Book Description
Smart Mobs takes us on a journey around the world for a preview of the next techno-cultural shift. The coming wave, says Rheingold, is the result of super-efficient mobile communications-cellular phones, wireless-paging, and Internet-access devices-that will allow us to connect with anyone, anytime, anywhere.
Rheingold offers a penetrating perspective on the new convergence of pop culture, cutting-edge technology, and social activism. He also reminds us that the real impact of mobile communications will come not from the technology itself but from how people use it, resist it, and adapt to it.
Customer Reviews:
incohesive writing.......2006-01-20
This book suffers from incohesive writing and lacks a clear framework that covers the theme of smart mobs. The sequence of chapters does not provide a progressive build-up of a framework of any sort. Even more, the sequence inside each chapter does not carry the reader towards any defined theme. On one section the author describes teenagers in Finland sending text messages, then he jumps to his meeting with a company executive, then jumps to describing the mobile phone standards in Europe, etc.
The only common thread among sections in chapters and among the chapters is the smart mobs theme, obviously, but the author does not break down clearly this central theme into its parts. This makes for a very confusing and bothersome reading.
A whirlwind tour through the world next year........2005-10-09
Howard Rheingold has excellent credentials to write this book through his long involvement at Wired magazine. He blends an effervescent interest in smart new gadgetry (point your phone-cam at some foreign signwriting and have it translated into your own language) with a thirsty desire to understand what it means to our society. To hunt down the story he structures the narrative in a breathtaking first-person style that takes us from Shibuya Station in Tokyo to the wireless capital of the world, Helsinki, and then back across the Atlantic to Bell Laboratories - and beyond.
Clearly our society has been undergoing massive underlying change since the advent of the internet and mobile phones - but few writers have really grappled with the wider implications. If, as McLuhan said, the Medium is the Message then wireless technology provides a medium that totally re-engineers the way people can interact with their physical and social environment.
Rheingold calls on dramatic examples of how individuals, wireless and mobile, can outwit the top down forces of the establishment - for example in the World Trade protests at Seattle, and political protests in the Philippines. He uses these as a metaphor for how the top-down 20th Century style organisations, political, industrial or media are increasingly out of step in the mobile age. Rheingold looks to young urban people - urban tribes if you like - as a bellwether to tomorrow's society.
I loved this book. The writing is sharp, the insights deep and Rheingold's ability to take us into the labs of tomorrow a real treat. I strongly recommend it.
Smart Mobs. Smarter Marketers........2004-09-08
The cool thing about "Smart Mobs" is that it's really happening. People are behaving in "linked" ways that transcend the obvious demographic definitions of groups we typically think of as "behaving in unison." As technology and the infrastructure arriving with it enable increasingly extemporaneous networks between people, marketers are similarly challenged to reach outside of traditional mass channels. Howard Rheingold brings us a really nice set of actual examples--combined with his own unique insights--that provide the basis for next-generation communications strategies as what had been cohesive groups fragment into a foam of indivduals united (only) by this moments current interest and the task at hand. For marketers, it's a great read...and a big clue. Anyway, I liked it.
Remote Control To The World.......2004-04-08
How many of you recall that EF Hutton commercial that started off by saying, "When EF Hutton talks, people listen". The same thought can be applied to Howard Rheingold.
Rheingold is veteran technology watcher and well-publised futurist. He has identified yet another transformative technology. In 'Smart Mobs' he describes in vivid detail how large, geographically dispersed groups connected only by thin threads of communications techology, such as text messaging, e-mail, cell phones, two-way pagers, and web sites, can draw together in the blink of an eye, groups of people together for a collective cause.
From various parts of the world, Rheingold, has gathered stories about engineers and inventors of all sorts, working feverishly to create ever-smaller and more powerful devices that contribute to this new paradigm.
In this book,Rheingold points out examples of Smart Mobs such as the swarms of demonstrators who used mobile phones, Web sites, laptops and handheld computers to coordinate their protests against the World Trade Organization in November of 1999.
Rheingold shows a concern of smart mobs other than describing the weath of new communications technology that is available and coming. He is also concerned about the social, political, economic, environmental and even genetic consequences of the ever-expanding and more intrusive plethora of multidirectional communications technology.
This book is a must read.
