================================================================
O'Reilly UG Program News--Just for User Group Leaders
June 10, 2004
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-Have a Virtual Book Signing at Your Next Meeting
-We Still Have Expo Hall Passes for Macworld in Boston July 13-15
-Put Up an O'Reilly Open Source Convention Banner, Get a Free Book
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Book Info
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***Review books are available 
Copies of our books are available for your members to review--
send me an email and please include the book's ISBN number on 
your request. Let me know if you need your book by a certain date. 
Allow at least four weeks for shipping. 

***Please send copies of your book reviews
Email me a copy of your newsletters or book reviews.
For tips and suggestions on writing book reviews, go to:
http://ug.oreilly.com/bookreviews.html

***Discount information
Don't forget to remind your members about our 20% discount on O'Reilly, 
No Starch, Paraglyph, Pragmatic Bookshelf, and Syngress books and 
O'Reilly
conferences. 
Just use code DSUG.

***Group purchases with better discounts are available
Please let me know if you are interested and I can put you in 
touch with our sales department.

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General News
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***Have a Virtual Book Signing at Your Next Meeting
Nitrozac and Snaggy, creators of The Joy of Tech comic and authors of 
"The
Best of the Joy of Tech," have created a unique experience for their 
fans
that they would like to expand to User Groups. In cases where they are
unable to appear in person at events, they appear via iChatAV, which
allows them to talk and interact with fans, and even sign digital
signatures for their "The Best of the Joy of Tech." If you are 
interested
in having this dynamic duo appear via iChatAV at your user group 
meeting,
event, or bookstore,  let me know.

The Joy of Tech comic:
http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/index.html

Virtual Book Signing Article:
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2004/04/13/virtualbooksigning.html

Samples from a Virtual Book Signing
http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joystuff/meetandgeek.html


***Put Up an O'Reilly Open Source Convention Banner, Get a Free Book
We're looking for user groups to display our conference banners on 
their
web sites. If you send me the link to your user group site with our
O'Reilly Open Source Convention banner, I will send you the book of 
your
choice.

OSCON Conference Banners:
http://ug.oreilly.com/banners/oscon2004/

================================================================
O'Reilly News for User Group Members
June 10, 2004
================================================================
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Book News
----------------------------------------------------------------
-XML Publishing with AxKit
-Better, Faster, Lighter Java
-Degunking Your Mac
-Office 2003 XML
-Inside .Mac
-BSD Hacks
----------------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming Events
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Bonnie Biafore ("Online Investing Hacks,") NAIC Compufest 2004, St.
Louis, MO--June 17-20
-Derrick Story ("Digital Photography Hacks," "Digital Photography 
Pocket
Guide, 2nd Ed.")and Ken Milburn ("Digital Photography: Expert 
Techniques"), NBMA-SFDIG Digital Photo Expo, Mil Valley, CA--June 19
-Tim O'Reilly, eBay Developers Conference, New Orleans, LA--June 23-24
----------------------------------------------------------------
Conference News
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Attending OSCON? Don't Forget to Sign up for the Tutorials!
-O'Reilly Open Source Convention Early Bird Discount--Ends June 18
----------------------------------------------------------------
News
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Visit with O'Reilly Editors at 2004 USENIX Annual Tech Boston, 
MA--June
27-July 2
-An Interview with Derrick Story (Digital Photo Hacker at Large)
-Paul Graham on Hacking
-A Survey of DVD Recording Formats
-Free Exhibit Hall Pass for LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, 
San Francisco, CA
-How We Wrote "BSD Hacks"
-Inside Mitch Kapor's World
-Building a Linux Media PC
-Basic Guide to Enterprise Application Distribution
-Inside Contextual Menu Items
-Troubleshooting Stop Errors
-SnagIt: The Ultimate Screen Capture Program
-Improving JSF by Dumping JSP
-SMS-Powered Applications
-What's New in Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition?
-C# Iterators
----------------------------------------------------------------
News From Your Peers
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Are you Annoyed?
================================================
Book News
================================================
Did you know you can request a free book 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

