Showing posts with label history of technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history of technology. Show all posts

The Information Revolution: The Not-for-dummies Guide to the History, Technology, And Use of the World Wide Web Review

The Information Revolution: The Not-for-dummies Guide to the History, Technology, And Use of the World Wide Web
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Are you looking to buy The Information Revolution: The Not-for-dummies Guide to the History, Technology, And Use of the World Wide Web? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Information Revolution: The Not-for-dummies Guide to the History, Technology, And Use of the World Wide Web. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Information Revolution: The Not-for-dummies Guide to the History, Technology, And Use of the World Wide Web ReviewWritten by technology consultant J. R. Okin, The Information Revolution: The Not-For-Dummies Guide to the History, Technology and Use of the World Wide Web is a fascinating modern history of the technology that gave rise to the World Wide Web. From the Web's precursors, to how the technology that created it spread so rapidly, its impact on publishing and broadcasting, its empowerment of individuals, to the "dark side" of the Web that can be used to track information about those who surf it, and much more, The Information Revolution gives a grand tour of stunning, rapid, and very recent changes. Heavily researched, and featuring an index for quick and easily reference, The Information Revolution is an ideal resource for students of modern history seeking to better explore and understand the Web's titanic impact. Also highly recommended are the other volumes in this series, The Internet Revolution and The Technology Revolution.
The Information Revolution: The Not-for-dummies Guide to the History, Technology, And Use of the World Wide Web OverviewWho created the Web and why?How did its introduction change the Internet?How did the Web change the management and operation of businesses, government agencies, research and charitable organizations?How did it affect the way we locate information, buy products, and entertain ourselves?Why did it dramatically impact the use of computers and computer networking? This book answers these and many other questions about the World Wide Web, its history, and its use.It's not uncommon to hear people refer to the Internet and the Web as if they were one and the same thing.There are good reasons why many people make this mistake and why many people are unclear about the relationship between the Web and the Internet.Journalists and newscasters routinely use the two names interchangeably, which is one obvious source of the problem.Another source of the problem - this one far less obvious but of greater impact - has to do with the evolution of Web browsers.Netscape's Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which are the two most popular tools for surfing the Web, have become multipurpose network applications that are used for exchanging and managing email, interacting in chat rooms, and other common Internet activities.None of these activities have any connection to browsing the Web, but use of these applications blurs the distinctions between the Web and other services on the Internet as well as between the Web and the Internet itself.This book was written to make these distinctions clear.It explains in a manner that anyone can understand exactly how the Web operates as a service on the Internet and how its system for managing and sharing information functions. The Information Revolution presents the complete history of the World Wide Web - from its original design and engineering as an information management system at CERN to its introduction onto the Internet and its rapid acceptance as a de facto standard for publishing information on the Internet to its role in transforming the Internet into a resource that virtually anyone can use.The Web's history is followed by a detailed explanation of how the Web's technology works and why it works so well.This book also examines many of the ways in which business, government, other organizations, and individuals are using the Web, and it explores how the Web is changing to meet changing needs as well as one possible future for the Web, which is called the Semantic Web.

Want to learn more information about The Information Revolution: The Not-for-dummies Guide to the History, Technology, And Use of the World Wide Web?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now
Read More...

Eat My Dust: Early Women Motorists (The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science) Review

Eat My Dust: Early Women Motorists (The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Are you looking to buy Eat My Dust: Early Women Motorists (The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Eat My Dust: Early Women Motorists (The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Eat My Dust: Early Women Motorists (The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science) ReviewWe know how was it that women got the vote, how they end up doing the jobs that until then had been reserved for men, how the women's movement fought for civil and reproductive rights. Now we know how and when women got behind the wheel.
And yet the issue of mobility, independent and autonomous mobility for women, is not a minor one, especially in the countries that are the focus of Clarsen's book. Australia, the US, and British colonial Africa had to overcome variously defined tyrannies of distance, and they did so with the automobile and the long distance travelling that it allowed for the first time.
Eat my Dust fills a gap: it deals with beautiful cars and enterprising women and with a double revolution - women taking charge on the one hand, and cars becoming fast on the other. Life would not have been the same ever again.
Women, like their male counterparts (and despite their male counterparts), immediately saw the car's potential and the sometime exhilarating freedom that it could bring. They enjoyed it and did not look back, except through the rear mirror.
An especially good aspect of this book is its appeal to different audiences and that it can be read at different levels.Eat My Dust: Early Women Motorists (The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science) OverviewThe history of the automobile would be incomplete without considering the influence of the car on the lives and careers of women in the earliest decades of the twentieth century. Illuminating the relationship between women and cars with case studies from across the globe,Eat My Dust challenges the received wisdom that men embraced automobile technology more naturally than did women.Georgine Clarsen highlights the personal stories of women from the United States, Britain, Australia, and colonial Africa from the early days of motoring until 1930. She notes the different ways in which these women embraced automobile technology in their national and cultural context. As mechanics and taxi drivers-like Australian Alice Anderson and Brit Sheila O'Neil-and long-distance adventurers and political activists-like South Africans Margaret Belcher and Ellen Budgell and American suffragist Sara Bard Field-women sought to define the technology in their own terms and according to their own needs. They challenged traditional notions of femininity through their love of cars and proved they were articulate, confident, and mechanically savvy motorists in their own right.More than new chapters in automobile history, these stories locate women motorists within twentieth-century debates about class, gender, sexuality, race, and nation. (2008)

Want to learn more information about Eat My Dust: Early Women Motorists (The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now
Read More...

