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[marsee@oreilly.com: Newsletter from O'Reilly UG Program, August 24]


----- Forwarded message from Marsee Henon <marsee@oreilly.com> -----

From: Marsee Henon <marsee@oreilly.com>
To: waltman@pobox.com
Subject: Newsletter from O'Reilly UG Program, August 24
Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 17:01:34 -0700

================================================================
O'Reilly News for User Group Members
August 24, 2007
================================================================
---------------------------------------------------------------
New Releases--Books, Short Cuts, and Rough Cuts
----------------------------------------------------------------
Get 35% off from O'Reilly, No Starch, Paraglyph, PC Publishing,
Pragmatic Bookshelf, Rocky Nook, SitePoint, or YoungJin books 
you purchase directly from O'Reilly.

Just use code DSUG when ordering online or by phone 800-998-9938.
<http://www.oreilly.com/store/>

Free ground shipping on orders of $29.95 or more.
For more details, go to:
<http://www.oreilly.com/news/freeshipping_0703.html>

Did you know you can request a free book or PDF to review for your
group? Ask your group leader for more information.

For book review writing tips and suggestions, go to:
<http://ug.oreilly.com/bookreviews.html>


***3ds Max 9.0 (Young Jin)
ISBN 10: 8931433719
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/8931433719/>

***The Artist's Guide to GIMP Effects (No Starch)
ISBN 10: 1593271212
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/1593271212/>

***The Book of Qt 4 (No Starch)
ISBN 10: 1593271476
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/1593271476/>

***Designing Web Navigation
ISBN 10: 0596528108
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596528102/>

***Dynamic Learning: Flash CS3 Professional
ISBN 10: 0596510586
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596510589/>

***FileMaker Pro 9: The Missing Manual
ISBN 10: 0596514131
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514136/>

***Forbidden LEGO (No Starch)
ISBN 10: 1593271379
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/1593271379/>

***Google in Education
ISBN 10: 0596515189
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596515188/>

***Head First SQL
ISBN 10: 0596526849
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596526849/>

***iPhone: The Missing Manual
ISBN 10: 0596513747
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596513740/>

***JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook, Second Edition
ISBN 10: 0596514085
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514082/>

***Learning PHP & MySQL, Second Edition
ISBN 10: 0596514018
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514013/>

***The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Idea Book (No Starch)
ISBN 10: 1593271506
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9781593271503/>

***MAKE: Technology on Your Time Volume 11
ISBN 10: 0596513879
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596513870/>

***Microsoft Project 2007: The Missing Manual
ISBN 10: 0596528361
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596528362/>

***The Nikon D200 Dbook (Rocky Nook)
ISBN 10: 0596514018
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514013/>

***The Nikon D80 Dbook (Rocky Nook)
ISBN 10: 1933952156
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9781933952154/>

***Photoshop Lightroom Adventure
ISBN 10: 059610099X
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596100995/>

***Pragmatic Unit Testing in C# with NUnit, Second Edition 
(Pragmatic Bookshelf)
ISBN 10: 0977616673
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/0977616673/>

***Programming Collective Intelligence
ISBN 10: 0596529325
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596529321/>

***Security Power Tools
ISBN 10: 0596009631
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596009632/>

***SOA in Practice
ISBN 10: 0596529554
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596529550/>

***Visualizing Data: Rough Cuts Version
ISBN 10: 0596515936
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596515935/>

***Windows Vista Accelerated (Young Jin)
ISBN 10: 8931434383
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/8931434383/>


***MAKE Magazine Subscriptions
MAKE Magazine Subscriptions
The annual subscription price for four issues is $34.95. When you
subscribe with this link, you'll get a free issue--one plus four 
more for $34.95. So subscribe for yourself or friends with this
great offer for UG Members: five volumes for the cost of four.
Subscribe at:
<http://www.makezine.com/go/ugsub>


***Craft Magazine Subscriptions
The annual subscription price for four issues is $34.95. When you
subscribe with this link, you'll get a free issue--the first one plus
four more for $34.95. So subscribe for yourself or friends with this
great offer for UG Members: five volumes for the cost of four.
Subscribe at:
<http://www.craftzine.com/go/craftug>

================================================
Upcoming Events
================================================
For more events, please see: 
<http://events.oreilly.com/>

