In this two-post series, I will share my thoughts and recommendations on what I consider to be great books for the geek nation. I have paid attention to cover a wide variety of topics that fall into one large common category: technology. These must-read books can all be purchased online from Amazon.
iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It
Authors: Steve Wozniak, Gina Smith
Publisher: W. W. Norton
288 pages Book homepage ($2.99)
If you want to understand how the Apple fairy tale began in the seventies, then iWoz is a must read. This is the personal story of Steve Wozniak, inventor of the Apple computer. This book explains the long process that led Wozniak to create the first affordable computer, how he met Steve Jobs, and how they founded the Apple empire. This easy-to-read book reveals a captivating story aimed at everyone interested by the debut of personal computing.
Showstopper! The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft
Author: G. Pascal Zachary
Publisher: Free Press
312 pages Book homepage
Showstopper is the story of Windows NT. How it all started as a command prompt OS and became a graphical user interface system following the success of Windows 3.0. The author takes you to the very heart of Microsoft’s project team where you’ll meet not only David Cuttler, the brilliant and brutal architect behind the operating system, but most of the engineers and project leaders involved in the development of Windows NT. See how some of the team members literally sacrificed their family and social life to make this thing work in time. While this is not a technical book, software developers as well as project leaders, and anyone interested by Microsoft products, will have a hard time pulling their eyes away from it.
The Ultimate History of Video Games
Author: Steven L. Kent
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
624 pages Book homepage
For you gamers out there, this is THE ultimate book to own. To understand where your favorite game console comes from, you need to know the story behind the pinball, the pong, and the development of the first consoles such as the Atari 4600. In this 624-page brick of a book, Kent covers all the angles, anecdotes and humorous stories, such as the rename of Puck-Man to Pac-Man to avoid an unfriendly rename starting with the letter “F”. Trust me, if you are either a passionate gamer or even a game developer, this is a must-have for your bookshelf.
The Google Story
Authors: David Vise, Mark Malseed
Publisher: Delta
336 pages Book homepage
This book takes you back to 1998 before the PageRank algorithm was born. Larry Page and Sergey Brin created Google while they were students at Stanford University. You’ll learn how the co-partners redefined Internet search and reinvented advertising, while creating one of the most influencing organizations of all time. Whether you are a web developer, an entrepreneur, or simply passionate about the Internet and Google products, you’ll find The Google Story to be an unstoppable page-turner.
Does IT Matter?
Author: Nicholas G. Carr
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
208 pages Book homepage
Blinded by their arrogance and syndrome of God, too many IT managers are missing the whole point behind information and technology, which is to provide commodities, as Carr claims. IT must stop focusing on following technology and should realign its mission behind the concept of providing solutions to fulfill business needs. And just as the steam engine, railroad, telegraph and electricity, technology evolves to a point where manpower decreases substantially, and IT will be no exception. This is a must-read for high-level management! I recommend everyone involved in IT to keep this book on their bedside table.
On The Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore
Author: Brian Bagnall
Publisher: Variant Press
548 pages Book homepage
Raise your hand those who once owned a Commodore 64? God, I would pay a lot of money to go back to the 1980s when the C64 was the king of the hill. This particular book, however, is not about hot rods. The story of Commodore is about very affordable family computers. This book starts at the very beginning of Commodore, when they acquired MOS Technologies, a semiconductor manufacturer, that lead to the development of the PET. Once the PET was history, then came the VIC-20, followed by the Commodore 64, which is known as the most sold computer of all time. The story even introduces the 128, the Amiga, and the end of Commodore. How could such a successful company fall so abruptly from the top of the world? This is what you will find out if you get yourself a copy of On The Edge. Definitely one to buy for the Commodore lover. And while you’re at it, check out this VIC-20 TV ad to remember the good old days.
Hackers
Authors: Steven Levy, Steven Levy
464 pages Book homepage
In this book, the word “hackers” does not refer to bad guys taking control of your Windows 98 PC or sending e-mail viruses. Hackers in this book are people who improved primitive systems by hacking electronics, thereby increasing their computing power and efficiency. In a period where computers were looked at like lab rats, university researchers and early developers such as Lee Felsenstein, Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak, pushed their limits and literally inspired what would be one day be seen as the computer revolution. Hackers offers a peek at a very formative time in geekdom and is worth reading no matter what year it is.