Keen on Smart Mobs.......2004-04-07
As one who needed a basic primer on various areas of technology--past, present, and future--and their implications for the human being, I found "Smart Mobs" to be both helpful and conversational. Rheingold's journalistic style kept the topics easy to understand, interesting to read, and fairly light hearted in spite of some rather daunting conclusions that one could draw from his research. As well, those who want to delve further into the various topics discussed will find his endnotes quite helpful--annotated are works from a number of key figures who a) are making, or have made, breakthroughs in technology, or b) provided insightful critiques on those breakthroughs. I found that engaging in "Smart Mobs" opened the door to further research and understanding of this seemingly complex and very progressive area of study.
Book Description
Rapid Manufacturing is a new area of manufacturing developed from a family of technologies known as Rapid Prototyping. These processes have already had the effect of both improving products and reducing their development time; this in turn resulted in the development of the technology of Rapid Tooling, which implemented Rapid Prototyping techniques to improve its own processes. Rapid Manufacturing has developed as the next stage, in which the need for tooling is eliminated. It has been shown that it is economically feasible to use existing commercial Rapid Prototyping systems to manufacture series parts in quantities of up to 20,000 and customised parts in quantities of hundreds of thousands. This form of manufacturing can be incredibly cost-effective and the process is far more flexible than conventional manufacturing.
Rapid Manufacturing: An Industrial Revolution for the Digital Age addresses the academic fundamentals of Rapid Manufacturing as well as focussing on case studies and applications across a wide range of industry sectors. As a technology that allows manufacturers to create products without tools, it enables previously impossible geometries to be made. This book is abundant with images depicting the fantastic array of products that are now being commercially manufactured using these technologies.
- Includes contributions from leading researchers working at the forefront of industry.
- Features detailed illustrations throughout.
Rapid Manufacturing: An Industrial Revolution for the Digital Age is a groundbreaking text that provides excellent coverage of this fast emerging industry. It will interest manufacturing industry practitioners in research and development, product design and materials science, as well as having a theoretical appeal to researchers and post-graduate students in manufacturing engineering, product design, CAD/CAM and CIFM.
Download Description
Rapid Manufacturing is a new area of manufacturing developed from a family of technologies known as Rapid Prototyping. These processes have already had the effect of both improving products and reducing their development time; this in turn resulted in the development of the technology of Rapid Tooling, which implemented Rapid Prototyping techniques to improve its own processes. Rapid Manufacturing has developed as the next stage, in which the need for tooling is eliminated. It has been shown that it is economically feasible to use existing commercial Rapid Prototyping systems to manufacture series parts in quantities of up to 20,000 and customised parts in quantities of hundreds of thousands. This form of manufacturing can be incredibly cost-effective and the process is far more flexible than conventional manufacturing. Rapid Manufacturing: An Industrial Revolution for the Digital Age addresses the academic fundamentals of Rapid Manufacturing as well as focussing on case studies and applications across a wide range of industry sectors. As a technology that allows manufacturers to create products without tools, it enables previously impossible geometries to be made. This book is abundant with images depicting the fantastic array of products that are now being commercially manufactured using these technologies. Includes contributions from leading researchers working at the forefront of industry. Features detailed illustrations throughout. Rapid Manufacturing: An Industrial Revolution for the Digital Age is a groundbreaking text that provides excellent coverage of this fast emerging industry. It will interest manufacturing industry practitioners in research and development, product design and materials science, as well as having a theoretical appeal to researchers and post-graduate students in manufacturing engineering, product design, CAD/CAM and CIFM.
Book Description
How can we best understand the impact of revolutionary technologies on the business cycle, the economy, and society? Why is economics meaningless without history and without an understanding of institutional and technical change? Does the 'new economy' mean the 'end of history'? These are some of the questions addressed in this authoritative analysis of economic growth from the Industrial Revolution to the 'new economy' of today. Chris Freeman has been one of the foremost researchers on innovation for a long time and his colleague Francisco Louca is an outstanding historian of economic theory and an analyst of econometric models and methods. Together they chart the history of five technological revolutions: water-powered mechanization, steam-powered mechanization, electrification, motorization, and computerization. They demonstrate the necessity to take account of politics, culture, organizational change, and entrepreneurship, as well as science and technology in the analysis of economic growth. This is a well-informed, highly topical, and persuasive study of interest across all the social sciences.
Customer Reviews:
K wave modelling.......2007-01-19
Well written, exceptionally easy to understand and more importantly not just another vacuous theory book. It is applied modeling, which is what makes the book a very engaging read. One of my top two Kondratiev wave picks.