Connections: Patterns of Discovery Review

Connections: Patterns of Discovery
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Are you looking to buy Connections: Patterns of Discovery? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Connections: Patterns of Discovery. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Connections: Patterns of Discovery ReviewI found this book to be entertaining, informative, and insightful. It covers a great deal of information technology, history, and draws relationships between many different aspects of inventing across various fields of computer science. By identifying patterns in innovations, it shows how major trends developed for information processing over the past half century. In addition, it describes how some of these trends might progress over the next decade.
The book follows the connections of information flow to highlight search technology. It follows the connections of microchips in building computers, networks, and small wireless devices. Then it connects all these inventions through ubiquitous computing and a ubiquitous Web.
Like the TV-Series hosted by science historian Jake Burke, the book links ideas, innovations, and inventors to build stories about trends and interrelationships. The Information Age's innovations from vacuum tubes to transistors, from computers to networking, and simple programming to intelligent software are presented and followed by forecasts for their continued development.Connections: Patterns of Discovery Overview"In their fascinating analysis of the recent history of information technology, H. Peter Alesso and Craig F. Smith reveal the patterns in discovery and innovation that have brought us to the present tipping point. . . .
A generation from now, every individual will have personally tailored access to the whole of knowledge . . . the sooner we all begin to think about how we got here, and where we're going, the better. This exciting book is an essential
first step."—From the Foreword by James Burke
Many people envision scientists as dispassionate characters who slavishly repeat experiments until "eureka"—something unexpected happens. Actually, there is a great deal more to the story of scientific discovery, but seeing "the big picture" is not easy. Connections: Patterns of Discovery uses the primary tools of forecasting and three archetypal patterns of discovery—Serendipity, Proof of Principle, and 1% Inspiration and 99% Perspiration—to discern relationships of past developments and synthesize a cohesive and compelling vision for the future. It challenges readers to think of the consequences of extrapolating trends, such as Moore's Law, to either reach real machine intelligence or retrench in the face of physical limitations. From this perspective,the book draws "the big picture" for the Information Revolution's innovations in chips, devices, software, and networks.
With a Foreword by James Burke and bursting with fascinating detail throughout, Connections: Patterns of Discovery is a must-read for computer scientists, technologists, programmers, hardware and software developers, students, and anyone with an interest in tech-savvy topics.

Want to learn more information about Connections: Patterns of Discovery?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now
Read More...

Civil Engineer's Handbook of Professional Practice Review

Civil Engineer's Handbook of Professional Practice
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Are you looking to buy Civil Engineer's Handbook of Professional Practice? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Civil Engineer's Handbook of Professional Practice. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Civil Engineer's Handbook of Professional Practice ReviewI am a practicing civil engineer (worked in both private and government practice) and Hansen and Zenobia's book is indeed a good reference for things practicing engineers typically learn after about 5 years on the job. Many engineering students (can) tend to focus on the technical aspect of engineering - absolutely necessary. But, something that is generally not taught (well) in school, or for which there are select references, are described well in this book. Hansen and Zenobia have done the research work for you - instead of learning the hard way on the job only, why not take the first step to learning things now? You would definitely be a step ahead of other entry level candidates. A must have in this difficult economy.
I am a practicing engineer for 13 years now, and such things as Ethics (chapter 3), Deliverables (chapter 6), Permitting (Chapter 8), legal (Chapter 11) and Communicating (Chapter 13) are apropos for today's multi-faceted and multi-tasking practicing engineers. No one tells you in school what a deliverable is, and that just because you can technically do something, doesn't mean you can legally. And communication - if you can't write or speak your ideas clearly - well, then learn. Those have been by far the most valuable skills I learned early (some in school, some just learned socially), and that have gotten me places in my career. May other things I learned via the "school of hard knocks" which can be career forming (in a bad way), and if you can avoid such knocks by having some understanding of engineering practice, you'd be better off for it. A book worth having on any engineering student / entry level professional's library.
This book was written by engineers for engineers - institutional knowledge on paper!
Civil Engineer's Handbook of Professional Practice Overview

Want to learn more information about Civil Engineer's Handbook of Professional Practice?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now
Read More...

