Authors: David Lyon.
Paperback, 290 pages
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Publication Date: 1994-03


Reviews :

    The author of The Information Society looks into the mediated nature of modern society, in which every transaction, phone call, vote, border-crossing, and application registers into some computer. Simultaneous....

Authors: Anthony H. Cordesman. Justin G. Cordesman.
Hardcover, 200 pages
Publisher: Praeger Publishers
Publication Date: 2001-11-30


Reviews :

    During the last two decades, the infrastructure of the U.S. economy has undergone a fundamental set of changes. It has steadily increased its reliance on its service sector and high-technology economy. The U.S. has come to depend on computers, electronic data storage and transfers, and highly integrated communications networks. The result is the rapid development of a new form of critical infrastructure--and one that is exceedingly vulnerable to a new family of threats, loosely grouped together as information warfare. This detailed volume examines these threats and the evolving U.S. policy response. After examining the dangers posed by information warfare and efforts at threat assessment, Cordesman considers the growing policy response on the part of various federal agencies, state and local governments, and the private sector. The changing nature of the threats is leading these actors to reassess the role they must play in critical infrastructure protection. Government at all levels, industry, and even friendly and neutral foreign governments are learning that an effective response requires coordination in deterrence, defense, and counterattack....

Authors: Laura J. Gurak.
Paperback, 198 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication Date: 1999-02-08


Reviews :

    This fascinating book examines two examples of social action on the Internet-the organized protests against Lotus MarketPlace and the Clipper chip-in order to evaluate the impact of the net on our social and political life....

    When Lotus Corp. announced a marketing database of 120 million U.S. consumers, the resulting roar of protest led to the project's cancellation. A similar outpouring of protest about the Clipper Chip as a proposed encryption standard for telephones and fax machines failed to prevent government endorsement. In this book, Laura Gurak goes beyond an exploration of the online controversies and even beyond the question of why one protest succeeded while the other failed. She uses these conflicts to examine her real interest: the nature of persuasion online, showing how urgent issues seem to form in two stages in Internet discourse--first as a broad area of general concern, then as a cause focused on a significant event.

She goes on to examine the role of inaccuracies and flaming in online debate, including the tendency of readers to find online information more believable than may be warranted. A brief chapter discusses the role of gender in online discussion in terms of both how men and women communicate and how their communications are heard--or not. She concludes with a discussion of the roles of business and government as the subjects of the debates, how the protesters perceived them as different forms of threat and how their nature influenced their reaction to the protests....

Authors: David S. Evans. Andrei Hagiu. Richard Schmalensee.
Paperback, 408 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press
Publication Date: 2008-04-30


Reviews :

    Winner of the Business, Management & Accounting category in the 2006 Professional/Scholarly Publishing Annual Awards Competition presented by the Association of American Publishers, Inc.

Software platforms are the invisible engines that have created, touched, or transformed nearly every major industry for the past quarter century. They power everything from mobile phones and automobile navigation systems to search engines and web portals. They have been the source of enormous value to consumers and helped some entrepreneurs build great fortunes. And they are likely to drive change that will dwarf the business and technology revolution we have seen to this point. Invisible Engines examines the business dynamics and strategies used by firms that recognize the transformative power unleashed by this new revolution—a revolution that will change both new and old industries.

The authors argue that in order to understand the successes of software platforms, we must first understand their role as a technological meeting ground where application developers and end users converge. Apple, Microsoft, and Google, for example, charge developers little or nothing for using their platforms and make most of their money from end users; Sony PlayStation and other game consoles, by contrast, subsidize users and make more money from developers, who pay royalties for access to the code they need to write games. More applications attract more users, and more users attract more applications. And more applications and more users lead to more profits.

Invisible Engines explores this story through the lens of the companies that have mastered this platform-balancing act. It offers detailed studies of the personal computer, video game console, personal digital assistant, smart mobile phone, and digital media software platform industries, focusing on the business decisions made by industry players to drive profits and stay a step ahead of the competition. Shorter discussions of Internet-based software platforms provide an important glimpse into a future in which the way we buy, pay, watch, listen, learn, and communicate will change forever. An electronic version of this book is available under a Creative Commons license....