The Perfect Thing
Author: Steven Levy
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
304 pages Book homepage
What’s the coolest gadget of the third millennium? The iPod, no doubt about it. This is one of the coolest books I’ve read in years. When you decide to write about such a cool thing, you need to deliver cool content, and Steven Levy does it amazingly. If you want to learn about the development of the iPod, how it changed Apple, the music industry, and the way consumers buy their favorite songs, then you need to get a copy of the perfect book: The Perfect Thing. Just check out how cool the book cover is!
Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
Authors: Don Tapscott, Anthony D. Williams
320 pages Book homepage
The Web, and Web 2.0 in particular, has changed our lives and is currently changing our entire economy. New possibilities inspired by social network groups and mass collaboration are smashing down boundaries, creating endless new business models for Internet companies. This book will definitively change your thinking and enlighten you. If you still have a hard time picturing what the Web 2.0 is, read Wikinomics – once you’re done you’ll be a real Web 2.0 Ninja. Fabulous read, and a very popular title lately.
The Second Coming of Steve Jobs
Author: Alan Deutschman
Publisher: Broadway
352 pages Book homepage
This is the story of Steve Jobs, starting from the moment he was pushed away from Apple in 1985, and following his story until his return in 1996. During his leave of absence, Jobs tried to revolutionize education with the NeXT Cube, his startup that never made it big. On the side though, he purchased Pixar, the company behind Toy Story, from George Lucas himself, and literally made a fortune with something he couldn’t care less about. Finally, his journey with NeXT ended when the company was purchased by Apple in 1996, bringing Jobs back to his mother company, and the rest is history. The story of Jobs’ post-1985 Apple career is captivating, and the author brings you a very well-written book that’s entertaining from the first to the very last page.
This completes the 10 Must-Read Books for Geeks series. If you are tired of reading Danielle Steel, I guarantee you now have quite an exciting pile of geeky books on your bedside table.
Run the VMware Player (version 3.14 or higher) virtual machine executable (.exe) file.
The VMware Player Window appears on the screen, having the list of installed OSes on the left screen and the menu with a list of options on the right.
Click on Create a New Virtual Machine option on the right-side menu of the VMware player window and a New Virtual Machine Wizard Menu Window appears on the screen.
Select Installer disc image file (iso) option and Click Browse… for locating the path of the downloaded BackTrack 5 ISO file. However, a caution message is also displayed. But, Click Next to move further.
Select Linux option from the list of Guest Operating System Menu and Other Linux 2.6x Kernel option from the Version Menu of Select the Guest Operating System Window.
Type the name “BackTrack 5” (or whatever suits) on the Virtual Machine Name Menu. The Location can be changed by Browse… option as per private settings. Click Next after satisfactory changes.
A Ready to Create Virtual Machine Menu Window appears to present the details of the entire required configuration setting for installing BackTrack 5.
Some settings could be changed by clicking Customize Hardware… option, where a separate Hardware Window is opened allowing changing the allocated Memory, Processors size, adding or removing hardware devices. Make sure to add (or don’t remove) Modem or any Network Adapter device into this virtual machine because an Internet Connection would be required for upcoming experiments. Click OK after changing satisfactory settings.
Changes could be seen after customizing the Hardware settings. Select/Tick the Power on this Virtual Machine after creation option on the bottom menu. Click Finish to begin the installation of BackTrack 5.
VMware Player would start installing BackTrack 5 OS into Virtual Machine.
Click on the I Finished Installing option at the bottom message menu and Click into the black screen.
Press Enter key and BackTrack 5 Live CDMenu appears on the Virtual Machine Window.
Select BackTrack Text – Default Boot Text mode option from the Menu by pressing Enter key. The BackTrack would start installing sooner.
After installing on Live CD within seconds, another BackTrack 5 screen appears mentioning the default root username (root) and default root password (toor). Type “startx” on root@root: command workspace for starting its graphical interface, GNOME.
The BackTrack 5 Live CD has been installed and the main screen appears on the Virtual Machine.
Double-Click on the upper tab of VMware window to full screen view of the BackTrack 5 OS.
Press Ctrl+Alt keys for returning back to Windows system.
