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  • Please join us at our new Meetup.com web site if you...
    Entry posted Sep 14 by Buck Sommerkamp

    Hello gang,

    We've tried very hard to convert you all into using the Adobe Groups site. "Get your Adobe ID," we said. "Make sure you RSVP there," we cautioned. "You have to go to our new site in order to survive."

    Despite our best efforts to work with the Groups site, we have to admit it's like Willy Wonka's Everlasting Gobstoppers: it's "not quite ready yet." And although you could go ahead and eat the Gobstopper -- and it would taste pretty good -- you might, like Violet Boregarde, start turning purple and become a blueberry.

    So we'd like to beg your forgiveness, and ask you to go to our new Meetup.com site and create your account there. We've pointed our domain there: http://www.kcdesigncore.org will get you there immediately.

    While our site on Adobe Groups won't go away, we have found that the Meetup site gives us the features we need to communicate effectively with you through email and discussions. RSVPs are simple. You'll be automatically reminded of meetings, even via text message on your cell phone if you like.

    In essence, Meetup gives us the missing functionality we need to grow our group and move forward.

    So you'll want to keep your Adobe ID in case you win a prize, but the other site is where we'll conduct day-to-day, easily-updated business.

    See you there! We're on a six-month paid-up test with Meetup to see how it works. Thanks for bearing with us!

    Buck Sommerkamp
    www.kcdesigncore.org

    more...

  • Reminder: Camera RAW with Scott Valentine...tonight!
    Entry posted Aug 06 by Buck Sommerkamp

    Don't forget, our Camera RAW demo with Scott Valentine tonight begins at 6:00pm. See you there -- JCCC Regnier Center, check the monitors when you get there for our room location.

    PLEASE RSVP on www.kcdesigncore.org so we know you're coming and can plan for you!

    Thanks,

    Buck

  • Adobe AIR apps for designers - check these out!
    Entry posted Aug 06 by Buck Sommerkamp

    Our Aussie friends at Sitepoint have published a list of 18 Adobe AIR apps you will find useful as a designer...everything from color pickers to on-screen pixel-measuring devices and instant thumbnail-creators and screenshot-takers.

    Check out this awesome article!

    http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2009/08/03/adobe-air-apps-for-designers/

    more...

  • CONGRATS: Peter Wydeven wins CS4 Design Premium 3
    Entry posted Jun 10 by Buck Sommerkamp

    Congratulations to Peter Wydeven of Graphics Four who just won a full copy of Adobe Design Premium CS4 at last week's KCDesignCore Photo Walk at Cosentino's Downtown Market.

    Peter was the lucky winner of the "big raffle" this time around; we'll have the next one near the end of the year (December). Those of you that are new to the group, we are fortunate to get permission from Adobe to give away up to $2,100 worth of Adobe software twice a year (plus some cool things in between).

    I'm currently working through the almost 1,600 photos taken at Cosentino's Downtown Market -- they are looking GREAT! We'll have a contest once the photos are posted.

    Thanks to everyone who attended last week. Last night's big raffle winner at the KCWebCore meeting was Shawn Gallagher. We'll have another winner at the KCVideoCore meeting next Tuesday, June 16th.

    Don't forget! Kansas City BBQ Feast featuring the Adobe ColdFusion/Flex/Flash Catalyst User Group Tour, presented by KCDevCore is next Wednesday, June 17th at the Sprint Campus.

    KCDesignCore is taking the month of July "off" due to the July 4th holiday being so close to our meeting night.

    See you next week, maybe even twice!

  • Photo Walk: One week away!
    Entry posted May 27 by Buck Sommerkamp

    Just a reminder: Our KCDesignCore Photo Walk is Thursday, June 4 at Cosentino's Downtown Market in the Power & Light District of Kansas City.

    PLEASE RSVP through our web site -- www.kcdesigncore.org

    Also, I've just posted a new job opportunity at a Topeka TV station for a web site administrator (thanks Dustin!). Look under the "Job Board" for details.

    We'll see you next Thursday at 6pm. Bring your camera of course -- and a little money to eat something delicious at Cosentino's. You can "shoot it and eat it" if you want :)

  • Contract web position open with TEKSystems
    Entry posted May 11 by Buck Sommerkamp

    Dear KCDesignCore members:

    Our primary group sponsor  -- TEK Systems -- has a position they'd like us to pass along to the group. Please contact Jennifer Dempsie directly if you are interested in this position or feel free to pass it along to any friends you know who are looking for this type of work; her contact information is listed at the bottom of this message.

    TEK Systems' client is looking for a web designer to fill in for about 3 months while one of their Full Time Employees is out on leave. This is a junior- to mid-level position; they don’t want a senior type person...the work this person will be doing is production work. They will not be involved in the look and feel, but instead will be more of an "order taker" type person who can jump in and get the job done.
     
