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O'Reilly News for User Group Members
February 18, 2005
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Book News
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-Head First Java, 2nd Edition
-Linux Device Drivers, 3rd Edition
-Surviving PC Disasters, Mishaps, and Blunders
-Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 3rd Edition
-Windows XP in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition
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Upcoming Events
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-Adam Goldstein ("AppleScript: The Missing Manual"), Apple Store,
Short Hills, NJ--February 25th
-Jim Aspinwall ("PC Hacks"), Golden Gate Computer Society,
San Rafael, CA--February 28
-O'Reilly at PhotoShop World, Las Vegas, NV--March 9
-Gordon Meyer ("Smart Home Hacks"), North Coast Mac Users Group,
Rohnert Park, CA--March 15
-Sarah Milstein ("Google: The Missing Manual"), Golden Gate Computer
Society, San Rafael, CA--March 28
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Conference News
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-Register for the 2005 O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference,
San Diego, CA--March 14-17
-Register for the 2005 MySQL Users Conference,
Santa Clara, CA--April 18-21
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News
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-MAKE on Slashdot
-Getting Real-Time Data From the Web in Excel
-Stewart Butterfield on Flickr
-Jolt Awards Finalists
-500 O'Reilly Books on Safari
-Fear and Loathing in Information Security
-Object Oriented PHP Programming & Performance
-Michael Stutz on Computer Outlook/KLAV Radio
-Writing Apache's Logs to MySQL
-iPod shuffle Tips and Tricks
-Apache and AppleScript
-Encrypting Connection Strings in Web.config
-Building the Perfect Budget PC, Part 1
-JDMK and Legacy IT Management
-Eclipse Plugins Exposed, Part 1: A First Glimpse
-High Definition in Focus at 2005 Sundance Festival
-Raymond Soemarsono: Natural Eye
-Introduction to Browser Specific CSS Hacks
-Web Programming Certificate Series Extended until February 28
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Book News
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Did you know you can request a free book to review for your
group? Ask your group leader for more information.
For book review writing tips and suggestions, go to:
http://ug.oreilly.com/bookreviews.html
Don't forget, you can receive 20% off any O'Reilly, No Starch,
Paraglyph, Pragmatic Bookshelf, SitePoint, or Syngress book you
purchase directly from O'Reilly.
Just use code DSUG when ordering online or by phone 800-998-9938.
http://www.oreilly.com/
***Free ground shipping is available for online orders of at
least $29.95 that go to a single U.S. address. This offer
applies to U.S. delivery addresses in the 50 states and Puerto Rico.
For more details, go to:
http://www.oreilly.com/news/freeshipping_0703.html
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New Releases
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***Head First Java, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
ISBN: 0596009208
"Head First Java, 2nd Edition" delivers a highly interactive,
multi-sensory learning experience that lets new programmers pick up
the fundamentals of the Java language quickly. Through mind-stretching
exercises, memorable analogies, humorous pictures, and casual
language, "Head First Java" encourages readers to think like Java
programmers. This revised second edition focuses on Java 5.0, the
latest version of the Java development platform.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/hfjava2/
Chapter 2, "A Trip to Objectville," and Chapter 8, "Serious
Polymorphism,"
are available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/hfjava2/chapter/index.html
***Linux Device Drivers, 3rd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
ISBN: 0596005903
Over the years, this best-selling guide has helped countless
programmers learn how to support computer peripherals and how to
develop new hardware under the Linux operating system. Now, with this
third edition, it's even more helpful, covering all the significant
changes to Version 2.6 of the Linux kernel. The guide even includes
full-featured examples that
programmers can compile and run without special hardware.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxdrive3/
Chapter 13, "USB Drivers," is available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxdrive3/chapter/index.html
***Surviving PC Disasters, Mishaps, and Blunders
Publisher: Paraglyph Press
ISBN: 1932111980
"Surviving PC Disasters, Mishaps, and Blunders" is the must-have
survival guide for every PC user. Written in an engaging, reassuring,
and fun style, it gives you the answers you need immediately to fix
the thorniest PC problems. It also provides valuable insight on
measures that can prevent a difficult and often expensive cure. (Who's
got money to waste these days on fixing mishaps and blunders anyway?)