Don't forget, you can receive 20% off any O'Reilly, No Starch, 
Paraglyph, Pragmatic Bookshelf, or Syngress book you purchase 
directly from O'Reilly.
Just use code DSUG when ordering online or by phone 800-998-9938.
http://www.oreilly.com/


***Free ground shipping is available for online orders of at 
least $29.95 that go to a single U.S. address. This offer 
applies to U.S. delivery addresses in the 50 states and Puerto Rico.
For more details, go to:
http://www.oreilly.com/news/freeshipping_0703.html

----------------------------------------------------------------
New Releases
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***XML Publishing with AxKit
Publisher: O'Reilly
ISBN: 0596002165
"XML Publishing with AxKit" presents web programmers with the knowledge
they need to master AxKit, a mod_perl- and Apache-based XML content
delivery solution. This book provides detailed information on 
installing,
configuring, and deploying AxKit effectively, and it features a 
thorough
introduction to XSP, which applies the concepts of Server Pages
technologies to the XML world. The book also covers integrating AxKit 
with
tools such as Template Toolkit, Apache:: Mason, Apache::ASP, and plain
CGI, and it contains reference sections on configuration directives,
XpathScript, and XSP. 
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/xmlaxkit/

Chapter 3, "Your First XML Web Site," is available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/xmlaxkit/chapter/index.html


***Better, Faster, Lighter Java
Publisher: O'Reilly
ISBN: 0596006764
In this latest O'Reilly Java book, the authors argue that the old
heavyweight architectures, such as WebLogic, JBoss, and WebSphere, are
unwieldy, complicated, and contribute to slow and buggy application 
code.
As an alternative means for building applications, the authors present 
two
"lightweight" open source architectures, Hibernate and Spring, that can
help you create enterprise applications that are easier to maintain,
write, and debug, and are ultimately much faster.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/bfljava/

The Preface, Chapter 3, "Do One Thing, and Do It Well," and Chapter 10,
"Extending jPetStore," are available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/bfljava/chapter/index.html


***Degunking Your Mac 
Publisher: Paraglyph Press
ISBN: 1932111948
For optimum performance of any operating system, you need to maintain 
your
computer. And just as cars need regular maintenance, so do Macs. 
Periodic
cleaning of the hard drive, file maintenance, application maintenance, 
and
email maintenance must be done. This is the first book to provide easy,
step-by-step information on how to get rid of annoying clutter that can
gunk up Macs.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/1932111948/


***Office 2003 XML
Publisher: O'Reilly
ISBN: 0596005385
"Office 2003 XML" explores the relationship between XML and Office 
2003,
examining how the Office suite of products both produce and consume 
XML.
Developers will learn how to connect Office to others systems, while 
power
users will learn to create and analyze XML documents using familiar 
Office
tools. Beginning with an overview of the XML features included in the
Office 2003 components, this book provides quick and clear guidance to
anyone who needs to import or export information from Office documents
into other systems. 
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/officexml/

Chapter 2, "The WordprocessingML Vocabulary," is available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/officexml/chapter/index.html


***Inside .Mac
Publisher: O'Reilly
ISBN: 0596005016
This handy, quick reference offers a clear overview of the entire .Mac
package and many of its not-so-obvious features. You'll learn how to 
set
up and manage your account quickly and without fuss. Each .Mac service 
is
discussed in an objective, no-frills fashion that'll show you how to
use--and what to expect from--iDisk, web mail, your personal web site, 
and
everything else that .Mac offers. 
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/indotmac/

Chapter 5, "Using Virex," is available free online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/indotmac/chapter/index.html


***BSD Hacks
Publisher: O'Reilly
ISBN: 0596006799
Looking for a unique set of practical tips, tricks, and tools for
administrators and power users of BSD systems? From hacks on 
customizing
the user environment to networking, securing the system, and 
optimization,
"BSD Hacks" takes a creative approach to saving time and accomplishing
more with fewer resources. If you want more than the average BSD 
user--to
explore and experiment, unearth shortcuts, create useful tools--this 
book
is a must-have.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/bsdhks/