***O'Reilly Authors at No Fluff Just Stuff eXchange 2007, Aug 29-31
   --London, England
NFJS eXchange 2007 will feature over 50 sessions covering core Java,
Enterprise Java, Web Services, Open Source Technology, Architecture, and
Agile Software Development. The NFJS eXchange is a technically focused
event, which is vendor free and offers a limited attendance model
ensuring a great deal of interaction between speakers and attendees.
Come learn from industry experts and from each other, see real world
case studies and delve into hands-on code examples. Features Scott
Davis(JBoss at Work: A Practical Guide and GIS for Web Developers), Ted
Neward (C# in a Nutshell, Second Edition and Shared Source CLI
Essentials), and Venkat Subramaniam (Practices of an Agile Developer and
.NET Gotchas). O'Reilly readers get a free Nintendo Wii when booking a
ticket! Just quote NFJS-ORE644. 
<http://www.nfjs-exchange.com/pcd/1182>


***O'Reilly at Photoshop World Expo, Sep 6-8--Las Vegas, NV
This conference brings together photographers, designers, artists,
educators, motion graphics designers, and Photoshop users of every kind
for a three-day Photoshop love fest of training, learning, and fun. Stop
by the O'Reilly booth (# 220) to say hi, and pick up some great new
books. 
<http://www.photoshopworld.com/>


***Ignite Boston 2! Sep 6--Boston, MA
Mingle and talk tech with your fellow FOOs, alpha geeks, and techies
from the greater Boston area. We've picked a venue that is more
acoustically-oriented and should allow everyone to hear what's going on.
And we are planning to mix-up the format a little. There will be some
short "launches," followed by lightening talks, and a couple of other
ideas that we will inform you of in the coming weeks. Let's show our
tech colleagues around the country that Boston/Cambridge have a vibrant
tech community that gets involved in talking about cool new technologies
and ideas. Not to mention that it's a social event to get to know other
developers in the area. If you plan to attend, email IgniteBoston at 
oreilly dot com for the chance to win $300 worth of O'Reilly books of 
your choosing. You must be present to win. 
<http://www.oreillynet.com/ignite/blog/2007/08/ignite_boston_2.html>


***Steve Souders at The 2007 Rich Web Experience, Sep 6-8--
   San Jose, CA
Author Steve Souders (High Performance Web Sites) will be presenting a
workshop titled "High Performance Web Sites with Tenni Theurer."
Yahoo!'s Exceptional Performance team has identified 14 best practices
for making web pages faster through a series of research studies on
Yahoo!'s properties. These guidelines focus on the front end, for
example, why it's bad to use "@import" for including stylesheets and why
ETags disable browser caching. These best practices have proven to
reduce response times of Yahoo! properties by 25-50%. 
<http://www.therichwebexperience.com/conference/san_jose/2007/09/index.html>


***Dynamic Learning Series Authors & the AGI Creative Team Host
   "Mastering the Adobe Creative Suite 3", Sep 11-13--Los Angeles, CA
Learn from the team of authors and instructors that created many of
Adobe's official training titles and have now combined their talents to
bring you the Dynamic Learning series of seminars, books, and training
videos. Come discover the new features and understand hard-to-find tips
and tricks that can save you hours of time. 
<http://www.agitraining.com/cs3/cs3seminar/index.html>


***Dynamic Learning Series Authors & the AGI Creative Team Host
   "Mastering the Adobe Creative Suite 3",  Sep 11-13--Dallas, TX
Learn from the team of authors and instructors that created many of
Adobe's official training titles and have now combined their talents to
bring you the Dynamic Learning series of seminars, books, and training
videos. Come discover the new features and understand hard-to-find tips
and tricks that can save you hours of time. 
<http://www.agitraining.com/cs3/cs3seminar/index.html>


***Derrick Story and Mikkel Aaland at the Sonoma County Book Festival,
   Sep 15--Santa Rosa, CA
Authors Mikkel Aaland (Photoshop Lightroom Adventure and Photoshop CS2
RAW) and Derrick Story (Digital Photography Hacks and Digital
Photography Pocket Guide, 3rd Ed.) discuss "Photography Publishing
Opportunities in the Digital Age" at the Eighth Annual Sonoma County
Book Festival. 
<http://www.socobookfest.org/index.html>


***RailsConf Europe, Sep 17-19--Berlin, Germany
Get on board with the latest Rails developments and hang out with the
experts and other Rails fans making it all happen. Co-presented by Ruby
Central and O'Reilly Media. 
<http://conferences.oreillynet.com/railseurope/>


