Peripherals Books

iPhone: The Missing Manual: Covers the iPhone 3G (Missing Manual)

David Pogue

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Written by New York Times columnist and Missing Manual series creator David Pogue, this first-to-market update shows readers and tire kickers everything they need to know to get the most out of their new Apple iPhone. As beautiful as the product it covers, this full-color book helps readers accomplish everything from Web browsing to watching videos.

Author David Pogue’s iPhone 2E Tips
The beauty of the new iPhone 3G is that you don’t need one. Almost all of the juicy stuff actually comes with the iPhone 2.0 software and the online App Store, both of which run perfectly well on the old iPhone as well. That, incidentally, is also the beauty of iPhone: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition. It covers both the old and the new iPhones, because it covers the 2.0 software, the iPhone App Store, and so on. Here are a few of my favorite tips from the book:

1) At the top of the screen, little icons indicate how you’re connected to the Internet: an E for the vast but dog-slow AT&T Edge network, a 3G icon if you’re on the faster but limited-area AT&T third-generation network, and radiating signal bars if you’re on Wi-Fi. The tip here: The two cellular icons (E and 3G) disappear whenever you’re on Wi-Fi. That’s not a mistake. The iPhone assumes that Wi-Fi is faster and better than any cellular network, and if you’re on it, you don’t care about E or 3G (and it’s right).

2) Unfortunately, 3G is a battery hog. If you don’t see a 3G icon on your iPhone 3G’s status bar, then you’re not in a 3G hot spot, and you’re not getting any benefit from the phone’s 3G radio. By turning it off, you’ll double the length of your iPhone 3G’s battery power, from 5 hours of talk time to 10. To do so, from the Home screen, tap Settings->General->Network-> Enable 3G Off. Yes, this is sort of a hassle, but if you’re anticipating a long day and you can’t risk the battery dying halfway through, it might be worth doing. After all, most 3G phones don’t even let you turn off their 3G circuitry.

3) More ways to save power: turn off more features. In Settings, you can turn off Bluetooth; Wi-Fi; GPS; "push" data; and the cellphone radio. Each saves you another bit of power.

4) When typing on the on-screen keyboard, you can save time by deliberately leaving out the apostrophe in contractions like I’m, don’t, can’t, and so on. Type im, dont, cant, and so on. The iPhone proposes I’m, don’t, or can’t, so you can just tap the Space bar to fix the word and continue.

5) To produce an accented character (like é, ë, è, ê, and so on), keep your finger pressed on that key for 1 second. A palette of accented alternatives appears; slide onto the one you want. (Keys that sprout these alternative versions: E, Y, U, I, O, S, L, Z, C, N, ?, ', ", $, and !.)

6) Even if you’ve engaged the silencer switch on the side, the iPhone still sounds any alarm you’ve set. Good to know.

7) You probably already know that you can rearrange your Home screen, and even set up multiple Home screens (up to 9). Just hold your finger down on any one icon until they all begin to wiggle. Now you can drag them to rearrange them (even onto the Dock of four special icons at the bottom), or drag off to the right to create a new Home screen. And what if, in the process of downloading and then deleting new App store programs, you wind up with unsightly gaps on your Home screens? Here’s a quick way to consolidate them onto a smaller number of full Home screens, without gaps: tap Settings->General-> Reset->Reset Home Screen Layout. If you’d put 10 programs on each of four Home screens, you wind up with only two screens, each packed with 20 icons. Any leftover blank pages are eliminated.

8) If you come to the iPhone from another, lesser GSM phone, your phone book may be stored on its little SIM card instead of in the phone itself . In that case, you don’t have to retype all of those names and numbers to bring them into your iPhone. In Settings->Contacts, the new Import SIM Contacts button can do the job for you. (The results may not be pretty. For example, some phones store all address-book data in CAPITAL LETTERS.)