As per default settings of Virtual Machine, the BackTrack 5 has a default screen resolution of 800×600. To change the desired settings, Go to System > Preferences > Monitors Menu.
The Monitor Preferences Window appears, including all the required monitor settings.
Click on the Resolution drop down menu and select the desired resolution (e.g. 1024×768). Click Apply after satisfactory settings.
A message box has been displayed for at most 15 seconds. Click on Keep this Configuration option.
A New screen resolution could be observed on the Virtual Machine.
Need help creating or updating your resume? It certainly can be complicated because your resume is going to be reviewed by software as well as by hiring managers. Review these top resume tips for choosing a resume format, selecting a resume font, customizing your resume, using resume keywords, explaining employment gaps, and more tips for writing interview winning resumes. Trust me it really worked well for me during my placement sessions and in future, and so do it would help you out in achieving success.
Let’s take a look on some of important tips and tricks to write a good enough resume:-
List your technical knowledge first, in an organized way. Your technical strengths must stand out clearly at the beginning of your resume. Ultimately, your resume is going to be read by a thoughtful human being, but before it gets to that point it often has to be categorized by an administrative clerk, and make its way past various sorts of key word searches. Therefore, you should list as many directly relevant buzz words as you can which reflect your knowledge and experience. List all operating systems and UNIX flavors you know.
List all programming languages and platforms with which you’re experienced. List all software you are skilled with. Make it obvious at a glance where your strengths lie – whether the glance is from a hiring manager, a clerk, or a machine.
List your qualifications in order of relevance, from most to least. Only list your degree and educational qualifications first if they are truly relevant to the job for which you are applying. If you’ve already done what you want to do in a new job, by all means, list it first, even if it wasn’t your most recent job. Abandon any strict adherence to a chronological ordering of your experience.
Quantify your experience wherever possible. Cite numerical figures, such as monetary budgets/funds saved, time periods/efficiency improved, lines of code written/debugged, numbers of machines administered/fixed, etc. which demonstrate progress or accomplishments due directly to your work.
Begin sentences with action verbs. Portray yourself as someone who is active, uses their brain, and gets things done. Stick with the past tense, even for descriptions of currently held positions, to avoid confusion.
Don’t sell yourself short. This is by far the biggest mistake of all resumes, technical and otherwise. Your experiences are worthy for review by hiring managers. Treat your resume as an advertisement for you. Be sure to thoroughly “sell” yourself by highlighting all of your strengths. If you’ve got a valuable asset which doesn’t seem to fit into any existing components of your resume, list it anyway as its own resume segment.
Be concise. As a rule of thumb, resumes reflecting five years or less experience should fit on one page. More extensive experience can justify usage of a second page. Consider three pages (about 15 years or more experience) an absolute limit. Avoid lengthy descriptions of whole projects of which you were only a part. Consolidate action verbs where one task or responsibility encompasses other tasks and duties. Minimize usage of articles (the, an, a) and never use “I” or other pronouns to identify yourself.
Omit needless items. Leave all these things off your resume: social security number, marital status, health, citizenship, age, scholarships, irrelevant awards, irrelevant associations and memberships, irrelevant publications, irrelevant recreational activities, a second mailing address (“permanent address” is confusing and never used), references, reference of references (“available upon request”), travel history, previous pay rates, previous supervisor names, and components of your name which you really never use (i.e. middle names).
Have a trusted friend review your resume. Be sure to pick someone who is attentive to details, can effectively critique your writing, and will give an honest and objective opinion. Seriously consider their advice. Get a third and fourth opinion if you can.
Proofread, proofread, proofread. Be sure to catch all spelling errors, grammatical weaknesses, unusual punctuation, and inconsistent capitalizations. Proofread it numerous times over at least two days to allow a fresh eye to catch any hidden mistakes.
Laser print it on plain, white paper. Handwriting, typing, dot matrix printing, and even ink jet printing look pretty cheesy. Stick with laser prints. Don’t waste your money on special bond paper, matching envelopes, or any color deviances away from plain white. Your resume will be photocopied, faxed, and scanned numerous times, defeating any special paper efforts, assuming your original resume doesn’t first end up in the circular file.