    The client is looking for people with wire framing experience, visual design experience, page flow experience, site mapping, information architect experience, and someone who is good with InDesign or the Adobe Creative Suite.

    The candidate will need to be able to take a business requirement and turn it into a functional requirement.

    Jennifer Dempsie  Professional Recruiter
    7285 W. 132nd  Street Overland Park, KS 66213
    800.318-2074  T 913-664-0104
    F 913-338-2435  M 913-207-4537
    http://www.teksystems.com

  • 20 percent Adobe User Group Discount expires at the end of... 1
    Entry posted May 11 by Buck Sommerkamp

    A quick reminder:

    Adobe User Groups were given a special 20% discount code to use for any purchase from the Adobe Store, and that discount expires on May 31, 2009. You have three weeks left.

    Although we may see other UG discounts from Adobe in future months, I doubt they will be this good!

    If you've been considering an upgrade or new purchase, a training book or fonts, even the support and partner offers from the Adobe store, be sure to take advantage of this 20% discount.

    The code is only valid for actual User Group members in our area and will not be shared publicly. If you didn't get it from one of our meetings, please contact me and I'll get it to you.

    Happy shopping! See you in June at the PhotoWalk, and remember, there's no monthly meeting in July due to the holiday falling so close our first Thursday of the month.

    See you soon,

    Buck Sommerkamp
    Manager, KCDesignCore

  • Pearson Education User Group Program Newsletter
    Entry posted 12/01/08 by Buck Sommerkamp
    Issue 11December 2008

    Pearson Education User Group Program Newsletter
     

    News & Announcements

    Special Holiday ContestWin a Bundle of Books!
    Enter by December 31, 2008 for your chance to win a bundle of free books of your choice from the InformIT catalog! Select the appropriate link below, choose your User Group's operating state, and click Submit to reach the entry form.
        InformIT User Group Contest
        Cisco Press User Group Contest

    Social Media SurveyHere's What You Said
    Thanks again to all participants! We received a total of 647 responses. Look for another set of interesting data points in the next UG newsletter.

       Do you use social media? Why?
        89% use some form of social media on a
         weekly basis
        59% use social media to gather information on
         new technologies

       Most popular sites?
        71% use Google/Yahoo Groups at least once
         a month
        84% use Wikipedia at least once a month
        41% use Facebook at least once a month

       Least popular sites?
        83% never use Second Life or Friendster

    New Podcasts on InformIT

    OnPodcastsPDC Podcast Round-Up
    Miss out on this year's Microsoft Professional Developers Conference? We've captured videocasts with Anders Hejlsberg and the C# team, the Oslo team, Paul Vick, Brad Abrams, the Concurrency team, and many others! All are published in our OnMicrosoft podcast channel: www.informit.com/onmicrosoft.

    "Oslo"Microsoft's Modeling Platform
    Paul Vick provides an overview of "Oslo"the tool, the language, and the relational repository. Learn what it is, how it works, and why it matters.

    Windows Communication Foundation 3.5 Unleashed
    Matt Winkle presents concepts from Windows Communication Foundation 3.5 Unleashed, the essential resource for software developers and architects working with WCF. Learn best practices or programming with WCF.

    Building and Maintaining Frameworks    
    .NET Team Program Manager Krzysztof Cwalina discusses his work building frameworks and offers valuable insights for developers building framework libraries.

    Visual Basic 10: New Features
    Paul Vick and Lisa Feigenbaum discuss the features in the latest release of Visual Basic 10 announced at PDC 2008.
    Thank you for reading the Pearson Education User Group Program monthly newsletter for official group members. Please pass this along to your colleagues and share our news and offers.

    In the Store

    Adobe Illustrator CS4 On Demand Adobe Illustrator CS4 On Demand
    By Steve Johnson/Perspection, Inc.
    Creating Visual Experiences with Flex 3.0 Creating Visual Experiences with Flex 3.0
    By Juan Sanchez, Andy McIntosh
    Cyber Crime Fighters: Tales from the Trenches Cyber Crime Fighters: Tales from the Trenches
    By Felicia Donavan, Kristyn Bernier
    Framework Design Guidelines Framework Design Guidelines
    By Krzysztof Cwalina, Brad Abrams
    Programming in Python 3: A Complete Introduction to the Python Language Programming in Python 3: A Complete Introduction to the Python Language
    By Mark Summerfield
    Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++ Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++
    By Bjarne Stroustrup
    SQL Server Forensic Analysis SQL Server Forensic Analysis
    By Kevvie Fowler
    The "Oslo" Modeling Language The "Oslo" Modeling Language
    By David Langworthy, Brad Lovering, Don Box
    The Best Political Cartoons of the Year, 2009 Edition The Best Political Cartoons of the Year, 2009 Edition
    By Daryl Cagle, Brian Fairrington
    The Power of IP Video The Power of IP Video
    By Jennifer C. Baker
    Windows Small Business Server Windows Small Business Server
    By Eriq Neale
    Xcelsius 2008 Dashboard Best Practices Xcelsius 2008 Dashboard Best Practices
    By Loren Abdulezer

