After Effects Apprentice (DV Expert Series)
by Chris Meyer
from Focal Press
If you're new to After Effects and want to get up to speed quickly, After Effects Apprentice was created just for you. With 11 core lessons plus a fun final project, you'll quickly get into the program and learn how to tap its potential - whether you want to create motion graphics for a network program, your company's video, or your own independent production.
In this book, you'll get a professional perspective on the most important features a motion graphics artist needs to learn to use this program effectively. You'll learn to creatively edit and combine layers, animate eye-catching titles, replace a screen on a computer monitor, place a studio shot in anew environment, manipulate 3D space, and use effects to generate excitement or enhance the realism of a scene. Easy to follow step-by-step instructions take you through each technique, including projects that encourage you to express it in your own way. You'll learn more than just the tools; you'll learn skills that you can immediately put to work in your own projects.
Topics include how to:
* Animate, layer, and composite images and text.
* Manipulate keyframes to create more refined animations.
* Use masks, mattes, stencils and modes to add depth.
* Manage layers to make them easier to coordinate.
* Add 3D to your animations.
* Use tracking and keying to create special effects.
* Includes new CS3 features; Shape layers, the Puppet tool, Brainstorm, and Per-Character 3D Text.
DVD contains: All exercise source material and projects in AE7 and CS3, video guided tours, and movies of the finished projects.
* Full color presentation of professional workflows
* Core motion graphic techniques in 12 engaging lessons
* Companion DVD features QuickTime movies and lesson media
BlackBerry® 8800 & 8300 Curve Made Simple (Blackberry Made Simple Guide Book)
by Martin Trautschold
from BookSurge Publishing
Both beginners and advanced users will learn a great deal from this new comprehensive guide to the BlackBerry® 8800 and 8300 Curve Smartphones. Among the many Topics covered are: Email setup and use, Phone, voice dialing, three-way / conference calling, speed dial, SMS text messaging, PIN messaging, Bluetooth Headsets, Mapping and GPS, Music and Videos, BlackBerry as Tethered Modem, Troubleshooting, Synchronizing between your Windows or Mac computer, Backup and Restore, Calendar, Tasks, Memo Pad, Camera, Media player, Typing Tips, Address Book tips, Search, Advanced email, Installing and Removing Third Party Software and includes a Third Party Software Guide. This truly is the "Definitive" guide to the BlackBerry.
iPhone For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
by Edward C. Baig
from For Dummies
The iPhone 3G is here! You’ll want to make the most of it, and iPhone For Dummies, 2nd Edition is ready to help. Master the multitouch interface, send text messages, enjoy rich-HTML e-mail, use GPS maps, and more, with this full-color guide to show you how!
Edward C. Baig and “Dr. Mac” Bob LeVitus, two giants of Mac-dom, have packed this colorful little book with tips on every cool feature of the iPhone 3G. They’ll show you how to find and download hundreds of cool apps from the new Apps Store, sync up your contact lists with MobileMe, browse the Internet, take photos, download music, and much more. For example:
- Use 3G wireless technology to surf the Web faster, send and receive e-mail, and talk on the phone, all at once
- Play music, watch videos on the widescreen display, or download a game from the App Store
- Navigate Web sites or photos using tap, flick, and pinch
- Get turn-by-turn directions, view a map, get live traffic information, or find services near your location with the GPS feature
- Synchronize data, calendar entries, and address books between your desktop and your iPhone
- Snap, share, sync, and save photos
- See how the touch screen lets you type, surf, dial, download, play music, and more, all with a simple tap
- Use the new scientific calculator
- Find out what Microsoft Exchange has to offer
You already love your iPhone. With iPhone For Dummies, 2nd Edition, you’ll find more to love!
Pattern Classification (2nd Edition)
by Richard O. Duda
from Wiley-Interscience
The first edition, published in 1973, has become a classic reference in the field. Now with the second edition, readers will find information on key new topics such as neural networks and statistical pattern recognition, the theory of machine learning, and the theory of invariances. Also included are worked examples, comparisons between different methods, extensive graphics, expanded exercises and computer project topics.
An Instructor's Manual presenting detailed solutions to all the problems in the book is available from the Wiley editorial department.