Five Sample Hacks are available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/bsdhks/chapter/index.html

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

***Bonnie Biafore ("Online Investing Hacks,") NAIC Compufest 2004, St.
Louis, MO--June 17-20
Bonnie speaks at the NAIC Compufest conference, an event focusing on
computerized investing. Adam Mark Hotel, St. Louis, MO
http://www.better-investing.org/chapter/stlouis/events/2671


***Derrick Story ("Digital Photography Hacks," "Digital Photography 
Pocket
Guide, 2nd Ed.")and Ken Milburn ("Digital Photography: Expert 
Techniques"),
NBMA-SFDIG Digital Photo Expo, Mil Valley, CA--June 19
North Bay Multimedia Association,  in collaboration with the San 
Francisco
Digital Imaging Group, is presenting a day devoted to digital 
photography.
O'Reilly will be one of the vendors on hand.
12-5 pm, Saturday, June 19
Mill Valley Community Center, Mill Valley, CA
Free to NBMA & SFDIG members; $15 for non-members; $10 for students 
with
valid ID.
http://www.nbma.com/events/DPE.html


***Tim O'Reilly, eBay Developers Conference, New Orleans, LA--June 
23-24
Tim presents the opening keynote at this annual event for eBay and 
PayPal
developers. Tim and eBay founder and chairman Pierre Omidyar will also 
sit
down for a "fireside chat" Q&A session during the conference. 
New Orleans,LA
http://developer.ebay.com/DevProgram/

================================================
Conference News
================================================
***Attending OSCON? Don't Forget to Sign up for the Tutorials!
Check out:
David Sklar's "Learning PHP"
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2004/view/e_sess/5064

A. Elein Mustain's "Introduction to PostgreSQL"
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2004/view/e_sess/5035

Greg Sabino Mullane's "How to Play Together Nicely: Strategies for DBAs
and Application Developers"
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2004/view/e_sess/5362

"Geoffrey Young's "Programming the Apache Lifecycle"
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2004/view/e_sess/5082

For the complete list of tutorials, go to:
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/pub/w/29/tutorials.html


***O'Reilly Open Source Convention Early Bird Discount--Ends June 18
User Group members who register before June 18, 2004 get a double
discount. Use code DSUG when you register, and you'll get 20% off the
"Early Bird" price.

To register, go to:
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2004/create/ord_os04

O'Reilly Open Source Convention
Portland Marriott Downtown
Portland, OR
July 26-30, 2004
http://conferences.oreilly.com/oscon/

================================================
News From O'Reilly & Beyond
================================================
---------------------
General News
---------------------
***Visit with O'Reilly Editors at 2004 USENIX Annual Tech,
Boston, MA--June 27-July 2
Come visit O'Reilly in the Partner Publisher Suite June 28-30. This
conference includes: 6 days of training; renowned plenary speakers 
every
morning; technical sessions every day; daily SIG sessions; and General 
and
Freenix/Open Source refereed papers. Free exhibit & BOF registration
available online. The early registration discount has been extended to
June 14th. The conference runs June 27-July 2 in Boston, MA.
http://www.usenix.org/usenix04/


***An Interview with Derrick Story (Digital Photo Hacker at Large) 
Over the years, photography and the technology behind it have provided
plenty of material for creative thinkers, making it a natural fit for 
the
hacker spirit. In this interview with Derrick Story, O'Reilly's 
resident
photo hacker, he talks about the direction of digital imaging, what 
makes
it cool, and new ways that you can push the limits of your photography.
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2004/06/08/photography.html


***Paul Graham on Hacking
Paul Graham is a hacker, painter, and essayist known as much for his
thoughtful writings on spam, hacking, and Lisp as for creating the Arc
programming language. In this interview with the O'Reilly Network, Paul
discusses hacking, creativity, computer science education, and language
design. Paul is the author of a just-released collection of his essays,
"Hackers & Painters."
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2004/05/27/paul_graham_interview.html


***A Survey of DVD Recording Formats
Wei-Meng Lee writes of his quest for the right DVD writer to buy. After
surveying the various DVD recording formats (DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, 
DVD+R,
DVD-RAM, and DVD-RW DL), as well as some of the DVD writers currently
available on the market, Wei-Meng offers his recommendations. 
http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/news/dvdwriters_0504.html

---------------------
Open Source
---------------------
***Free Exhibit Hall Pass for LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, San 
Francisco,
CA--August 3-5
Register online by July 2, 2004 with PRIORITY CODE: B0601 to receive 
your
free Exhibit Hall pass.

