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Resources - Book Bytes |
| by Stephen M.H. Braitman - NBMA Director of Communications Book Bytes announces new publications of interest to our members and community in multimedia, technology, business, and culture. First appearance of each Book Bytes column is in the NBMA email events newsletter. To subscribe, send a blank email message to: nbmaevents-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. If you have a recommendation for review — and, especially, if you have published a book — send the information to . |
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August 2003 ITV HANDBOOK: Technologies and Standards Edward M. Schwalb 724 pages, $59.99 Prentice Hall www.phptr.com The coming of high-definition television, the maturing of the Web, and the increasing broadband access at the consumer level is driving the development of iTV, or interactive television. Ever since the early 1950s children's program, "Winky Dink and You," there have been dreams of turning the television experience into an interactive medium and forever discard the outdated model of simple delivery of static information to couch potatoes. THE iTV HANDBOOK is a broad overview of the business issues involved, from the history of the medium to the major players and competing technologies. It lays out the current thinking on commercially viable uses of iTV, some which may not appear to be doing much to improve the cultural landscape (advertising and quiz shows will take extreme advantage of iTV), but it will be a brave new world for many different scenarios. Even guerilla broadcasters. (Think of the way political initiatives could be circulated and "signed" with iTV!) Much of the book is devoted to hardware and softer-ware issues, such as receivers, platform architectures, metadata, content, and scripting. If you're a Web developer or programmer who's stuck in a career rut, you may want to investigate iTV as a much-needed change in direction. ACTIONSCRIPT COOKBOOK Joey Lott 869 Pages, $49.95 O'Reilly www.oreilly.com The cookbook concept works well for developers using Flash who want a user-friendly manual for specific solutions. Joey Lott cooks up a definitive list of tasks and desired functions with the premier image motion tool for the Web. You can easily locate an area of development and find many specific problems or issues arranged in logical order. However, it's not quite for raw beginners. Though the first chapter is called Basics, the book assumes a working knowledge of the Flash environment and some coding experience. You're off and running with timed intervals, creating reusable code, and making "sure that variables within a function do not interfere with variables in other functions." For those with robust experience, section 3 real power application development options such as building a Flash paint app or a video chat center. Even an image slideshow. Obviously there's no end to what you can do with ActionScript. If you've been attending Marc Tanenbaum's ActionScript Salons through the NBMA, you'll find this a valuable companion work book to constantly crack open and breathe deep the possibilities. THE WIRED HOMESTEAD Joseph Turow, Andrea L. Kavanaugh, editors $39.95, 502 pages The MIT Press mitpress.mit.edu The incursion of the Web into family life is nearly complete, and "wired homesteads" will assume more and more economic and political clout. This MIT Press Sourcebook compiles scholarly research and essays on the dimensions and impact of the Internet on the family. With chapters like "The Impact of the Internet on Children" and "Sex on the Internet" you can see how ripe the issue is for analysis and prognostication. Sherry Turkle takes a needed breath of air in "Virtuality and Its Discontents" when she looks at negative criticism of the Web experience and promotes "virtual personae" as "a resource for self-reflection and self-transformation." Gite Stald views from a more Eurocentric perspective, but comes down on the democratization potential of the medium. There are facts and figures galore here worth considering for any number of purposes, including new development strategies. But there are also ideas here that take root in any serious discussion of where our future is headed. BREAK INTO THE GAME INDUSTRY: How To Get a Job Making Video Games Ernest Adams 330 pages, $24.99 ULTIMATE GAME DESIGN: Building Game Worlds Tom Meigs 346 pages, $34.99 Osborne www.osborne.com It was probably no coincidence that these two books were issued close together by the same publisher. Ernest Adams lays out the industry in fine detail to enable anyone interested with enough energy and gumption to enter the chaotic world of video gaming. As he points out, it's not quite so gonzo as it was in its early days, but the gaming industry still flies more by the seat of its pants in pursuit of fun experiences than the more rigorous application of code discipline and business processes seen elsewhere in software development. Amusing anecdote: When the Army queried Atari about their coin-op "Battlezone" in the early '80s, asking how they could make accurate physics computations with such slow, cheap hardware. Their answer: They don't. It's only a game. If a battleship gets blown up, the player loses a quarter. The Army walked away since they obviously couldn't survive with such a cavalier attitude. Adams gives pointers on the many parts of the industry to target yourself appropriately, what to study in school, who to talk to, where to apply, what you can expect to make (and what the benefits are and aren't), and what the future of gaming looks like. Best to plan ahead! Tom