4 comments about Interactive TV Standards: A Guide to MHP, OCAP, and JavaTV.

1. This an excellent book! A must have! I strongly recommend it to anyone willing to have a broad and at the same time in-depth view into the numerous concepts and APIs necessary for designing IDTV applications. Several code snippets are provided to illustrate how each API can be used: this can help save a lot of time as the DVB MHP and OCAP specs are a little bit large.



2. The authors give a well-written introduction as well as many insights into the design of interactive tv systems. This is a must-have for anyone new in this field. The book presents much more information than those on the interactive-mhp.org website.



3. We started our OCAP project prior to the arrival of this book and had to rely on digging through all of the different, confusingly referenced, standards. Every chapter of this book caused a light bulb to click on with a big "ah ha!" Don't get started without reading a copy of this book. It's a 10 to 1 reduction in pain.



4. Good guide for MHP and OCAP standards. It helps understand basic things of these standards

2 comments about An Introduction to Digital and Analog Communications.

1. Item shipped in the time expected. Item was found as described. Do damages and in good condition.



2. Amazon.com is a good choice for us to buy things. It is fast and I like it very much!

5 comments about Fuel Cell Systems Explained (Second Edition).

1. This book is a must read for anyone wanting to get into the fuel cell industry. I am a graduate researcher at a fuel cell lab and after borrowing my copy several colleagues have purchased their own. It gives a complete survey of the major fuel cell technologies and additionally covers many of related issue effecting fuel cell commercialization such as fuel storage. This text is very suited for a undergraduate course in fuel cells.



2. When I read this book, I read it to find out and explore this new idea of fuel cells. I was amazed by how it told me all of its benfits and how much more efficient the fuel cell powered cars truly are, and how much more environmentally friendly they are. This book explained the enitre concept of fuel cells to me, without confusing me. It explained every new term and if there is anyone who is interested in fuel cells, tis is definitely the book to read!



3. Fuel cells is a very difficult topic to write about because of the interdisciplinary nature of the subject. I am using the book to learn about Fuel Cells myself and my feelings are mixed. While this book is an excellent starting point, there are some over simplifications and errors. As a Mechanical engineer, some descriptions in the text made me cringe. Watch out for errors in some equations.
   
   Excellent resource for someone with a technical background and general interest in fuel cells. For more serious users, recommend using in conjunction with maybe the DOE fuel cell handbook available from NETL or from OSTI.GOV



4. This book is extremely well written. I am a scientist and wanted to learn about Fuel Cells and chose this book. It gives you everything you need to know starting with an assumption that you dont knoe anything! i.e. starts from basics and brings you up to speed. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Fuel Cells. The level of minimum education required to comprehend this book is around sophomore-junior. Enjoy learning fuel cells!



5. This book is extremely well written. I am a scientist and wanted to learn about Fuel Cells and chose this book. It gives you everything you need to know starting with an assumption that you dont knoe anything! i.e. starts from basics and brings you up to speed. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Fuel Cells. The level of minimum education required to comprehend this book is around sophomore-junior. Enjoy learning fuel cells!

4 comments about Pro Web 2.0 Application Development with GWT (Expert's Voice in Web Development).

1. I was working on GWT in 2007 and looking for such book. Instead you post and post on forum to collect information about using GWT (1.4 days) with Hibernate and spring. It has other techniques that you learn while developing website but it is readily available in this book with GWT 1.5 support.



2. A fantastic book for anyone needing to get down and dirty with GWT. It's to-the-point and chalk-full of practical wisdom. The focus is not solely on the technology of GWT (as are most tech manuals), but rather how to really use GWT, and how it fits into the bigger picture of a hetergeneous system.



3. This book is not about Application Development with GWT, it's about developing a web 2.0 site. Jeff takes you step by step through his process of developing www.tocollege.net, and frankly the site implementation is a little sloppy.
   
   He covers his decision making process for the full stack and gives outlines of Maven, Acegi, Compass, Hibernate, Spring MVC, SiteMesh, FreeMarker as well as GWT and Gears. That's a lot to cover in around 400 pages. In fact I have 2 books on my desk that cover just Hibernate and Spring that weigh in at over 700 pages each, so obviously he doesn't go into much depth, but he does point you to online resources to dig deeper.
   
   Because this book is not about developing a web 2.0 application using gwt (like it says on the cover) but it's actually about developing a web 2.0 site this means there is no discussion of integration with Javascript Libraries like gwtext, extgwt or Dojo, but it does discuss SEO and integration with Google maps for example.
   