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/1932111980/index.html
***Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 3rd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
ISBN: 0596005482
This refreshed resource takes an in-depth look at everything you need
to know to join a network. Topics covered include all of the essential
networking software that comes with the Linux operating system, plus
information on a host of cutting-edge services including wireless
hubs, spam filtering, IPv6, OpenLDAP, and more.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linag3/
Chapter 18, "Wireless Networking," is available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linag3/chapter/index.html
***Windows XP in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
ISBN: 0596009003
"Windows XP in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition" documents everything there is
to know about the world's most widely used operating system. Updated
to include information on the security technologies featured in
Service Pack 2 (SP2), this must-have desktop reference is dedicated to
making your time at the computer safer, easier, and more fun. It's the
ultimate resource for IT professionals and Windows XP power users
everywhere. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/winxpnut2/
Chapter 8, "The Registry," is available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/winxpnut2/chapter/index.html
================================================
Upcoming Events
================================================
***For more events, please see:
http://events.oreilly.com/
***Adam Goldstein ("AppleScript: The Missing Manual"), Apple Store,
Short Hills, NJ--February 25th
Adam will be giving and talk and signing books. Adam was a technical
editor for O'Reilly's "Mac OS X: The Missing Manual." When he's not
writing books or code, Adam attends high school in New Jersey, where
he is captain of the Debate and Quizbowl teams and an editor of the
school paper.
Read a recent review of Adam's book on Slashdot:
http://books.slashdot.org/books/05/02/06/222219.shtml?tid=156&tid=6&tid=3
Apple Store Short Hills at 7pm February 25th
1200 Morris Turnpike
Short Hills, NJ 07078
(973) 467-4890
http://www.apple.com/retail/shorthills/week/20050213.html
***Jim Aspinwall ("PC Hacks"), Golden Gate Computer Society,
San Rafael, CA--February 28
Jim will be giving a talk on "Computer Security, PC Hacks, and
Troubleshooting Tips."
The meeting starts at 7:15 pm at the Embassy Suites Hotel,101 McInnis
Parkway, San Rafael.
http://www.ggcs.org/thismonth.html
***O'Reilly at PhotoShop World, Las Vegas, NV--March 9
Come by and say hi and check out our latest Digital Media books at our
booth (#220).
Mandalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas, NV.
http://www.photoshopworld.com/
***Gordon Meyer ("Smart Home Hacks"), North Coast Mac Users Group,
Rohnert Park, CA--March 15
Gordon will be presenting automation tips and hacks from his book. The
meeting starts at 7pm at the Rohnert Park Senior Center, 6800 Hunter
Drive--Suite A, Rohnert Park.
http://www.ncmug.org/
***Sarah Milstein ("Google: The Missing Manual"), Golden Gate Computer
Society, San Rafael, CA--March 28
An O'Reilly editor and author, Sarah will start with the Google basics
and quickly move on to the sophisticated ways to search, covering
search syntax, techniques, and hidden tricks to hone in on relevant
content. The meeting starts at 7:15 pm at the Embassy Suites Hotel,
101 McInnis Parkway, San Rafael.
http://www.ggcs.org/gen-next.html
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Conference News
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***2005 O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference,
San Diego, CA--March 14-17
This year's conference theme is "Remix," which infuses ETech's
roll-up-your-sleeves tutorials, to-the-point plenary presentations,
and real world focused breakout sessions. Come to ETech and discover
how applications and hardware are being deconstructed and recombined
in unexpected ways. Learn how users and customers are influencing new
interfaces, devices, business models, and services. For all the scoop
on tutorials, featured speakers, and conference events, check out:
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/etech/
User group members use code DSUG when you register, and receive 20%
off the registration price.
To register for the conference, go to:
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/et2005/create/ord_et05
***Register for the 2005 MySQL Users Conference, Santa Clara, CA--
April 18-21
The MySQL Users Conference, co-presented by O'Reilly Media and MySQL
AB, brings together experts, users, and industry leaders with unique
MySQL insights, offering attendees a detailed look into new features
in MySQL 5.0, sessions and workshops designed to teach best practices,
and
exposure to new open source technologies.