To register, go to:
http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/live/12/register///CC798223


***How We Wrote "BSD Hacks"
Most technical book authors seem to use Microsoft Word to write their
books, but what if you wanted to use open source tools to write and 
edit
your book? chromatic writes about how he and author Dru Lavigne used
PseudoPOD and Subversion to collaborate, write, edit, and produce
O'Reilly's latest Hacks book offering, "BSD Hacks."
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2004/06/03/bsdhacks.html


***Inside Mitch Kapor's World
Mitch Kapor has had a huge influence on the software world, being the
founder of Lotus and a driving force behind 1-2-3. Now his Open 
Software
Applications Foundation is working on Chandler, an open source PIM 
written
in Python. In this O'Reilly Network interview, Mitch talks about his 
life
and career, the OSAF, Chandler, open source, and Python. Mitch will
present a Developer's Tour of Chandler at this summer's Open Source
Convention.
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2004/06/03/mitch_kapor_interview.html


***Building a Linux Media PC 
What do DVDs, CDs, TV stations, and video games have in common? Besides
the fact that they require bulky equipment that takes up precious space 
in
your living room, you can play them all on a PC running Linux. John
Littler introduces the Linux media PC, a media convergence device.
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/05/27/linux_media_pc.html

---------------------
Mac
---------------------
***Basic Guide to Enterprise Application Distribution
Keeping your software updated on your diverse Mac network requires
attention to detail and perseverance. In this article, Philip Rinehart
shows you options for tracking installations on your business or
educational network.
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2004/06/08/enterprise.html


***Inside Contextual Menu Items 
In the first article, Steven Disbrow describes handy power user tips 
for
two-button mousing on Mac OS X. In part two he shows you how to create
your own CMIs using Xcode.

Part One:
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2004/05/28/cm_pt1.html

Part Two:
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2004/06/04/cm_pt2.html

---------------------
Windows
---------------------
***Troubleshooting Stop Errors 
What to do when the Blue Screen of Death appears? Mitch Tulloch, author 
of
"Windows Server Hacks," offers five tips on troubleshooting Stop error
messages.
http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/06/08/stop_errors.html


***SnagIt: The Ultimate Screen Capture Program 
Need to capture screens in Windows? Forget the built-in Print Screen
feature--it's just about useless. Instead, get SnagIt, the ultimate 
screen
capture program.
http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/06/08/snagit.html

---------------------
Java
---------------------
***Improving JSF by Dumping JSP 
JSF is a great technology for complex web application interfaces. But 
Hans
Bergsten urges you not to give up on JSF just because the JSP layer is
flawed; using a custom ViewHandler resolves all of the issues.
http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2004/06/09/jsf.html


***SMS-Powered Applications 
SMS (short message service) is ubiquitous in the small device space, 
and
offers a means of sending and receiving messages from even the simplest
mobile phone. Dejan Bosanac looks at how Java can be made to work with
SMS.
http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2004/06/09/sms.html

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

***C# Iterators 
If you are creating a class that looks and behaves like a collection, 
it
is handy to allow your users to iterate through the members of your
collection with the foreach statement. This is easier to do in C# 2.0 
than
it is in 1.1. In this new column by Jesse Liberty, he shows you what is
coming up in .NET 2.0 to make this common task easier.
http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2004/06/07/liberty.html

================================================
News From Your Peers
================================================
***Are you Annoyed? 
Want to share your annoyances with O'Reilly? Check out the
Help O'Reilly page on the UG wiki--we are still looking for 
submissions.
http://wiki.oreillynet.com/usergroups/create?HelpOReilly

Until next time--

Marsee