Authors: Jonathan Littman.
Hardcover, 304 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: 1997-03-31
Edition: 1st

Reviews :

    Written like a California noir thriller by way of William Gibson, The Watchman brings to life the wildest, most audacious crime spree in the history of cyberspace. Busted as a teenager for hacking into Pac Bell phone networks, Kevin Poulsen would find his punishment was a job with a Silicon Valley defense contractor. By day he seemed to have gone straight, toiling on systems for computer-aided war. But by night he burglarized telephone switching offices, adopting the personae and aliases of his favorite comic-book anti heroes - the Watchmen. When authorities found a locker crammed with swiped telecommunications equipment, Poulsen became a fugitive from the FBI, living the life of a cyberpunk in a neon Hollywood underground. Soon he made the front pages of the New York Times and became the first hacker charged with espionage. Littman takes us behind the headlines and into the world of Poulsen and his rogues' gallery of cyberthieves. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews with Poulsen, his confederates, and the authorities, he spins a thrilling chase story on the electronic frontier. The nation's phone network was Poulsen's playground. On Los Angeles's lucrative radio giveaways, Poulsen worked his magic, winning Porsches and tens of thousands of dollars. He secretly switched on the numbers of defunct Yellow Pages escort ads and took his cut of the profits. And he could wiretap or electronically stalk whomever he pleased, his childhood love or movie stars. The FBI seemed no match for Poulsen. But as Unsolved Mysteries prepared a broadcast on the hacker's crimes, LAPD vice stumbled onto his trail, and an undercover operation began on Sunset Strip....

    This is a first-rate detective story--and all true. It's the story of a seemingly invincible electronic thief, con man, and stalker--and the people who tracked him down. Jonathan Littman brings his readers straight into the world of cyberpunk crime as he shows the origins, development, and climax of the wildest and most audacious known crime spree in cyberspace. Hundreds of hours of interviews allow Littman to tell much of the story through the eyes of those who lived it, and his own edgy style and excellent pacing make for a thriller that's hard to put down....

Authors: Mark Warschauer.
Paperback, 274 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press
Publication Date: 2004-10-01
Edition: New edition

Reviews :

    Much of the discussion about new technologies and social equality has focused on the oversimplified notion of a "digital divide." Technology and Social Inclusion moves beyond the limited view of haves and have-nots to analyze the different forms of access to information and communication technologies. Drawing on theory from political science, economics, sociology, psychology, communications, education, and linguistics, the book examines the ways in which differing access to technology contributes to social and economic stratification or inclusion. The book takes a global perspective, presenting case studies from developed and developing countries, including Brazil, China, Egypt, India, and the United States.

A central premise is that, in today's society, the ability to access, adapt, and create knowledge using information and communication technologies is critical to social inclusion. This focus on social inclusion shifts the discussion of the "digital divide" from gaps to be overcome by providing equipment to social development challenges to be addressed through the effective integration of technology into communities, institutions, and societies. What is most important is not so much the physical availability of computers and the Internet but rather people's ability to make use of those technologies to engage in meaningful social practices....

Authors: Geeks on Call.
Paperback, 175 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 2005-12-19


Reviews :

    Taking the worry out of wireless

Once you get your wireless network up and running, you'll wonder how you got along without it. And you'll wonder how home and small business users survived before Geeks On Call. This book is jam-packed with simple steps, quick solutions, and basic information to make setting up and using your wireless network easier and safer than ever before. The Geeks give you the most efficient ways to build, secure, and troubleshoot a network that meets all your needs.

• Know what you need before you buy
• Set up and connect your network
• Install and configure wireless components
• Protect your wireless network
• Make the most of network features
• Add printers, video game adapters, and digital media players
• Maintain and troubleshoot your network
• Solve common problems

Geeks On Call is the premier provider of on-site computer services. The certified, trained and tested technicians from Geeks On Call provide expert computer installation and networking services, on-site repairs, security solutions and system upgrades for residential and commercial customers numbering in the hundreds of thousands each year. Founded in 1999, Geeks On Call began franchising in 2001. For more information, call 1-800-905-GEEK or visit www.geeksoncall.com. Geeks On Call franchises are independently owned and operated.
(c)2005 Geeks On Call America, Inc....

Authors: Jay David Bolter.
Paperback, 248 pages
Publisher: Lawrence Erlbaum
Publication Date: 2001-01-01
Edition: 2

Reviews :

    This second edition of Jay David Bolter's classic text expands on the objectives of the original volume, illustrating the relationship of print to new media, and examining how hypertext and other forms of electronic writing refashion or "remediate" the forms and genres of print. Reflecting the dynamic changes in electronic technology since the first edition, this revision incorporates the Web and other current standards of electronic writing. As a text for students in composition, new technologies, information studies, and related areas, this volume provides a unique examination of the computer as a technology for reading and writing.
...

