I’m happy to report that wishes come true.

Maybe not all of them, maybe not all the time, but every now and then, when you least expect it, you turn around to find that your wish has been granted.

I came to this conclusion from personal experience. Last year I was working on a book for Thomson Course Technology PTR called Digital Photography for Teens. The truth be told, I was having a blast. I got the chance to work with my photographer pal, Dave Long, or the Australian, as I call him in front of the publisher. The people at Course turned out to be super-professional as well as superfriendly, which is always a plus. But most importantly, I got to talk about digital photography, which was a nice break from the web design stuff that my books have been about lately. And I was able to work in another favorite topic of mine: Adobe Photoshop. I hadn’t done a book on that since 2002.

As you might expect in a book about digital photography, the digital photography had to come first. Whenever I mentioned Photoshop, I made sure that I did it in the context of whatever was going on with the camera. And while plenty of Photoshop topics came up, there were just as many that didn’t seem to fit, no matter how hard I tried to make them. I was able to sneak a few of them in through the back door, but really, how much can you say about the Brush tool when you’re taking pictures instead of painting them? (Not much, as it turns out.)

The beat, the pulse, the rhythm, the groove. They exist by different names and come in thousands of different styles. As a creative musician, you know that a well-crafted rhythm track can not only be the foundation upon which the rest of your music is built, but is often the defining characteristic of the musical style you’re going after!

In his book Poetics and Music in the Form of Six Lessons (Harvard University Press, 1993), classical composer Igor Stravinsky wrote two very notable passages that I’ve always found inspiring:

Who of us, on hearing jazz music, has not felt an amusing sensation approaching giddiness when a dancer or a solo musician, trying persistently to stress irregular accents, cannot succeed in turning our ear away from the regular pulsation of the meter drummed out by the percussion?

This problem of time in the art of music is of capital importance. I have thought it wise to dwell on the problem because the considerations that it involves may help us to understand the different creative types. . . .

Learn to produce evidence-quality data for legal counsel accurately, efficiently and cost-effectively.

One of the hottest topics in computer forensics today, electronic discovery (e-discovery) is the process by which parties involved in litigation respond to requests to produce electronically stored information (ESI). According to the 2007 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey, it is now a $2 billion industry, a 60% increase from 2004, projected to double by 2009. The core reason for the explosion of e-discovery is sheer volume; evidence is digital and 75% of modern day lawsuits entail e-discovery.

A recent survey reports that U.S. companies face an average of 305 pending lawsuits internationally. For large U.S. companies ($1 billion or more in revenue)that number has soared to 556 on average, with an average of 50 new disputes emerging each year for nearly half of them. To properly manage the role of digital information in an investigative or legal setting, an enterprise--whether it is a Fortune 500 company, a small accounting firm or a vast government agency--must develop an effective electronic discovery program. Since the amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which took effect in December 2006, it is even more vital that the lifecycle of electronically stored information be understood and properly managed to avoid risks and costly mistakes.

This books holds the keys to success for systems administrators, information security and other IT department personnel who are charged with aiding the e-discovery process.

*Comprehensive resource for corporate technologists, records managers, consultants, and legal team members to the e-discovery process, with information unavailable anywhere else

*Offers a detailed understanding of key industry trends, especially the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, that are driving the adoption of e-discovery programs

*Includes vital project management metrics to help monitor workflow, gauge costs and speed the process

*Companion Website offers e-discovery tools, checklists, forms, workflow examples, and other tools to be used when conducting e-discovery strategy

About the Author

Karen Schuler is Vice President of ONSITE3s Consulting Practice Group. She has more than 15 years of experience in enterprise-wide technology planning and implementation, focusing on forensics investigations in large and complex litigation matters involving electronic discovery. As a former owner of a computer forensics and security firm, as well as a contracted computer forensic examiner for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, she is an expert at understanding the intricate details involved in providing admissible and defensible evidence.

A Practical Approach To Building Small To Medium Software Systems For Real Business Clients

Based on more than 100 actual commercial projects, this book clearly explains how to run an agile software development project that delivers high-quality, high-value solutions to business clients. It concentrates on the practical, social, business, and management aspects as well as the technical issues involved.

Professor Holcombe successfully connects readers with the wave of "Agile 2.0" concepts that take the techniques of agile development and place them in the service of business goals. Since it is widely believed that the use of Windows XP will become much more common in coming years, readers should be armed with cutting-edge knowledge of the latest practices in the field. Further features of the book include:

• Case studies provide real-world examples and describe how XP was introduced into the environment

• Analysis is provided to help readers determine which elements of XP are suitable for the unique challenges and environments for different projects

• Problems of a failing agile project and how they can be fixed are covered, including insight into which managerial techniques can be employed

• An Instructor's Guide provides practical advice on how to motivate students, organize real group projects, and deal, in a simple and effective way, with many of the problems that arise

• A sample syllabus, sample tests, and additional case study information are available on an instructor's password-protected ftp site

Running an Agile Software Development Project is an indispensable guide for professional software developers, engineers, and project managers interested in learning how to use agile processes. It is also a valuable textbook for advanced undergraduate- and graduate-level students in computer engineering and software engineering courses.

