================================================================ O'Reilly UG Program News--Just for User Group Leaders August 25, 2005 ================================================================ -User Group Newsletters Now Available Online -Promotional Material Available -Safari Affiliate Program for User Groups ---------------------------------------------------------------- Book Info ---------------------------------------------------------------- ***Review Books are Available Copies of our books are available for your members to review-- send me an email and please include the book's ISBN number on your request. Let me know if you need your book by a certain date. Allow at least four weeks for shipping. ***Please Send Copies of Your Book Reviews Email me a copy of your newsletter or book review. For tips and suggestions on writing book reviews, go to: http://ug.oreilly.com/bookreviews.html ***Discount information Don't forget to remind your members about the 30% discount on O'Reilly, No Starch, Paraglyph, PC Publishing, Pragmatic Bookshelf, SitePoint, and Syngress books. Just use code DSUG. ***Group purchases with better discounts are available Please let me know if you are interested and I can put you in touch with our sales department. ---------------------------------------------------------------- General News ---------------------------------------------------------------- ***User Group Newsletters Now Available Online Starting with June 17, 2005--you'll find past copies of our UG program newsletters here: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/q/ug_newsletters ***Promotional Material Available: The following items are available for your next meeting. Numbers are limited so please don't wait too long. Let me know the item and the amount you'd like and I'll do my best. -O'Reilly Catalog -EuroOSCON Brochures -PhotoPlus Expo Pass, New York, NY--October 20-22 -30% UG Discount bookmarks -MAKE Magazine (limit one per group) ***Safari Affiliate Program for User Groups Give your members access to content from Safari's thousands of technology books, right on your site and raise money for your user group at the same time. Use custom designed search boxes, show the latest releases, or display your favorite book cover with our easy to use tools. For more information and to sign up for the Safari Affiliate Program, go to: http://ug.oreilly.com/safari_affl.html?CMP=EMC-U1L284871961 ================================================================ O'Reilly News for User Group Members August 25, 2005 ================================================================ ---------------------------------------------------------------- Book News ---------------------------------------------------------------- -FrontPage 2003: The Missing Manual -No Nonsense XML Web Development with PHP -Eclipse IDE Pocket Guide -The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide -XML Pocket Reference, 3rd Edition -Network Security Evaluation Using the NSA IEM -Fast Guide to Propellerhead Reason, 2nd Edition -Oracle DBA Pocket Guide -Windows XP Cookbook -Digital Identity -Host Integrity Monitoring Using Osiris and Samhain -Agile Web Development with Rails -MAKE Magazine Subscriptions Available ---------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Events ---------------------------------------------------------------- -Sinan Si Alhirr ("UML in a Nutshell"), Project Management Institute, Bloomington, IL--September 13 -O'Reilly at Microsoft PDC 2005, Los Angeles, CA--September 13-16 -David Pogue (Missing Manual Series) Gloucester County College, Sewell, NJ--October 22 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Conference News ---------------------------------------------------------------- -ETech 2006 CFP Now Open -Registration is Open for EuroOSCON ---------------------------------------------------------------- News ---------------------------------------------------------------- -MAKE: Blog is Nominated for "Best of the Web" on Business Week -Visualizing the O'Reilly Connection Network Using FOAF and Graphviz -What is AdSense -SafariU: Create Your Own Textbook in No Time -Learning Lab August Special -Identity Management Architectures and Digital Identity -Linux for Video Production -How to Decide What Bugs to Fix When, Part 1 -PHP 6.0 Ingredients -Web Apps with Tiger: Getting Started -Build a Simple 3D Pipeline in Tcl -Turn Your Old Mac into a Home-Automation System -What is Visual Studio -Setting Up Vonage with Your PC -Using Drools in Your Enterprise Java Application -Hacking Swing with Undocumented Classes and Properties -Ten Tips for Improving Your Podcasts -Get Cooking With Photoshop and CSS -Mobile Video: Working with MPEG-4 Clips on Mobile Phones -MAKE: Audio--Natalie Jeremijenko -How to get RSS Feeds on Your Watch ---------------------------------------------------------------- From Your Peers ---------------------------------------------------------------- -Charleston Code Camp, Charleston, SC--September 17 ================================================ Book News ================================================ 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 30% off any O'Reilly, No Starch, Paraglyph, PC Publishing, 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------- New Releases ---------------------------------------------------------------- ***FrontPage 2003: The Missing Manual Publisher: O'Reilly ISBN: 059600950X This book puts FrontPage 2003's features in context, with clear and thorough chapters that provide valuable shortcuts, workarounds, and just plain common sense, no matter where you weigh in on the technical scale. You will learn to build web pages, simple or sophisticated, and find out how to manage and publish your website. You'll also learn to create forms, work with databases, and integrate FrontPage with Microsoft Office. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/frontpagetmm/ Chapter 7, "Cascading Style Sheets," is available online: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/frontpagetmm/chapter/index.html ***No Nonsense XML Web Development with PHP Publisher: SitePoint ISBN: 097524020X Practical and concise, this book teaches XML from the ground up and explains how XML can be put to use in real-world projects. Written in a tutorial style, it presents various XML methodologies and techniques in an easy-to-understand way, building a basis for further exploration. This book also covers buzz topics such as RSS and Web Services. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/097524020X/ ***Eclipse IDE Pocket Guide Publisher: O'Reilly ISBN: 0596100655 This practical pocket guide covers basic Eclipse concepts as well as features that are not commonly understood, such as Perspectives and Launch Configurations. You'll learn how to write and debug your Java code and how to integrate that code with tools such as Ant and JUnit. You'll also get a collection of tips and tricks to handle common tasks in your Java development cycle. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/eclipsepg/ Chapter 6, "Tips and Tricks," is available online: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/eclipsepg/chapter/index.html ***The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide Publisher: No Starch Press ISBN: 1593270542 In "The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide," readers will discover everything from how to craft sturdy walls and a basic sphere to more advanced concepts such as scale and design. Illustrations demonstrate construction tips that can be applied to a wide variety of original creations made from real bricks. Includes essential terminology and an overview of different types of LEGO pieces. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/1593270542/index.html ***XML Pocket Reference, 3rd Edition Publisher: O'Reilly ISBN: 0596100507 This perennial bestseller has been revised once again to give you quick access to the latest goods. In addition to its comprehensive look at XML, this third edition has been updated with new material on Namespaces and XML Schema, along with RELAX NG and Schematron. Featuring a well-organized format that gets right to the point, this compact book is perfect for getting XML answers quick and on the fly. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/xmlpr3/ ***Network Security Evaluation Using the NSA IEM Publisher: Syngress ISBN: 1597490350 Finally, a book that gives you everything you need to provide the most comprehensive technical security posture evaluation for any organization. The NSA's recommended methodology is described in depth, leading you through each step in providing customers with analysis customized to their organization. From setting scope and legal coordination to the final report and trending metrics, this book has it all. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/1597490350/index.html ***Fast Guide to Propellerhead Reason, 2nd Edition Publisher: PC Publishing ISBN: 1870775937 This in-depth guide takes you through every separate Reason device as well as all the devices and changes introduced with the V2.5 update. Every control and function is clearly explained. In addition, standard and exotic techniques are introduced at the points where you will find them most useful, and step-by-step programming tutorials help increase your hands-on skills with Reason. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/1870775937/ ***Oracle DBA Pocket Guide Publisher: O'Reilly ISBN: 0596100493 This handy reference is designed to help administrators make more effective use of their time by presenting a compact summary of DBA tasks in an easy-to-use form. With this book by your side, you'll have instant access to the most important concepts, best practices, tips, and checklists. Key topics include architecture, installation, configuration, tuning, and backup/recovery. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/oracledbapg/ ***Windows XP Cookbook Publisher: O'Reilly ISBN: 0596007256 Useful to anyone that has to use, deploy, administer, or automate Windows XP, this handy reference guide provides practical solutions for the most common Windows XP tasks. The over 300 step-by-step recipes enable you to install, manage, and support your operating system with ease. This book also covers Microsoft's XP Service Pack 2. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/windowsxpckbk/ Chapter 6, "System Properties, Startup, and Shutdown," is available online: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/windowsxpckbk/chapter/index.html ***Digital Identity Publisher: O'Reilly ISBN: 0596008783 This fascinating book shows how an enterprise-wide "identity management architecture" (IMA) can provide security while ensuring that interactions with customers, employees, partners, and suppliers are richer and more flexible. Through a detailed, real-world view of the concepts, issues, and technologies behind IMA, this book shows CIOs, other IT professionals, product managers, and programmers how security planning can support business goals and opportunities rather than holding them at bay. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/digidentity/ Chapter 13, "An Architecture for Digital Identity," is available online: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/digidentity/chapter/index.html ***Host Integrity Monitoring Using Osiris and Samhain Publisher: Syngress ISBN: 1597490180 Host Integrity Monitoring is the most effective way to determine if some form of malicious attack or threat has compromised your network security to modify the filesystem, system configuration, or runtime environment of monitored hosts. This book provides foundation information on host integrity monitoring as well as specific, detailed instruction on using best of breed products Osiris and Samhain. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/1597490180/index.html ***Agile Web Development with Rails Publisher: Pragmatic ISBN: 097669400X This book shows you how easy it is to install Rails using your web server of choice. In the extended tutorial sections, you'll create a complete online store application to see how a full Rails application is developed. Further, you'll learn how to exploit the Rails service frameworks to send emails, implement web services, and create dynamic, user-centric web pages. There are also extensive chapters on testing, deployment, and scaling. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/097669400X/ ***MAKE Magazine 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 ================================================ Upcoming Events ================================================ ***For more events, please see: http://events.oreilly.com/ ***Sinan Si Alhirr ("UML in a Nutshell"), Project Management Institute, Bloomington, IL--September 13 Author Sinan presents "The Art of Agility: Project Management and Software Development" at the Project Management Institute (PMI) Central Illinois Chapter. http://www.pmi-cic.org/ ***O'Reilly at Microsoft PDC 2005, Los Angeles, CA--September 13-16 Visit us at booth #1017 and discover our growing line of Microsoft developer, administrator, and advanced Office books. O'Reilly editors and product manager will be on hand to answer your questions. Our Microsoft publishing team is looking forward to this sold out show. http://msdn.microsoft.com/events/pdc/ ***David Pogue (Missing Manual Series) Gloucester County College, Sewell, NJ--October 22 In partnership with Gloucester County College, the Macintosh Users Group of Southern New Jersey is sponsoring an afternoon with author and "New York Times" columnist, David Pogue. For event details and registration information, go to: http://www.mugsnj.org/Pogue2005/index.html ================================================ Conference News ================================================ ***ETech 2006 CFP Now Open O'Reilly's Emerging Technology Conference 2006 is scheduled for March 6-9 in San Diego. We invite technologists, strategists, CTOs, chief scientists, researchers, programmers, hackers, standards workers, business developers, and entrepreneurs to lead sessions and tutorials at ETech. This year's challenge focuses on the amazing amount of digital data in our worlds: how do we visualize the data, filter it, remix it, and access it in meaningful ways? Proposals are due by September 19th. http://conferences.oreillynet.com/etech/ ***Registration is Open for EuroOSCON Join developers, systems and network administrators, and IT managers at the very first O'Reilly European Open Source Convention in Amsterdam on October 17-20. EuroOSCON will explore the best and newest open source technologies, particularly for companies, governments, and nonprofits. EuroOSCON showcases the diversity in open source while maintaining a practical edge. http://conferences.oreilly.com/eurooscon/ Use code "euos05usrg" when you register, and receive 25% off the registration price. To register for the conference, go to: http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/eurooscon/create/ord_euos05 ================================================ News From O'Reilly & Beyond ================================================ --------------------- General News --------------------- ***MAKE: Blog is Nominated for "Best of the Web" on Business Week Cast your vote today and help us make number one. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/bestofweb.htm ***Visualizing the O'Reilly Connection Network Using FOAF and Graphviz Timothy M. O'Brien gathered some interesting imagery and offered insight into the growing network in the O'Reilly Connection. Just over a month old and the network already looks as busy as the air traffic pattern over O'Hare. http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/7631 ***What is AdSense Looking for ways to generate some cash for that website you've been developing? Google's AdSense may be your answer. This introduction to AdSense will help you decide if the program, which allows you to sell advertising space for other people's ads on your own site, is right for you. http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2005/07/26/WhatIsAdSense.html ***SafariU: Create Your Own Textbook in No Time With the SafariU web-based service, you can build your own custom textbook or online syllabus in a few hours drawing from the extensive list of top technical titles and 5,000 plus article database. Your printed custom book can be on local bookstore shelves in as little as two weeks. The online syllabus and electronic version of your book are accessible immediately. The service is free to qualified instructors. Visit SafariU to sign up for access. https://www.safariu.com/ ***Learning Lab August Special In our practice-based, self-paced courses, you can build your online portfolio with plenty of instructor feedback and a free O'Reilly book for reference. For a limited time, use the discount passcode "tarsier" to save an extra 15% off any of our courses--including all University of Illinois Certificate Series. http://oreilly.useractive.com/courses/certificates.php3 ***Identity Management Architectures and Digital Identity Building an identity management infrastructure requires a strategy; one that takes into account not only the technology, but the politics and economics surrounding digital identity. Phil Windley calls such a strategy an identity management architecture, or IMA. Here, he defines what an IMA is, and discusses the key components and myths to developing one. Phil is the author of O'Reilly's "Digital Identity." http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2005/08/19/digitaldentity.html --------------------- Open Source --------------------- ***Linux for Video Production Linux and open source software is traditionally good for developers and system administrators, and recently good for business users. When will it be good for multimedia users? A handful of projects are making video production and editing possible (and useful). Jono Bacon examines the present and future of video production with Linux and open source software. Jono is the coauthor of "Linux Desktop Hacks." http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2005/08/18/linux_video.html ***How to Decide What Bugs to Fix When, Part 1 There are two challenges to making smart bug decisions: first, understanding how to make good bug-fix decisions; and second, creating and following rules that make it easy to stick to those decisions when the pressure is high. In this first installment of a two-part essay, Scott Berkun, author of "The Art of Project Management," provides the core ideas you need to make your own bug-fixing rules. http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2005/08/11/fixingbugs.html ***PHP 6.0 Ingredients A wish-list of PHP 6.0 features leads to controversy among some PHP users and Web Hosts. Find out what Tom Rutter thinks of the wish list and what he thinks is missing. http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2005/08/15/php-60-ingredients/ --------------------- Mac --------------------- ***Web Apps with Tiger: Getting Started Morbus is back with more web serving tools and tricks, updated for Mac OS X Tiger. In this first article, he'll take you on a whirlwind tour through the basics: turning on the Apache web server, learning a teensy bit of its configuration, then enabling and testing PHP. http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2005/08/16/apache.html ***Build a Simple 3D Pipeline in Tcl Are you interested in playing with 3D graphics for games? In this article, Michael Norton shows you how to assemble a game console to experiment with using Tcl, which is a great tool for playing with graphics algorithms. http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2005/08/12/tcl.html ***Turn Your Old Mac into a Home-automation System Automating your home--so the lights turn on automatically when darkness falls, the heat turns on a half an hour before you're due home, or a security camera watches the house while you're out--isn't that hard to do. Gordon Meyer, author of "Smart Home Hacks," tells you how. http://www.macworld.com/2005/08/features/oldmacnewtricks3/index.php --------------------- Windows/.NET --------------------- ***What Is Visual Studio