9) If you’ve indulged yourself by downloading some goodies from the App Store, then you may find yourself wondering where you’re supposed to adjust their preferences. Turns out they often get stashed away in a completely different program—in Settings. That’s where Apple encourages software authors to locate their own setting screens. For example, here’s where you can edit your screen name and password for the AIM chat program, change how many days’ worth of news you want the NY Times Reader to display, and so on.

10) Don’t type http://www or .com when entering Web addresses. Safari is smart enough to know that most Web addresses use that format—so you can leave all that stuff out, and it will supply them automatically. Instead of http://www.cnn.com, for example, just type cnn and hit Go.

11) Don’t type .net, .org, or .edu, either. Safari’s secret pop-up menu of canned URL choices can save you four keyboard-taps apiece. To see it, hold your finger down on the .com button. Then tap the common suffix you want.

12) The iPhone can now geotag the photos you take with it. Geotagging means, "embedding your latitude and longitude information into a photo when you take it." After all, every digital picture you’ve ever taken comes with its time and date invisibly embedded in its file; why not its location? So the good news is that the iPhone can geotag every photo you take. How you get to see this information, is a bit trickier. Once the photos are synced to your computer, you can view the geotag information in iPhoto (the Get Info command reveals latitude and longitude), Preview (the Inspector window shows a map), Picasa (use the Tools->Geotag menu to see the photo’s location in Google Earth). Unfortunately, the iPhone strips away the geotags whenever you send a photo by e-mail. That’s a good argument for using the free downloadable program AirMe instead of the iPhone’s built-in camera program. It avoids that geotag-stripping problem and many others.

Fine Art Printing for Photographers: Exhibition Quality Prints with Inkjet Printers, 2nd Edition

Uwe Steinmueller, Juergen Gulbins

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

Fine Art Printing, The Sophisticated Inkjet! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This is a title on digital printing by Rockynook, a recently established publishing house specializing in books on computers, digital photography and image production. They distribute their titles through O'Reilly here in the US. They have strong ties to a German publishing house dpunct.verlag, whose specialty is computer science and digital photography. Most of the early titles published by Rockynook have featured German authors. While I don't read German, the several books I've read in this series read as if parts have been translated from German, with occasional verbiage that reads as if it were transliterated, not translated. But the overall quality of the books is excellent, they're filled with beautiful pictures representative of the authors personal work, and overall the clarity of the text is more than adequate.

This is the second edition of this work, the first was published just last year in 2007. The publication of a second edition following so closely on the heels of the first suggests the rapid changes that are occurring in digital image production.

First, some caveats. The book is not really intended for the casual photographer who may print out occasional 4x6 prints on his ink jet printer. It is not for those who are using color lasers or small dye sublimation printers. It is for photographers using photo inkjet printers. The emphasis here is on "photo." Other printers are briefly discussed, but the discussion relates to "fine art printing."

What does that mean? It means one must be willing to make a substantial investment in both equipment and time. A high quality lower end photo printer with some printing capabilities for 13", 17", or 19" paper will start around $500, and the prices go up from there. These printers typically have 8-12 ink colors, and large prints use a lot of ink. That means substantial ink replacement costs. Good quality photo paper in larger sizes may run $2-$4 per print or more, depending on size. By the time you've calibrated your printer, done several test prints, make adjustments, hopefully printed a final perfect copy, you'll have invested some serious time and money to make a single quality image.

The stated goal of the book is to teach you how to make museum quality prints. Museum quality means not only are the prints excellent in composition and rendering, it also means that they'll last for decades to centuries. Besides outlining some of the tweaks in Photoshop that are an inevitable part of printing, there are discussions of the choice of archival inks, paper weight and finish, managing workflow, color, and presentation. The use of printing packages is covered. Both Windows and Mac systems are discussed. The final framing and presentation of prints is well covered.

A real positive is that specific recommendations concerning three manufacturer's printers are given, Epson, HP, and Canon.

This is an excellent work for the serious amateur, and possibly a reference for the professional photographer who wishes to retain final control over his images. Also, this is a good introduction for those interested in discovering the requirements for high quality inkjet printing.

