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Randy Cassingham's Bonzer Web Sites of the Week: Recognizing Interesting Sites that are Beyond the Microsoft/AOL-Time Warner/Media Megalith |
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No company uses e-mail to give away money or products. Also, "it's an ineffective tool for political activism and won't make you a millionaire overnight." Those (and many other) myths are shattered here. Like spam, chain e-mails are a ridiculous waste of time for everyone. They're not all hoaxes; sometimes the chain is true, but as evidenced by the dates on the information posted here, you can see that you're way behind the curve if you keep sending the thing along. Don't pass along an "Urgent! Send this to everyone!" e-mail without checking this site first. (Also see: Snopes.)
From This is True for 25 June 2006
Suggestions for further reading:
How to Cheat at Configuring Exchange Server 2007: Including Outlook Web, Mobi...
By: Henrik Walther
List Price: $39.95
Amazon Price: $26.37
Editorial Review:
According to Microsoft, Exchange Server delivers over 75% of all corporate e-mail. The 2007 release is the fist major overhaul since 2003. It attempts to address the challenge of delivering greater performance and accessibility while increasing protection against a new generation of high risk security threats. Microsoft has added many new features that dramatically improve the scope of Exchange Server and the Outlook web client, positioning the platform as a groupware and collaboration tool that is accessible to remote and wireless users as will as those wired directly to the corporate intranet. The typical SysAdmin needs a reference that cuts through all the complexity and seldom-used features to get the product successfully deployed as efficiently as possible---exactly the job of the "How to Cheat" series.
CNBC 24/7 Trading: Around the Clock, Around the World
By: Barbara Rockefeller
List Price: $16.95
Amazon Price: $16.95
Editorial Review:
Nothing has so altered the investment landscape in the past five years as the Internet and the CNBC network. The availability of real-time financial news, data and analysis, and instant order entry and execution have empowered investors and democratized financial markets. Barbara Rockefeller's CNBC 24/7 Trading is a primer for what's fast approaching--a trading day that never ends, where at least 500 international stocks can be bought or sold electronically anytime, anywhere.The book's main theme is the importance of including foreign stocks in a portfolio to lower risk and increase returns. Current portfolio-management theory, or "modern portfolio theory," holds that foreign stocks have historically outperformed American stocks and tend to move up and down at different times, as well. Thus, a portfolio that includes both is not only less risky but also likely to perform better over time. The point of optimum diversification, the "efficient frontier," is where the greatest returns are achieved with the least risk. They make the case that to not diversify is to actually take a bigger risk. In fact, today more money is invested and managed according to the tenets of modern portfolio theory than by any other method. Yet, missing in this book is any discussion about the impact of an increasingly wired world on stock volatility everywhere, and especially on the "noncorrelation" between U.S. and foreign stocks, on which modern portfolio theory is predicated. Recall how quickly the Asian financial crisis spread to Brazil and then to Russia just a couple of years ago. In the near future, events may well impact all stocks globally in the same way at the same time.
The book explains well the many risks in buying foreign securities. There's currency risk; country-specific economic and political risks; foreign-market, liquidity, broker, and back-office risk; foreign-company operational risk; and accounting standards that are anything but standard. What's more, it's harder, at least for now, to get timely and accurate news and financial data from overseas. The book does cover several theoretically safer methods of investing abroad, including American Depositary Receipts, iShares (foreign index shares), and open- and closed-end funds. And there are sections on the basics of foreign exchange and even charting for beginners.
Investors interested in taking a financial worldview will find here all the reasons they should--and plenty of things to worry about if they do. --Scott Harrison"Marshall McLuhan said, 'We have become a global village,' CNBC has helped lead the way in creating a global village for the financial markets. Readers will finish CNBC 24/7 Trading feeling smarter about the markets and really understanding how important it is to be in the information flow." -Mary Meeker, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
"CNBC 24/7 Trading unlocks the mystery of how individual investors can invest and trade everywhere all the time. This book will become the investment bible that levels the playing field between Wall Street and Main Street." -Robert J. Froehlich, Vice Chairman, Kemper Funds Group Managing Director, Scudder Kemper Investments
"TD Waterhouse has operations in eight countries, so we see that growth in international investing is accelerating. To be successful investing around the globe, investors need both information and insight. CNBC 24/7 Trading covers what individual investors need to know in a thorough, easy to understand way." -Steve McDonald, CEO, TD Waterhouse
From the Foreword
"CNBC 24/7 Trading . . . embraces the reality that the markets never stand still . . . this book is a guide to the emerging 24/7 marketplace, a road map to the potential rewards for investors who can grasp that marketplace's opportunities and understand its risks."-Sue Herera
"This definitive book on investing in the 24/7 markets provides the comprehensive tools for active investors and market pros alike. Offering information and advice on trading, obtaining research, measuring market volatility, and assessing local market risk, no smart investor should venture without it." -Linda R. Killian, CFA, Principal, Renaissance CapitalThe definitive guide to trading in the digital age from the world's most trusted financial news network
Big Book of Windows Hacks
By: Preston Gralla
List Price: $34.99
Amazon Price: $23.09
Editorial Review:
Bigger, better, and broader in scope, the Big Book of Windows Hacks gives you everything you need to get the most out of your Windows Vista or XP system, including its related applications and the hardware it runs on or connects to. Whether you want to tweak Vista's Aero interface, build customized sidebar gadgets and run them from a USB key, or hack the "unhackable" screensavers, you'll find quick and ingenious ways to bend these recalcitrant operating systems to your will.