Average customer rating:
- Pretexts, Motives and The Valid Human Life
|
The Machine in America: A Social History of Technology
Carroll Pursell
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 History
| Business & Culture
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
General
| 20th Century
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Social History
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Technology & Society
| Communication
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
History of Science
| History & Philosophy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General & Reference
| Technology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
History of Technology
| Technology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Computers & Internet
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
A Social History of American Technology
-
Technology In America
-
Industrial Revolution in America (Problems in American Civilization)
-
Technology and American Society (2nd Edition)
-
American Technological Sublime
ASIN: 0801848180 |
Book Description
From the medieval farm implements brought by the first colonists to the invisible links of the Internet, the history of technology in America is a history of our society as well. Arguing that "the tools and processes we use are a part of our lives, not simply instruments of our purpose," historian Carroll Pursell analyzes technology's impact upon the lives of women and men, their work, politics, and social relationships--and in turn, their influence upon technological development.
Pursell shows how both the idea of progress and the mechanical means to harness the forces of nature developed and changed as they were brought from the Old World to the New. He describes the ways in which American industrial and agricultural technology began to take on a distinctive shape as it adapted and extended the technical base of the industrial revolution. He discusses the innovation of an American System of Manufactures and the mechanization of agriculture; new systems of mining, lumbering, and farming, which helped conquer and define the West; and the technologies that shaped the rise of cities.
And he shows how the export of technology helped to foster American hegemony both in theWestern Hemisphere and elsewhere in the world.
Pursell also argues that American technology has created a social hegemony, not only over the way we live but also over how we evaluate that life. He shows that such developments as scientific management techniques and industrial research changed Americans' lives as much as the mass production of such durable consumer goods as radios and automobiles. In many ways, he concludes, today's military-industrial complex is the legacy of the intense cooperation between science and technology during World War II.
Customer Reviews:
Pretexts, Motives and The Valid Human Life.......2003-09-05
Pursell's acknowledged primary debt to Leo (The Machine in the Garden) Marx says a lot about his perspective in this nicely paced, often fascinating work of U.S. social history.
Perhaps the best way to encapsulate the book is cite Pursell's citation of two quotes: one at the beginning of the book, the other at the end. In the beginning, Pursell cites another historian (whose name escapes me) who noted the period of European Discovery could be explained in terms of this dynamic of exploration: "the pretext was religion, the motive was gold." From this Pursell's view of technology can be extrapolated as well: the pretext is efficiency, but the motive is hegemony. At the end of the work, he cites Lewis Mumford, who in a review of Nader's "Unsafe at Any Speed," wrote that people had become too accepting of the abstractions that are used to justify the unblinking acceptance of technology, e.g., money, power, etc. Mumford suggested that until some consensus could be reached about "what constitutes a valid human life," that humanity would continue to be subject to the intended and unintended consequences of technology and the technocracy that creates it. (Incidentally, unintended consequences are often called externalities in business school, a word that neatly sets these depradations outside of the corporation in the same way they are channeled outside the corporation in the form of pollution, unemployment, and other forms of socially irresponsbile behavior.)
In between Pursell discusses the rise of the technocratic class from the imposition of Taylorism to regime of Fordism and into the postmodern age of production. It is a big subject, and Pursell, admittedly, has to carefully choose his examples to quickly advance his fairly familiar thesis; that from a nation where technology was early on fairly democratically distributed, technologies were introduced which placed technology and therefore power into the hands of fewer and fewer people. Not just material technology, of course, but the technology of the scientific approach.
Pursell does a particularly good job on the rise of the technocratic class of civil engineers around the time of the Civil War through the present, men such as Herbert Hoover, who, for their clients built mines, canals, dams, roads, bridges, railroads all over the world. In so doing, they spread the gospel of science as embodied in the instrumental uses of capital. In addition they also managed to pocket a good deal of gold. Pursell suggests that these technological imperialists were backed up and supported by the U.S. government from fairly early on, and, that they continue to be, now as then, helped most forcefully through the generous funding of the military industrial complex
Pursell also covers the reaction against the technological elite in the 60s and 70s -- the era when "Silent Spring," "Small Is Beautiful," and other influential works began to question the so-called "success" of the modern technological world. Pursell suggests that the environmental and other allied movements, while important, have done little to arrest the trajectory of the Megastate -- to use Sheldon Wolin's characterization of the snug relationship between government and the corporation. Jerry Brown's tenure as governor of California and his founding of the Office of Appropriate Technology (OAT) is used to good effect as an example of the hopeful spirit of that time when Americans were beginning to question the top-down technology solutions that prevailed, e.g., nuclear power vs. solar power. Pursell notes the backlash against such programs was quick and brutal: Ronald Reagan as governer of California immediately pulled the plug on all eco-friendly initiatives. Never one to let facts get in the way of his pro-business program, he once charged that "trees cause pollution."