    Be sure you're logged in when shopping and have entered your membership code to receive your 35% discount! See all titles

    User Groups of the Month

    Michigan: West Michigan Cisco Users Group (WMCUG) is a non-profit, independent users group which is dedicated to the open exchange of information in the fields of internetworking and the advanced technologies that support the business goals of an organization. WMCUG focuses primarily, but not exclusively on Cisco products and solutions. Within this framework, WMCUG hopes to build a community to share best practices and provide a forum for members to grow as individual contributors in the technology arena. For more information, visit wmcug.org.

    Florida: The Mount Dora Macintosh Users Group(MDMUG) aims to help, educate, inform, discuss and just plain revel in the experience of owning a Macintosh computer. MDMUG provides support and advice to anyone currently using or who is considering using the Macintosh OS. Discussions cover Macintosh computer hardware and software problems and solutions, as well as advice for the future purchase of systems and accessories. Everyone from the Mac novice to the Mac professional is invited to participate. For more information, visit www.mdmug.com.

    Authors and Events: December

    December 10MSDN Events Unleashed: The Best of PDC
    The Southeast Valley .NET User Group (SEVNUG) is presenting highlights of this year's Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Phoenix, Arizona. Discussions include overviews of new technologies like Windows Azure, C#4.0 and ASP.NET 4.0. They will also focus on recent releases that you can take advantage of now, including the WCF REST Start Kit and the Silverlight Toolkit. For more information, visit http://tinyurl.com/66k3bt.

    December 11Harvard Club of Washington, D.C.
    Harry Lewis, co-author of Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty and Happiness after the Digital Explosion, will speak at the Harvard Club of Washington, DC.

    Happy Holidays from the Pearson User Group Program Team!
    Jamie Adams, Andrea Bledsoe, Heather Fox, Lisa Jacobson-Brown, and Emily Nave

    Have a User Group event in your area? Let us know!
    E-mail details to usergroups@informit.com for consideration in next month's newsletter. Please include "User Group Event" in the subject line.

    User Group Offers
    www.informit.com/usergroupwelcome

    Get a $10 rebate on Que titles!
    It's easy buy any two books from the list below and get a $10 rebate.

    Adobe Photoshop CS4 On Demand
    Adobe Flash CS4 On Demand
    Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 On Demand
    Adobe Illustrator CS4 Professional On Demand
    Adobe InDesign CS4 On Demand
    Office 2008 for the Mac On Demand
    Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 CS4 On Demand

    Official form and address information is included inside each book. This rebate is good on eligible purchases made between 12/01/09 and 01/31/09, and all submissions must be postmarked no later than 02/28/09. Visit participating retailers, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, Follets, Fry's or InformIT to purchase your books.

    Affiliate Program gives back
    Visit the Affiliate Program FAQ page today to learn more about an easy and effective way to put money back in your group's pocket by earning a referral fee on every purchase on InformIT.

    Are you on Facebook? Do you Twitter?
    See a complete list of links to Pearson pages. Join and follow us today!

    Questions?
    Please contact usergroups@informit.com and include your user group name, relevant topic area, and type of inquiry in the subject line (for example: "Southern California Cisco Users Group – Networking").

    Save 40% on Select Microsoft titles
    Use discount code DecDiscount when shopping on informit.com* to receive 40% off the following books during the month of December:

    Microsoft Access 2007 LiveLessons
    Microsoft Office 2007 LiveLessons
    Microsoft Windows Vista LiveLessons

    * Please note discount code is case-sensitive.

    Safari Books Online: User Group Discount
    Imagine having instant accessonline and fully searchableto books, videos, and other top resources from Addison-Wesley, Prentice Hall, Sams, Cisco Press, Que, IBM Press, Peachpit, O'Reilly, Wiley, Microsoft Press, Lynda.com, and morethe brands you trust and the authors you love. Safari Books Online puts the power of your own personal, fully searchable digital library at your fingertips.

    Safari Books Online offers a special 15% discount to InformIT User Group members on annual Safari Books Online subscriptions purchased before December 31, 2008. You must be a registered InformIT User Group Member to receive the discount. Subscriptions must be purchased at http://safari.informit.com/subscribe. Enter coupon LVEBQWA at the time of checkout to redeem your discount.

    Offer Details: Not valid with any other offer. Coupon is good for a one-time 15% discount on a yearly Safari Library or Safari Bookshelf account. Offer valid for new subscribers only.