Editorial Review:

Today's digital cameras provide image data files allowing large-format output at high resolution. At the same time, printing technology has moved forward at an equally fast pace bringing us new inkjet systems capable of printing in high precision at a very fine resolution, providing an amazing tonality range and longtime stability of inks.

Moreover, these systems are now affordable to the serious photographer. In the hands of knowledgeable and experienced photographers, these new inkjet printers can help create prints comparable to the highest quality darkroom prints on photographic paper.

This book provides the necessary foundation for fine art printing: The understanding of color management, profiling, paper and inks. It demonstrates how to set up the printing workflow as it guides the reader step-by-step through this process from an image file to an outstanding fine art print.

The Best of MAKE (Make)

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

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After two years, MAKE has become one of most celebrated new magazines to hit the newsstands, and certainly one of the hottest reads. If you're just catching on to the MAKE phenomenon and wonder what you've missed, this book contains the best DIY projects from the magazine's first ten volumes -- a surefire collection of fun and challenging activities going back to MAKE's launch in early 2005.

Find out why MAKE has attracted a passionate following of tech and DIY enthusiasts worldwide with one million web site visitors and a quarter of a million magazine readers. And why our podcasts consistently rank in the top-25 for computers and technology. With the Best of MAKE, you'll share the curiosity, zeal, and energy of Makers -- the citizen scientists, circuit benders, homemakers, students, automotive enthusiasts, roboticists, software developers, musicians, hackers, hobbyists, and crafters -- through this unique and inspiring assortment of DIY projects chosen by the magazine's editors.

Learn to:

• Hack your gadgets and toys
• Program micontrollers to sense and react to things
• Take flight with rockets, planes, and other projectiles
• Make music from the most surprising of things
• Find new ways to take photos and make video
• Outfit yourself with the coolest tools

Put together by popular demand, the Best of MAKE is the perfect gift for any maker, including current subscribers who missed early volumes of the magazine. Do you or someone you know have a passion for the magic of tinkering, hacking, and creation? Do you enjoy finding imaginative and unexpected uses for the technology and materials in your life? Then get on board with the Best of MAKE!

Linux Device Drivers, 3rd Edition

Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro Rubini, Greg Kroah-Hartman

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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Networking -> Networks, Protocols & APIs -> LAN
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Networking -> Network Administration
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Operating Systems -> Unix -> Administration

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 45 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Updated to cover version 2.4.x of the Linux kernel, the second edition of Linux Device Drivers remains the best general-purpose, paper-bound guide for programmers wishing to make hardware devices work under the world's most popular open-source operating system. The authors take care to show how to write drivers that are portable--that is, that compile and run under all popular Linux platforms. That, along with the fact that they're careful to explain and illustrate concepts, makes this book very well suited to any programmer familiar with C but not with the hardware-software interface. It's worth noting that the emphasis in the title is on "device drivers" as much as "Linux." This book will make sense to you if you've never written a driver for any platform before. It helps if you have some Linux or Unix background, but even that is secondary as a prerequisite to C skill.

For a programming text--and one concerned with low-level instructions and data structures, at that--this book is remarkably rich in prose. You'll typically want to read this book straight through, more or less skipping the code samples, before sketching out your plan for the driver you need to write. Then, go back and pay closer attention to the sections on specific details you need to implement, like custom task queues. For coding-time details about specific system calls and programming techniques, count on the index to point you to the right passages. --David Wall

Topics covered: Techniques for writing hardware device drivers that run under Linux kernels 2.0.x through 2.2.x. Sections show how to manage memory, time, interrupts, ports, and other details of the hardware-software interface.

iPod & iTunes For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

Tony Bove

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Whether you’re completely new to iPod and iTunes or you’d like to discover advanced techniques for playing, managing, browsing, buying, and storing music and other files, iPod & iTunes For Dummies, 6^th Edition can help you! The iPod and iTunes have revolutionized how we enjoy music, and this bestselling guide has been updated to keep you current. Here’s how to use the newest iPods, set up iTunes on your Mac or PC, purchase music and movies, rip CDs, organize your media library, make the most of digital sound, and so much more!

