon Price: $26.37 List Price: $39.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Focal Press Amazon Marketplace: 45 new & used starting at $22.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Design & Decorative Arts -> Graphic Design -> General AAS
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Graphic Design -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Graphic Design -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

If you're new to After Effects and want to get up to speed quickly, After Effects Apprentice was created just for you. With 11 core lessons plus a fun final project, you'll quickly get into the program and learn how to tap its potential - whether you want to create motion graphics for a network program, your company's video, or your own independent production.

In this book, you'll get a professional perspective on the most important features a motion graphics artist needs to learn to use this program effectively. You'll learn to creatively edit and combine layers, animate eye-catching titles, replace a screen on a computer monitor, place a studio shot in anew environment, manipulate 3D space, and use effects to generate excitement or enhance the realism of a scene. Easy to follow step-by-step instructions take you through each technique, including projects that encourage you to express it in your own way. You'll learn more than just the tools; you'll learn skills that you can immediately put to work in your own projects.

Topics include how to:
* Animate, layer, and composite images and text.
* Manipulate keyframes to create more refined animations.
* Use masks, mattes, stencils and modes to add depth.
* Manage layers to make them easier to coordinate.
* Add 3D to your animations.
* Use tracking and keying to create special effects.
* Includes new CS3 features; Shape layers, the Puppet tool, Brainstorm, and Per-Character 3D Text.

DVD contains: All exercise source material and projects in AE7 and CS3, video guided tours, and movies of the finished projects.

* Full color presentation of professional workflows
* Core motion graphic techniques in 12 engaging lessons
* Companion DVD features QuickTime movies and lesson media

BlackBerry® 8800 & 8300 Curve Made Simple (Blackberry Made Simple Guide Book)

Martin Trautschold, Gary Mazo

Amazon Price: $27.99 List Price: $27.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: BookSurge Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 4 new & used starting at $27.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Handheld & Mobile Devices
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Informative Resource 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Very informative and easy to navigate. Great for new Blackberry users and experienced BB users as well.

Awesome 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This book is like a ...excuse the term..."bible" for my new blackberry curve...without this book I know that I would have never used my blackberry to the fulllest!

Blackberry excess 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 6 people found this review helpful.

From one extreme to another
The "manual" which is supplied with the Blackberry is so elementary that many features remain mysterious to the new user.
This book supplies so much detail that many features of the Blackberry remain mysterious unless the reader has unlimited time to read through excessive detail.

Editorial Review:

Both beginners and advanced users will learn a great deal from this new comprehensive guide to the BlackBerry® 8800 and 8300 Curve Smartphones. Among the many Topics covered are: Email setup and use, Phone, voice dialing, three-way / conference calling, speed dial, SMS text messaging, PIN messaging, Bluetooth Headsets, Mapping and GPS, Music and Videos, BlackBerry as Tethered Modem, Troubleshooting, Synchronizing between your Windows or Mac computer, Backup and Restore, Calendar, Tasks, Memo Pad, Camera, Media player, Typing Tips, Address Book tips, Search, Advanced email, Installing and Removing Third Party Software and includes a Third Party Software Guide. This truly is the "Definitive" guide to the BlackBerry.

Soul of a New Machine

Tracy Kidder

List Price: $4.95 By: Avon Books Amazon Marketplace: 220 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Professional & Technical -> Engineering -> Electrical & Electronics -> Digital Design
Subjects -> Science -> General
Subjects -> Science -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 56 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Tremendous piece of writing. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Though the technology the story is about has become dated, the story itself hasn't; the book is about the building of a computer, yes, but then it is about Kidder's own mind coming to grips with the technology involved, and then more about the people who were doing the actual building

Kidder's book is engaging and terrifically written. It is a landmark work of modern non-fiction writing, and fully deserves its Pulitzer.

Good read 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Nicely written. A good, quick read. I'd recommend it for anyone interested in the history of the computer industry.

Editorial Review:

Computers have changed since 1981, when Tracy Kidder memorably recorded the drama, comedy, and excitement of one companys efforts to bring a new microcomputer to market. What has not changed is the feverish pace of the high-tech industry, the go-for-broke approach to business that has caused so many computer companies to win big (or go belly up), and the cult of pursuing mind-bending technological innovations. The Soul of a New Machine is an essential chapter in the history of the machine that revolutionized the world in the twentieth century.