An admirable performance, this work neatly and with insight gives the general sweep of technological history in the U.S. Very good illustrations are featured, many from the author's collection, and the captions for these are particularly good as they have considerably more sting than the generally neutral and sometimes muffled language of the text. For those who wish to explore the subject further, the book also features a very good bibliography and notes section.
Customer Reviews:
I have a Luddite moment..........2006-02-12
Years ago I was sitting in traffic on the South East Expressway in Boston, MA. I had just spent the better part of the day fixxing automobiles for people. That was my job. That is what I do. Trying to get home so I could "relax" was a chore. I lived maybe 30 min. away from my work but spent better than an hour just sitting in the hot July sun while the conjested traffic inched it's way along slowly, burning precious fossile fuel, spewing carbon & other noxious fumes into the air surrounding Boston. I was not happy. I called my wife on our ancient "Bag Phone". We discussed moving out of the Boston metro region so we could slow down the pace, relax a bit more and just enjoy life.
I had a Luddite moment. I realized then that I was working hard to keep all this technology together just so people could get to their own jobs to earn the money needed to keep their technology working. It dawned on me how futile all this stress and effort are... We are killing ourselves to support technology and all the time fooling ourselves with the idea that this modern life style is somehow better than in the good old days. I did not have an urge to smash any machines but I did want to stop the world and get off. Am I really any happier now than I would be if I were a village blacksmith in 1812? What do I really need to be happy? What does all this wonderful modern technology really cost me in blood, sweat and tears? I cash my paycheck, buy food and fuel, pay my bills, look at the remainder and wonder if that 1812 blacksmith was any worse off, realatively than I am today.
Sales book chronicles a moment in the history of labor struggle. Make of it what you will... He has documented a story that needs to be told if we as a society are to look at the big picture of ourselves and ask... How did We get here? Is this the right direction to be going? Can we survive and sustain this modern lifestyle?
I suggest reading at least chapters 8 and 10. I also suggest reading it along with a UE published book titled "Labors untold story" and Howard Zinns work "Peoples History"
Comfort is a realative thing.
Good history; so-so analysis........2004-06-16
Kirkpatrick Sale is a first rate historian, but as an analyst of history he tends to be blinded by his own so-called "Neo-Luddite" leanings. He does correctly identify that the Luddite movement was not about machinery, per se, but rather about social tensions arising in Europe, and that attacking machinery was simply an easy target. But his misses much in his economic analysis.
Like many neo-luddites and "left anarchists", Sale believes in small government, but his (and their) small government is not small in power; it has the power to compel decentralization and to resdistribute income. It is, like Chomsky's 1970s-variety anarchism, Socialism under a different rubric.
Sale believes that large corporations, large cities and any large scale human endevor must be artificial, created in order to exploit man and nature, which rather puts him at odds with the experiences documented through most of written history. He rejects the efficiencies people have traditionally found in both trade and scale, and prefers instead an enforced village. The are a good many inconsistencies in his rationale; he decries the large corproation, but wants to redistribute the wealth produced by such entities. One wonders where the wealth will come from once he destroys the wealth producers; I am reminded very much of the recent history of Zimbabwe.
In summary, then: Not his best work, but worth reading for the historical material, and for some of the social analysis. Just take the economics with a large dose of salt.
Terrible!.......2004-02-03
Don't waste your money! There are good books on this worthy subject but this one is very bad. It's poorly written, pompous in tone, yet full of lame assumptions any college student could see beyond. The few good ideas are not the author's own, though he rarely gives credit where credit is due. It's as if it was written in one sitting, by a not very intelligent person who had done little reading on the subject and didn't have much respect for ideas. I don't usually bother writing bad reviews but politically I'm on the same side as Sale on many of these issues and he makes an embarrassing, sophomoric mess of them.
