[vox] [fwd] Newsletter from O'Reilly UG Program, March 5

Bill Kendrick nbs at sonic.net
Fri Mar 6 15:43:31 PST 2009


Mostly-intact O'Reilly UG newsletter.  Enjoy,

----- Forwarded message from Marsee Henon -----

Date: Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:18:05 -0800
From: "Marsee Henon"
Subject: Newsletter from O'Reilly UG Program, March 5

                       O'Reilly.com UG Program Newsletter

   Hi there-

   viguy

   I hope you're enjoying your spring. We've had a month of much needed rain
   here in Sebastopol, CA. But that hasn't slowed us down. We've been working
   on some new projects like O'Reilly Master Classes and Developer Workshops.

   In this increasingly competitive job market, having top-of-the-line
   technical and management skills is critical. The good news is that you can
   improve your skills and learn some new techniques that will make you
   irreplaceable--without breaking the bank. Right now user group members can
   save 35% on an O'Reilly Master class, and learn directly from Scott Berkun
   on project management, Jonathan Zdziarski on iPhone forensics, Douglas
   Crockford on JavaScript coding, and Steve Souders on improving website
   performance. Give your career a real boost--just go to
   http://training.oreilly.com and use special offer code masterclassug to
   register and save 25%. Register by March 15 and get an extra $50 off.

   Speaking of discounts, I took a very quick poll from a couple of user
   group leaders and discovered there is quite a bit of confusion about our
   current book discount for user group members.

   Currently we offer 35% off with code DSUG on books, ebooks, and PDFs
   ordered directly through oreilly.com. Receive free ground shipping on
   orders of $29.95 or more in the US.

   International members and those of you looking for digital
   content--ordering an ebook is very easy and quick and gives you a DRM free
   version of our book you can read instantly in PDF, Kindle, iPhone, or
   other mobile formats. Read more about all our ebooks and how to use them
   at http://oreilly.com/ebooks.

   Looking for even more info about our authors? We've just created a special
   O'Reilly Authors group twitter account http://twitter.com/oReillyauthors
   that allows our authors to share with you directly. Read more on our blog
   post.

   Marsee

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

   In this issue:

     * New Releases
     * Upcoming Events
     * Conferences and Special Events News
     * School of Technology
     * News from O'Reilly & Beyond

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

   O'Reilly UG Program News-Just for User Group Leaders
   March 5, 2009

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

   O'Reilly News for User Group Members
   March 5, 2009

   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.

   Free ground shipping on orders of $29.95 or more. See details.

   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

   New Releases: Books, Short Cuts, and Rough Cuts:

     * 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know 
     * Adobe Illustrator CS4 One-on-One 
     * Agile Web Development with Rails, Third Edition (Pragmatic Bookshelf) 
     * Apprenticeship Patterns 
     * Architectural Photography (Rocky Nook) 
     * Beautiful Teams 
     * Build a Better Photograph (Rocky Nook) 
     * Cisco Routers for the Desperate, Second Edition (No Starch) 
     * Cocoa Programming (Pragmatic Bookshelf) 
     * Computer Orchestration Tips and Tricks (PC Publishing) 
     * Data Warehousing with SAP BW7 BI in SAP Netweaver 2004s (Rocky Nook) 
     * Growing Software (No Starch) 
     * iMovie '09 and iDVD: The Missing Manual 
     * iWork '09: The Missing Manual: Rough Cuts Version 
     * Java Web Services: Up and Running 
     * Make: Technology on Your Time Volume 17 
     * Manage Your Project Portfolio (Pragmatic Bookshelf) 
     * Masterminds of Programming 
     * Network Know-How (No Starch) 
     * Palm webOS: Rough Cuts Version 
     * Photoshop CS4 Photographer's Handbook (Rocky Nook) 
     * Practical Digital Photomicrography (Hard Cover) (Rocky Nook) 
     * Programming Entity Framework 
     * Programming F#: Rough Cuts Version 
     * Programming Ruby 1.9 (Pragmatic Bookshelf) 
     * Programming Scala (Pragmatic Bookshelf) 
     * Programming Scala: Rough Cuts Version 
     * Programming the Semantic Web: Rough Cuts Version 
     * Scanning Negatives and Slides, Second Edition (Rocky Nook) 
     * Security Monitoring 
     * Sexy Web Design (SitePoint) 
     * Take Control of Running Windows on a Mac, Third Edition (TidBITS) 
     * The Book of Inkscape (No Starch) 
     * The Manga Guide to Electricity (No Starch) 
     * The Nikon Creative Lighting System (Rocky Nook) 
     * The Nikon D90 Companion