About the Author

Mike Holcombe, BSC, MSC, PHD, is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Sheffield, UK. He is also founder of Genesys Solutions, which is a student-run commercial software house that is strongly supported by IBM (winning the IBM International Eclipse Innovation Award in 2004 and 2005) and is also designated as a Microsoft Innovation Center. The University of Sheffield has recently "spun out" this company as epiGenesys Ltd. Dr. Holcombe's research interests include software and systems biology. A former dean of the faculty of engineering at the University of Sheffield, he is a Fellow of the British Computer Society and a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and Its Applications. He is on the editorial board of the journal BioSystems and Software Testing, Verification and Reliability (Wiley). He is also on the editorial board of the International Journal of Agile and Extreme Software Development and has been appointed to the Academic Advisory Board of Microsoft.

"Disappearing Cryptography is a witty and entertaining look at the world of information hiding. Peter Wayner provides an intuitive perspective of the many techniques, applications, and research directions in the area of steganography. The sheer breadth of topics is outstanding and makes this book truly unique. A must read for those who would like to begin learning about information hiding."
-Deepa Kundur, University of Toronto

Disappearing Cryptography, Second Edition describes how to take words, sounds, or images and hide them in digital data so they look like other words, sounds, or images. When used properly, this powerful technique makes it almost impossible to trace the author and the recipient of a message. Conversations can be submerged in the flow of information through the Internet so that no one can know if a conversation exists at all.

This full revision of the best-selling first edition describes a number of different techniques to hide information. These include encryption, making data incomprehensible; steganography, embedding information into video, audio, or graphics files; watermarking, hiding data in the noise of image or sound files; mimicry, "dressing up" data and making it appear to be other data, and more. The second edition also includes an expanded discussion on hiding information with spread-spectrum algorithms, shuffling tricks, and synthetic worlds. Each chapter is divided into sections, first providing an introduction and high-level summary for those who want to understand the concepts without wading through technical explanations, and then presenting greater detail for those who want to write their own programs.

About the Author

Peter Wayner is a writer living in Baltimore and is the author of Digital Cash and Agents at Large (both Academic Press). His writings appear in numerous academic journals as well as the pages of more popular forums such as MacWorld and the New York Times. He has taught various computer science courses at Cornell University and Georgetown University.

The Microsoft Internet & Networking Dictionary is designed to provide easy reference to the Internet and networking terms you’re likely to encounter most often. This dictionary also emphasizes terminology that you’re likely to encounter in documentation, online help, computer manuals, marketing and sales materials, the popular media, and the computer trade press. In some cases, related terms or specialized or highly technical language is included to help you better understand a technology, service, or product.

This book is designed to get the reader started quickly creating business applications with COM+. The five parts of the book encompass Understanding COM+ Applications, Data Services Layer, Business Services Layer, User Services Layer, and the final project.In the last section of the book, readers will put all that they learned in the previous chapters to work by developing the PubsOnLine application. This application is intended as a complete learning application that uses many of the features presented in the book.

About the Author

Scot Hillier is the Director of Technical Staff for DataLan Incorporated. With offices in White Plains and New York City, DataLan offers broad expertise in strategic consulting, networking, communications, IT security, network management, line of business solutions, and knowledge management solutions. Scot has written several books including MTS Programming with Visual Basic (SAMS) and Inside Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition (MS Press). In addition to writing, Scot is a regular speaker at industry events such as VBITS and Developer Days.

Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET-based rich interactive applications (RIAs) for the Web; SharePoint is Microsofts portal development platform and the fastest growing server product at Microsoft. If you are seeking to leverage Silverlight 2.0 to optimize SharePoint 2007, you will find what you need in this advanced guide from a well-known author team of Microsoft insiders. The book shows you how to build integrated solutions step-by-step; how to integrate Silverlight applications with different SharePoint objects such as lists, Web parts, and others; and provides source code, so you can replicate and test the code on your own.

SharePoint is a collaborative platform that is gaining popularity for being used to build externally facing web sites and solutions. Silverlight 2 is a cross-browser and cross-platform plug-in that enables you to build rich, interactive user experiences for web-based applications. With this book, you'll discover how you can dramatically improve the user experience of SharePoint through the integration of the new Silverlight 2.

The authors begin by explaining what Silverlight 2 is, and discuss why you would want to integrate it with SharePoint. You'll examine an end-to-end solution that integrates Silverlight 2 and SharePoint and then deconstruct how the solution was built, step by step. You'll also look at specific ways of integrating Silverlight applications with different SharePoint objects such as lists, web parts, and more. Plus, source code is provided so that you can replicate and test the code in your own environment. By the end of this book, you'll be on your way to leveraging the many aspects by which Silverlight 2 can enhance the SharePoint user experience.