A science writer reviews Kirkpatrick Sale.......2003-10-24
Kirkpatrick Sale is one of the visionary writers of our time, and deserves a much wider audience. This book rescues the reputation of the unjustly maligned workers who fought against some of history's cruelest businessmen. Contrary to myth, the "Luddites" were not knee-jerk foes of any technological change; they were workers fighting to protect their jobs and families from businessmen interested only in profit. No one who reads this book (and who cares more about people than gadgets) will ever again use the word "Luddite" as a term of opprobrium.
Sophomoric rant.......2001-10-09
This book contains an interesting, if biased, history of the Luddite movement which will interest all those who have no knowledge of that period of British history.
This book also presents a number of "arguments" suggesting that luddism is an appropriate stance vis a vis today's technology and science.
The fact is that his arguments are sloppy and his analysis is tendentious and sophomoric. There's nothing here which you wont find in the most hackneyed of anti-science rants issuing from post-modern science warriors.
An example is that nuclear technology led to the creation of the atomic bomb therefore it is inherrently evil. Anyone who knows anything about global politics and strategy should pause to laugh at this (MAD-logic doesn't even get a look in let alone a critique), anyone who's interested in the history of science will stop to laugh at this and frankly, anyone who agrees with this and uses a computer (which relies on the same QM theories) should stop to consider whether or not their belief system is hopelessly inconsistant.
We don't get any insight of any detail into what motivates the moral judgements Sale makes, we're just expected to blindly agree, so anyone who has done any moral philosophy should be scratching their heads.
Give this one a pass.
Average customer rating:
|
Let Them Eat Precaution: How Politics is Undermining the Genetic Revolution in Agriculture
Jon Entine
Manufacturer: AEI Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Media Studies
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Biotechnology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Food Science
| Agricultural Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Agricultural Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Crop Science
| Agricultural Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Sustainable Agriculture
| Agricultural Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
History
| Agricultural Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Risks
| Technology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Biotechnology
| Bioengineering
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Genetic Engineering
| Bioengineering
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Biotechnology
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Sustainable Agriculture
| Agricultural Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Food Sciences
| Agricultural Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Food, Inc.: Mendel to Monsanto--The Promises and Perils of the Biotech Harvest
-
Mendel in the Kitchen: A Scientist's View of Genetically Modified Food
-
The Chilling Stars: The New Theory of Climate Change
ASIN: 0844742007 |
Book Description
This book brings together experts from a variety of perspectives on bioengineered food, which holds the promise of radically reducing hunger in the third world but which is mired in political controversy.
Average customer rating:
- And you thought John Edwards was a rich ambulance chaser...
|
Telecosmos: The Next Great Telecom Revolution
John Edwards
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Electrical & Electronics
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Telecommunications
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0471655333 |
Book Description
Although telecom companies are battling for survival, technology is moving forward. In research laboratories around the world, powerful new technologies are being developed that will shape tomorrow's communications world. Telecosmos will look at the many different telecom concepts that will be adopted by both consumers and businesses in the years ahead.
Download Description
Although telecom companies are battling for survival, technology is moving forward. In research laboratories around the world, powerful new technologies are being developed that will shape tomorrow's communications world. Telecosmos will look at the many different telecom concepts that will be adopted by both consumers and businesses in the years ahead.
Customer Reviews:
And you thought John Edwards was a rich ambulance chaser..........2005-01-12
Rest assured, the John Edwards who wrote Telecosmos is almost assuredly not the multimillionaire trial attorney who ran on the undercard of the Democratic ticket for US President in 2004. This John Edwards is a journalist with a lifelong delight in and passion for advances in telecommunications technology. This passion was no doubt requisite in order for him to compile the material for this book (some of which is truly esoteric). A similar passion is also a requirement for the reader, in order to make it to the end.
Telecosmos does not live up to the potential it could have achieved because John Edwards misses the opportunity to create a book that appeals to and inspires the masses. He is correct in his main thesis, which is that the telecom bust the industry has endured from 2000 to 2004 is but a pause in the long-term advancement of communications technology, products and services. The telecom industry is far from mature (we don't even have widespread video telephony, as first shown at the 1964 World's Fair), and there are major advances coming in the future, as soon as they can be moved from the lab to the real world.