   Jeff does a decent job of covering some of the key pinch points and offers some good advice which is why I'm not giving this book 1 star.



4. If you are looking for an architect-level view of how GWT can best be leveraged by your enterprise projects, Pro App Development with GWT is a great resource. The book goes through the steps in designing a robust Web 2.0 application using Spring, Hibernate, Lucene, and GWT. The finished application can be viewed online at www.tocollege.net.
   
   For developers like myself who have worked with small-scale GWT projects, this book directly answers many of the issues that one encounters when scaling up the project. Examples of these issues are: the most effective way to pass Hibernate classes back to the client using GWT, and how to most efficiently handle a large project through either single (or multiple) modules.
   
   Please note that this book will not teach you GWT; if you are not familiar with GWT, other books (or even the GWT website) would be superior resources.
   
   The only two issues I had with this book were:
   
   * It would be nice if there was chapter-by-chapter source code available so you could more easily mimic the steps in creating the application. Matching the chapter-by-chapter progress to the final source code was a little tedious.
   
   * The author's choice of technologies for the back-end is great (Spring, Hibernate, FreeMarker templates), but if you are an EJB/JBoss/Seam/Wicket shop, you will be doing a lot of translation from the Spring-domain to your particular choice of technology.
   
   Overall, this book is highly recommended and will make deploying GWT much easier on medium and large-scale projects. The author has done a great job in solving common GWT problems; issues that an enterprise architect will surely encounter when using GWT.

3 comments about TiVo For Dummies.

1. An up-front caveat - I served as the Technical Editor for this book, so I can share the blame for any outright errors... I have no financial stake in sales of the book. That said, on with the review.
   
   When I was first approached regarding "TiVo For Dummies", I was skeptical. I was an experienced TiVo user and I thought that the TiVo manual was pretty good. I wondered what such a book could add to be worth paying for. The answer turned out to be "a lot".
   
   As easy as TiVo is to use, it is sufficiently different from the familiar VCR as to confuse many who are new to the concept of a PVR. I have seen many newcomers to "The TiVolution" plea for help with such subjects as: wiring to an existing system, setting up a Season Pass for unusual situations, tweaking the TiVo's settings to match personal preferences, using the networking options and expanding storage capacity. Andy Rathbone covers all these topics and more in a breezy, comforting style that is never condescending (the "For Dummies" in the title is not to be taken literally.)
   
   "TiVo For Dummies" opens with a helpful introduction to the world of PVRs, and TiVo in particular. TiVo is a hard thing to explain to someone who hasn't used one. "It's a VCR with a hard disk!" Yawn. "Pause Live TV!" In the past, this has been argued as a big selling point of TiVo, but to my mind, it is one of the less interesting features. "Record your favorite shows, no matter when they're on!" Now you're talking. "Record shows you like that you didn't even know were on!" Say what??? (This is one of my favorite reasons to love TiVo.) Rathbone explains TiVo in a way that most readers will "get" - a worthy result in itself.
   
   After discussion of the various types of TiVo boxes, the book walks you through installation and setup, with detailed explanations of many different configurations that go far beyond the manual's "reference book" approach. Next comes the most useful part - how to best take advantage of TiVo's many features to enhance your life. Really, most people who have TiVo will tell you that it makes TV so much more enjoyable, especially as you are freed from the tyranny of the networks' schedules. Rathbone illustrates clever uses of TiVo's options, some I had never considered before.
   
   The next several chapters cover the TiVo Home Media Option (HMO), which uses a network connection to share recorded shows with other TiVos in your house and to view pictures and listen to music stored on your PC. At the time the book was written, HMO was an extra-cost option, but now it is free with the standard service. Rathbone walks you through setting up the network and enabling the feature, and then discusses various TiVo and non-TiVo tools for sending pictures and music to the TiVo.
   
   The last major section of the book talks about upgrading the disk space on a TiVo, (easy to do if you are comfortable with adding a disk to a PC), and troubleshooting common problems.
   
   The book ends with a collection of short chapters filled with tips and tricks, and some reference material, such as the differences between TiVo and a generic PVR.
   
   If you are looking for information about "hacking" your TiVo, modifying it to do strange new things, this book is not for you - there are a couple of other good books on that topic, such as "Hacking TiVo" by Jeff Keegan. But if you are relatively new to TiVo, "TiVo For Dummies" will significantly enhance your TiVo experience and will reduce, if not eliminate, the small frustrations that some run into. Giving TiVo as a gift? "TiVo for Dummies" makes a great accompaniement!
   