    Did someone forward this to you? E-mail usergroups@informit.com
    with your name, group name, group topic area, and e-mail address to subscribe.

    InformIT, 800 East 96th Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46240
    © 2008 Pearson Education. All rights reserved.
  • Heather Krause: A Review of "Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 On...
    Entry posted 12/01/08 by Buck Sommerkamp

    Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 on Demand

    By Steve Johnson with Andy Anderson, Perspection, Inc.

    QUE Publishing, © 2008

    I’m in the process of learning the various applications within Adobe CS3, so I was happy to find Steve Johnson’s book on Dreamweaver. This was my first experience with a book from the “On Demand” series, but I’ll certainly look for others, since I found the format to be very useful and easy to follow.

    I’ve been using Dreamweaver since version 4. I’ve taken classes and read other books on the software, but found this book to be extremely helpful for everything from the basics to very advanced topics. It presents the material in a tutorial style and is designed to walk a new user through learning the software, step-by-step. However, since each topic is presented as a concise lesson on a particular feature or function, the book is also well suited to intermediate and advanced users needing a reference on how to perform specific tasks. Each mini-tutorial is 1 to 2 pages with full color illustrations and a brief, to-the-point example of how to complete the task. The instructions are easy to understand and don’t force the reader to wade through extensive amounts of text to find out how to do something. A detailed Table of Contents lists each task, making it easy to locate information when needed for reference or as a refresher. Items that are new to this version of the program are highlighted in the Contents to make it easy for previous users to update their skills.

    Tutorials begin with the very basic tasks of defining and planning a website, even before opening Dreamweaver. Chapter 1 is only 11 pages, but it shows how to use creative and organizational skills to make sure the site you create in Dreamweaver is engaging, functional and useful to your visitors. Without these baby steps, creating a website would lack the necessary foundation to make learning Dreamweaver useful.

    The next chapters show users how to handle the mechanics of Dreamweaver, such as installing and launching the software, finding your way around the interface, creating and working with basic web pages and sites, setting program preferences, customizing the work environment, and how to get help when needed.

    After the reader is settled into the software, the rest of the book progresses through increasingly complex topics such as working with files and folders, defining properties of pages throughout a website, working with web page text and images, using links, creating tables, using CSS for styles and positioning, handling frames, incorporating multimedia elements such as Flash, video and sound, and working with forms. For those wanting more control of their content, the next chapters delve into working with HTML code, behaviors, Spry components, code snippets and libraries, and using templates for a cohesive site. Even though I’ve used Dreamweaver for some time as a hobbyist and student, I’d never ventured much beyond the basics. The clear and non-intimidating coverage of more advanced topics made it easy to understand how to transition into using these features.

    Once a site has been created, there is still work to be done. Starting with Chapter 19, the author shows how to test and manage a web site to insure it’s functional, clean, compatible with various browsers, and easy to deal with as it grows. Users learn how to upload a site to the Internet for use by other visitors, although it seems this topic might have been better placed earlier in the book as a more basic function.

    The last two chapters are icing on the cake. Although you could get by without them, they complete the package and make the software easier to work with. Chapter 22 is all about automating Dreamweaver to simplify repetitive and common tasks. It seems that anyone who works frequently with the software would minimize their efforts by using features detailed here. If you’re an advanced user and aren’t already using the History Panel, recorded commands, or text/tag search and replace, be sure to read through this section! The last chapter covers interaction between Dreamweaver and other Adobe programs like Bridge, Adobe Stock Photos, Version Cue, and Device Central. It doesn’t really go into using other CS3 apps like Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash and Fireworks, although there are new and improved ties between these programs in the latest Creative Suite. This is understandable since that could be an entire book in itself. Coverage of Adobe Bridge was especially appreciated, however, as I can see many uses for this media friendly file management system that ties directly into the various CS3 programs. Device Central will be invaluable if I ever start creating web material to be used on portable devices like PDAs or cell phones.

    In addition to the main content of the book, there are other nice features that will be appreciated by those wanting to use it for reference. There’s a comprehensive list of keyboard shortcuts for people who would rather type than click. Each chapter has color-coded tabs to make them easy to locate. Anyone who wants to become an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) in Dreamweaver CS3 will find that necessary material is covered in the book, with ACE objective numbers cross referenced for convenience. An appendix at the back explains how to use the book to study for certification. A companion website provides free download of companion files for the book, including example files, a list of keyboard shortcuts, workshop files, page fixes and new content. At the time I wrote this review (February 2008), however, there was nothing available for download under the workshop, page fixes or new content sections. Although I’d never heard of this before, the book is “Safari Enabled,” which is a nifty feature that makes the entire book contents available online over the Internet.