The latest iPods are much more than just digital music players. Now, surf the Web, rent movies, buy songs and directly download them, send and receive e-mails, store photos, play slideshows, watch videos, and play games. You’ll find information about all iPod models and how to set up iTunes so you can start enjoying your iPod right away. You’ll learn how to:

• Learn how to use the iPod displays and scrolling wheels
• Install iTunes and load your music
• Keep your library organized so you can search, browse, and sort
• Create playlists and burn CDs
• Use your iPod as a hard drive
• Share content legally
• Synchronize your e-mail, contacts, and bookmarks

Complete with lists of ten common problems and solutions, and eleven tips for the equalizer, iPod & iTunes for Dummies, 6^th Edition includes bonus chapters about early iPod models, creating content for iPod, tips for working with MusicMatch, using your iPod for backup and restore, and 14 web sources for additional information.

301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques: An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers (Digital Process and Print)

Andrew Darlow

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The tools and techniques necessary for great digital output are now readily available and more affordable than ever. "301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques: An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers" shows photographers of all levels how to make high-quality prints through step-by-step instructions and hundreds of full-color examples from more than 20 professional photographers and other artists. You’ll discover how to choose the right inkjet printer for your output needs, how to save time and select the proper materials when prepping files and prints, how to manage your digital images, how to create captivating portfolios and framed art, and much more. Whether you are a professional photographer or a serious hobbyist this book will help you learn how to enhance and perfect your digital output skills and use your computer and inkjet printer to better express your vision and creativity. You can read the book cover to cover, or only the chapters that feature the specific tips and techniques that interest you. A comprehensive index and a searchable companion web site will ensure that you find the information you are looking for. Additional content for this book, including hundreds of clickable links to many of the resources covered throughout the book can be accessed at: www.inkjettips.com

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

Edward C. Baig, Bob LeVitus

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Congratulations! The iPhone you just bought is one heck of a wireless telephone, complete with a capable 2-megapixel digital camera. But it’s way more than that: it's also a gorgeous widescreen video iPod and the smallest, most powerful Internet communications device yet. So now that you've got it, what do you do with it? That's where iPhone For Dummies comes in.

Apple’s iPhone, puts the world virtually in your pocket. But because it does so much, there’s a lot to know about using it! This full-color guide shows you how to find and play music and videos; use the full-featured keyboard; get driving directions and stock quotes; send e-mail; take, browse, and organize photos; work with contacts and appointments — and even talk on the phone. You'll find out how to:

• Activate your own service
• Master the multitouch interface
• Turn on the speaker phone
• Use Visual Voicemail
• Get video, podcasts, and RSS feeds
• Surf the Web with your iPhone
• Browse your iTunes library and create playlists
• Send and receive text messages and notes
• Choose wallpaper and ringtones
• Troubleshoot problems
• Lock your iPhone and secure your stuff

iPhone For Dummies comes complete with tantalizing lists of awesome accessories, wonderful widgets, and fantastic things to wish for—once you finally stop gushing and drooling and playing with your sparkly, new iPhone long enough to wish for anything else!

Using SANs and NAS

W. Curtis Preston

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Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Data is the lifeblood of modern business, and modern data centers have extremely demanding requirements for size, speed, and reliability. Storage Area Networks (SANs) and Network Attached Storage (NAS) allow organizations to manage and back up huge file systems quickly, thereby keeping their lifeblood flowing. W. Curtis Preston's insightful book takes you through the ins and outs of building and managing large data centers using SANs and NAS.

As a network administrator you're aware that multi-terabyte data stores are common and petabyte data stores are starting to appear. Given this much data, how do you ensure that it is available all the time, that access times and throughput are reasonable, and that the data can be backed up and restored in a timely manner? SANs and NAS provide solutions that help you work through these problems, with special attention to the difficulty of backing up huge data stores.