But instead of presenting a coherent vision for what this future will look like (which admittedly would be hard for a journalist to do), Telecosmos pretty quickly turns into a survey of government funded telecom research projects. Reading Telecosmos is a bit like reading one NSF grant abstract after another, with very little overall context in which to fit everything together. Some of the research projects overlap with each other, but because Edwards is not a world-class telecom expert, he takes each project's stated aims at face value, and doesn't attempt to pick winners or losers. Furthermore, because the book was hurriedly assembled in order to be maximally topical, it contains a fair number of typographical errors and other small factual errors.
Telecom industry insiders have watched Bell Labs, formerly the nation's premier research institute, slowly be dismantled over the past 20 years due to the ongoing breakup of AT&T. Much of the "pure" and "applied" research formerly done at Bell Labs is now done within the confines of our nation's research universities, and many former Bell Labs scientists have joined the faculties of academic institutions. So today, to learn what future telecom technologies may make their appearance in products over the next 10 to 20 years, John Edwards is correct to focus on what is happening in academia.
Bottom line: if you are only mildly interested in the latest telecommunications technology, you are likely to find Telecosmos to be too dry and detailed. If, however, you are in the telecommunications industry and would benefit from reading a survey of many of the most advanced telecom-related projects underway in academia, then Telecosmos is a reasonable book to read, flaws and all.
Average customer rating:
- My Review on the book
- Must buy for 802.11 techies
|
Wireless Local Area Networks: The New Wireless Revolution
Manufacturer: Wiley-Interscience
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
LAN
| Networks, Protocols & APIs
| Networking
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Networks, Protocols & APIs
| Networking
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Data in the Enterprise
| Networking
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Software
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Electrical & Electronics
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Telecommunications
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
All Amazon Upgrade
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Arts & Photography
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Computers & Internet
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Engineering
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Professional & Technical
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Arts & Photography
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Computers & Internet
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 047122474X |
Book Description
* Provides a practical introduction written by engineers from the leading wireless LAN manufacturers
* Each chapter brings the reader up-to-date with the latest in LAN technology from such companies as 3com, Alcatel, Ericsson, Intermec, Mobilian, Cisco Systems, Texas Instruments, Time Domain Corp., and Network Associates
* Provides detailed information for anyone who wants to learn about, implement, or invest in wireless LAN technology
* Features chapters on security, Bluetooth, spectrum allocation, QoS, ultra-wideband wireless, key standards, and more
Customer Reviews:
My Review on the book.......2005-03-25
This book gives a good analysis of wireless local area networks (WLAN). It
covers wireless packet analysis and the evolution of WLANs & overview of its security. The best feature of this book is that all chapters are contributed by major players in
the wireless LAN industry making it interesting to learn the industry approach to it. The book discusses the latest developments on the WLAN standards and how IEEE 802.11 standard works to meet the growing need of Quality of Service (QoS) and multimedia support in wireless local area networks. It discusses the challenges when building a
secure wireless local area network. It gives a good introduction of bluetooth and its coexistence with WLANs.
I would not recommend this book if you are totally new to the concept of wireless technology as it gets a little technical but if you have a fair idea about it then this book is a must read. I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend to people in the wireless networking industry, graduate students and anyone who is interested to learn more about a new and current technology.
Must buy for 802.11 techies.......2003-03-18
This book is a solid reference on important issues related to wireless LAN design, particularly 802.11/Wi-Fi technologies. Many chapters are contributed by leading wireless LAN companies, including comprehensive chapters on 802.11 standards from WildPackets and TI, network security chapters from Cisco, Agere and Colubris, a quality of service chapter from Sharewave (co-chair of the 802.11e task group), Wi-Fi hotspot and cellphone/802.11 integration chapters from Nokia and Alcatel, a Bluetooth primer from Ericsson, an interesting chapter on Bluetooth/802.11 interference written by the chair of the study group, an informative ultra-wideband introduction written by the pioneers at TimeDomain. I find the foreward from Dr. Kleinrock very insightful too. The long preface provides a useful prelude to all the chapters and is written by the editor who has published an outstanding wireless LAN book that was distributed with Cisco's Aironet products. Overall, this is a fine effort from the editor and is not just another one of those superficial 802.11/Wi-Fi books that are currently flooding the market.
Customer Reviews:
The Heart of the Internet by Vallee PhD.......2005-03-31
This work describes the history of the computer and the evolution
of computer systems from the Arpanet to the Internet. The
world wide web (www)protocol was invented in Geneva Switzerland (CERN).
