Comments for SCRIPTING right here! Scripting Tips & Guide!

Comment on Family History Helps Heal – Genealogy With Computers by Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 22:49:14 +0000

Excellent first hand account of how the Mac came to be, 15 May 2009

Thurstan Johnston "khisanth75" (Hampshire, England) -

This review is from: Revolution in The Valley [Paperback]: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made (Hardcover)

This is a superb book covering the Mac's evolution and creation, told by the people involved. Its broken into small chapters written by various Mac team members, so you can dip in and out whenever you like. Its very very interesting and you get first hand information and real emotion behind everything.

Well worth checking out if you have any interest in Apple, retro computing or the computer industry.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

Comment

Comment on Family History Helps Heal – Genealogy With Computers by Dr. Bojan Tunguz

Dr. Bojan Tunguz — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 22:17:11 +0000

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

A coffee-table book for nerds, 1 July 2011

Dr. Bojan Tunguz (Indiana, USA) -

This review is from: Revolution in The Valley [Paperback]: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made (Hardcover)

Macintosh computer is the most iconic computer of all time, and probably one of the most significant consumer electronics products ever. The successors of the original Macintosh have remained aspirational products ever since, and Mac fans are oftentimes known for their cult-like admiration for their computers. One name that immediately comes to mind when Mac is mentioned is that of Steve Jobs, Apple cofounder and a mercurial and controversial visionary that has shaped Apple products for the most of company's history. However, Jobs is a strange bird - a head of a technology company without any concrete technological skills. The bulk of the work on the original Apple computer was done by the other company cofounder (Steve Wozniak) and the team that actually built Mac was composed of largely unknown engineers and technicians who worked on the computer over many years with the utmost passion and dedication. This book is a tribute to that creative and dedicated team. It is written in a form of many anecdotes of crucial events and developments in the process of creating the first Mac. Most of the stories are told from the point of view of Andy Hertzfeld, but there are numerous contributions by other team members as well. The book is filled with images of old hand-written designing notes, pictures of the team members, various Polaroid screen-shots of the development of Mac's GUI, and many, many more moments that elicit a form of nostalgia for those early days of the computer industry. The whole book is in fact a tribute to those more innocent days when idealism was a much more potent motivator than money and stock options. It also paints a picture of Silicon Valley when it was possible for young fresh-out-of-college engineers to find meaningful work and live in places like Palo Alto. Whether you are a Mac fan or someone with a curiosity about the first-hand accounts of the early personal computer industry, you will find a lot in this book to keep you interested. It's a homage to the real nerd inside of all of us.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

Comment

Comment on Family History Helps Heal – Genealogy With Computers by A. I. Mackenzie "alimack"

A. I. Mackenzie "alimack" — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 22:12:43 +0000

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

Great Fun, 17 Feb 2005

A. I. Mackenzie "alimack" (Glasgow, Scotland.) -

This review is from: Revolution in The Valley [Paperback]: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made (Hardcover)

This is a series of anecdotes about the building of the original Macintosh. Most of the text is available online, but it's nice to have them collected in a book.

The book conveys the enthusiasm of the project, possibly they're a bit kind to Steve Jobs who seems a complete nightmare to work for (see 'Accidental Empires' for an alternative take).

It would have been nice to get more get more from other developers such as Bill Atkinson who seemed to do pretty astonishing things (Quickdraw, MacDraw).

This does seem like a bit of a vanity project for Andy Hertzfeld, he's earned it, but it would be nice to hear lots of different voices.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

Comment

Comment on How Computer Viruses Work by Paul Leclercq

Paul Leclercq — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:48:03 +0000

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Best book in years, 25 Nov 2010

Paul Leclercq -

This review is from: Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution - 25th Anniversary Edition (Paperback)

Having been working in the IT industry as a programmer for nearly 10 years, I just wish I had read this book 10 years ago.
This is a MUST have book for any IT professional.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

Comment

Comment on How Computer Viruses Work by D. Graham

D. Graham — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:02:02 +0000

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

fascinating look at the history of the computer industry, 26 Aug 2010

D. Graham (Wakefield, UK) -

This review is from: Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution - 25th Anniversary Edition (Paperback)

Hackers is a fascinating history of the computer industry from the late 50's through to the late 80s, covering the birth of the personal computer, the internet and the gaming industry.This is the 25th Anniversary Edition though, so has been updated with a 'ten years later' appendix covering the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, and with updates from Gates, Stallman and Woz looking back at what has changed over the last quarter-century.

It's a great read, and if I had one criticism it's the jump between the original ending of the book to the 'ten years later' piece, when the world wide web exploded into everyday use. That said, I lost myself for several hours in the history - it's told in an amiable right-in-the-middle-of-things style which I found enormously enjoyable and interesting.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

Comment

Comment on How Computer Viruses Work by adulau

adulau — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 22:16:21 +0000

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Still a very good reference to computer history but..., 11 Sep 2010

adulau -

This review is from: Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution - 25th Anniversary Edition (Paperback)

Owner of the previous edition, I was maybe expecting too much for the 25th anniversary edition... The original one is really a great book showing the computer history and especially the beginning of the video games industry. The hacker movement is also clearly defined and explained the importance of breaking the boundaries in computer science. But if you are already the owner of the previous edition, you don't really need to purchase the anniversary edition... as this is just 20 pages of 25-years after without too much new advancement. At the end, the quality of this book resides in its ability to be still very good after 25 years.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

Comment

Comment on Automatic Computing Engine – leather cross body bag Manufacturer – China canvas backpacks by Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review"

Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review" — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:37:26 +0000

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Absolutely Fascinating, 30 Nov 2010

Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review" (Washington State) -

This review is from: A History of the Internet and the Digital Future (Hardcover)

We live in such an exciting age and yet we seem to take the Internet for granted. We visit sites like YouTube, Google, MySpace, Wikipedia, WordPress, Netflix, iTunes, Twitter and Facebook on what seems like a daily basis. But what made these sites possible? This book presents the history of the Internet in great detail. Johnny Ryan did an incredible amount of research! He also answers the following questions:

Who sent the first email?
What was the first book sold on amazon.com?
What did Al Gore really say about the Internet?
When did spam officially appear online?

