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A mathematician, Shannon's master's thesis described how digital information could be transmitted by automated switching circuits. At Bell Labs in 1948, Shannon published A Mathematical Theory of Communication -- the foundation of information theory -- which developed the concept of communicating in binary code, the basis of the entire digital communications revolution from cell phones to the Internet. Shannon even developed the concept of error correction, which makes the communications accurate. "Without him, none of the things we know today would exist. The whole digital revolution started with him," said AT&T fellow Neil Sloane. Shannon died February 24 from complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was 84. From This is True for 25 February 2001 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: David Pogue List Price: $19.99 Amazon Price: $13.59 Editorial Review: iPhone: The Missing Manual Sneak Preview: David Pogue's Favorite iPhone Tricks The iPhone's finger-driven interface seems natural and obvious. But when you really think about it, making it seem that way was no easy task. There are no menus in the iPhone software, for example, and no checkboxes or radio buttons. Everything on the screen has to be big enough for a fleshy fingertip. On the other hand, the finger makes an outstanding pointing device; heck, you've been pointing with it all your life. It's much faster to scroll diagonally with a fingertip, for example, than with fussy adjustments on two different scroll bars. Here, then, are some of the iPhone's unadvertised taps, double-taps, and other shortcuts, all culled from iPhone: The Missing Manual. Double-TappingDouble-tapping is actually pretty rare on the iPhone. It's not like the Mac or Windows, where double-clicking the mouse means "open." On the iPhone, you open something with one tap. A double tap, therefore, is reserved for three functions: In Photos, Google Maps, and Safari (the Web browser), double-tapping zooms in on whatever you tap, magnifying it by a factor of two. In the same programs, as well as Mail, double-tapping means, "restore to original size" after you've zoomed in. (Weirdly, in Google Maps, you use a different gesture to zoom out: tap once with two fingers. That gesture appears nowhere else on the iPhone.) When you're watching a video, double-tapping eliminates or restores letterbox bars. See, the iPhone's screen is bright, vibrant, and stunningly sharp. It's not, however, the right shape for videos. Standard TV shows are squarish, not rectangular. So when you watch TV shows, you get black letterbox columns on either side of the picture. Movies have the opposite problem. They're too wide for the iPhone screen. So when you watch movies, you wind up with letterbox bars above and below the picture. Some people are fine with that. At least when letterbox bars are onscreen, you know you're seeing the complete composition of the scene the director intended. Other people can't stand letterbox bars. You're already watching on a pretty small screen; why sacrifice some of that precious area to black bars? That's why the iPhone gives you a choice. If you double-tap the video as it plays, you zoom in, magnifying the image so that it fills the entire screen. Part of the image is now off the screen; now you're not seeing the entire composition originally broadcast. You lose the top and bottom of TV scenes, or the left and right edges of movie scenes. If this effect winds up chopping off something important--some text on the screen, for example--restoring the original letterbox view is just another double-tap away. Secrets of the SensorsThe iPhone has three cool sensors. First, it has an accelerometer that detects when you've rotated the iPhone into landscape orientation. In programs like Photos, Safari, and iPod, it triggers the screen image to rotate as well. Camouflaged behind the black glass where you can't see them except with a bright flashlight are two more sensors: a proximity sensor that shuts off the screen illumination and touch sensitivity when the phone is against your head (it works only in the Phone application), and an ambient-light sensor that brightens the display when you're in sunlight and dims it in darker places. Apple says that it experimented with having the light sensor active all the time, but it was weird to have the screen get brighter and darker all the time. So the sensor now samples the ambient light, and adjusts the brightness; it does this only once--each time you unlock the phone after waking it. You can use that tip to your advantage. By covering up the sensor (just above the earpiece) as you unlock the phone, you force it to a low-power, dim screen-brightness setting (because the phone believes that it's in a dark room). Or by holding it up to a light as you wake it, you get full brightness. In both cases, you've saved all the taps and navigation it would have taken you to find the manual brightness slider in Settings. Earbud Cord SwitchWithout close inspection, you'd have a hard time telling the iPhone's white stereo earbuds apart from a regular iPod's--but don't get them mixed up. The iPhone's earbuds have a tiny, embedded clicker/microphone partway down the right earbud cord. That's right, "clicker/microphone." The tiny bulge is the microphone for phone calls. But if you pinch the bulge, you'll find that it clicks. Pinch once to answer an incoming phone call. Pinch for a couple seconds to dump the call to voicemail. (You can also double-tap the Sleep/Wake switch on top of the iPhone to send the call to voicemail.) During music or video playback, pinch once to pause the music; pinch again to resume playback. During music playback, double-pinch to skip to the next song. Customizing the iPod ButtonsThe iPod module