Authors: Susan Kozel.
Hardcover, 380 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press
Publication Date: 2008-04-30


Reviews :

    In Closer, Susan Kozel draws on live performance practice, digital technologies, and the philosophical approach of phenomenology. Trained in dance and philosophy, Kozel places the human body at the center of explorations of interactive interfaces, responsive systems, and affective computing, asking what can be discovered as we become closer to our computers—as they become extensions of our ways of thinking, moving, and touching.

Performance, Kozel argues, can act as a catalyst for understanding wider social and cultural uses of digital technology. Taking this one step further, performative acts of sharing the body through our digital devices foster a collaborative construction of new physical states, levels of conscious awareness, and even ethics. We reencounter ourselves and others through our interactive computer systems. What we need now are conceptual and methodological frameworks to reflect this.

Kozel offers a timely reworking of the phenomenology of French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty. This method, based on a respect for lived experience, begins by listening to the senses and noting insights that arrive in the midst of dance, or quite simply in the midst of life. The combination of performance and phenomenology offered by Closer yields entwinements between experience and reflection that shed light on, problematize, or restructure scholarly approaches to human bodies using digital technologies.

After outlining her approach and methodology and clarifying the key concepts of performance, technologies, and virtuality, Kozel applies phenomenological method to the experience of designing and performing in a range of computational systems: telematics, motion capture, responsive architectures, and wearable computing.

The transformative potential of the alchemy between bodies and technologies is the foundation of Closer. With careful design, future generations of responsive systems and mobile devices can expand our social, physical, and emotional exchanges....

Authors: Aaron Greenspan.
Hardcover, 335 pages
Publisher: Think Press
Publication Date: 2008-06-01
Edition: 1st

Reviews :

    Aaron Greenspan was just like any other recent Harvard graduate until the day he read that his invention, a web site called The Facebook, was worth billions of dollars and someone else was taking the credit. Trying to find the rationale behind an unbelievable tale of ingenuity, triumph and betrayal, Greenspan sat down to write his story, and emerged with a book that follows a boy and his autistic brother from public school to the hyper-competitive college admissions process to the gates of Harvard Yard and beyond. A true story that sheds light on the American educational system, the immense challenges of coping with autism, and of course, the astronomical growth of The Facebook, Authoritas is an engrossing account of life that any student, parent, teacher or entrepreneur will relate to....

Authors: Jack Wiles. Anthony Reyes.
Paperback, 1000 pages
Publisher: Syngress
Publication Date: 2007-10-15


Reviews :

    Electronic discovery refers to a process in which electronic data is sought, located, secured, and searched with the intent of using it as evidence in a legal case. Computer forensics is the application of computer investigation and analysis techniques to perform an investigation to find out exactly what happened on a computer and who was responsible. IDC estimates that the U.S. market for computer forensics will be grow from $252 million in 2004 to $630 million by 2009. Business is strong outside the United States, as well. By 2011, the estimated international market will be $1.8 billion dollars. The Techno Forensics Conference has increased in size by almost 50% in its second year; another example of the rapid growth in the market.

This book is the first to combine cybercrime and digital forensic topics to provides law enforcement and IT security professionals with the information needed to manage a digital investigation. Everything needed for analyzing forensic data and recovering digital evidence can be found in one place, including instructions for building a digital forensics lab.

* Digital investigation and forensics is a growing industry
* Corporate I.T. departments needing to investigate incidents related to corporate espionage or other criminal activities are learning as they go and need a comprehensive step-by-step guide to e-discovery
* Appeals to law enforcement agencies with limited budgets...

Authors: Helmut Kobler.
Paperback, 384 pages
Publisher: For Dummies
Publication Date: 2003-04-28


Reviews :

    Create slick videos with sound effects, moving titles, and more
Import video and still pictures, tackle the Timeline, and become a movie-making machine
Do you dream of becoming a movie mogul? Dive right in with this friendly guide to low-budget video editing on your Mac! Before you can yell "action," you'll be importing and organizing all types of media, sizing video clips, jazzing up your productions with filters and special effects, and outputting them to DVD, videotape, or the Web.
The Dummies Way
* Explanations in plain English
* "Get in, get out" information
* Icons and other navigational aids
* Tear-out cheat sheet
* Top ten lists
* A dash of humor and fun...