Would you like to use Ubuntu Linux programs, but prefer the convenience of Windows 7? With VMware Player, you can install a full copy of Ubuntu and integrate it with your Windows 7 computer for free.
VMware Player makes it easy to install Ubuntu Linux as a virtual machine in only 5 clicks. It then offers easy access to Ubuntu programs straight from your desktop with Unity mode. Here’s how you can set this up on your computer.
Getting Started
First, download and install VMware Player (link below). It is a free download, but requires registration. I’ve used VMware Workstation 6.5. You can use the latest versions of VMware Player or Workstation available as well.
You may see some prompts about installing drivers; simply approve them. We didn’t see them on our latest test, but have in the past. When you are finished installing VMware Player, you will have to restart your computer.
Install Ubuntu
Once you have installed VMware Player and downloaded Ubuntu, you’re ready to setup Ubuntu. Open VMware Player, and choose “Create a New Virtual Machine.”
You can install Ubuntu from a disk, or directly from the ISO file you can download (link below). This is the simplest method if you’re simply wanting to use Ubuntu in VMware Player. However, if you do have an Ubuntu disk, then feel free to choose that instead. Once you’ve selected your install media, VMware Player will automatically detect Ubuntu and will show that it will be installed with Easy Install. Click next to continue.
Now enter your name, user name, and password. All fields are required.
Please note that the username can only have lowercase characters and numbers.
Also, the password must be at least 8 characters long.
Now, choose a name for your virtual machine and where to save it. Simply click next to accept the defaults.
You can choose how large you want your virtual hard drive to be; the default is 20Gb, but you can choose a different size if you wish. Please note that the entire 20Gb will not be used up on your hard drive initially. Ours only took up 3.6Gb with a clean install, but this will increase as you install programs and save files.
And that’s it! You can review your settings and change them here if you wish, or simply click Finish to start installing Ubuntu!
VMware player will now install Ubuntu without any further input. The window may show cryptic commands, but don’t worry, as you don’t have to do anything else to install Ubuntu.
During the install, you may be prompted to download and install VMware tools for Linux. Simply click Download and the tools will automatically download and install, though you may have to approve the UAC prompt.
VMware will continue installing Ubuntu even while the tools are downloading. Once the install is finished, you will be presented with your Ubuntu login screen. The full install took about 30 minutes in our test.
Select your user name, then enter your password to access Ubuntu.
Welcome to your Ubuntu desktop!
Installing VMware Tools
VMware Player will attempt to automatically install the VMware tools into Ubuntu during the initial setup, but sometimes this does not work. In our test, the tools failed to install during the Ubuntu setup since our internet connection was down. In your tests, it may or may not automatically install. If it doesn’t, follow the following steps to install them. Please not that this is fairly complicated, so be sure to enter the correct things during the install.
To install the tools, click VM and then select “Install VMware Tools” in the menu.
This will open a File Browser window. Double click on the VMwareTools icon; this should look like a box that says tar.gz on the front.
This will open the compressed file. Click the Extract button at the top of the window.
Now, choose where to save the files. Simply click “Desktop” on the left, and then click Extract.
This will take a moment. When the files are extracted, click “Close”.
Now, click the Applications menu at the top of the screen, click Accessories, and then click Terminal.
Enter the following to access the files you unzipped before:
cd ./Desktop/vmware-tools-distrib
Now, enter:
sudo bash
and enter your password when prompted. Please note that the password will not show while you are typing it in; simply type it in, and press Enter when completed.
Now we can install the VMware tools. To do this, enter:
./vmware-install.pl
and then simply press enter at the prompts to accept the defaults. It should ask a total of 5 questions, and just press enter at all of them.
After a bit, it may ask the following questions about documentation files; simply press enter again at each prompt.
The installation is now complete. You will still need to configure the tools, so simply enter “yes” at the prompt to automatically do that.
It may ask to enable an experimental backup feature; we simply entered “no” at this prompt.
Then, it will want to setup the graphics configurations. Enter “yes” at the prompt. Your screen may flicker or go black momentarily while it is changing these settings.
Finally, you will see the following message when the install is complete.
Restart Ubuntu by clicking on the button with your username at the top right, and then selecting Restart from the menu.
Once your virtual machine has rebooted, login to Ubuntu as before and your setup is complete!