The Geodesia org ties together random segments for collective
decision-making. Poor communication is a considerable problem
for internet users. Current challenges deal with bandwidth allocation and entry points for a multiplicity of users. This book is perfect for a student project on the evolution of the computer. For this reason alone, it is worth the price of admission.
A very good read... a very smart man........2003-09-14
Dr. Vallee is well respected in other fields besides the computer world, but this book detailing his experience as part of the evolution and creation of what became the internet is sure to acquire a good audience of its own. The book is written partly like an autobiography, partly like a discerning review of the subject. It is a nice mix, with enough personal insight and interest to make it compelling, and enough factual detail to make it a worthy reference book on its own. As is common for this author, he has a keen insight into not just the technical and factual aspects of a subject, but the human perspectives as well, and it is this which makes the book not just another list of facts (as many about computers are), but an intriguing narrative of human history and how the present came to be--as well as what the future may hold. I highly recommend it.
A compelling warning! Read this & take nothing for granted.......2003-07-17
From Paul Saffo, Institute for the Future: Based on a deep understanding of the Internet and its origins, this book presents a compelling warning. It is a welcome antidote to both the naive utopianism of the Internet bubble and to oppressive liberty-quenching actions by global corporations and governments alike. Read this and take nothing for granted - the Internet will only remain a force for freedom if you help protect it.
Obligatory reading.......2003-07-17
From Stephens F. Millard, advisory board member, the Wharton School and the Kellogg school: Obligatory reading for anybody interested in the history, evolution and future of this epoch-making technology, whose full promise has yet to be realized. Dr. Jacques Vallee, an eminent computer scientist who was present at the creation of the Internet, brings both knowledge and understanding to this important debate.
Unusual merit.......2003-07-17
From Paul Baran, inventor of packet switching: Among the many books written about the Internet, this one has unusual merit because Jacques Vallee was there during the infancy of the network. It is fun to read his recollections as a key hands-on pioneer. His aspirations and visions, and those of his colleagues at SRI and the Institute for the Future, led to the first Network Information Center and to revolutionary ways of conducting group communications. This work made possible the large simultaneous interactions of today.
Book Description
Exhaustive compendium of DTV details
Now there’s an up-to-the-minute edition of the #1 guide to digital television. And none too soon, because in the two years since the last edition was published, DTV has undergone dizzying technical and regulatory changes. You’ll find them all covered in Jerry Whitaker’s DTV: The Revolution in Digital Video, Third Edition.This engineering-level guide to the ATSC DTV standard and its impact on the television broadcast industry is loaded with examples, detailed diagrams and schematics. It’s a tutorial for all ATSC and SMPTE standards and FCC regulations guiding DTV licensing and applications. This timely edition explores the implications of datacasting and interactive television…harmonizing DTV with the European DVB system…and the bristling controversy over the ATSC standard’s suitability for urban broadcast. A dedicated Website, updated monthly, ensures that you’ll stay on top of all fast-breaking news and developments in the field.
Download Description
Now there's an up-to-the-minute edition of the #1 guide to digital television. And none too soon, because in the two years since the last edition was published, DTV has undergone dizzying technical and regulatory changes. You'll find them all covered in Jerry Whitaker's DTV: The Revolution in Digital Video, Third Edition.This engineering-level guide to the ATSC DTV standard and its impact on the television broadcast industry is loaded with examples, detailed diagrams and schematics. It's a tutorial for all ATSC and SMPTE standards and FCC regulations guiding DTV licensing and applications. This timely edition explores the implications of datacasting and interactive television.harmonizing DTV with the European DVB system.and the bristling controversy over the ATSC standard's suitability for urban broadcast. A dedicated Website, updated monthly, ensures that you'll stay on top of all fast-breaking news and developments in the field.
Customer Reviews:
Prerequisites of DTV: The revolution in Electronic Imaging.......2000-11-18
This book by Jerry Whitaker requires a AAS in electronic Engeneering Technology and/or a understanding of TV, DVD Sattelitte, or Computers to grasp the techniques of digital decoders and encoders. Knowledge of Binary 1's and 0's in different size bytes is essential. Series to parallel conversion and digital to analog conversion is necessary to understand the manipulation of the serial data in the encoders transmission basics, and the compression and expansion of parallel data , with memory manipulation of the order of the frames of the raster. Digital Television Fundamentals:Design and Installation of Video and Audio Systems: by Michael Robin and Michel Poulin is an excellent prerequisite and follow up book to this one. The same requirements of digital data techniques are necessary... This book does not include the new decoder circuits used for transmitting and compressing the digital data, nor the circuitry of the monitors.