Programming 16-Bit PIC Microcontrollers in C: Learning to Fly the PIC 24 (Embedded Technology) (Embedded Technology)

Lucio Di Jasio

Amazon Price: $44.95 List Price: $49.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Newnes Amazon Marketplace: 29 new & used starting at $40.82

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Microprocessors & System Design -> PIC Microcontroller
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Programming -> Introductory & Beginning -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Programming -> Introductory & Beginning -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

. A Microchip insider tells all on the newest, most powerful PICs ever!

. FREE CD-ROM includes source code in C, the Microchip C30 compiler, and MPLAB SIM software

. Includes handy checklists to help readers perform the most common programming and debugging tasks

The new 16-bit PIC24 chip provides embedded programmers with more speed, more memory, and more peripherals than ever before, creating the potential for more powerful cutting-edge PIC designs. This book teaches readers everything they need to know about these chips: how to program them, how to test them, and how to debug them, in order to take full advantage of the capabilities of the new PIC24 microcontroller architecture.

Author Lucio Di Jasio, a PIC expert at Microchip, offers unique insight into this revolutionary technology, guiding the reader step-by-step from 16-bit architecture basics, through even the most sophisticated programming scenarios. This book's common-sense, practical, hands-on approach begins simply and builds up to more challenging exercises, using proven C programming techniques. Experienced PIC users and newcomers to the field alike will benefit from the text's many thorough examples, which demonstrate how to nimbly side-step common obstacles, solve real-world design problems efficiently, and optimize code for all the new PIC24 features.

You will learn about:
. basic timing and I/O operations,
. multitasking using the PIC24 interrupts,
. all the new hardware peripherals
. how to control LCD displays,
. generating audio and video signals,
. accessing mass-storage media,
. how to share files on a mass-storage device with a PC,
. experimenting with the Explorer 16 demo board, debugging methods with MPLAB-SIM and ICD2 tools, and more!

·A Microchip insider tells all on the newest, most powerful PICs ever!

·Condenses typical introductory "fluff" focusing instead on examples and exercises that show how to solve common, real-world design problems quickly

·Includes handy checklists to help readers perform the most common programming and debugging tasks

·FREE CD-ROM includes source code in C, the Microchip C30 compiler, and MPLAB SIM software, so that readers gain practical, hands-on programming experience

·Check out the author's Web site at http://www.flyingpic24.com for FREE downloads, FAQs, and updates

GPS For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

Joel McNamara

Amazon Price: $16.49 List Price: $24.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: For Dummies Amazon Marketplace: 49 new & used starting at $13.78

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Transportation -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Transportation -> General AAS
Subjects -> Professional & Technical -> Engineering -> Computer Technology -> Remote Sensing

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Need directions? Are you good at getting lost? Then GPS is just the technology you’ve dreamed of, and GPS For Dummies is what you need to help you make the most of it.

If you have a GPS unit or plan to buy one, GPS For Dummies, 2^nd Edition helps you compare GPS technologies, units, and uses. You’ll find out how to create and use digital maps and learn about waypoints, tracks, coordinate systems, and other key point to using GPS technology.

Get more from your GPS device by learning to use Web-hosted mapping services and even how to turn your cell phone or PDA into a GPS receiver. You’ll also discover:

• Up-to-date information on the capabilities of popular handheld and automotive Global Positioning Systems
• How to read a map and how to get more from the free maps available online
• The capabilities and limitations of GPS technology, and how satellites and radio systems make GPS work
• How to interface your GPS receiver with your computer and what digital mapping software can offer
• Why a cell phone with GPS capability isn’t the same as a GPS unit
• What can affect your GPS reading and how accurate it will be
• How to use Street Atlas USA, TopoFusion, Google Earth, and other tools
• Fun things to do with GPS, such as exploring topographical maps, aerial imagery, and the sport of geocaching

Most GPS receivers do much more than their owners realize. With GPS For Dummies, 2^nd Edition in hand, you’ll venture forth with confidence!

Pattern Classification (2nd Edition)

Richard O. Duda, Peter E. Hart, David G. Stork

Amazon Price: $112.00 List Price: $140.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Wiley-Interscience Amazon Marketplace: 51 new & used starting at $58.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Programming -> Algorithms -> Pattern Recognition
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

excellent revision of a classical text on statistical pattern recognition 5 out of 5 stars.
26 of 26 people found this review helpful.