***Dynamic Learning Series Authors & the AGI Creative Team Host
"Mastering the Adobe Creative Suite 3",Sep 18--Orlando, FL
Learn from the team of authors and instructors that created many of
Adobe's official training titles and have now combined their talents to
bring you the Dynamic Learning series of seminars, books, and training
videos. Come discover the new features and understand hard-to-find tips
and tricks that can save you hours of time. 
<http://www.agitraining.com/cs3/cs3seminar/index.html>


***Dynamic Learning Series Authors & the AGI Creative Team Host
"Mastering the Adobe Creative Suite 3", Sep 18-20--San Francisco, CA
Learn from the team of authors and instructors that created many of
Adobe's official training titles and have now combined their talents to
bring you the Dynamic Learning series of seminars, books, and training
videos. Come discover the new features and understand hard-to-find tips
and tricks that can save you hours of time. 
<http://www.agitraining.com/cs3/cs3seminar/index.html>


***Andrew Stellman and Jennifer Greene at PMI Mass Bay, 
   Sep 20--Boston, MA
Head First PMP authors Andrew Stellman and Jennifer Greene talk through
the ways that software projects fail, using the signature humor and
insight in the acclaimed "Head First" series. There's an old saying:
"There's only one way to succeed, but a million ways to fail." But that
saying just isn't true when it comes to software projects. As it turns
out, there are a small number of ways that projects fail, and they'll
sound eerily familiar to any project manager, software engineer or
programmer who's been around for more than a few years. Many software
projects that started out as a small, stopgap utility turn into raging
behemoths, sucking seemingly unlimited time from your programmers. Or
the president of your company announced that your project will be done
this week, even though you know that it still has an enormous number of
bugs. Or your team delivered the software, only to have users complain
that an entire feature is missing. Or every time the team fixes a bug,
they seem to uncover a dozen more?including ones that you know were
fixed six months ago. Once you know how projects fail, you can do what
you need to do to keep them on track. 
<http://pmimassbay.org/newpage_nf3.cfm?pagename=home&slot=a1>


***Dynamic Learning Series Authors & the AGI Creative Team Host
"Mastering the Adobe Creative Suite 3", Sep 25-27,--Minneapolis, MN
Learn from the team of authors and instructors that created many of
Adobe's official training titles and have now combined their talents to
bring you the Dynamic Learning series of seminars, books, and training
videos. Come discover the new features and understand hard-to-find tips
and tricks that can save you hours of time. 
<http://www.agitraining.com/cs3/cs3seminar/index.html>


***Dynamic Learning Series Authors & the AGI Creative Team Host
"Mastering the Adobe Creative Suite 3", Sep 25-27--Toronto
Learn from the team of authors and instructors that created many of
Adobe's official training titles and have now combined their talents to
bring you the Dynamic Learning series of seminars, books, and training
videos. Come discover the new features and understand hard-to-find tips
and tricks that can save you hours of time. 
<http://www.agitraining.com/cs3/cs3seminar/index.html>

================================================
Conference News
================================================
***Registration is Open for RailsConf Europe, 
   17-19 September in Berlin, Germany
Use code "re07usrg" when you register, and receive 15% off
the registration price.

To register for the conference, go to:
<http://conferences.oreillynet.com/pub/w/61/register.html>

For complete conference information, go to:
<http://conferences.oreilly.com/>


***ETel 2008 call for participation is now open
The O'Reilly Emerging Telephony Conference is happening March 3-4, 2008.
We welcome plenary submissions for our audience of people who, like you,
are pushing through the boundaries of communications into new ways of
thinking and doing. Topics will be centered around the innovations and
projects occurring at the intersection of voice, instant messaging, the
mobile ecosystem, and the Web. Submit a proposal to speak at ETel.
Proposals are due September 17.
<http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/etel2008/create/e_sess>


***O'Reilly's inaugural Money:Tech Conference has been announced
The dates are February 6-7, 2008 in New York City. That's right, in the
heart of the financial universe, New York, NY, Money:Tech will raise the
level of conversation around technology advances in the investment
industry, and bring together innovators with established players to
increase adoption and awareness and push the technology forward. Learn
more about Money:Tech
<http://conferences.oreilly.com/money/>

================================================
News From O'Reilly & Beyond
================================================
---------------------
General News
---------------------
***Ignite Boston 2! September 6
Attention all New Englanders?-here's a heads-up that we're having a
second Ignite Boston on Thursday, September 6, from 6 to 10pm at
Hurricane O'Reillys. Yes that's right, Hurricane O'Reillys at 150 Canal
St, Boston, MA. No, it's not Tim's office after FOO Camp. We've picked a
venue that is more acoustically-oriented and should allow everyone to
hear what's going on. And we are planning to mix-up the format a little.
There will be some short "launches," followed by lightening talks, and a
couple of other ideas.
<http://www.oreillynet.com/ignite/blog/>