   And if you don't have a TiVo yet - read this book and see what you're missing! Chances are, you will soon be joining the TiVolution on your own.



2. This book is the place to start if you don't know anything about Tivo. I certainly did not when I received a Tivo box as a gift. Figuring out how it would fit in with cable box, video tape recorder, and dvd player was daunting. The booklet that comes with the Tivo player is a good reference but Rathbone's book provides a much more readable explanation of how everything works. It not only provides clear explanations on how to set up the equipment in a variety of configurations but also explains how to get the most advantage from using Tivo. The setup and operating menus are covered as well as how to "educate" Tivo to go out and select programming most suited to individual taste.
   
   This book would be most useful if read before first getting Tivo as it covers the different options available. Also it explains what upgrades are available along with the URL's for ordering upgrade parts.
   
   The book is laid out with the clarity typical of the "For Dummies" line with clear diagrams, tables, and illustrations. I suspect some smart manufacturer might start including a copy right in the box along with the spare cables and fold-out assembly poster.



3. I bought this book to help me decide whether or not to Tivo. This book quickly sold me on the features of Tivo, so I bought one. The book was very useful during setup, as well as operation of the Tvo. I agree with everything in the "Big Help" review, so I won't repeat it here.

5 comments about Audio/Video Cable Installer's Pocket Guide (McGraw-Hill Pocket Reference).

1. I bought this book as a quick reference for a Technical Support group I manage. We have a few dozen products that require an installer to run wires throughout a house. Unfortunately, a large majority of the calls I get are wiring related and this book provides tremendous insight into the problems created by improper wiring.
   
   If you want to learn about wiring, this is the book to buy. I also bought the full book that goes with it. It must be good because I got the only paperback, and all the used hardback books are almost double the retail price.
   
   From this guide you'll learn everything relating to wiring. You'll learn balanced vs unbalanced, ground loop isolation vs cross talk, and the list would almost be half as long as the pocket guide. Simply put, if your livlihood depends upon wiring, this book will help you a great deal.



2. As an proffesional I apreciate this book, it gives precise information. It is well written and on plain english as it's posiblle.
   
   I recomending this book!



3. Very little useful information. If you planning a home theatre this book really doens't offer any information on design or component integration. Very basic in it's approach with references to VCR's and other dated technology.



4. Audio/Video Cable Installer's Pocket Guide (McGraw-Hill Pocket Reference)I THINK THAT IF YOU ARE GOING TO BUY ANYTHING ELECTRICAL ON THIS PLANET YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK FIRST.
   SO WHEN THE SALESMAN SAYS THAT HE KNOWS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 1080P/1080I YOU CAN TELL HIM TO READ THIS BOOK BEFORE HIS NEXT CUSTOMER.
   IN FACT I WAS SO IMPRESSED WITH THIS BOOK I HOPE TO CREATE A DVD BASIC HOME THEATER INSTALL TIPS USING THIS POCKET GUIDE AS A REFERENCE POINT
   THANKS;
   HUCKS GEM,



5. I loved this book. It is perhaps more of a technical guide than a field reference but it is still is filled with lots of useful stuff and manages to be entertaining at the same time.
   
   However, if you want to know have to attach terminals and do some of the real hand on stuff this isn't the book you want (try the Newnes Electronics Assembly Pocket Book or something similar instead).

3 comments about Approximate Dynamic Programming: Solving the Curses of Dimensionality (Wiley Series in Probability and Statistics).

1. This book represents a paradigm shift in the presentation of dynamic programming/stochastic optimization. Classical treatments of dynamic programming/neuro-dynamic programming/reinforcement learning typically assume small "action spaces," and often assume the presence of a one-step transition matrix. By contrast, authors working with decision vectors in the presence of uncertainty often turn to stochastic linear programming. But these techniques typically struggle when applied to multistage applications. It is extremely hard to solve most of these problems without taking advantage of the presence of a state variable that captures previous history.
   
   I have adopted the notational style where S is the state of the system, and x is a decision, using the language of math programming. x may have many thousands of dimensions for some problem classes (although the book considers many classical problems where decisions are relatively simple).
   