The 1973 book by Duda and Hart was a classic. It surveyed the literature on pattern classification and scene analysis and provided the practitioner with wonderful insight and exposition of the subject. In the intervening 28 years the field has exploded and there has been an enormous increase in technical approaches and applications.
With this in mind the authors and their new coauthor David Stork go about the task of providing a revision. True to the goals of the original the authors undertake to describe pattern recognition under a variety of topics and with several available methods to cover each topic. Important new areas are covered and old but now deemed less significant are dropped. Advances in statistical computing and computing in general also dictate the topics. So although the authors are the same and the title is almost the same (note that scene analysis is dropped from the title) it is more like an entirely new book on the subject rthan a revision of the old. For a revision, I would expect to see mostly the same chapters with the same titles and only a few new chapters along with expansion of old chapters.

Although I view this as a new book, that is not necessarily bad. In fact it may be viewed as a strength of the book. It maintains the style and clarity of the original that we all loved but represents the state-of-the-art in pattern recognition at the beginning of the 21st Century.

The original had some very nice pictures. I liked some of them so much that I used them with permission in the section on classification error rate estimation in my bootstrap book. This edition goes much further with beautiful graphics including many nice three-dimensional color pictures like the one on the cover page.

The standard classical material is covered in the first five chapters with new material included (e.g. the EM algorithm and hidden markov models in Chapter 3). Chapter 6 covers multilayer neural networks (a totally new area). Nonmetric methods including decision trees and the CART methodology are covered in Chapter 8. Each chapter has a large number of relevant references and many homework exercises and computer exercises.

Chapter 9 is "Algorithm-Independent Machine Learning" and it includes the wonderful "No Free Lunch" theorem (Theorem 9.1), a discussion of the minimum desciption length principle, overfitting issues and Occam's razor, bias - variance tradeoffs,resampling method for estimation and classifier evaluation, and ideas about combining classifiers.

Chapter 10 is on unsurpervised learning and clustering. In addition to the traditional techniques covered in the first edition the authors include the many advances in mixture models.

I was particularly interested in that part of Chapter 9. There is good coverage of the topics and they provide a number of good references. However, I was a bit disappointed with the cursory treatment of bootstrap estimation of classification accuracy (section 9.6.3 on pages 485 - 486). I particularly disagree with the simplistic statement "In practice, the high computational complexity of bootstrap estimation of classifier accuracy is rarely worth possible improvements in that estimate (Section 9.5.1)". On the other hand, the book is one of the first to cover the newer and also promising resampling approaches called "Bagging" and "Boosting" that these authors seem to favor.

Davison and Hinkley's bootstrap text is mentioned for its practical applications and guidance for bootstrapping. The authors overlook Shao and Tu which offers more in the way of guidance. Also my book provides some guidance for error rate estimation but is overlooked.

My book also illustrate the limitations of the bootstrap. Phil Good's book provides guidance and is mentioned by the authors. But his book is very superficial and overgeneralized with respect to guiding practitioners. For these reasons I held back my enthusiasm and only gave this text four stars.

Editorial Review:

The first edition, published in 1973, has become a classic reference in the field. Now with the second edition, readers will find information on key new topics such as neural networks and statistical pattern recognition, the theory of machine learning, and the theory of invariances. Also included are worked examples, comparisons between different methods, extensive graphics, expanded exercises and computer project topics.

An Instructor's Manual presenting detailed solutions to all the problems in the book is available from the Wiley editorial department.

Programmable Logic Controllers

W. Bolton

List Price: $36.95 By: Newnes Amazon Marketplace: 5 new & used starting at $38.44

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Job Hunting & Careers -> Vocational Guidance
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Microprocessors & System Design -> Computer Design
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Design & Architecture

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This is the introduction to PLCs for which baffled students, technicians and managers have been waiting. In this straightforward guide Bill Bolton has kept the maths to a minimum, avoided detailed programming instructions and presented the subject in a way that is not device-specific.