The Big Book of Windows Hacks focuses on Vista, the new bad boy on Microsoft's block, with hacks and workarounds that also work for Windows XP. You can read each hack in just a few minutes, saving countless hours of searching for the right answer. The step-by-step instructions let you apply the solutions in no time. This book takes you beyond the operating system with hacks for applications like Internet Explorer 7 and Office 2007, and hardware such as the Zune, your wireless router, and the PC itself.
The Big Book of Windows Hacks includes: Expanded tutorials, new background material, a series of "quick hacks", and informative sidebars Security hacks, including protection at wireless hotspots, hacking Vista file permissions and user account protection, and more Efficiency hacks, such as tweaking your PC hardware, troubleshooting hardware problems, and speeding up system performance Fun hacks, like building a custom Media Center PC or turning a PC into a digital video recorder "Beyond Windows" hacks for running Linux inside Vista, dual-booting Linux/Windows or XP/Vista, or emulate classic video games on your PC In all, this remarkable book contains more than 100 hacks so that the power user in you never again needs to be at the mercy of systems and hardware run by Microsoft's omnipotent Vista and XP operating systems.
Windows XP Hacks, Second Edition
By: Preston Gralla
List Price: $29.95
Amazon Price: $19.77
Editorial Review:
A smart collection of insider tips and tricks, Windows XP Hacks, Second Edition covers the XP operating system from start to finish. Among the multitude of topics addressed, this must-have resource includes extensive coverage of hot-button issues such as: security web browsing controlling the control panel removing uninstallable XP components pop-up ads You'll also find timesaving hacks for file distribution; digital media, such as iTunes; and high-visibility web software, services, and exploits that have emerged since the book's last edition. Each hack in the book can be read easily in just a few minutes, saving countless hours of searching for the right answer. Now completely revised and updated to cover Service Pack 2 (SP2), the second edition of this bestseller carefully breaks down the new features that come with SP2, including IE pop-up blocker, Windows Firewall, and the new wireless client. Written by Preston Gralla, the compact and affordable Windows XP Hacks, Second Edition provides direct, hands-on solutions that can be applied to the challenges facing XP beginners, as well as the more experienced power user. Each year, Windows XP is pre-installed on 90 million PCs worldwide, making it the world's most popular operating system.
sendmail, 4th Edition
By: Bryan CostalesClaus AssmannGeorge JansenGregory Shapiro
List Price: $59.99
Amazon Price: $37.79
Editorial Review:
A classic O'Reilly title since 1993, sendmail now covers Versions 8.10 through 8.14 of this email routing program, including dozens of new features, options, and macros. This edition also takes a more nuts-and-bolts approach than its predecessors. It includes both an administration handbook and a reference guide that provide you with clear options for installing, configuring and managing sendmail's latest versions and companion programs.
The sendmail program has withstood the test of time because of its ability to solve the mail-routing needs of all sites large or small, complex or simple. But it's also difficult to configure and even more difficult to understand. That's why this book has proven valuable since the dawn of email. With it, you will be able to configure the program to meet any need, so that you never again have to call in a sendmail guru to bail you out.
sendmail includes the following sections: Some Basics is especially useful for people new to the program. It covers the basic concepts underlying mail delivery and the roles sendmail plays in that delivery
Administration covers all aspects of handling sendmail, from downloading and installing new releases to managing mailing lists and aliases
Configuration Reference contains a heavily cross-referenced guide for configuring and tuning sendmail. Every arcane detail of sendmail is listed alphabetically
Appendices contain more detail about sendmail than you may ever need
This edition also includes new material on SSL and AUTH and a new chapter on Mitlers. If you're interested in what has changed since the last edition, one appendix categorizes the many improvements of sendmail's intervening versions by chapter, complete with references to the appropriate sections and page numbers in the book.
With sendmail, system administrators, programmers, network engineers, and even inexperienced users will be able to match this challenging but necessary utility to the needs of their network.
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