    I was very impressed by this book and the format used for teaching and reference. Personally, I hate having to read through pages and pages of text about theory and the reason for doing something before being shown how to actually perform a function or use a feature. The well organized Table of Contents, concise task instructions and detailed illustrations in this book make it easy to find what you need and get it done in minimal time. The friendly format also makes sure that beginners will be able to hit the ground running without being put to sleep by boring lectures. Highly recommended!

    -- Heather Krause

  • Marc Dorsett: A review of Jennifer Tidwell's...
    Entry posted 12/01/08 by Buck Sommerkamp

    Interfaces and Other Tasty Morsels

    I have to admit... winning a book from my Kansas City Adobe User's Group meeting is not everyone's idea of a great night out. But for me, this little journey into the printed world has turned into one of my favorite "at arm's length" reference.

    Jenifer Tidwell's 'Designing Interfaces' puts a new realm of web design into focus that I found to be, otherwise, a maze of indiscernible buttons and clicks. So you know where this endorsements leads, find the book here:

    http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596008031/index.html and get ready for a good read.

    As a graphic designer, I am fine-arts orientated and took up the web and ColdFusion programming as a way to make my own studio (www.marcdorsett.com) truly marketable to more of the masses. Jenifer's obvious experience unfolds on every page, making an interface design more understandable and reachable to people like me - people who knew what to do but needed better ways to do it.

    The book has a wide scope of matter but still gives a generous supply of examples, both written and visual, to make the point clear and simple. When it comes to interfaces, the bookstore is littered with 'web design' but very little in interface reference. Ms. Tidwell doesn't just provide a book, she writes and explains as though she has a thousand competitors in the field and she is going to be the best. I appreciate that aggressive approach to research.

    The real clincher for me in a 'learn to' book is being able to jump right to areas where I need assistance. Good reference doesn't make me read the whole thing to find what I am needing right now. 'Designing Interfaces' does just that - lets me have what I can use this moment and I will fill up on the rest as time permits - which is happening pretty quickly!

    All told, this is a superb resource, one which has earned a front-row seat in my limited-space bookshelf. I am certain it will be in yours, too.

  • Nick Schale: Review of Adobe Photoshop CS3...
    Entry posted 12/01/08 by Buck Sommerkamp

    Book Review: Adobe Photoshop CS3 one-on-one by DEKE McClelland

    First review is of Adobe Photoshop CS3 one-on-one by DEKE McClelland.

    DEKE comes across as a real person who knows Photoshop like the back of his hand. What makes this book exceptional is that not only does DEKE have the ninja skills using the software but his ability to teach is equally ninja like.

    In my opinion this book is for beginners to moderate Photoshop users. Look, I’m a full blown Photoshop Monkey Ninja and I learned new tricks going through this book. Pick it up!

    As a side note. Since starting reading this book, I have NOT been attacked by either Lions or Hippos…. this book does not guarantee that you will have the same powers, but I’m just saying.

    I rate it: 4 out of 5 ninja stars and two bananas.

    --Nick Schale, www.monkeybutlerninja.com

  • Nick Schale: Review of "Adobe Flash CS3 Professional on...
    Entry posted 12/01/08 by Buck Sommerkamp

    Book Review: Adobe Flash CS3 Professional on Demand

    by Andy Anderson, Steve Johnson, Perspection, Inc.

    First of all I LOVE how this book is formatted. It says in the very beginning it is a ‘visual quick reference book’ and that is about as accurate as my ninja throwing star ability. It also says in the same paragraph that it covers ‘basic to advanced Flash skills.’ While this book will teach you a few things that would be considered ‘advanced’ Flash is too powerful of a tool to cover baby monkey’s to full blown ninja masters.

    For fellow monkey’s that are considered beyond beginner the first half of this book will be fairly review. You probably will pick up some very helpful hints in the later half anAdobed that will be worth the read.

    Again I want to praise the layout. Fantastic job! Highly recommend it for people who consider themselves a beginner or lower intermediately skilled.

    I rate it: 4 out of 5 ninja stars and a bunch of bananas.

    --Nick Schale, www.monkeybutlerninja.com

  • Peter Wydeven Review: Digital Juice "Winter...
    Entry posted 12/01/08 by Buck Sommerkamp
    Winter Wonderland is a purchasable collection of royalty-free, illustrated, layered Photoshop files in a winter theme for personal use as part of a group of varying themes available in the Juice Drops section of Digital Juice. Digital Juice is described, on their web site, as the "world leader in royalty-free professional animation, stock footage, music, layered graphics, clip art, and templates". Winter Wonderland is one of seventy themes in the Juice Drop section ranging from snow, fire, fireworks, reflection, to numerous graphic shapes, to individual holidays, to child's play  just to mention a few. The Juice Drops section of Illustrations and background collections are differentiated by the fact that they are in the form of layered Photoshop files to be altered according to the user's will. The 50 to 100 layers per file can be turned on and off, changed, moved, mixed and combined in an number of possible ways to suit the users creative wishes. At $9.95
    a set (quite a drop from there original price) could enhance or replace anyone's momentary need for complete or partial art/illustration.