Integrate Ubuntu with Windows 7
You can already use all of Ubuntu’s tools and features directly from the Ubuntu desktop in VMware Player. But, if you would like to use your Ubuntu programs seamlessly in Windows, we need to activate Unity mode. Click VM and then Unity Mode in the VMware Player Menu.
Now, you will have an Ubuntu menu right above your Windows 7 Start button!
By default, the Ubuntu windows will have a border and VMware logo on them.
To change this, click VM and then Settings, select the Options tab, and uncheck the “Show borders” and “Show badges” boxes.
Now the windows will look just like they do in Ubuntu.
You can run Ubuntu windows side-by-side with Windows 7 windows, and can copy and paste, drag-and-drop between the windows, and more! The Ubuntu programs’ icons show up in the taskbar the same as normal Windows programs.
You can access all of the files in your Ubuntu virtual machine from the Ubuntu menu. Select Other, and then choose Computer or Home Folder.
Conclusion
VMware Player gives us an exciting way to have a complete Ubuntu install right inside Windows 7. This would work the exact same on any modern version of Windows, including all editions of XP and Vista. In this tutorial we used Ubuntu 9.10, but other recent editions should work the same.
Since the popularity and extreme usage of Facebook, It is now focusing more on Security. We are usually obstructed with certain things like Security Code Verification, while posting any links on Group, Page and even Friends’ Wall. Though it which is obviously a hectic thing to type those shitty alphanumeric codes (again and again if you’re posting multiple times).
Recently Facebook has done some settings related to the topic, which made me SICK. Last Monday, I was just sending Friend Requests to my College Seniors . But after sending almost 20 Friend Request with 5 minutes, Facebook blocked me for Sending more Friend Request. I thought there must be some problem in my Accounts Setting. I’ve checked my Account Settings, which was all Perfect. Then I went to the Help center, where I get to know that Facebook automatically blocks the Users temporarily from the activities which he/she is doing repeatedly. Plus, You would be relieved from these restrictions for a limited period of time, with a condition that you don’t have to share the links during tha period otherwise the Time Period would be more Longer. Damn Sure, Even most of the time you have to encounter certain problems of getting blocked for repeatedly sharing links or commenting on walls of Friends, Groups and Pages and even on Comment.
WTF is that ?? I don’t have any free time sitting Idle for hours. It’s totally Irritating.
I just saw on my Friend’s wall yesterday. He posted a picture of his Wall showing that he has been blocked from replying to his own Wall Posts of Birthday Wishes by his Friends. DAMN !!! 😛
Now that’s totally Lame Facebook. Enough is Enough. You really oughta think about on this thing especially . In the terms of Spamming or Cyber Bullying, You’re screwing someone’s B’day with such Present. Rectify your System which unnecessarily punishing Innocents most of the time. :X
Wikipedia is huge source of knowledge, you can find everything from food recipes to current events. It is like whole world is in the Wikipedia. But sometimes, information on Wikipedia is too little or unsatisfactory that you search for the information in other websites. So here I have compiled a list of top 10 sites like Wikipedia which also provide the information for free.
10. Ask.com
Ask.com, now transformed into a information hub, allow you to find answers on any kind of topic from the experts.
9. eHow
eHow is great how to website, you can find how to articles from general daily life topics to science and mathematics problems.
8. How Stuff Works
How Stuff Works is another great source of how to and informational articles, you can find great article related to science, mathematics, life sciences, history and other general topics.
7. Google Knol
Google Knol is the Google’s version of Wikipedia. Though In the beta version, but a great source of information on the web.
6. Answers.com
Answers.com is vast source of knowledge, you can find answers related to your question, even ask here from great Answers.com community. You can also find videos article related to your problem on Video Answers.
5. Reference.com
Reference.com is ultimate resource to find meaning and threasures.
4. WikiHow
WikiHow is like mother of all How to website, consist of more than 80,000 how to articles and still counting.
3. About.com
Though About.com, is one of the humongous information resource on the web, and have large array of how to and reference article on variety of topics.
2. Encyclopedia.com
Encyclopedia.com is one of the most sought out website after Wikipedia, provides you information on variety of topics from general science to history.
1. Britannica.com
The most trusted website after Wikipedia.org, provides, articles, videos, biographies, pictures and facts on variety of topics
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