   MAKE Magazine Subscriptions

   makezine.comThe 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

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Upcoming Events

   For more events, please see: events.oreilly.com

   Lesa Snider King at Geek Girl Camp                                         
   Mar 7, 2009                                                                
   Cape Cod Community College                                                 
   Hyannis, MA                                                                
   Author Lesa Snider King (Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual) presents her   
   digital photography and Photoshop Elements workshop "How to Shoot & Edit   
   Like a Pro". She's also teaching "Graphic Secrets for Presenters" which    
   focuses on how to give better presentations by telling your story through  
   pictures, and how to use Photoshop or Elements to turn the imagery you     
   have into the imagery you need.                                            

   Joshua-Michele Ross Featured on "Press:Here"                               
   Mar 8, 2009                                                                
   Joshua-Michele Ross will be featured on "Press:Here," joined by John       
   Schwarz from USA Today and Sarah Lacey from Business Week and Yahoo. The   
   topic will be on Twitter--exploring questions such as what is the value of 
   Twitter to you personally, professionally, and to your brand.              

   Emerging Technology Conference (ETech)                                     
   Mar 9-11, 2009                                                             
   Fairmont San Jose                                                          
   San Jose, CA                                                               
   Joshua-Michele Ross The O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference (ETech)    
   centers on future technologies that truly matter. From robotics, health    
   care, and space travel to gaming, finance, and art, ETech explores         
   promising technologies new to the innovation horizon, and investigates     
   those that have been on the horizon too long.                              

   Dean Wampler at SD West                                                    
   Mar 10-12, 2009                                                            
   Santa Clara Convention Center                                              
   Santa Clara, CA                                                            
   Author Dean Wampler (co-author of Programming Scala) is teaching a         
   tutorial on "The Seductions of Scala" and a class on "Better Ruby through  
   Functional Programming" at SD West 2009. The tutorial is March 10th and    
   the class is March 12th.                                                   

   Nancy Duarte Presenting at the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs & Executives  
   Mar 11, 2009                                                               
   Menlo Park, CA                                                             
   Nancy Duarte Nancy Duarte (slide:ology) will be presenting at the Forum    
   for Women Entrepreneurs & Executives (FWE&E). You'll gain insights into    
   story structures and the power that a well developed and delivered         
   presentation can have.                                                     

   QCon London 2009                                                           
   Mar 11-13, 2009                                                            
   The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre                                   
   London, UK                                                                 
   The third annual London enterprise software development conference         
   designed for team leads, architects and project management is back! There  
   is no other event in the UK with similar opportunities for learning,       
   networking, and tracking innovation occurring in the Java, .NET, Ruby,     
   SOA, Agile, and architecture communities. Madness and fun!                 

   Lesa Snider King at Geek Girl Camp                                         
   Mar 12, 2009                                                               
   Lombardo's                                                                 
   Randolph, MA                                                               
   Author Lesa Snider King (Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual) presents her   
   digital photography and Photoshop Elements workshop "How to Shoot & Edit   
   Like a Pro". She's also teaching "Graphic Secrets for Presenters" which    
   focuses on how to give better presentations by telling your story through  
   pictures, and how to use Photoshop or Elements to turn the imagery you     
   have into the imagery you need.                                            

   Ken Lunde at Worldware Conference                                          
   Mar 17-19, 2009                                                            
   Hilton Santa Clara                                                         
   Santa Clara, CA                                                            
   Author Ken Lunde (CJKV Information Processing) presents "GB 18030 a**      
   Regional Challenges in Internationalizing Software."                       

   Wendy Chisholm and Matt May at SXSW                                        
   Mar 17, 2009                                                               
   Room Day Stage, Austin Convention Center                                   
   Austin, TX                                                                 
   Authors Wendy Chisholm and Matt May read from and discuss Universal Design 
   for Web Applications.                                                      

   Nancy Duarte Speaks at presentation//reboot                                
   Mar 17-19, 2009                                                            
   Duarte Design, 161 E. Evelyn Ave.                                          
   Mountain View, CA                                                          
   Nancy Duarte (slide:ology) and Garr Reynolds host a six-hour seminar on    
   presentations. This seminar will transform you into a creative thinker and 
   change the way you prepare, design, and deliver your next presentation.    
   Choose from three different days, and register now--space is limited.      