on the iPhone starts out with buttons along the bottom for summoning four lists: Playlists, Artists, Songs, and Videos. But what about Albums? Genres? Composers? They're there, all right, but hidden; you have to tap More to see them. But what if you use those lists more often than Artists or Songs? No problem: you can replace one of those starter buttons with a list of your own. Tap More, and then tap the Edit button (upper-left corner). You arrive at the Configure screen. Here's the complete list of music-and-video sorting lists: Albums, Podcasts, Audiobooks, Genres, Composers, Compilations, Playlists, Artists, Songs, and Videos. To replace one of the four starter icons, use a finger to drag an icon from the top half of the screen downward, directly onto the existing icon you want to replace. It lights up to show the success of your drag. When you release your finger, you'll see that the new icon has replaced the old one. Tap Done in the upper-right corner. Keyboard SpeedupsDon't bother using the Shift key to capitalize a new sentence. The iPhone does that capitalizing automatically. Don't put apostrophes in contractions, either; the iPhone will put those in for you, too. Force Quit, ResetThe iPhone is pretty darned simple and stable, but it's still a computer. In times of troubleshooting, these tips may come in handy: Force quit a program. Press and hold the Home button for six seconds to force-quit a program that seems to be stuck. Reset. If the entire iPhone locks up--it can happen--press and hold both the Home button and the Sleep/Wake switch for eight seconds. You'll see the screen go black, and then the Apple logo appears as the iPhone reboots. McCallum's Awesome iPhone Period-Typing Shortcut I have in my possession a nugget, a secret bit of iPhone information that's so valuable, such a headache- and time-saver, that I don't know what to do with it. One voice in my head says, "Hoard it! Keep it a secret until your book is published! If you reveal it, it'll be all over the Net in hours, and all your competitors' books will have it, too." But another voice says, "But this information is too good to keep quiet. Plus, you didn't discover it yourself. And besides, you're not gonna starve, either way." Eventually, the second little voice prevailed. I'm going to share with you the solution to one of the most annoying things, if not THE most annoying thing, about typing on the iPhone: The punctuation keys and alphabet keys appear in two different keyboard layouts. So every time you want to type a period or a comma, it's a three-step, awkward dance: (1) Tap the ".?123" key in the lower left to summon the punctuation layout. (2) Type the period. (3) Type the ABC key in the lower left to return to the alphabet layout. Imagine how excruciating it is to type, for example, "a P.O. Box in the U.S.A.!" That's 34 finger taps and 10 mode changes! And therefore imagine how thrilled I was to receive an email from reader Andrew McCallum, containing a method of typing a period or a comma with only a SINGLE finger gesture. The iPhone doesn't register most key presses until you *release* your finger. But Andrew discovered that the Shift and Punctuation keys register their taps on the *press-down* instead. So here's what you can do, all in one motion: 1. Touch the ".?123" key, but don't lift your finger as the punctuation layout appears. 2. Slide your finger a half inch onto the period or comma key, and release. Incredibly, the ABC layout returns automatically. You've typed a period or a comma with one finger touch instead of three. In fact, you can type ANY of the punctuation symbols the same way. This makes a HUGE difference in the usability of the keyboard. Type on, bro. Book Description As you'd expect of Apple, the iPhone is gorgeous. iPhone: The Missing Manual is a book as breathtaking as its subject. Teeming with high-quality color graphics, each custom designed page helps you accomplish specific tasks -- everything from Web browsing to watching videos. Written by New York Times columnist and Missing Manual series creator David Pogue, this book shows you how to get the most out of your new Apple iPhone. The name iPhone may be doing Apple a disservice. This machine is so packed with possibilities that the cellphone may actually be the least interesting part. The iPhone is at least three products merged into one: a phone, a wide-screen iPod and a wireless, touch-screen Internet communicator. The iPhone's beauty alone may be enough for you to dig for your credit cards, but its Mac OS X-based software makes it not so much a smartphone as something out of the film "Minority Report." The real magic, however, awaits when you browse the Web. You get to see the entire Web page on the iPhone's screen. All of this is cooked up with Apple's traditional secret sauce of simplicity, intelligence and whimsy. Written by New York Times columnist and Missing Manual series creator David Pogue, iPhone: The Missing Manual shows you everything they need to know to get the most out of your new Apple iPhone. Full of humor, tips, tricks, and surprises, this book teaches you how to extend iPhone's usefulness by exploiting its links to the Web as well as its connection to Macs or PCs; how to save money using Internet-based messages instead of phone calls; and how to fill the iPhone with TV shows and DVDs for free.  