What you will learn from this book

• Different ways to integrate with SharePoint

• How to create and deploy the SharePoint Web Parts host container

• Tips for adding the Silverlight video player application to the SharePoint site

• Ways to develop your first custom field type

• Suggestions for branding your SharePoint site

• Techniques for customizing Web Parts and creating editor parts

• How to deal with hidden fields, cookies, XML data ISLAND, and more

Who this book is for

This book is for developers who are interested in learning how they can implement Silverlight applications within their SharePoint installation.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

Social Computing with Microsoft® SharePoint® 2007

Social computing is a fast-moving and constantly evolving technology that aims to increase communication, encourage collaboration, and enhance productivity among people and resources. This book covers the major concepts, applications, and implementations of social computing and shows you how they are built with SharePoint 2007 today.

Serving as an introduction to social computing applications, the book answers fundamental questions such as what are social computing applications, how can these applications be used in my organization, how do I manage a social computing project, and what are the major components and applications that currently exist? The authors walk you through the necessary steps for adopting social computing applications and they prepare you for the pitfalls you may face—and explain how to avoid them.

You'll discover that social computing applications can be written on any framework, or even on their own, and you'll gain an understanding of the landscape of social computing as it relates to SharePoint 2007. With astrong comprehension of how to use SharePoint 2007 with social computing, you can promote collaboration and interaction between people in an organization through the use of blogs, wikis, RSS, mashups, and more.

What you will learn from this book

• How to use content tagging to effectively build solutions

• The benefits of using wikis

• Why your company should have a blog and how you can create it

• How to incorporate SharePoint 2007 with podcasting

• Various ways to use mashups

• The importance of using social computing search in order to have a successful application

Who this book is for

This book is for anyone who is interested in using the concepts, applications, and implementations of social computing. Experience working with social computing is not necessary.

Wrox guides are crafted to make learning programming languages and technologies easier than you think. Written by programmers for programmers, they provide a structured, tutorial format that will guide you through all the techniques involved.

Professional DotNetNuke® Module Programming

As the force behind the creation of new functionality to DotNetNuke Web sites, DotNetNuke modules are reusable programming components that offer a way to extend the basic DotNetNuke framework. With this resource, you'll learn the best practices for DotNetNuke module development, and you'll gain a clear understanding of the development techniques needed to work within the DotNetNuke framework.

This book begins with a look at development within DotNetNuke. The book walks you through DotNetNuke setup, terminology, development environment setup, and options for .NET project setup. You'll gradually move on to discussions of more advanced module programming concepts, such as optional interfaces and DotNetNuke user controls. A scenario-based model introduces other extension methods (such as authentication providers and skin objects), and demonstrates how to communicate with the API. Real-world examples throughout serve to enhance your grasp of ways to successfully market and distribute a completed DotNetNuke module.

What you will learn from this book

• How to properly create requirements for a DotNetNuke module project

• How to create modules that support static text localization

• Why it is important to adhere to the API, and how to take full advantage of it

• How to tightly and safely integrate custom code with the framework

• Techniques for packaging, installing, and debugging modules

• Tips for dealing with third-party components and controls

• Tips for working with both DotNetNuke 4.x and 5.x

• Implementation details for various Ajax frameworks, including jQuery and ASP.NET Ajax

l An understanding of alternative integration options such as authentication providers and skin objects

Who this book is for

This book is for DotNetNuke users of all levels of experience who are looking to expand their expertise. A knowledge of DotNetNuke is not required, but will be helpful.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

Excited about the new Google phone? T-Mobile’s G1 android phone is packed with possibilities, and T-Mobile G1 For Dummies will help you make the most of them.

This fun and friendly guide shows you how to navigate the G1’s android interface, make phone calls, view maps, manage contacts, browse the Web, and a whole lot more. Your T-Mobile G1 is so much more than a phone—it’s also an administrative assistant, movie theater, jukebox, mobile office, and several more things all rolled into one device. With T-Mobile G1 For Dummies, you can:

• Find out all about the Android smartphone operating system and what it offers
• Learn your way around the G1’s keyboard, buttons, and touch screen
• See how your G1 connects to both Wi-Fi networks and T-Mobile’s high-speed network
• Surf the Web, download music and picture files, and tweak browser settings
• Send and receive Gmail, get where you’re going with Google Maps, and stay organized with Google Calendar
• Take photos, check out YouTube, and fill your phone with media
• Manage your e-mail and choose which messages will be synced to your phone
• Shop the Android Market and discover more cool apps for your G1

Don’t waste a single cool feature of your T-Mobile G1! T-Mobile G1 For Dummies shows you how to use all the great Google functions, play (and even buy) music, browse the Web, add apps, and more.

About the Author

Chris Ziegler is Associate Mobile Editor at Engadget, a widely read Web site ranked as the #4 site on the Internet by Technorati. Chris is a respected expert on mobile platforms who writes daily news, reviews, and editorials on the wireless industry.