   Bill Scott at Mix09                                                        
   Mar 18-20, 2009                                                            
   The Venetian                                                               
   Las Vegas, NV, USA                                                         
   Author Bill Scott (Designing Web Interfaces: Principles and Patterns for   
   Rich Interaction) will be presenting "Interactive Prototyping with DHTML." 

   Nancy Duarte Honored at Silicon Valley's 2009 Women of Influence Awards    
   Mar 18, 2009                                                               
   The Fairmont Hotel                                                         
   San Jose, CA                                                               
   Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal and El Camino Hospital will       
   recognize 100 outstanding women who exercise power and influence within    
   business, government, or nonprofits in Silicon Valley, and serve as role   
   models for future generations of leaders. Among the honorees is Nancy      
   Duarte, author of slide:ology. Registration is mandatory.                  

   Stephen Johnson Gives a Class on Hands-on Digital Black and White Printing 
   Mar 19-22, 2009                                                            
   Stephen Johnson Studios & Gallery                                          
   Pacifica, CA                                                               
   Join Stephen Johnson (Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography) in his       
   studio for four days of hands-on printing instruction.                     

   Dux Raymond Sy presents "7 Ways to Leverage SharePoint for Project         
   Management Success"                                                        
   Mar 23, 2009                                                               
   Sheraton Inner Harbor                                                      
   Baltimore, MD, USA                                                         
   SharePoint for PM Dux Raymond Sy (SharePoint for Project Management) will  
   present "7 Ways to Leverage SharePoint for Project Management Success" at  
   the SharePoint Conference.ORG. Acquire the practical knowledge of how      
   SharePoint can address common project management challenges such as        
   Inefficient communication among stakeholders, poor document management     
   practices, and undefined project collaboration standards that can          
   compromise project success.                                                

   Lesa Snider King at Photoshop World Boston                                 
   Mar 25, 2009                                                               
   Hynes Convention Center                                                    
   Boston, MA                                                                 
   Lesa Snider King (Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual) presents "Graphic     
   Secrets: Combining Photos & Vectors." Learn how to easily combine          
   illustrations with photography in this super creative session. Glean the   
   secret to importing vectors into your document so you can experiment with  
   them as backgrounds, artful embellishments, ornamental photo frames, and   
   more -- all without losing an ounce of quality!                            

   Dux Raymond Sy presents: "Empowering Your Organization with SharePoint: An 
   Executive Seminar"                                                         
   Mar 30, 2009                                                               
   Learning Tree Alexandria Education Center                                  
   Alexandria, VA                                                             
   Over the course of one day, SharePoint expert Dux Raymond Sy (SharePoint   
   for Project Management) will detail the benefits SharePoint can deliver to 
   your organization through a combination of lecture, presentations and      
   demonstrations. This comprehensive, non-technical overview is designed to  
   help you assess how SharePoint Technologies can have a positive effect on  
   your companya**s productivity and competitiveness.                         

   "Using Drupal" Authors Present Lullabot Drupal Workshops                   
   Mar 30-Apr 3, 2009                                                         
   Biltmore Hotel                                                             
   Providence, RI                                                             
   Authors James Walker, Jeff Robbins, Angie Byron, and Nate Haug (Using      
   Drupal) will be leading a week of Drupal workshops in Providence, RI.      

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Conference News

   Emerging Technology Conference " title= Last Chance--Emerging Technology
   Conference 2009
   March 9-12, 2009 in San Jose, CA

   Use code "et09usrg" when you register, and receive an additional 30% off
   the registration price.
   O'Reilly Found, The Search Acquisition and Architecture Conference
   O'Reilly Found, The Search Acquisition and Architecture Conference
   June 9-11, 2009 in Burlingame, CA

   Use code "fo09usrg" when you register, and receive 15% off the
   registration price. Early registration ends on April 21.
   Velocity 2009 Velocity 2009
   June 22-24, 2009 in San Jose, CA

   Use code "vel09usrg" when you register, and receive 15% off the
   registration price. Early registration ends on May 3.
   RailsConf 2009 RailsConf 2009
   May 4-7, 2009 in Las Vegas, NV
   Co-presented by O'Reilly Media and Ruby Central

   Use code "rc09usrg" when you register, and receive 10% off the
   registration price. Early registration ends on March 16.
   Where 2.0 Conference Where 2.0 2009
   May 19-21, 2009 in San Jose, CA