   The challenge that arises when x is a vector when we use dynamic programming is the expectation within the max/min operator. Bellman's equation is typically written
   
   V(S_t) = max (C(S_t,x) + discount * E{V(S_{t+1})|S_t} )
   
   If x is a vector, we generally need the power of math programming to solve the maximization problem. The challenge is the expectation. We avoid this using the post-decision state variable, which is the state immediately after we have made a decision, but before any time has passed (bringing new information). Denoted S^x_t, the post-decision state variable is a deterministic function of S and x. If V^x(S^x_t) is the value function around the post-decision state variable, we obtain
   
   V(S_t) = max (C(S_t,x) + discount * V^x(S^x_t)
   
   The book provides a number of practical examples of this, but the key is that the maximization problem is now a deterministic problem. The final step is that we have to replace V^x() with a suitably chosen approximation. If our maximization problem is a linear, nonlinear or integer programming problem, we have to choose an approximation for V^x() that allows these algorithmic tools to be used.



2. In this book Warren nicely blends his practical experience in modeling and solving complex dynamic and stochastic problems occurring in a variety of industries (transportation, the financial sector, energy, etc) with algorithmical and theoretical aspects of approximate dynamic programming. The book can be either used as a textbook in undergraduate or graduate courses, or for practitioners to learn about recent advances in this exciting area. Indeed, I have already used it twice as a textbook for a graduate course, and on the other hand, I have recommended it to several practitioners. Without doubt, this is an important contribution in approximate dynamic programming.
   
   I strongly recommend the book for all practitioners facing large-scale complex dynamic programs. It is also an excellent textbook.



3. Our consulting firm has successfully collaborated with Dr. Powell for years and I have seen first hand how ADP solves large scale, real world problems that would frankly be intractable by many traditional traditional operations research or optimization techniques. While consulting firms and other business jealously guard their intellectual property, it is terrific for all of us that academics are rewarded for precisely the opposite. I would highly recommend for any serious practitioner to grab a copy of this book and study it. Probably one of the best $100s you will have spent in a while.

5 comments about Wireless Crash Course, Second Edition.

1. For technical professionals and engineers, this book is a great way to understand past and existing wireless technologies. It gives an overview on the many aspects of wireless communication and explains the technologies to some amount of depth. The areas that explain how the wireless encoding works would have to be read more than once to grasp it. Every chapter starts with a good overview. The nice thing about this book is that it also contains information about the companies behind these technologies, their evolution (or demise) based on how technologies were selected over others and the evolution of the technologies themselves.



2. This is by far the best book I've ever read on the wireless industry. I'm starting my career in this field and found the book very informative and easy to understand. I e-mailed Mr. Bedell with a question and he returned my e-mail in less than 12 hours!! If your new to wireless or your an old pro, this is the last book you'll ever need. TRY IT!! You won't be disapointed.



3. This second edition has prose that clearly explains the concepts in wireless engineering. Without diving deeply into the underlying physics or maths. Bedell explicitly states that he directs the book at a wide audience, including possibly those in the financial industry, who want to make some sense of the various wireless networks.
   
   He covers all the important types of networks. From those that have been around for decades, to the latest WiFi and WiMax. The latter is especially speculative, but offers great potential for connecting up a wide area.



4. I used this book as a supplemental reference for teaching an undergrad course in Wireless Communications. Although it is too basic for students with communications engineering backgrounds, it is terrific as a basic intro to multiple wireless technologies and related business applications and services. Technologies grow and industries change quickly, but this book's 2005 edition seemed reasonably up to date as of the end of 2006. Even I used it as a quick refresher on specific topics like WiMax, GPRS, 3G, UTMS, cdma2000. The author writes clearly, and this book is a great reference for general telecom audiences.



5. Great book for everything Wireless. Covers past, current and future technologies. If you are a tech nut like me, buy this book and read it cover to cover.

5 comments about The Mathematical Theory of Communication.

1. The origin of this book lies in the Bell Telephone Laboratories initiative in researching how wireless and telecommunications can be improved. The problem it deals with is a classic one for electronics, telecommunications and computing - noise vs. fidelity of data transmitted. The solution it propounds is simple and yet so revolutionary that it charted the course of these fields since it was published.
   
   The basic premise of the book is that 'redundancy' or elimination of noise occurs at infinite time. 'Entropy' or shuffledness allows for some noise and produces more information because it requires reconstruction at the receiving end.
   
   The authors support their arguments with simple statistical formulae which explain how entropy and redundancy are inverse of each other.
   