    As for Winter Wonderland specifically (and this may apply to the larger group as well), it left me a little cold, I found the back grounds to be very interesting and potentially useful for small touches here and there as enhancements to existing artwork or websites, but , from a personal point of view, I fell the illustrations, particularly the completed ones, have the potential to look overly stylized. In addition there are a few themes dedicated to children's art work (ie: fairyTALES and childsPLAY) but my feeling is that much of the Illustrations in Winter Wonderland, and possible other collections as well, have a style more appropriate for children's illustration then anything else. Simply, very cartoonish like- but OK in that respect. These illustrations may have more potential for personal use as a means for creating cards for holidays and special events for friends and family. Having said that, I do think the collection has huge possibilities for the backgrounds alone with their flexibly of use on numerous layers. It could be that one element that lifts your particular artwork or website.

    All said one needs to see these collections for themselves, with it's great variety of themes and possibilities for arrangements. As a digital artist, illustrator, designer, or for personal use, this is a site - especially at $9.95 - that is worthy of being on your artwork bookmark list, especially the larger site Digital Juice (digitaljuice.com).
  • User Group News from O'Reilly
    Entry posted 11/21/08 by Buck Sommerkamp

    O'Reilly News for User Group Members
    November 21, 2008

    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:

    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

    Craft Magazine Subscriptions

    craftzine.com 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 charter subscribers: five volumes for the cost of four.

    Subscribe at: http://www.craftzine.com/go/craftug

    Upcoming Events

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

    Sétphane Faroult Presents "SQL in Depth - The Art of SQL and Refactoring SQL Applications"
    Nov 24-25, 2008
    Beijing
    Sétphane Faroult (The Art of SQL) will present a two-day seminar organized by Oracle University.
    Harold Davis Speaks at the Golden Gate Computer Society
    Nov 24, 2008
    The Embassy Suites Hotel, 101 McInnis Parkway
    San Rafael, CA
    Author Harold Davis (Practical Artistry: Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers) presents Less is More: Photography and Remembrance in the American Holiday Tradition at the Golden Gate Computer Society weekly meeting.
    Nancy Duarte at the Apple Store, SoHo
    Nov 24, 2008
    Apple Retail Store - 103 Prince Street
    New York City, NY
    Join Nancy Duarte (slide:ology) who will be presenting "Telling a Visual Story." Why are we so quick at believing that we can't draw or tell stories well? We're in an era of history where our innovations are some of the most exciting yet when we introduce slides into our stories, our magnificent ideas become marginalized. Learn how to clear your head, clean up your slides and interact in your own human way so that you and your ideas will be remembered.
    Java Power Tools Bootcamp in Wellington
    Nov 25-28, 2008
    Equinox House
    Wellington, New Zealand
    The Java Power Tools is back in Wellington, and so is John Ferguson Smart, author of the popular Java Power Tools book! The Java Power Tools bootcamp is an intense 4-day hands-on workshop covering some of the best open source tools for Java development on the market. The course takes you on a in-depth guided tour of some of the best open source Java tools, showing how you can use them individually and together to write code better and faster, and have fun while your doing it!
    James Kalbach on Web Navigation Design
    Nov 25, 2008
    Center for Architecture
    536 LaGuardia Place, New York, NY
    Author James Kalbach (Designing Web Navigation) will be presenting a day-long seminar entitled "Optimizing the User Experience of Your Website." This Web Navigation Design Primer will address the key questions you should ask when starting any project.

    This day-long class covers principles of web navigation and methods of navigation design with practical examples and exercises. Participants should have some experience creating or maintaining websites and are looking to deepen their design skills. This includes graphic designers, web masters, usability experts, and beginning to intermediate information architects.
    Sétphane Faroult Presents "SQL in Depth - The Art of SQL and Refactoring SQL Applications"
    Nov 27-28, 2008
    Shanghai
    Sétphane Faroult (The Art of SQL) will present a two-day seminar organized by Oracle University.
    Sétphane Faroult Presents "SQL in Depth - The Art of SQL and Refactoring SQL Applications"
    Dec 1-2, 2008
    Hong Kong
    Sétphane Faroult (The Art of SQL) will present a two-day seminar organized by Oracle University.
    Marco Casario presents at MAX Europe
    Dec 1-4, 2008
    Milan, Italy
    Marco Casario (Adobe AIR Cookbook) will be presenting a session at MAX Europe entitled "ActionScript 3 mash-ups for AIR projects." In this session you'll learn how to set up your application to consume some of the most popular web services to make your AIR desktop applications sexy and to provide useful functionalities to end users.
    Webcast: Making the Case for Print on Demand
    Dec 3, 2008