Meigs, on the other hand, assumes you're in the gaming world already, or at least moving in that direction. He discusses the usability and technological underpinnings of good game design, from how to plan environments to lighting, effects, and audio. Chapters on scripting action and developing for multi-player online games are pretty nitty gritty, but essential. Production management issues are discussed also, as a key role for more experienced folks coming into the field. He also includes substantial information on the business side of the industry, with career choices and the potential for employment discussed without being pie-in-the-sky. MAC OS X HINTS: Jaguar Edition Rob Griffiths, edited by David Pogue 461 pages, $24.95 O'Reilly www.oreilly.com This book is like the equivalent of a guide to DVD Easter Eggs. 560 hidden or not so apparent tips and tricks about using the latest Mac OS have been compiled by Rob Griffiths from the MacOSXHints.com community. These are not things you'll find in a user manual! There is an entertaining wealth of subject matter, from iTunes and Web browsers to basics like the finder, desktop, and dock. Each area has sometimes quirky, usually essential intelligence that makes the Mac experience richer, easier, or, at least, more fun. For instance (and I'm opening the book at random), you can quickly transfer all your junk mail preferences in the Mail function of OS X to a new Mac or laptop by simply copying the LSMMAp file into the new machine. Or, for example, there's an easy method described how to use Folder Action Scripts -- a feature of the AppleScript programming language - to monitor specific folders and trigger automatic events, such as playing a series of musical notes when some task has been completed. Or how you can customize the Toolbar by simply loading it with icons for the preference panels you use most often. And on and on. And on. There's so much stuff here, it could even qualify as bathroom reading! ACTIONSCRIPT FOR FLASH MX Pocket Reference Colin Moock 138 pages, $12.95 O'Reilly www.oreilly.com Another pocket reference title from O'Reilly that cuts to the facts with a minimum of background and explanations. If you're using ActionScript for Web-based multimedia applications, then you'll probably already have some basic thick manual lying around that you refer to when stuck with a programming or construction question. This, though, is the guide that sits right next to your computer and gives you near-instant access to definitions, core object properties, Best Practice datatypes, control statements, event handling, and more. SAMS TEACH YOURSELF HTML AND XHTML IN 24 HOURS, 6th Edition Dick Oliver and Michael Morrison 475 pages, $24.99 SAMS TEACH YOURSELF WEB PUBLISHING WITH HTML AND XHTML IN 21 DAYS, 4th Edition Laura Lemay 787 pages, $39.99 Sams www.samspublishing.com Two new books teach essentially the same thing, how to get up a Web site quickly. How quickly is where the two books differ. In 24 hours, you must want to put up a Web site REALLY fast. In fact, Dick Oliver and Michael Morrison start out their tutorial with a goal-oriented program: Need to get text on the Internet immediately? Read just three chapters in 3-4 hours and you can get your Web site up and running. Read the rest of the book to make it look prettier, function better, and emerge with state-of-the-art design. It's quick-and-dirty action that makes for nearly instant results. Laura Lemay, on the other hand, takes a more comprehensive look at the subject, giving you nearly a month to master the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of the coding languages, tables, forms, animations, cascading styles sheets. Her chapters are organized in day-long chunks with a well-considered teaching plan that adds complexity slowly as you reach competence in each area with exercises and tutorials. No doubt each book will appeal to different types of temperaments but there's little doubt that, no matter how long or short they are studied, the diligent student will learn Web publishing with real depth of knowledge after completing either of these books. HOW TO DO EVERYTHING WITH YOUR IPOD Guy Hart-Davis 362 pages, $24.99 Osborne www.osborne.com One of the most valuable chapters in this new guide to everything iPod is "How to Keep your iPod in Good Working Shape." You can bet Apple's powerful, handy, popular, etc., etc., portable music/contact/calendar device gets a lot of abuse from the target demographic. It probably gets more use than a cell phone, and is popped out of pockets, riddled with sand, thrown from windows, stepped on, and banged around more than any other piece of consumer electronics. Well, it's strong but it's not indestructible, which is one of the major warnings here. Good background also on the internal mechanism gives you some sense of what leverage you have in being careless. Also battery life extension tips, keeping the operating system up-to-date, and even how to carry the iPod safely. Sorry to dwell on what is really only one small chapter in a very comprehensive guide, but this is the sort of thing that people never read in an owner's manual, and that service bureaus like to hear when products come in for repair. Otherwise, Guy Hart-Davis does a great service in everything to operate the iPod at peak efficiency, from the basics of loading music (and really understanding MP3s) to how you can use utilities to put a ton of other information on it, like news headlines, contracts, notes, emails, weather reports, sports scores - you name it, it probably can be contained within the sleek iPod exterior. |
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