   This book has been highly debated by both the people involved in the fields concerned and the people outside the field.
   
   Most of the debate surrounds the controversial aspect of Shannon and Weaver's definition of information in engineering terms, which excludes issues like relevance, meaning etc.
   
   A great deal of debate also got carried into social sciences and humanities where a new celebration of 'entropy' occured.



2. This book is the best technical book i've ever read. It's clear, concise and logic. It explains all the fundamentals of communication theory, a basic for telecom and electronic engineers. All technical universities of everywhere must explain their communication theory subject following exactly this text. Above any other technical book. A gem.



3. Typically, a paper which defines a new field of science is not the best introduction to new researchers in the field. This is not the case with The Mathematical Theory of Communication. If you are interested in information theory, this is the one and only place to start.



4. This book doesn't need any presentation: it is well known by all the scientific community as the "start point" of Information Theory. Roughly speaking, today we would not have cell phones or internet without Shannon's work.
   With his fundamental theorem, in 1948, Shannon prooved that it was possible, under some conditions, to have reliable communication. Since that moment, the research on Information Theory has become more and more important and has continued to develop in many different ways.
   So, this book is historically fundamental for all those people interested in Communications.



5. This book is the origin of information theory (then called "communication theory"). Explaining measurement of information in both discrete and continuous variables, this historic work defined one of the most important watershed moments in science, and serves as an excellent introduction to the subject.

5 comments about Wireless Communications & Networks (2nd Edition).

1. I've had numerous experiences with William Stallings networking books, and all of them are bad.

   My personal opinion is that he is that though it seems like he knows a lot (though I doubt it), he's not able to get that knowledge across to his readers. There are few examples and the post topic questions have little or no bearing on the subject matter of the chapters.

   Every one I knew in my networking classes and computer science classes felt the same way about this author. I'm sure there are other better books out there - don't know why lousy prof. seem to
   require this for classes




2. 
   I do not like it for the following reasons:
   
   -It touches the subjects and does not go deep into it.
   -It does not have examples.
   -The very few examples in the chapters are not clear. You have to decipher it.
   -Some of the end of the chapter problems talks about things not covered.
   -It is not an easy read. You have to read a paragraph several time to figure it out.
   -I do not recommend it.
   -On second thought, I should have given it 1 star but it seems I can not change that.



3. Very suitable for beginners and intermediates. Easy to understand the sentences and main points but I think it would be much better if there is a solution guide for selected question at the end of the book.



4. I followed it in my undergraduate studies. It is an okay book, not anything exceptional, just average. I found Mobile Communications by Jochen Schiller better than this book. However with respect to contents it covers much more, particulalry on wireless communications stuff. Actually it should not be compared to Schiller's book because the two are covering relatively different contents. As the title of this book suggests: "Wireless Communicstions and Networks", much of the stuff it covers belong to wireless communications rather than wireless networks e.g., transmission fundamantals, antennas and propagation, signal and encoding techniques.
   
   Many topics are actually belong to the introductory computer networks books but have been included here again, such as the introduction of TCP, IP, in chapter 4, which is, believe me, written in very dry style. Even interesting things look boring if presented this way.
   
   Particulalry the chapters I found relatively well written are Chapter 5 "Antennas and Propagation" and Chapter 10 "Cellular Wireless Networks". However the contents on the cellular wireless networks are too limited. The networks technologies have been merely touched here. In contrast Schiller's book describes GSM, GPRS, UMTS/WCDMA, etc in a lot more detailed and interesting way. I did not follow WLAN chapters of this book since I consulted Schiller's book for it therefore I cannot say much about it.
   
   Also sometimes it feels that too much math have been included, the writing style is not very interesting.



5. This textbook is one of the best CS textbooks authored by Dr. Stallings!
   However, best among what?
   
   It seems that there is a strange, perhaps not very healthy situation that
   major CS textbooks are monopolized by Dr. William Stallings. Why
   does not somebody even give Dr. Stallings some competition. I am
   a believer of the competition. No competition, no better products.
   
   I guess it might be that many CS professors, especially those highly
   qualified (say at top 10) are busy at writing proposal rather than
   spending time on an undergraduate textbook. If that conjecture is
   true, it might be a shame for the whole CS academia. Those big NSF
   or DARPA grants receivers should ask themselves, what have I
   done for my students? remember most students never have
   chance to read your grant proposal and most undergraduates
   simply do not have time to even read your research papers
   published in journals or monographs.