   Use code "whr09usrg" when you register, and receive 15% off the
   registration price. Early registration ends on March 31.
   MySQL Conference & Expo MySQL Conference & Expo
   April 20-23, 2009 in Santa Clara, CA
   Co-presented by O'Reilly Media and MySQL

   Use code "mys09usrg" when you register, and receive 15% off the
   registration price. Early Registration Ends February 16.
   Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco
   March 31-April 3, 2009 in San Francisco, CA
   Co-presented by O'Reilly Media and TechWeb

   Use code "websf09ugp" when you register, and receive 15% off the
   registration price. Or use code "websf09ug" and recieve $100 off or a free
   expo hall pass.
   OSCON 2009 OSCON 2009
   July 20-24, 2009 in San Jose, CA

   If you have ideas for speakers and topics please send them to:
   oscon-idea at oreilly.com
   Ignite Logo Ignite
   If you had five minutes on stage what would you say? What if you only got
   20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds? Around the
   world geeks have been putting together Ignite nights to show their
   answers.
   Create your own Ignite in your area.

   Upcoming Ignite events:

     * Ignite Reno 1, March 7, 148 West St. Reno, NV
     * Ignite Denver 2, March 11, Forest Room 5 , Denver, CO
     * Announcing Ignite Spatial 2, March 11, 52 King St Sydney New South
       Wales, Australia
     * Ignite Boise, March 19, Egyptian Theater, 700 W. Main Street, Boise,
       ID
     * Ignite Salt Lake 2, March 26, 677 South 200 West, Orlando, FL

   For more events, go to http://ignite.oreilly.com/

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

   O'Reilly School of Technology

   OST 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:

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

   In today's economy, it's crucial to stay competitive in Information
   Technology. With the O'Reilly School of Technology, you can do just
   that--at your own pace, with 1-to-1 instructor support, real tools, and
   free books.

   New Java Programming Course Java Programming 1: Introduction to Java and
   the Eclipse Development Environment! We are especially excited about this
   course, because it is the first course to utilize Ellipse, our brand-new
   Learning Sandbox built on the Eclipse open-source IDE. This is the first
   course in our upcoming Java Programming Certificate Series. The Java
   Programming 2 and 3 courses will be released very soon as they are in
   their final editing phases.

   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. (This discount may not be
   combinable with other offers.)

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

   News from O'Reilly & Beyond

   UG News

   Listen to the O'Reilly Week in Review
   Get some O'Reilly on your iPod! Every week, we take the wisdom of
   O'Reilly, and squeeze it down into a bite-sized podcast you can listen to
   on the go. The O'Reilly Week in Review features excerpts from interviews,
   tips from authors, roundtable discussions from the editors, and a quiz
   that can score you a free O'Reilly book. Subscribe via iTunes or search
   for "week in review" on the O'Reilly web site to listen from your browser.

   Subversion Can Subversion help teams work better? Tell us and you could
   win one of 10 great prize packages!
   Are you on a team that works with shared documents? If so, you know what a
   headache version control can be. The good news is that there is a remedy:
   Subversion, a simple yet powerful open-source document management tool
   that streamlines the versioning process. O'Reilly, Beanstalk, Versions,
   and CollabNet--four companies who make working with Subversion even
   easier--want to hear your best stories about how Subversion has or could
   help your team. Tell us your story by March 6, 2009 and enter to win one
   of 10 Prize Packages.

   State of the Computer Book Market 2008
   As described in Computer Book Sales as a Technology Trend Indicator, and
   our other posts on the State of the Computer Book Market we have an
   updated series of posts that show the whole market's final 2008 numbers.

     * Part 2: The Technologies
     * Part 3: The Publishers
     * Part 4:The Languages
     * Part 5: eBooks and Summary

   Why Kindle Should Be An Open Book
   In O'Reilly Insights on Forbes.com, Tim O'Reilly boldly predicts that
   "unless Amazon embraces open ebook standards like epub, which allow
   readers to read books on a variety of devices, the Kindle will be gone
   within two or three years." In the new column, O'Reilly explains why he's
   thrown his support behind "epub and other open ebook standards, providing
   our books as "ebook bundles" that give the reader the choice of pdf (still
   the only viable choice for many highly formatted books like our Head First
   series of "brain friendly" tutorials that even HTML can't handle), epub,
   and mobi, an HTML-based predecessor to the Kindle format that lacks
   digital rights management but that can be imported into the Kindle."