    This is a free live event. Scheduled for approximately 90 minutes. Publishers who dismiss the use of print-on-demand technologies as too expensive may be missing an opportunity to better manage their inventory, total costs and the unit costs of books sold. This session will provide an economic rationale for more extensive use of POD services, based upon analysis and real-world use cases.
    Sétphane Faroult Presents "SQL in Depth - The Art of SQL and Refactoring SQL Applications"
    Dec 4-5, 2008
    Singapore
    Sétphane Faroult (The Art of SQL) will present a two-day seminar organized by Oracle University.
    Webcast: Everything You Wanted to Know about Drupal but were Afraid to Ask
    Dec 5, 2008

    This is a free live event. Scheduled for approximately 60 minutes. In this live, online webcast, Drupal developers Jeff Eaton and James Walker will guide newcomers through the nuts and bolts of Drupal's content management system, content management framework, and community. They'll cover the evolution of CMSes and how Drupal fits in, discuss some of Drupal's philosophies towards concepts such as content management and software architecture, and explain some of the fundamentals about Drupal's extensible APIs. Finally, they will muse about Drupal's thriving community and how best to leverage and participate within it.
    Harold Davis at Blackoak Books in Berkeley
    Dec 6, 2008
    Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave
    Berkeley, CA
    Harold Davis reads from "100 Views of the Golden Gate" and "Practical Artistry: Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers", signs books, shows his photographic prints, and discusses digital photography. Presentation accompanies an exhbition of Harold Davis works.
    John Papa at VSLive in Dallas, Texas
    Dec 8, 2008
    Dallas, TX
    Author John Papa (Data Services with Silverlight 2) will be presenting a session on Data Binding, WCF, and RESTful Services with Silverlight 2 at VSLive.
    Using Drupal Authors at "Do it With Drupal"
    Dec 10-12, 2008
    New Orleans Marriott Hotel
    New Orleans, LA
    Come see presentations by Jeff Robbins, Angela Byron, Addison Berry, Jeff Eaton, Nate Haug, and James Walker--the authors of Using Drupal!This large-scale, 3-day learning event will take place December 10-12, 2008 at the New Orleans Marriott Hotel, located at the edge of the city's historic French Quarter. Attend sessions on the nuts-and-bolts of architecting and building Drupal sites. See dissections of some of the most popular Drupal sites out there. Learn important topics such as the processes for building and grow successful Drupal websites. The event is organized by Lullabot's team of experts and features some of the world's most well-respected Drupal developers, designers, and architects.

    Conference News



    Money:Tech Register for Money:Tech 2009
    February 4-6, 2009 in New York City, NY
    The second edition of O'Reilly Money:Tech will be an even deeper dive into the space where Wall Street meets Web 2.0, using technology as a lens to provide a unique view of the most pressing issues facing the industry right now. Web 2.0 is ultimately about "collective intelligence"--as are financial markets. Money:Tech brings web entrepreneurs and activists to Wall Street to foster an exchange of ideas about new ways to leverage information.
    Use code "mt09usrg" when you register, and receive 15% off the registration price.

    Tools of Change for Publishing Conference Register for the Tools of Change for Publishing Conference 2009
    February 9-11, 2009 in New York City, NY
    Just a few years ago, "digital publishing" meant books were typeset in PageMaker or Quark and sent to the offset printer as a PDF. But true digital publishing means creating, producing, and delivering content that may never appear on a printed page. Or more likely, will be offered to customers in print--possibly print-on-demand--as just one of many options. And those now doing the "publishing" include entirely new business models built around developing paid content and assembling an audience.
    Use code "toc09usrg" when you register, and receive 15% off the registration price.

    Emerging Technology Conference Register for the Emerging Technology Conference 2009
    March 9-12, 2009 in San Jose, CA
    The theme of ETech 2009 is Living Reinvented: The Technology of Abundance and Constraints, exploring how how emerging technologies can bridge the gap between the worlds of material plenty and economic constraint. Four full days of keynotes, tutorials, and sessions explore new program areas like CityTech, Mobile & The Web, Personalized Healthcare, and Materials & Mechanics.
    Use code "et09usrg" when you register, and receive 15% off the registration price.

    Where 2.0 Conference Where 2.0 2009 CFP Is Open
    May 19-21, 2009 in San Jose, CA
    O'Reilly Media invites technologists and strategists, CTOs and CIOs, technology evangelists and scouts, researchers, programmers, geographers, researchers and academics, artists and activists, business developers, and entrepreneurs to lead conference sessions and tutorials at the next Where 2.0 Conference. Call for proposals closes December 2, 2008.