For more information, go to:
http://www.mysqluc.com/
User Group members who register before Febuary 28, 2005 get a double
discount. Use code DSUG when you register, and receive 20% off the
early registration price.
To register for the conference, go to:
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/mysqluc2005/create/ord_mysql05
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News From O'Reilly & Beyond
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General News
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***User Groups Benefit from Safari
When O’Reilly developers needed someone to user-test the new Safari
Affiliate Program, Stephen Henry from the North Coast Mac Users Group
was the ideal choice. Situated 40 miles north of San Francisco, NCMUG
has been active since the Mac first arrived in 1984. Henry created an
excellent working example of how user groups can implement the
Affiliate Program to benefit their members. Ed Stephenson brings you
the details.
http://oreilly.com/news/ncmug.html
****MAKE on Slashdot
http://books.slashdot.org/books/05/02/17/1958221.shtml?tid=222&tid=159&tid=126&tid=6
The MAKE blog is available at:
http://www.makezine.com/blog/
MAKE Subscriptions Available
The annual subscription price for four issues is $34.95. When you
subscribe with this link, you'll get a free issue--the first one plus
four more for $34.95. So subscribe for yourself or friends with this
great offer for charter subscribers: five volumes for the cost of
four. Subscribe at:
https://www.pubservice.com/MK/Subnew.aspx?PC=MK&PK=M5ZUGLA
***Getting Real-Time Data From the Web in Excel
Did you know that you can use Excel for more than just storing and
organizing static data? In this article, Matthew MacDonald, author of
"Excel: The Missing Manual," shows you how to use Excel as a tool to
handle up-to-the-minute information like sales figures and currency
exchange rates.
http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2005/02/08/xcel_mm.html
***Stewart Butterfield on Flickr
Not even a year old and still in beta, Flickr is a revolutionary photo
storage, sharing, and organization application boasting roughly
270,000 members. Richard Koman catches Flickr CEO Stewart Butterfield
for a few words on what has made Flickr so revolutionary and where it
may be headed.
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2005/02/04/sb_flckr.html
***Jolt Awards Finalists
"Software Development Magazine" recently announced the finalists for
the 15th Annual Jolt Product Excellence Awards. Several O'Reilly
titles and sites were nominated: "Head First Design Patterns" in the
General Books category; and "Better, Faster, Lighter Java," "Head
First Servlets & JSP," "Hibernate: A Developer's Notebook," and "Mono:
A
Developer's Notebook" in the Technical Books category. Java.net
and the O'Reilly Network were named finalists in the Web
Sites and Developer Networks category.
http://www.sdmagazine.com/jolts/15th_jolt_finalists.html
***500 O'Reilly Books on Safari
O'Reilly now boasts over 500 books on Safari, the premier electronic
reference library for IT professionals and programmers. With Safari,
you can search electronic versions of a broad range of the best
technical books from leading publishers including O'Reilly. Check out
our newest title, "All About Your iPod Photo," and learn how to get
the most out of your favorite toy. Give Safari a try today with a free
trial
subscription.
http://www.oreilly.com/go/safari-ug
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Open Source
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***Fear and Loathing in Information Security
"Society has always treated innovators and whistle blowers with
ambivalence," writes author Michael D. Bauer in reference to hackers.
In this article, Michael discusses why information security
professionals demonize hackers and why that tendency is both
irrational and
counterproductive. Michael is the author of "Linux Server Security,
2nd Edition."
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2005/02/11/mbauer_1.html
***Object Oriented PHP Programming & Performance
Harry explores the trade-offs between object oriented and procedural
programming in PHP in a lengthy discussion on the pros and cons of
each. http://www.sitepoint.com/blog-post-view.php?id=223760
***Michael Stutz on Computer Outlook/KLAV Radio
Listen to the author of No Starch's "The Linux Cookbook, 2nd Edition."
http://computeroutlook.com/audiostudio.html
***Writing Apache's Logs to MySQL
Adding a few performance statistics to your Apache httpd logs can help
you profile your applications. Digging through flat files for
information is a drag, though. Logging to a relational database can
make reporting and analysis much more convenient. Chris Josephes
demonstrates how to install and configure mod_log_mysql and shows off
what you can do with it.