   Deke McClelland's Martini Hour Visualization Contest Details
   The basic idea is simple; create a graphic that can be used to promote
   Martini Hour that features some Deke, some Colleen, and some Martini or
   other refreshing beverage. You can use the raw materials we have posted in
   the dekeOnline Flickr group. Or you can use anything you like. (Remember,
   Deke likes costumes and weapons.)

   Twitter

   Twitter Drives Traffic, Sales: A Case Study
   Back in December, Dell reported that offers from its Dell Outlet Twitter
   account had led to more than $1 million in revenue. A small percentage for
   a company that books $16B in revenue annually--but a nice number
   nonetheless, particularly in a dreary economy. Question is: are they the
   only ones?

   Call For Makers: Maker Faire Bay Area 2009
   We are now accepting entries for the Maker Faire Bay Area, May 30 and 31
   at the San Mateo County Expo Center. This year's focus is Re-Make America,
   inspired by President Obama's call for all of us to participate in
   remaking America. We're looking to showcase "the risk-takers, the doers,
   the makers of things."

   Sneak Peek at iWork '09 & Share Your Tips Contest
   Currently available as a Rough Cut, the new book will teach you everything
   you need to know about Apple's incredible productivity programs, including
   the Pages word-processor, the Numbers spreadsheet, and the Keynote
   presentation program that Al Gore and Steve Jobs made famous. Read an
   excerpt from Josh Clark's work in progress, (adapted for the web). Then,
   take a minute to share an iWork '09 tip and you could win free access to
   iWork '09: The Missing Manual: Rough Cuts Version.

   What You'll Find in "Ruby Best Practices"
   When Ruby Best Practices first entered roughcuts, Gregory Brown passed on
   a couple copies to some reviewers to see what they thought, and Peter
   Cooper summed things up pretty accurately.
   And here's a sample chapter "Mastering the Dynamic Toolkit" in PDF.

   Ignite Launches Weekly Video Series Highlighting the Best of GeekCulture
   Ignite captures the best of geek culture in a series of five-minute speed
   presentations on topics ranging from "The Best Way to Buy a Car" to
   "Hacking Chocolate" to "Transhuman Technology Trends." Imagine that you're
   on stage in front of an audience of hundreds of people, doing a
   five-minute presentation using a slide deck that auto-forwards every 15
   seconds, whether you're ready or not. What would you do? What would you
   say? Could you stand the pressure? Every week, find out how some of the
   smartest minds on the planet dealt with this situation as your host, Brady
   Forrest, highlights a different talk from Ignites around the world.

   Safari

   Safari Books Online Optimizes for Top Mobile Devices
   Safari Books Online Ubiquitous for Users On-the-Go Safari Books Online is
   now fully optimized to support the top mobile devices in the United
   States. The new website, m.safaribooksonline.com, optimizes Safari Books
   Online's content and reading experience for the majority of mobile phones
   (such as Nokia, BlackBerry, iPhone, and Windows Mobile), making it
   possible for users to read while on-the-go.

   ETech Preview: Creating Biological Legos
   If you've gotten tired of hacking firewalls or cloud computing, maybe it's
   time to try your hand with DNA. That's what Reshma Shetty is doing with
   her Doctorate in Biological Engineering from MIT. Apart from her crowning
   achievement of getting bacteria to smell like mint and bananas, she's also
   active in the developing field of synthetic biology and has recently
   helped found a company called Gingko BioWorks which is developing enabling
   technologies to allow for rapid prototyping of biological systems.

   ETech Preview: Inside Factory China, An Interview with Andrew Huang
   China has become the production workhorse of the consumer electronics
   industry. Almost anything you pick up at a Best Buy first breathed life
   across the Pacific Ocean. But what is it like to shepherd a product
   through the design and production process? Andrew "bunnie" Huang has done
   just that with the Chumby, a new internet appliance.

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Until next time-
   Marsee Henon
               Spreading the knowledge of innovators.O'Reilly.com
   You are receiving this email because you are a User Group contact with
   O'Reilly Media. If you would like to stop receiving these newsletters or
   announcements from O'Reilly, send an email to marsee at oreilly.com

   O'Reilly Media, Inc. 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472
   http://ug.oreilly.com/   http://ug.oreilly.com/creativemedia/

----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
-bill!
"Tux Paint" - free children's drawing software for Windows / Mac OS X / Linux!
Download it today!  http://www.tuxpaint.org/


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