Programming 16-Bit PIC Microcontrollers in C: Learning to Fly the PIC 24 (Embedded Technology) (Embedded Technology)
by Lucio Di Jasio
from Newnes
. A Microchip insider tells all on the newest, most powerful PICs ever!
. FREE CD-ROM includes source code in C, the Microchip C30 compiler, and MPLAB SIM software
. Includes handy checklists to help readers perform the most common programming and debugging tasks
The new 16-bit PIC24 chip provides embedded programmers with more speed, more memory, and more peripherals than ever before, creating the potential for more powerful cutting-edge PIC designs. This book teaches readers everything they need to know about these chips: how to program them, how to test them, and how to debug them, in order to take full advantage of the capabilities of the new PIC24 microcontroller architecture.
Author Lucio Di Jasio, a PIC expert at Microchip, offers unique insight into this revolutionary technology, guiding the reader step-by-step from 16-bit architecture basics, through even the most sophisticated programming scenarios. This book's common-sense, practical, hands-on approach begins simply and builds up to more challenging exercises, using proven C programming techniques. Experienced PIC users and newcomers to the field alike will benefit from the text's many thorough examples, which demonstrate how to nimbly side-step common obstacles, solve real-world design problems efficiently, and optimize code for all the new PIC24 features.
You will learn about:
. basic timing and I/O operations,
. multitasking using the PIC24 interrupts,
. all the new hardware peripherals
. how to control LCD displays,
. generating audio and video signals,
. accessing mass-storage media,
. how to share files on a mass-storage device with a PC,
. experimenting with the Explorer 16 demo board, debugging methods with MPLAB-SIM and ICD2 tools, and more!
·A Microchip insider tells all on the newest, most powerful PICs ever!
·Condenses typical introductory "fluff" focusing instead on examples and exercises that show how to solve common, real-world design problems quickly
·Includes handy checklists to help readers perform the most common programming and debugging tasks
·FREE CD-ROM includes source code in C, the Microchip C30 compiler, and MPLAB SIM software, so that readers gain practical, hands-on programming experience
·Check out the author's Web site at http://www.flyingpic24.com for FREE downloads, FAQs, and updates
Practical UML Statecharts in C/C++, Second Edition: Event-Driven Programming for Embedded Systems
by Miro Samek
from Newnes
Practical UML Statecharts in C/C++ Second Edition bridges the gap between high-level abstract concepts of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and the actual programming aspects of modern hierarchical state machines (UML statecharts). The book describes a lightweight, open source, event-driven infrastructure, called QP that enables direct manual coding UML statecharts and concurrent event-driven applications in C or C++ without big tools.
This book is presented in two parts. In Part I, you get a practical description of the relevant state machine concepts starting from traditional finite state automata to modern UML state machines followed by state machine coding techniques and state-machine design patterns, all illustrated with executable examples. In Part II, you find a detailed design study of a generic real-time framework indispensable for combining concurrent, event-driven state machines into robust applications. Part II begins with a clear explanation of the key event-driven programming concepts such as inversion of control (Hollywood Principle), blocking versus non-blocking code, run-to-completion (RTC) execution semantics, the importance of event queues, dealing with time, and the role of state machines to maintain the context from one event to the next. This background is designed to help software developers in making the transition from the traditional sequential to the modern event-driven programming, which can be one of the trickiest paradigm shifts.
The lightweight QP event-driven infrastructure goes several steps beyond the traditional real-time operating system (RTOS). In the simplest configuration, QP runs on bare-metal microprocessor, microcontroller, or DSP completely replacing the RTOS. QP can also work with almost any OS/RTOS to take advantage of the existing device drivers, communication stacks, and other middleware. The accompanying website to this book contains complete open source code for QP, ports to popular processors and operating systems, including 80x86, ARM Cortex-M3, MSP430, and Linux, as well as all examples described in the book.
*Focuses on core concepts rather than tools which are always changing allowing the reader to continue to use this information with various projects
*Provides a complete, ready-to-use, open source software architecture for small and large embedded systems
*Includes an extensive example using the ARM Cortex-M3 throughout the book highlighting issues programmers and architects encounter in everyday life
BlackBerry Storm For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
by Robert Kao
from For Dummies
The long-awaited BlackBerry Storm is here! Take advantage of all the cool things your new touch-screen BlackBerry can do with BlackBerry Storm For Dummies.
