Description:
Personal computers mean different things to different people. For some, they're similar to carrot peelers: tools to be used for a purpose and then put away. For others, they're magical things, foundations on which to build castles of data and software. Leo Laporte has made his name explaining why personal computers, for all their idiotic quirks and obscure ways of going about their work, are essentially benevolent. In TechTV: Leo Laporte's 2003 Technology Almanac, he and a group of collaborators deliver day-by-day insight into the machines that entertain us, provide us with jobs, find us dates, and enable us to blow up demons without making a mess.As an almanac, this book devotes a page to each day of the year 2003, and packs each one with three or four elements. Usually, an essay on a single topic (such as ergonomics, Easter eggs in popular programs, processor overclocking, or discount-travel Web sites) fills most of the page. The rest of the space hosts hints, tips, references to worthwhile software, and goofy factoids. There's also some technology-related general-interest material, such as the anniversaries of the first robot-related fatality and the opening of the first garbage-fired electrical power plant. Written for people past the novice level but well shy of nerdiness, this book holds tons of facts. --David Wall Topics covered: In daily doses, the authors of this book show how to keep personal-computer hassles to a minimum while experiencing maximum fun and learning something about technology and its effects on society.
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