Authors: Neal, Stephenson.
Kindle Edition, 160 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
Publication Date: 2008-01-02


Reviews :

    This is "the Word" -- one man's word, certainly -- about the art (and artifice) of the state of our computer-centric existence. And considering that the "one man" is Neal Stephenson, "the hacker Hemingway" (Newsweek) -- acclaimed novelist, pragmatist, seer, nerd-friendly philosopher, and nationally bestselling author of groundbreaking literary works (Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, etc., etc.) -- the word is well worth hearing. Mostly well-reasoned examination and partial rant, Stephenson's In the Beginning... was the Command Line is a thoughtful, irreverent, hilarious treatise on the cyber-culture past and present; on operating system tyrannies and downloaded popular revolutions; on the Internet, Disney World, Big Bangs, not to mention the meaning of life itself....

    Neal Stephenson, author of the sprawling and engaging Cryptonomicon, has written a manifesto that could be spoken by a character from that brilliant book. Primarily, In the Beginning ... Was the Command Line discusses the past and future of personal computer operating systems. "It is the fate of manufactured goods to slowly and gently depreciate as they get old," he writes, "but it is the fate of operating systems to become free." While others in the computer industry express similarly dogmatic statements, Stephenson charms the reader into his way of thinking, providing anecdotes and examples that turn the pages for you.

Stephenson is a techie, and he's writing for an audience of coders and hackers in Command Line. The idea for this essay began online, when a shortened version of it was posted on Slashdot.org. The book still holds some marks of an e-mail flame gone awry, and some tangents should have been edited to hone his formidable arguments. But unlike similar writers who also discuss technical topics, he doesn't write to exclude; readers who appreciate computing history (like Dealers of Lightning or Fire in the Valley) can easily step into this book.

Stephenson tackles many myths about industry giants in this volume, specifically Apple and Microsoft. By now, every newspaper reader has heard of Microsoft's overbearing business practices, but Stephenson cuts to the heart of new issues for the software giant with a finely sharpened steel blade. Apple fares only a little better as Stephenson (a former Mac user himself) highlights the early steps the company took to prepare for a monopoly within the computer market--and its surprise when this didn't materialize. Linux culture gets a thorough--but fair--skewering, and the strengths of BeOS are touted (although no operating system is nearly close enough to perfection in Stephenson's eyes).

As for the rest of us, who have gladly traded free will and an intellectual understanding of computers for a clutter-free, graphically pleasing interface, Stephenson has thoughts to offer as well. He fully understands the limits nonprogrammers feel in the face of technology (an example being the "blinking 12" problem when your VCR resets itself). Even so, within Command Line he convincingly encourages us as a society to examine the metaphors of technology--simplifications that aren't really much simpler--that we greedily accept. --Jennifer Buckendorff...

Authors: Les Freed.
Paperback, 381 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 2004-02-06


Reviews :

    Networking--it's not just for the office any more. Here's how to get all your electronic devices on the same team

Ready to plunge into creating your own home network? You couldn't ask for a better guide through the networking maze than PC Magazine contributing editor Les Freed. From why you should network to whether you need a switch or a hub and how to hook in your Playstation, reading this book is like having Les drop by and set the whole thing up for you. And you don't even need to move those back issues of PC Magazine off the couch.
* With expert advice, you can't go wrong
* Check out all the advantages of a home network
* Get a crash course in networking technology
* Design the network that fits your needs and your budget
* Compare wired and wireless products
* Learn how to prepare your computers for networking
* Whip up a specialized recipe from the Home Networking Cookbook
* Protect your investment with troubleshooting tips
* Build a network using the existing wiring in your home
* Discover how to keep your private information private
* Make all your home entertainment devices part of the network


Visit www.wiley.com/compbooks/pcmag...

    A computer is dandy, and two computers mean fun for the whole family. But to get the most out of your investment in computer equipment--which is to say, printers, scanners, digital cameras, and high-speed Internet connections as well as computers--you need a local-area network. PC Magazine Guide to Home Networking shows you how to hook your machines together in a simple Local-Area Network (LAN), using a wired or wireless switch with built-in router functionality (it's the router that enables you to share an Internet hookup). Its instructions are easy to follow, and Les Freed places emphasis on the tasks (like sharing printers and broadband links) most people consider most important. When those jobs are done, he moves on to more obscure subjects like hybrid wired/wireless LANs and unusual firewall configurations.

This book will prove useful primarily to people using Windows XP (and maybe some older versions of Microsoft Windows as well), though some of the illustrations that show how to configure a simple router (both D-Link and Linksys devices are shown) will be universally handy. One handy feature: A "Home Networking Cookbook" that shows, step-by-step, how to configure a Virtual Private Network (VPN) and do other network jobs. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to set up a simple home network that allows file-, printer-, and Internet connection-sharing. Sections address security through firewalling, networked data storage, and VPNs....