What can you really do with Visual Studio? James Avery discusses some of the various applications you can build using Visual Studio, some of its most compelling development features, and what you need to know to get started writing quality applications in Visual Studio. James is the author of "Visual Studio Hacks." http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2005/08/22/ whatisVisualStudio.html ***Setting Up Vonage with Your PC If you're looking to save money on phone calls and get extra VoIP features, Vonage is a good bet. Russell Shaw shows you how to set up Vonage with your PC. http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2005/08/23/Vonage.html --------------------- Java --------------------- ***Using Drools in Your Enterprise Java Application Enterprise Java developers have many fine framework choices at the presentation and persistence levels, but what about the business logic that sits in the middle? Do you want to recompile a mass of if...then spaghetti code every time a manager drops a new gotcha in your lap? In this article, Paul Browne suggests that a rule engine like Drools may be an ideal fit for this task. http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2005/08/24/drools.html ***Hacking Swing with Undocumented Classes and Properties Joshua Marinacci, coauthor of "Swing Hacks," shows you six undocumented features, classes, and properties that let you hack into Swing. From how to hide a frame from the Windows task bar to how to make Mac OS X windows truly transparent, these undocumented hacks can add a level of polish that will make your apps stand out from the rest. http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2005/08/10/swinghacks.html --------------------- Digital Media --------------------- ***Ten Tips for Improving Your Podcasts Jack Herrington, author of "Podcasting Hacks," offers his top ten suggestions for creating great podcasts. He starts with the basics: reducing noise, getting a good microphone, proper microphone technique, show prep, and format, and closes with tips that deal with improving the content of your show. http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2005/08/10/improvingpodcasts.html ***Get Cooking With Photoshop and CSS With Photoshop, CSS, and a little creativity, you can enjoy a feast of design options. Corrie shows how easy it is to tweak the graphic ingredients of your designs to produce completely different results. She cooks up three tasty design styles in Photoshop, then shows, step-by-step, how to reproduce them using CSS. http://www.sitepoint.com/article/get-cooking-photoshop-css ***Mobile Video: Working with MPEG-4 Clips on Mobile Phones MPEG-4 files can be struggle to work with, but the format is so good it's worth taming. In this article, Douglas Dixon uses the QuickTime Player to view and deconstruct clips created by several camera phones. He examines the details of the MPEG-4 format for mobile phones--called 3GPP--and works around some of the idiosyncrasies of different devices that create slightly different formats. http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2005/08/24/mpeg4.html --------------------- MAKE --------------------- ***MAKE: Audio--Natalie Jeremijenko MAKE: Audio rolls out a new type of show: A MAKER profile of Natalie Jeremijenko, who builds toxic-sensing robot dogs from discarded toys, as read by Dale Dougherty, MAKE publisher. This is an enhanced podcast; it will play audio *and* show the actual pages of MAKE Magazine from volume 02 when you click on them. We hope to do more of these--please let us know what you think. Don't forget to add the MAKE feed to iTunes 4.9. Click this link: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast? id=74069835 and click SUBSCRIBE. ***How to Get RSS Feeds on Your Watch Phil Torrone show's us how to get MSN filter content or any news via RSS on a SPOT watch: http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2005/08/how_to_get_msn.html#more You can also get MAKE shows via ODEO! http://odeo.com/channel/1178/view MAKE Show Archive: http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/make_podcast/ ***For more information on MAKE, go to: http://www.makezine.com/ ================================================ From Your Peers ================================================ ***Charleston Code Camp,Charleston, SC--September 17 Learn Today, Compile Tonight! Interested in learning something new, without being bored to tears by an endless, 8 hour parade of Powerpoints? At Charleston Code Camp, you'll see real code that does real stuff, on a variety of topics such as Enterprise Development, Mobile Development, ASP.NET and more...and the best part is, after you're done, you'll be able to download everything at home and keep using it. For more information: http://gcnug.org/codecamp ***Don't forget to check out the O'Reilly UG wiki to see what user groups around the globe are up to: http://wiki.oreillynet.com/usergroups/index.cgi -- steve ulrich sulrich at botwerks.org PGP: 8D0B 0EE9 E700 A6CF ABA7 AE5F 4FD4 07C9 133B FAFC