This book explains the similarities and differences of SANs and NAS to help you determine which, or both, of these complementing technologies are appropriate for your network. Using SANs, for instance, is a way to share multiple devices (tape drives and disk drives) for storage, while NAS is a means for centrally storing files so they can be shared. Preston exams each technology with a vendor neutral approach, starting with the building blocks of a SAN and how they can be assembled for effective storage solutions. He covers day-to-day management and backup and recovery for both SANs and NAS in detail.

Whether you're a seasoned storage administrator or a network administrator charged with taking on this role, you'll find all the information you need to make informedarchitecture and data management decisions. The book fans out to explore technologies such as RAID and other forms of monitoring that will help complement your data center. With an eye on the future, other technologies that might affect the architecture and management of the data center are explored. This is sure to be an essential volume in any network administrator's or storage administrator's library.

iPhone Fully Loaded

Andy Ihnatko

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Beyond the Basics 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

If you're looking for an instruction manual on the basics of the iPhone, this is not your book. Look up the owner's manual on the apple website for free or read one of the many other books on iPhone basics. If you're ready to take the next step in expanding your grasp of not only the iPhone, but also the entire web, this is your book. This book was exactly what I was looking for.
As others mentioned, this book does not describe some of the basic features of the iPhone, but assumes the reader already knows most of these things. It instead delves into how you can utilize web programs and iTunes to your advantage to overcome certain limitations of the iPhone. I have already ready some chapters several times and find new information every time. Andy Ihnatko has a humorous writing style and this was a very enjoyable read. I will continue to reference this book after I have finally retired it from the reading pile.
I will definitely look forward to any future books by Mr. Ihnatko.

Editorial Review:

iPhone Fully Loaded is a one-of-a-kind reference that teaches you how to fully exploit the power of your Phone or iPod touch. Clear step-by-step instructions teach you how to convert any form of home, office, or online media -- dusty LPs, movies on DVD, spreadsheets, databases, presentations, downloadable books, comic books, as well as music and video to an iPhone or iPod Touch compatible format. Written by wildly popular technology expert and Chicago Sun Times columnist Andy Ihnatko, iPhone Fully Loaded is a full-color guide designed to work for both Mac OS X and Windows users. From uploading Web pages to downloading television shows and a variety of documents, including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents, the iPhone does much more than make phone calls, play music, and send e-mail.

Big Book of Apple Hacks: Tips & Tools for unlocking the power of your Apple devices (Hacks)

Chris Seibold

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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Business & Culture -> Privacy
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Business & Culture -> Hacking
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Business & Culture -> Security

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

Editorial Review:

Bigger in size, longer in length, broader in scope, and even more useful than our original Mac OS X Hacks, the new Big Book of Apple Hacks offers a grab bag of tips, tricks and hacks to get the most out of Mac OS X Leopard, as well as the new line of iPods, iPhone, and Apple TV.

With 125 entirely new hacks presented in step-by-step fashion, this practical book is for serious Apple computer and gadget users who really want to take control of these systems. Many of the hacks take you under the hood and show you how to tweak system preferences, alter or add keyboard shortcuts, mount drives and devices, and generally do things with your operating system and gadgets that Apple doesn't expect you to do. The Big Book of Apple Hacks gives you:

• Hacks for both Mac OS X Leopard and Tiger, their related applications, and the hardware they run on or connect to
• Expanded tutorials and lots of background material, including informative sidebars
• "Quick Hacks" for tweaking system and gadget settings in minutes
• Full-blown hacks for adjusting Mac OS X applications such as Mail, Safari, iCal, Front Row, or the iLife suite
• Plenty of hacks and tips for the Mac mini, the MacBook laptops, and new Intel desktops
• Tricks for running Windows on the Mac, under emulation in Parallels or as a standalone OS with Bootcamp

The Big Book of Apple Hacks is not only perfect for Mac fans and power users, but also for recent -- and aspiring -- "switchers" new to the Apple experience. Hacks are arranged by topic for quick and easy lookup, and each one stands on its own so you can jump around and tweak whatever system or gadget strikes your fancy. Pick up this book and take control of Mac OS X and your favorite Apple gadget today!