I personally found this book to be absolutely fascinating. Not only will you know a lot more about the history of computers you will understand exactly what it took to reach the stage at which we all became able to go online. There are also some tasty tidbits about amazon.

If I had to pick one book about the Internet, this would be it!

~The Rebecca Review

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

Comment

Comment on Automatic Computing Engine – leather cross body bag Manufacturer – China canvas backpacks by Positivedeviant

Positivedeviant — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:35:11 +0000

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

An excellent read, 22 Dec 2010

Positivedeviant -

This review is from: A History of the Internet and the Digital Future (Hardcover)

Toward the end of Johnny Ryan's "A History of the Internet" he relates an account of a terrorism trial in 2007. The defendents have been charged with inciting terrorism using internet chatrooms, video and forums. At one point in the proceedings the presiding judge pauses the trial to say, "The trouble is I don't understand the language. I don't really understand what a website is". This book is for him and for those of us who, like him, have found engaging with complex and fast changing digital world a daunting experience. Where do you start? How do you get get a handle on it? What is needed is what David Garland, in his book "The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society" called a "history of the present". What events preceded this to bring us here?

From the antecedents of the internet, through the emergence of the world wide web and rise of social networking to present day issues of net neutrality, Google in China and the work of hacktivists Johnny Ryan shows a firm grasp of his material and understands the need to keep the subject accessible, the glossary was really useful.

The digital world tends to attract writers who either evangelise or demonise the web. Ryan does neither. Finally concluding that the freedoms we currently enjoy from the internet are neither fixed or certain, Johnny Ryan has given us an excellent guide to the immediate past with some timely warnings for the future.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

Comment

Comment on Automatic Computing Engine – leather cross body bag Manufacturer – China canvas backpacks by Grady Harp

Grady Harp — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:12:16 +0000

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

At Last! A Comprehensive and Comprehensible Book About THE INTERNET!, 26 Nov 2010

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) -

This review is from: A History of the Internet and the Digital Future (Hardcover)

Johnny Ryan has managed to gather the respect of millions in this new book A HISTORY OF THE INTERNET AND THE DIGITAL FUTURE: the near mystical aspects of the discovery that has changed our lives in countless ways over the past decades is in this book explained with a humanist approach to the history, the mystery, the benefits, the emergence of an entirely new manner of communication, and some solid speculations about where this technology to beat all technologies may take us. The beauty of this book is just how accessible it is. Ryan writes in a near conversational manner about technical matters that to many of us are floating around in the ether that is being somehow transmitted to most of our fingertips and screens. And at the same time that he addresses issues and shares facts in language easily digested, he simultaneously offers information to the more advanced computer geeks, making his book as democratic a transfer of information as any book written on the subject.

In what may seem a redundant means of upgrading our knowledge of where we all are in the digital age, Ryan elects to open his book with a very detailed history of the birth of the computers, taking us back sixty years to the 1950s discovery of the possibilities of transmitting information and storing it on machines. His journey explains the military's use and polish of the computer, through the concept of dissemination of information over the Internet, to the age of personal use of the computer and all forms of digital transfer of information. This is far too brief a way of describing how Ryan explains the derivation of each term applied to this topic (these definitions alone are worth the investment in this book!), and the process of changing the huge machines into hand-held wildly popular individually owned modes of communication.

But where Johnny Ryan really shines is his ability to inform us as to the strengths and weaknesses of this new generation of information transfer. He deftly discusses the individual versus government interchange access, how this instantaneous form of depersonalized communication isolates us from each other, but opens us to the curious eye of hackers and government eavesdropping, the perils of too freely spreading our thoughts and needs and desires and even gossip that can lead to dangerous results, and at the same time instead of raging about the evils of the computer so popular with other writers, he offers the possibilities of the Internet and www communication that to this reader at least seems like an invitation to global understanding of all cultures, all peoples.

The book ends with an indispensable glossary of terms used in the book but also used on the Internet - many times to the total ignorance of those of us who take advantage of this brave new world. And should the reader need further elucidation to advance from the solid platform of information provided by Ryan, there is a bibliography for research and further investigation. But for the millions of people who now use the internet and computers this book offers gentle but quite competent background and information about how we got here, what we are doing and what we are capable of doing, and when to be cautious. Highly Recommended for everyone. Grady Harp, November 10

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

Comment

Comment on Best Computer Speakers — Learn to get the most beneficial From the Desktop computer Audio speakers by P. Winter "Peter Winter"

P. Winter "Peter Winter" — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 22:35:52 +0000

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

At this price, 9 Sep 2009

P. Winter "Peter Winter" (Cardiff) -

This review is from: BenQ E2200HD 22-inch Wide LCD Monitor (16:9,Full-HD 1080P,5ms,DVI) (Personal Computers)

I had been running a Linux Ubuntu computer using a 15 crt monitor for a couple of years and it was time to get a decent display. Followed the monitor reviews in various computer magazines and this Benq always came highly recommended. I have now been using it for about a month and am very very pleased with its size and quality of picture. At present I am using the vga input which supplies a fine image and viewing blogs in Firefox is a treat.
The DVI and HDMI inputs are a bonus and of course future proof the monitor. I have not so far found any minus points and at this price its a bargain.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

Comments (3)