A good preview for newcomers to the field.......2000-03-27
The book covers many issues in DTV as well as TV and video in general. It seems that it was intended for those who would like to go wide but not deep into details. There are 4 pages describing general A/D & D/A, but only few short paragraphs for the Trellis Decoder and Data De- Interleaver of the ATSC standard. I expected to find in this book more about the new standards and less about the general background.
Broad Coverage of the Digital Television Revolution.......1999-02-26
Jerry Whitaker has been in the Radio and Television broadcast industry for many years, and has earned the highest awards in the field. This publication is his first forray into the newly emerging world of digital TV. The field is huge, much more complex and varied than the older world of television and radio transmission. In part the new complexity is due to the role of computers in generating and consuming broadcast imagery. More importantly, modern understanding of image compression and data brodcasting has added additional services and markets which much be addressed by the new system and it have become much more of an undertaking to cover all of these areas in one book.
Mr Whitaker does an admirable job of taking on this task. His summary of the political process leading up to the Grand Alliance is well worth reading for newcomers to the field as well as those who have been involved through the whole process. I found the clear description of the lineage of certain SMPTE standards to be quite useful.
The two chapters on applications and fundamental principles provide some crucial background for the novice in the field, but are probably better covered in books specifically on those areas. For instance, Blair's treatment of fundamentals in the "TV & Radio Engineer's Handbook" is a little more thorough, and would suit a class better than this book.
The section on digital coding is very well written; I'd reccomend this section for anyone considering implementing a digital broadcast facility. The compression chapter supports it well, though again as a textbook on compression one would do better with Jain's book, or possibly one of the many books on JPEG/MPEG.
I was least impressed with the section on production systems. In part, this is due to the rapid advancement in this area, but I found that the lack of discussion of emerging DV standards, some of the issues of image bandwidth, and the discussion of colorimetry to leave a bit to be desired. There is no better summary out there right now, but several authors are working on titles which should better address this area in the near future.
His sections on audio encoding, transmission, and recievers were all quite useful to me as a systems engineer. Specifically, the information on receivers would be useful for technical journalists and consumer sales and marketing professionals in the field, as well as engineers interested in the limitations and possiblities of new display technologies. This section in particular is well written and extremely accurate.
Finally, I found the references to be extremely well done; there is no existing collection of references as thorough as this one. The only minor shortcomming is in the index; the book could have benefitted from a larger index.
This book is a must-have for anyone involved in DTV/HDTV engineering. Despite a few minor shorcomings, it will be a valuable addittion to the practitioner's library.
A "must have" reference for DTV and DVD practitioners.......1998-11-11
With a forward by Joe A. Flaherty, this tome covers the history, fundamentals and applications of digital television including transceivers, displays, codecs, compression and measurement. Audio encoding/decoding as well as transmission and implementation issues relating to the ATSC DTV system have their own chapters. A reference section and glossary are included. As a valuable part of the sometimes spotty McGraw-Hill Video/Audio Engineering series, this is a "must have" for DTV and new media practitioners alike.
Books:
- Solving Tough Problems: An Open Way of Talking, Listening, and Creating New Realities
- Stokes Beginner's Guide to Birds: Eastern Region (Stokes Field Guide Series)
- Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership
- Team Rodent : How Disney Devours the World
- The 48 Laws of Power
- The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living
- The Chicago Guide to Communicating Science (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)
- The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children
- The Deliberative Practitioner: Encouraging Participatory Planning Processes
- The Disappearance of the Universe: Straight Talk About Illusions, Past Lives, Religion, Sex, Politics, and the Miracles of Forgiveness
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Teach with Your Heart: Lessons I Learned from the Freedom Writers
- Letter to a Christian Nation
- Mrs. Bridge: A Novel
- Letters from a Stoic
- Listening with My Heart
- Low Power CMOS VLSI: Circuit Design
- Practical Cardiology: Evaluation and Treatment of Common Cardiovascular Disorders
- A Wee Guide to Mary, Queen of Scots
- Iraq Business Law Handbook
- Through the Hitler Line: Memoirs of an Infantry Chaplain
Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means
Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software
Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Theory of Networks
The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World
The Wisdom of Crowds