***What is O'Reilly Editor Andy Oram Up to These Days?
Andy continues his research into the free documentation written by users.
Recent articles on the topic include "Why Do People Write Free
Documentation?"
(http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2007/06/14/why-do-people-write-free-document\ation-results-of-a-survey.html)
 which analyzes the results of an O'Reilly survey answered by
over 350 respondents, and "How to Help Mailing Lists Help Readers"
(http://praxagora.com/andyo/professional/mailing_list_follow_up/) which
finds interesting results concerning how many questions get answered on
mailing lists and how long the list members spend on questions. Andy
presented his results at the July 2007 Open Source convention in
Portland, OR. For more information or to read Andy's articles, go to:
<http://praxagora.com/community_documentation/>


***The Watering Hole
A weekly comic poking fun at O'Reilly and the technology industry in
general. Think of it as User Friendly with animals.
<http://www.oreillynet.com/wateringhole/blog/>


***DIY O'Reilly Gear
Create Your Own Calendar, Shirt, Notebook, Poster...In just three easy
steps you can create one of a kind calendars, greeting cards, keychains,
luggage tags, magnets, mousepads, mugs, notebooks, postcards, posters,
shirts, hoodies, and stickers adorned with your favorite O'Reilly
animals. Create yours now! 
<http://www.qoop.com/photobooks/photofront/pub_store.php?pub_name=oreilly>


***Top 5 Blog posts on the O'Reilly Network:

M. David Peterson--Dear WhyFirefoxIsBlocked.com
<http://www.oreillynet.com/xml/blog/2007/08/dear_whyfirefoxisblockedcom.html>

Carla Schroder--Linux Journal: the Last Idiot's Club
<http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/blog/2007/08/linux_journal_the_last_idiots_1.html>

Jeremy Jones--Is Firefox on Mac Unusable?
<http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2007/08/is_firefox_on_mac_unusable.html>

Joshua Scott Emmons--Bad Thurrott==Good Design
<http://www.oreillynet.com/mac/blog/2007/08/to_invent_a_fallacious_argumen.html>

Carla Schroder--Dear Linux Journal: News Flash--Women Are People
<http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/blog/2007/08/dear_linux_journal_news_flash_1.html>


***O'Reilly School of Technology Courses: UG Members Receive 
   a 30% Discount
O'Reilly School of Technology has opened its virtual doors with
educational offerings and certification for IT students looking to
further their careers or to launch one. As an O'Reilly User Group 
member, you save on all the courses in the following University of 
Illinois Certificate Series:

-Linux/Unix System Administration
-Web Programming
-Open Source Programming
-.NET Programming
-Client-Side Web Programming featuring AJAX

To redeem, use Promotion Code "ORALL1," good for a 30% discount,
in Step #2 of the enrollment process. Each course comes with a free
O'Reilly book and a 7-day money-back guarantee. 
Register online:
<http://www.oreillyschool.com/?CMP=BAC-ostug>

---------------------
Open Source
---------------------
***Cookin' with Ruby on Rails
Bill Walton, well known for his "Rolling with Ruby on Rails Revisited"
tutorials, is back with a new series that takes Rails to the next level.
<http://www.oreillynet.com/topic/ruby.csp>


***Introduction to Flex Using PHP 
Flex is Adobe's next-generation platform of deploying browser-based
applications. Jack Herrington provides us with an introduction to Flex,
by showing us how to integrate it with a PHP-based backend.
<http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2007/07/19/introduction-to-flex-using-php.html>


***Mono: A Progress Report 
Mono has always been a bit of an outsider. Open source folks distrust it
because it helps people use Microsoft technologies on non-Microsoft
platforms. Microsoft people don't see the need for it. But this social
outcast has been making steady progress and can offer a lot if you take
the time to check it out. Edd Dumbill gives us an update on the state of
Mono.
<http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2007/08/09/mono-a-progress-report.html>

---------------------
Digital Media
---------------------
***iLife '08 for Aperture Users with Joe Schorr
Apple recently released iLife '08 with a truckload of goodies for
Aperture users. In this podcast, Joe Schorr tells you how to use some of
these new tools and discusses the latest Aperture update (1.5.4).
<http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2007/08/16/ilife-08-for-aperture-users.html>