A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution Review

A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Are you looking to buy A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution ReviewA slim book, but not an easy read. Lots of repetition of ideas and content, as if the book had been written as separate essays and then stitched together without the aid of a good editor. He goes off on tangents within chapters which often had me re-reading pages to see if I had missed a transition.
Pitched as a book about how people have reacted to and adopted new communication technologies, it is really more a light historical overview of the topic. Disappointing. If you like technology and history you've already read most of this book elsewhere. Lots of rehashing of Petroski's book on the pencil and on Thoreau. Chapters on handwriting and Wordstar don't really add much. The last few chapters begin to get at what I thought the book was about -- how people react to and adopt new writing/communication technologies. The illustrations are also not the best, although some are at least interesting. The early Photoshop ad showing Marilyn Monroe holding Abraham Lincoln's arm is something I had not seen before.
If you haven't any background in the history of technology and want a very brief overview, this might be of interest. For me there are better sources and better edited books written in a more engaging style.I expected a lot more than I got.A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution OverviewComputers, now the writer's tool of choice, are still blamed by skeptics for a variety of ills, from speeding writing up to the point of recklessness, to complicating or trivializing the writing process, to destroying the English language itself. A Better Pencil puts our complex, still-evolving hate-love relationship with computers and the internet into perspective, describing how the digital revolution influences our reading and writing practices, and how the latest technologies differ from what came before. The book explores our use of computers as writing tools in light of the history of communication technology, a history of how we love, fear, and actually use our writing technologies--not just computers, but also typewriters, pencils, and clay tablets. Dennis Baron shows that virtually all writing implements--and even writing itself--were greeted at first with anxiety and outrage: the printing press disrupted the "almost spiritual connection" between the writer and the page; the typewriter was "impersonal and noisy" and would "destroy the art of handwriting."Both pencils and computers were created for tasks that had nothing to do with writing. Pencils, crafted by woodworkers for marking up their boards, were quickly repurposed by writers and artists. The computer crunched numbers, not words, until writers saw it as the next writing machine. Baron also explores the new genres that the computer has launched: email, the instant message, the web page, the blog, social-networking pages like MySpace and Facebook, and communally-generated texts like Wikipedia and the Urban Dictionary, not to mention YouTube.Here then is a fascinating history of our tangled dealings with a wide range of writing instruments, from ancient papyrus to the modern laptop. With dozens of illustrations and many colorful anecdotes, the book will enthrall anyone interested in language, literacy, or writing.

Want to learn more information about A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now
Read More...

Elementary Cryptanalysis 2nd edition (Anneli Lax New Mathematical Library) Review

Elementary Cryptanalysis 2nd edition (Anneli Lax New Mathematical Library)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Are you looking to buy Elementary Cryptanalysis 2nd edition (Anneli Lax New Mathematical Library)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Elementary Cryptanalysis 2nd edition (Anneli Lax New Mathematical Library). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Elementary Cryptanalysis 2nd edition (Anneli Lax New Mathematical Library) ReviewThis book would be an excellent text for courses in cryptology where some of the students are in computer science. The mathematics behind the encryption/decryption is completely explained at a level where people with a weaker mathematical background can understand it. Basic number theory concepts such as congruences, simple linear algebra and frequency statistics are all the mathematics that is needed. The coverage is introductory, yet the reader is given a sufficiently deep exposure so that they can appreciate the significance and value of encryption in the modern world. The worked examples also impart the sense of intellectual challenge and stimulation that working in encryption can give.
The areas examined are:
*) Monoalphabetic ciphers using additive alphabets
*) General monoalphabetic substitution
*) Polyalphabetic substitution
*) Polygraphic systems
*) Transposition
*) RSA encryption
*) Perfect security - one-time pads
Many exercises with solutions are also included, which would allow a reader to use the book for self study as well.
Of all the areas of mathematics that I have taught, I had the most fun teaching a course in encryption and compression. Furthermore, given the feedback that I received from the students, they enjoyed it as well. This is one of the very best books on the basic tactics of encryption that has ever been published; I would not hesitate to use it as a text.
Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.Elementary Cryptanalysis 2nd edition (Anneli Lax New Mathematical Library) OverviewOriginally published in the New Mathematical Library almost half a century ago, this charming book explains how to solve cryptograms based on elementary mathematical principles, starting with the Caesar cipher and building up to progressively more sophisticated substitution methods. Todd Feil has updated the book for the technological age by adding two new chapters covering RSA public-key cryptography, one-time pads, and pseudo-random-number generators.Exercises are given throughout the text that will help the reader understand the concepts and practice the techniques presented. Software to ease the drudgery of making the necessary calculations is made available. The book assumes minimal mathematical prerequisites and therefore explains from scratch such concepts as summation notation, matrix multiplication, and modular arithmetic. Even the mathematically sophisticated reader, however, will find some of the exercises challenging. (Answers to the exercises appear in an appendix.)

Want to learn more information about Elementary Cryptanalysis 2nd edition (Anneli Lax New Mathematical Library)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now
Read More...