By: Tony Redmond List Price: $69.95 Amazon Price: $44.07 Editorial Review: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 marks the biggest advancement in the history of the Exchange Product group. The completely re-engineered server system will change the face of how IT administrators approach Exchange. Tony Redmond, one of the worlds most acclaimed Exchange experts, offers insider insight from the very basics of the newly transformed architecture to understanding the nuances of the new and improved Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0 and the two new administrative interfacesthe Exchange Management Console (EMC) and the Exchange Management Shell (EMS). This book covers: How Exchange works with Active Directory How the new management model works How to use the Exchange Management Shell to automate administrative operations How Outlook, Outlook Web Access, and Windows Mobile clients work with Exchange How Exchange 2007 message routing differs from previous versions How to help your users to use Exchange intelligently How to select hardware for Exchange 2007  By: Jan Axelson List Price: $39.95 Amazon Price: $26.37 Editorial Review: PC COM ports, USB virtual COM ports, and ports in embedded systems are all addressed in this updated guide to programming, interfacing, and using serial ports. Topics include using .NET’s SerialPort class for COM-port communications on PCs; upgrading existing RS-232 designs to USB or wireless networks; and creating serial networks of embedded systems and PCs. Example circuits and code provide a quick start to projects. Installation and maintenance staff will also find tips for ensuring reliable operation and problem tracking.  By: Rohit Bhargava List Price: $22.95 Amazon Price: $15.61 Editorial Review: The age of the faceless corporation is over. In the new business era of the twenty first century, great brands and products must evoke a dynamic personality in order to attract passionate customers. Although many organizations hide their personality behind layers of packaged messaging and advertising, social media guru and influencer Rohit Bhargava counters that philosophy and illustrates how successful businesses have redefined themselves in the new customer universe. Personality Not Included is a powerhouse resource packed with bold new insights that show you how to shed the lifeless armor of your business and rediscover the soul of your brand. Sharing stories from the ethos of the world's weirdest city, to how Manga has taken the comic book industry by storm, to showcasing brands like Intel, Boeing, ING, and Dyson, Bhargava shows you why personality matters from the inside out. In Part One, you'll be introduced to the key components to building a personality and learn how to: Recognize the greatest myth that most marketers blindly follow, and how to get past it Use the “UAT Filter” to understand the personality of your organization and products in order to develop a communication strategy that drives your marketing Create your company's “marketing backstory” using techniques pioneered by Hollywood screenwriters Harness the influence of “accidental spokespeople” and use it to your advantage Navigate the roadblocks of using personality that come from bosses, peers, investors, and lawyers, without getting fired or flamed Pinpoint and capitalize on the moments where personality can make a differencePart Two is packed with guides, tools, and techniques to help you flawlessly implement your plan. It features practical, step-by-step lessons that help you effectively move from theory to action, and includes a valuable collection of guides, checklists, question forms, printable resources, and more. Don't be another faceless company-learn the new rules for succeeding in the social media era with Personality Not Included.  By: Bruce Block List Price: $34.95 Amazon Price: $22.72 Editorial Review: If you can't make it to one of Bruce Block's legendary visual storytelling seminars, then you need his book! Now in full color for the first time, this best-seller offers a clear view of the relationship between the story/script structure and the visual structure of a film, video, animated piece, or video game. You'll learn how to structure your visuals as carefully as a writer structures a story or a composer structures music. Understanding visual structure allows you to communicate moods and emotions, and most importantly, reveals the critical relationship between story structure and visual structure. The Visual Story offers a clear view of the relationship between the story/script structure and the visual structure of a film, video, or multimedia work. An understanding of the visual components will serve as the guide to strengthening the overall story. The Visual Story divides what is seen on screen into tangible sections: contrast and affinity, space, line and shape, tone, color, movement, and rhythm. The vocabulary as well as the insight is provided to purposefully control the given components to create the ultimate visual story. For example: know that a saturated yellow will always attract a viewer's eye first; decide to avoid abrupt editing by mastering continuum of movement; and benefit from the suggested list of films to study rhythmic control. The Visual Story shatters the wall between theory and practice, bringing these two aspects of the craft together in an essential connection for all those creating visual stories. Bruce Block has the production credentials to write this definitive guide. His expertise is in demand, and he gives seminars at the American Film Institute, PIXAR Studios, Walt Disney Feature and Television Animation, Dreamworks Animation, Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Industrial Light & Magic and a variety of film schools in Europe. The concepts in this book will benefit writers, directors, photographers, production designers, art directors, and editors who are always confronted by the same visual problems that have faced every picture maker in the past, present, and future. * Now in full color! * Written by a renowned producer, visual consultant, and teacher * The material in this books applies to any kind of visual story, including films, animated pieces, video games, and television |
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