Authors: Geeks On Call.
Paperback, 192 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 2005-12-19


Reviews :

    Showing your PC who's boss

PCs have evolved dramatically, and as they've grown more powerful and versatile, they've also become more complex. No doubt there have been times when you were sure the PC was running the show, not you. Geeks On Call can put you back in charge. Here are simple and straightforward ways to understand your PC, step-by-step directions for diagnosing and solving problems, secrets for making your PC behave, and ways to have more fun.
* Learn your PC's CPU speed, RAM, and hard drive size
* Decide what you need to upgrade
* Replace outdated hardware and add new features
* Know what to look for in a new PC
* Make your PC more efficient
* Add fun with multimedia devices
* Identify and fix common problems
* Troubleshoot online issues

Geeks On Call(r) 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: Marshall McLuhan. Quentin Fiore.
Paperback, 190 pages
Publisher: Hardwired
Publication Date: 1997-04


Reviews :

    War and Peace in the Global Village, initially published in 1968, is regarded as a revolutionary work for its depiction of a planet made ever smaller by new technologies. McLuhan's prescient ideas are eerily relevant to recent discussions about the Digital Revolution and about the impact of the Internet on society. Photos & illustrations....

Authors: Dave Ellis.
Paperback, 384 pages
Publisher: Prima Games
Publication Date: 1996-03-06


Reviews :

    Imagine what the world would be like if you could personally sculpt history from the dawn of time. Would you build the Roman Empire? Construct the Great Wall of China? Discover a cure for cancer? However you choose to rewrite history, don?t make a single decision without consulting Sid Meier?s Civilization II: The Official Strategy Guide.
From the founding of the first village to the dawning of the space age, Civilization II -- the long-awaited sequel to Sid Meier?s Civilization -- offers gamers the ultimate Civilization experience, and this guide includes everything you?ll need to shepherd humanity through 5000 years of evolution.Inside you?ll discover:
Exclusive tips on all the new technology, units, and Wonders of the World included in Civilization II
Expert information on mastering each level of the game, including the most difficult deity level
Proven philosophies on implementing political and social policies
Time-tested strategies to successfully manage military force and economic growth - and much more!Whether your goal is to conquer the world or colonize the stars, Sid Meier?s Civilization II: The Official Strategy Guide is a companion no great leader should be without!
About the Author
David Ellis, a technical writer and designer for MicroProse, is the author of X-COM UFO Defense: The Official Strategy Guide and X-COM Terror from the Deep: The Official Strategy Guide (both from Prima)....

Authors:
Hardcover, 672 pages
Publisher: Wiley-Interscience
Publication Date: 2008-05-27


Reviews :

    This handbook provides an accessible overview of the most important issues in information and computer ethics. It covers: foundational issues and methodological frameworks; theoretical issues affecting property, privacy, anonymity, and security; professional issues and the information-related professions; responsibility issues and risk assessment; regulatory issues and challenges; access and equity issues. Each chapter explains and evaluates the central positions and arguments on the respective issues, and ends with a bibliography that identifies the most important supplements available on the topic....

Authors:
Paperback, 159 pages
Publisher: Imprint Academic
Publication Date: 2007-06-01


Reviews :

    This special double issue of Cybernetics and Human Knowing is comprised of a collection of papers devoted to the cybernetics and mathematics of Charles Sanders Peirce with a special focus on its synergies with George Spencer-Brown's thinking. Peirce was a truly original American philosopher and logician working in the late 1800s and early 1900s; Spencer-Brown is an English polymath, best known as the author of Laws of Form. The contributions reflect the extraordinary richness of Peirce's work and his relevance to present concerns in cybernetics. The similarities in the focus on some of the deep foundational subjects are astonishing, amongst those especially the concept of the void or Firstness and the continuity of mind and matter....

Authors: Matt Curtin.
Hardcover, 291 pages
Publisher: Springer
Publication Date: 2005-02-16
Edition: 1

Reviews :

   

In the 1960s, it became increasingly clear that more and more information was going to be stored on computers, not on pieces of paper. With these changes in technology and the ways it was used came a need to protect both the systems and the information. For the next ten years, encryption systems of varying strengths were developed, but none proved to be rigorous enough. In 1973, the NBS put out an open call for a new, stronger encryption system that would become the new federal standard. Several years later, IBM responded with a system called Lucifer that came to simply be known as DES (data encryption standard).

The strength of an encryption system is best measured by the attacks it is able to withstand, and because DES was the federal standard, many tried to test its limits. (It should also be noted that a number of cryptographers and computer scientists told the NSA that DES was not nearly strong enough and would be easily hacked.) Rogue hackers, usually out to steal as much information as possible, tried to break DES. A number of "white hat" hackers also tested the system and reported on their successes. Still others attacked DES because they believed it had outlived its effectiveness and was becoming increasingly vulnerable. The sum total of these efforts to use all of the possible keys to break DES over time made for a brute force attack.

In 1996, the supposedly uncrackable DES was broken. In this captivating and intriguing book, Matt Curtin charts DES’s rise and fall and chronicles the efforts of those who were determined to master it.

...