    Found Conference Call for Participation for the O'Reilly Found: Search Acquisition and Architecture Conference
    June 9-11, 2009 in Burlingame, CA
    We're looking for proposals that will change how developers create web applications so that search connects their sites to their potential customers. Proposals are due December 17th. Now is your chance to be part of the program.

    Velocity Conference Call for Participation for Velocity 2009 is Now Open
    June 22-24, 2009 in San Jose, CA
    Velocity is the O'Reilly conference for developers and engineers building at internet scale. Web companies, big and small, face the same challenges--our pages must be fast, our infrastructure must scale up (and down) efficiently, and our sites must be reliable without burning out the team. Learn how to build websites and services that are fast, scalable, efficient, and reliable. We're bringing together people from around the world who are doing the best performance and operations work to improve the experience of web users worldwide.

    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. Submit your proposal.
    Or read the How To.

    Upcoming Ignite events:

    O'Reilly School of Technology

    OSTO'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


    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

    Stay Competitive. Regroup, Retrain, Rebuild.
    Financial markets are in a tailspin. Jobless rates are at a 7-year high. Budgets are shrinking. The good news is that the shifting economic landscape is creating new opportunities for those with the right skills. Do you have what it takes to tackle tough technical problems? To offer bold solutions? To provide businesses with the expertise they need?

    Read some sample chapters of our latest Microsoft Books
    Interested in how to become an author for O'Reilly?

    • Programming WCF Services, 2E: Appendix A
    • RESTful .NET: Chapter 6
    • Data and Services With Silverlight 2: Chapter 8
    • Programming Entity Framework: Chapter 3
    • Coding4Fun: Chapter 1
    • Learning XNA 3.0: Chapter 2

    Don't miss Derrick Story's Latest Screencasts
    Based on his book "Photoshop CS4 Companion for Photographers," Derrick covers the Quick-Start Roadmap, Photo Downloader, Collections in Bridge and Batch Processing in ACR.

    Special Borders.com Holiday Discount
    From December 2, 2008 to December 15, 2008. Borders.com will be offering customers a special 30% discount on all Missing Manuals (does not include stores). If you prefer to shop at Borders.com, here's your deal.

    Raise up Your Goblet of Rock to the Makers of Guitar Hero World Tour
    In less than five years, Guitar Hero has become not only one of the most successful video games of all time but also a pop cultural phenomenon, immortalized on everything from South Park to Gossip Girl (Serena shreds "Free Bird"). Read all about how the game makers create convincing avatars of your favorite rockers, and scrapped a remarkably inaccurate scripting program for musical notation they dubbed "Murder Face."

    Watch the "Twitter for Business" Webcast
    Sarah Milstein's webcast on November 13 on how to use Twitter for your business is now availble online.

    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.

    News & Commentry

    Getting Started With Drupal
    Music, Interrupted and Other Feature Gripes and Hopes
    Ajax Adept: An Interview with Fletcher Moore,contributor and technical reviewer on Head First Ajax.
    The Commoditization of Massive Data Analysis
    Installing Rails on Ubuntu Hardy Heron (Server)
    Online Communities: The Tribalization of Business
    Juval Lowy explains Service-Orientation
    Derrick Story's Recipes for Brightening a Smile and Blotting Out a Blemish
    Head First Web Design Complete Sample Chapter
    Retire in a Down Market? Not So Fast
    New Radar Report: Twitter and the Micro-Messaging Revolution
    What Would Depression 2009 Look Like?
    O'Reilly Needs an RIA Developer
    The Visible Hand
    The $20 gift guide at MAKE--Electronics kits for $20 and under!
    Relational Database Technology: A Crash Course
    Why geeks don't like to run AV

    For more news and commentry, go to: oreilly.com/archive.csp

    more...

  • John Collins: a review of Digital Juice's "Field of...
    Entry posted 11/21/08 by Buck Sommerkamp
    Review: Field of View with Chuck Peters.
     
    Produced for Digital Juice, Field of View with Chuck Peters is not a nuts and bolts kind of DVD. There isn't a lot of 'technical' information per-say. It's more about feelings, having an edit pace that suits a mood or image, to tell whatever the current episodes story is.
     
    It can take a while for the viewer to be drawn into the series. Host Chuck Peters tries to be extremely inspiring in getting people to thing about video as bigger thoughts, instead of about equipment choices, Peters performance can be difficult to get into. Sometimes it feels like he's talking to a Grandmother or kindergartner, trying to get them fingerprint.
     
    While starting off kind of weak, the series certainly improves as it goes on. Once a view can get into tone of the show there's quiet a bit of information to be had concerning mood, lighting, color and cutting.
     
    The DVD itself offers plenty of extras. Lots of commentaries, behind the scenes and how the series was envisioned.
     
    I give it a B.

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