Your BlackBerry Storm can help you organize your calendar, surf the Internet, and stay in constant contact. it even works like a modem for your laptop. BlackBerry Storm For Dummies shows you how to unlock all of the exciting capabilities of your BlackBerry Storm. You’ll discover how to:
- Customize your BlackBerry Storm, learn to navigate the touch screen, manage power consumption, and protect your device
- Set up your contacts, keep notes, synchronize lists with your desktop, and manage your calendar
- Keep in touch with e-mail, PIN-to-PIN and instant messaging, and phone calls
- Browse the Internet and keep track of key sites
- Play music and videos, take pictures or mini-movies, and tune in the news
- Activate Storm’s built-in GPS and use Google Maps or BlackBerry Map
- Synchronize your BlackBerry with your desktop so your data is consistent wherever you go
- Prepare your laptop to use your BlackBerry Storm as a modem
- Install and manage third-party applications
- Keep your personal information safe
You’ll find tips for tapping and thumbing the touch screen, secrets for taking great photos and videos, and even fun games to play on your Storm. Whether you’re upgrading from an earlier model or you just got your first BlackBerry, BlackBerry Storm For Dummies helps you utilize everything this handy device has to offer.
$30 Film School, Second Edition
by Michael W. Dean
from Course Technology PTR
Filmmaking is entering a new era. You don't need big bucks or big studio support to make great movies. Computers have made it possible to make great films with very little money. Mini-DV filmmaking is the new punk rock, the new folk music, the new medium in which anyone can tell his story. $30 Film School is an alternative to spending four years and a hundred-thousand dollars to learn the filmmaking trade. This book is a map for D.I.Y. (do-it-yourself ) art-specifically filmmaking. Guerrilla, no-budget, drive-by filmmaking, to be exact. This new edition has been completely updated to cover advancements in video and audio editing, with many new tips and tricks on shooting, producing, and distribution. The second edition also includes a companion DVD.
GPS For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
by Joel McNamara
from For Dummies
Need directions? Are you good at getting lost? Then GPS is just the technology you’ve dreamed of, and GPS For Dummies is what you need to help you make the most of it.
If you have a GPS unit or plan to buy one, GPS For Dummies, 2nd Edition helps you compare GPS technologies, units, and uses. You’ll find out how to create and use digital maps and learn about waypoints, tracks, coordinate systems, and other key point to using GPS technology.
Get more from your GPS device by learning to use Web-hosted mapping services and even how to turn your cell phone or PDA into a GPS receiver. You’ll also discover:
- Up-to-date information on the capabilities of popular handheld and automotive Global Positioning Systems
- How to read a map and how to get more from the free maps available online
- The capabilities and limitations of GPS technology, and how satellites and radio systems make GPS work
- How to interface your GPS receiver with your computer and what digital mapping software can offer
- Why a cell phone with GPS capability isn’t the same as a GPS unit
- What can affect your GPS reading and how accurate it will be
- How to use Street Atlas USA, TopoFusion, Google Earth, and other tools
- Fun things to do with GPS, such as exploring topographical maps, aerial imagery, and the sport of geocaching
Most GPS receivers do much more than their owners realize. With GPS For Dummies, 2nd Edition in hand, you’ll venture forth with confidence!
iPhone Fully Loaded
by Andy Ihnatko
from Wiley
iPhone 3G Fully Loaded is the one-of-a-kind reference that will show iPhone and iPod Touch users how to put anything and everything on their Apple iPhones or iPod Touches - from old LPs, radio / television shows and movies, to spreadsheets, presentations and PC rescue files. Written by wildly popular technology expert and Chicago Sun Times columnist Andy Ihnatko, this book will be updated with the latest iPhone technology developments, including GPS, MobileMe, the App Store, and how to utilize all the recently-developed Applications. Appropriate for both for both Mac OS X and Windows users, iPhone Fully Loaded will teach readers more iPhone tips and tricks than any other book on the market. From uploading web pages to downloading television shows and a variety of documents, including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents, the iPhone does much more than make phone calls, play music, and send e-mail. Full-color throughout, this book will walk readers step-by-step through both common and uncommon tasks to get the most out of their iPhone.
+++