Having read this book you should be able to:
* Identify the main design characteristics and internal architecture of PLCs
* Describe and identify the characteristics of commonly used input and output devices
* Explain the processing of inputs and outputs by PLCs
* Describe communication links involved with control systems
* Develop ladder programs for the logic functions AND, OR, NOR, NAND, NOT and XOR
* Develop ladder programs involving internal relays, timers, counters, shift registers, sequencers and data handling
* Identify methods used for testing and debugging


Ideal as an accessible introduction for university students, the second edition includes expanded sections on internal architecture, input-output devices, networks, and programming languages with microprocessor systems, and has been fully revised in line with the new BTEC Higher National unit on PLCs, and the 2000 specifications for the Advanced GNVQ unit from Edexcel.

A clear and concise introduction for students, technicians, engineers and managers
Ideal for BTEC National, HNC, HND and first-year degree modules
Revised in line with the new BTEC Higher National unit on PLCs and the 2000 revision of the Advanced GNVQ unit (now an optional unit)

Digital Communications: Fundamentals and Applications

Bernard Sklar

List Price: $100.00 By: Prentice Hall Amazon Marketplace: 27 new & used starting at $9.81

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Professional & Technical -> Engineering -> Electrical & Electronics -> Digital Design
Subjects -> Professional & Technical -> Engineering -> Electrical & Electronics -> General
Subjects -> Professional & Technical -> Engineering -> Electrical & Electronics -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

An excellent book even for self-study 4 out of 5 stars.
8 of 9 people found this review helpful.

This digital communication book is more readable than the Proakis' book. It explains concepts and theory in plain words. I particularly like the section of viterbi algorithm. Well illustrated diagrams too.

Excellent Description of a Digital Communication System 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I have followed Dr. Sklar's writing since 1982/83 when a two part article was presented in IEEE Communication Magazine. The tilte was "A Structural Overview od Digital Communication". I used that article in my understanding of the subject and delivered lectures to communication engineers in my presentations to them in 1985/86 time frame. At that time I guessed, and knew that Dr. Sklar would write a book on the subject and this article is actually an introduction to the subject. Then, in 1987, I did find this book (first Edition) and used it for further uderstanding of the subject. I was very happy. I was lucky to have this book in 1998 when I taught this course to MSEE class.The second edition along with Systemview is an excellent combination for teachers as well as for practicing engineers. I have loved this book and is always with me (even during holidays). After Dr. Shannon, Dr, Gallager, Dr. Wozencraft and Dr. Viterbi, and other contemporaries, I found Dr. Sklar giving a satisfactory expalanation on various aspects of Digital Communication. My salutations to Dr. Sklar. We communication engineers should be thankful to his efforts for such a presentation. This is an easy to understand and uses mathematical representations in an appropriate manner. Some of the explanations, like Bandwidth, and Probability of Error, etc. are excellent. I found the flow of chapters as lelegant as a sequence of music that appeals staightawy to the audience. As I love "A mathematical Theory of Communicarion" the same way I love this book.

Editorial Review:

The book traces the signals and key processing steps from the information source, through the transmitter, channel, receiver, and ultimately to the information sink. Emphasis is placed on system goals and the need to trade-off basic system parameters such as signal-to-noise ratio, probability of error, and bandwidth.

Digital Fundamentals (10th Edition)

Thomas L. Floyd

Amazon Price: $108.80 List Price: $136.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Prentice Hall Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $82.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Circuitry -> Circuit Components
Subjects -> Professional & Technical -> Engineering -> Electrical & Electronics -> Circuits -> General
Subjects -> Professional & Technical -> Engineering -> Electrical & Electronics -> Circuits -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Very readable 5 out of 5 stars.
16 of 17 people found this review helpful.

As a software engineer working in embedded applications environment, I needed to pick up digital electronics fundamentals fast. This book was extremely helpful, and enabled me to better understand the often-cryptic datasheets of microcontrollers.

Editorial Review:

This bestseller provides thorough, up-to-date coverage of digital fundamentals, from basic concepts to microprocessors, programmable logic, and digital signal processing. Its vivid full-color format is packed with photographs, illustrations, tables, charts, and graphs; valuable visual aids that today's user needs to understand this often complex computer application.   Known for its clear, accurate explanations of theory supported by superior exercises and examples, this book’s full-color format is packed with the visual aids today’s readers/students need to grasp often complex concepts. For those in the computer industry where a knowledge of introductory digital programming is essential.