***Thinking Camera, Lens, Lightroom before taking the shot--George Mann's Blog
When I saw this scene in front of me, I realized that it was going to be
very difficult to get what I was seeing. For one it was very dark and I
was standing on a very narrow and slippery ledge between the lichen
encrusted ruins of Banteay Kdei (Angkor, Cambodia) and the jungle. I
didn't have a tripod with me but it was doubtful that I could have
gotten the angle I was after even if I had one anyway (where is that
Gitzo ladder tripod when you really need one).
<http://www.oreillynet.com/digitalmedia/blog/2007/08/thinking_camera_lens_lightroom.html>


***Highlight and Shadow Recovery in Harsh Light--Derrick Story's Blog
Nothing like a midday August wedding to strike fear into the heart of
this digital photographer. Harsh sun, sparse shade, black suits, white
gowns, black skin, white skin ? often all in the same shot. This is a
situation where you have to shoot Raw and thank goodness for the
Highlight and Shadow recovery sliders in Aperture. I have lots of tricks
for dealing with bad lighting (find shade whenever possible, fill flash,
reflectors, etc.), but as you know, sometimes clients say, "We don't
have time to walk over there; let's just take the shot here." Horror.
"Not here!" I think. "This is the last place on the planet I want to
take this shot."
<http://www.oreillynet.com/digitalmedia/blog/2007/08/highlight_and_shadow_recovery.html>

---------------------
Mac/Apple
---------------------
***The Good Easy on OS X 
Giles Turnbull examines Mark Hurst's "Good Easy" productivity tools and
methods for Macs. Giles spoke with the author of "Bit Literacy" about
his philosophy and choices for simplifying computing.
<http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2007/07/25/the-good-easy-on-os-x.html>


***Understanding Exceptions and Handlers in Cocoa 
Learn how to use Cocoa to build an exception handling system. This
article shows the classes and keywords needed, how to prepare and raise
a Cocoa exception, as well as how to intercept and process the
exception.
<http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2007/07/31/understanding-exceptions-and-handlers-in-cocoa.html>

---------------------
Microsoft/.NET
---------------------
***Build Dynamic Database Applications in .NET with Project Codename
"Jasper" 
Instead of moving to Ruby on Rails, ASP.NET developers might consider
Project Codename "Jasper" and the growing number of .NET dynamic
languages. In this article, you'll learn how to use Jasper.
<http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2007/07/31/build-dynamic-database-applications-in-net-with-project-codename-jasper.html>


***Introduction to JavaFX Script 
In this article, Anghel Leonard give us a walkthrough of JavaFX Script,
the syntax, several examples, and usage within Eclipse and NetBeans.
<http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2007/07/27/introduction-to-javafx-script.html>

---------------------
Head First
---------------------
***Big Head Photo Contest Ends this month
Brain packed full of Head First learning? Show us! Send in a photo of
yourself in the Head First "Big Head" style (like on the covers of our
books). At the end of August, we'll pick our favorite one and send the
winner a free Head First T-Shirt and their pick of $200 in O'Reilly
books. We might put the picture inside our next Head First book. If it's
cool enough, we might even use it on the cover.
<http://www.headfirstlabs.com/bighead.php?CMP=NLC-July07>


***New Forums for Head First SQL
Head First SQL is at the Printers. And now you can chat with the author
and other SQL readers at our new forums.
<http://headfirstlabs.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=12>

---------------------
Web
---------------------
***Inside Adobe's onAIR Summer Bus Tour
FOOs and O'Reilly Folk Hit the Road. Read our blog posts, tips, photos, dates, and more.
<http://www.oreilly.com/store/series/adl_onair.csp>


***Nifty Navigation Using CSS
Navigation is the key to surfing the Web, and in this collection of
ready-made solutions Rachel steps us through horizontal and vertical
menus, drop-down, fly-out, and tabbed navigation systems.
<http://www.sitepoint.com/article/navigation-using-css>


***Microformats: More Meaning from your Markup
Hidden on many pages of the Web are tiny packets of information --
people, places, events, and more. You and I can read them, but they're
invisible to machines. Imagine the possibilities if that information
became visible to other sites and applications! In this article, Brian
shows how the addition of microformats to your web site markup can open
up a whole new raft of possibilities.
<http://www.sitepoint.com/article/microformats-meaning-markup>


***OSCON 2007 Coverage: High Performance Web Pages
Matthew Eernisse covers O'Reilly author Steve Souders (High Performance Web Sites)
session at OSCON in Portland this year.
<http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2007/08/07/oscon-2007-high-performance-web-pages>


Until next time--

Marsee Henon


================================================================
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Sebastopol, CA   95472
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