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/apache/2005/02/10/database_logs.html
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Mac
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***iPod shuffle Tips and Tricks
The iPod shuffle is the easiest-to-use iPod to date. But that doesn't
mean you can't customize how you listen and upload music. Scott
Knaster shows you some very handy tips and tricks for the shuffle and
iTunes 4.7.1.
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2005/02/15/shuffle.html
***Apache and AppleScript
AppleScript traditionally interacts with Mac applications and Apache
is the web server that powers most of the Internet. David Miller shows
you how AppleScript can invoke Unix utilities through its do shell
script command, thereby creating some interesting intersections with
Apache.
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2005/02/11/applescript.html
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Windows/.NET
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***Encrypting Connection Strings in Web.config
One of the best practices in ASP.NET is to save your database
connection strings in the Web.config file instead of hard-coding it in
your code. It's not such a good idea to save your connection strings
as plain text in Web.config--you should ideally encrypt the connection
strings so it leaves no chance for a potential hacker to easily get
more information about your database server. In ASP.NET 2.0,
Microsoft has taken this further by allowing you to encrypt the
connection strings in Web.config, all without much plumbing on your
part. In this new article by Wei-Meng Lee, he shows you how it works.
http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2005/02/15/encryptingconnstring.html
***Building the Perfect Budget PC, Part 1
You can build a powerhouse system without breaking the bank. In this
first part of a two-part article, Robert Bruce Thompson and Barbara
Fritchman Thompson, authors of "Building the Perfect PC," show you
which components to buy.
http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2005/02/15/Perfect_BudgetPC.html
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Java
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***JDMK and Legacy IT Management
Keeping a network with legacy (and possibly unreliable) devices is
nearly impossible without some automated help. Stephen Morris shows
how to use the Java Dynamic Management Kit to keep tabs on your
network and find potential points of failure.
http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2005/02/16/jdmk.html
***Eclipse Plugins Exposed, Part 1: A First Glimpse
Many developers use Eclipse out of the box as an IDE, never
investigating its powerful extensibility. But as Emmanuel Proulx shows
in this first installment of a new series, Eclipse's modular system of
plugins allow you to customize it to your suit your development needs.
http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2005/02/09/eclipse.html
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Digital Media
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***High Definition in Focus at 2005 Sundance Festival
Cheaper than film, bigger and better than plain, old digital video,
high-definition digital video definitely came into its own during this
year's Sundance Film Festival. According to Sony, nearly half of the
features, documentaries, and shorts screened in Park City were shot in
HD.
Susan Boyer reports.
http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2005/02/09/hd.html
***Raymond Soemarsono: Natural Eye
Some people are meant to be artists. Self-taught photographer Raymond
Soemarsono has a natural eye for composing stunning landscape scenes,
then taming his digital camera to record them according to his vision.
His gallery features many places with which you're probably familiar.
Maybe it's time to get in the car and revisit them?
http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2005/02/16/featured.html
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Web
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***Introduction to Browser Specific CSS Hacks
CSS leaves your layout open to interpretation by browsers...or does
it? In this hands-on trouble-shooter, Trenton explains why and how
different browser-specific CSS hacks work--and provides code to help
you regain control over your layouts.
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/browser-specific-css-hacks
***Web Programming Certificate Series Extended until February 28
This six-course series from the O'Reilly Learning Lab teaches you the
skills needed for web programming, web administration, and web site
development. You'll learn HTML, JavaScript, XML, SQL, Perl, and Unix.
Upon completion of the series, students receive a Certificate of
Professional Development from the University of Illinois Office of
Continuing Education. Sign up today and save 40% on all Web
Programming Certificate courses. Offer extended until February 28.
http://www.oreilly.com/redirector.csp?link=UAWeb&type=news
================================================
>From Your Peers
===============================================
Don't forget to check out the O'Reilly UG wiki to see what user groups
across the globe are up to:
http://wiki.oreillynet.com/usergroups/index.cgi
--
Neil Schneider pacneil_at_linuxgeek_dot_net
http://www.paccomp.com
Key fingerprint = 67F0 E493 FCC0 0A8C 769B 8209 32D7 1DB1 8460 C47D
"All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies."
-- Dr. John Arbuthnot (1667-1735)
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