[Firenze-pm] Fwd: User Groups Newsletter - Issue 04-08

[Stefano Rodighiero]

Buona lettura.

S.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Josette Garcia <josette at oreilly.co.uk>
Date: Fri, May 2, 2008 at 1:54 PM
Subject: User Groups Newsletter - Issue 04-08
To: Stefano Rodighiero <stefano.rodighiero at gmail.com>


 O'Reilly UK User Group Programme
NEWSLETTER
Issue 04-08
PDF available for download - http://www.richplum.co.uk/oreilly/0408.pdf
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hope you are having a wonderful Spring. At O'Reilly UK we are rather
wet and miserable, so please send us some sunshine.

We just released some big news at our recent Web 2.0 Expo, our new
consulting and training division called O'Reilly InPractice. Here's an
interview with the new Chief Strategy Officer George LeBrun that's
worth a quick read.
<http://www.oreillynet.com/fyi/blog/2008/04/chatting_with_george_lebrun_ab.html>

And as usual around here, we've got lots of new books, conferences,
and other projects going on. One of the latest is a new book widget
that lets you share O'Reilly and our partners' books on your web site.
You can choose by author, topic, or just show all our new releases
automatically and it's completely customizable for your web site so
you can choose the size, design, and more.
I'm willing to trade you a book of your choice for posting one of
these cool new widgets. Send me a link and let us know how you like
them.
<http://ug.oreilly.com/promote/bookwidgets.csp>

New books we're hoping to get Amazon and Slashdot reviewers for
include "Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide," "Principles of Project
Management," "Subject to Change," and "bash Cookbook." Send me an
email if you are interested and I'll get the book right out.

---------------------------------------------------------------
New Releases--Books, Short Cuts
----------------------------------------------------------------
Get 35% off from O'Reilly, Pragmatic Bookshelf, Rocky Nook or YoungJin
books you purchase directly from O'Reilly. Just use your User Group
Promo code when ordering online using the UK Shopping Cart.
http://www.oreilly.com

Did you know you can request a free book or PDF to review for your
group? Ask your group leader for more information.
For book review writing tips and suggestions, go to:
<http://ug.oreilly.com/bookreviews.html>

Books available or soon available for review -
***Adobe AIR for JavaScript Developers Pocket Guide
ISBN 13: 9780596518370
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596518370/>

***Big Book of Apple Hacks
ISBN 13: 9780596529826
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596529826/>

***Fine Art Printing for Photographers, Second Edition (Rocky Nook)
ISBN 13: 9781933952314
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9781933952314/>

***FXRuby (Pragmatic Bookshelf)
ISBN 13: 9781934356074
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9781934356074/>

***Google Apps Hacks
ISBN 13: 9780596515881
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596515881/>

***Hackerteen
ISBN 13: 9780596516475
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596516475/>

***Harnessing Hibernate
ISBN 13: 9780596517724
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596517724/>

***Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments
ISBN 13: 9780596514921
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514921/>

***Java Power Tools
ISBN 13: 9780596527938
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596527938/>

***Learning Flash Media Server 3
9780596515904
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596515904/>

***MySQL in a Nutshell, Second Edition
ISBN 13: 9780596514334
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514334/>

***Painting the Web
 ISBN 13: 9780596515096
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596515096/>

***Photoshop CS3 Accelerated (Young Jin)
ISBN 13: 9788931434378
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9788931434378/>

***Practical Artistry: Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers
ISBN 13: 9780596529888
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596529888/>

***Programming Groovy (Pragmatic Bookshelf)
ISBN 13: 9781934356098
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9781934356098/>

***Subject To Change: Creating Great Products & Services for an
Uncertain World (Hard Cover)
ISBN 13: 9780596516833
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596516833/>

***Web 2.0 Mashups and Niche Aggregators
ISBN 13: 9780596514006
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514006/>

***Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide (Hard Cover)
ISBN 13: 9780596529963
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596529963/>

***MAKE Magazine Subscriptions
The annual subscription price for four issues is $34.95. When you
subscribe with this link, you'll get a free issue--one plus four more
for $34.95. So subscribe for yourself or friends with this great offer
for UG Members: five volumes for the cost of four.
Subscribe at:
<http://www.makezine.com/go/ugsub>

***Craft Magazine Subscriptions
The annual subscription price for four issues is $34.95. When you
subscribe with this link, you'll get a free issue--one plus four more
for $34.95. So subscribe for yourself or friends with this great offer
for UG Members: five volumes for the cost of four.
Subscribe at:
<http://www.craftzine.com/go/craftug>

================================================
Your Book Reviews
================================================

***Durham Computer Society reviewed
Cisco IOS Cookbook (2nd edition) -
http://compsoc.dur.ac.uk/reviews/Cisco-IOS-Cookbook.html

*** Polish Adobe Flex User Group
Programming Flex 2 -http://adobers.org/recenzje
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1WCELDC1AZZI7/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm/
Essential ActionScript 3.0 - http://adobers.org/recenzje
http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/catalog/view/cs_msg/95781
Essential ActionScript 3.0 - http://adobers.org/recenzje
Programming Flex 2.0 -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/059652689X/ref=cm_rv_thx_view

*** Poland Developer Group (reviews published in English on www.oreilly.com )
C++ Cookbook - http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/cplusplusckbk/
Head First C# - http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514822/index.html

================================================
Upcoming Events
================================================

***XTech, Dublin, May 6-9th - http://2008.xtech.org/public/content/about
XTech is the premier European conference for developers, information
designers and managers working with web and standards-based
technologies bringing together the worlds of web development, open
source, Web 2.0 and open standards. The theme for this year's
conference is "The Web on the Move."

***Pycon, Italy, Florence, May 9th-11th - http://www.pycon.it/
Alex Martelli (Python in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition) will give a talk at
Pycon Italy. This is the second Italian conference organized by a
bunch of Python enthusiasts and held in the beautiful city of
Florence. Come and see our latest publications at the O'Reilly booth.

***3rd Free/Libre/Open SourceSoftware Conference, Athens, May
27th-28th - http://conf.ellak.gr/2008/
The conference will bring together professionals, academics,
practitioners, and users of FLOSS. High profile speakers, like Wietse
Venema (Postfix creator), Jim Blandy (SVN creator), John Eaton (Octave
creator), Mathias Bauer (Open Office), Pieter Hintjens (FFII
president), Lisa Petrides (ISKME), Luca Deri (ntop) will participate
and present their work. Moreover, there will be community sessions,
where developers will share their views and exchange their experience.
Come and see our latest publications at the O'Reilly booth.

***eLiberatica, Bucharest - May 30th-June1st -
http://www.eliberatica.ro/2008/index
Following the huge public success of the first eLiberatica in 2007,
this conference will continue in the same tradition: to gather
community and business leaders around the world to talk about the
hottest Open and Free Technologies topics; you will hear from today's
experts in various fields of technical and business practice and
become part of an event that is far more than a simple conference.
Come and see our latest publications at the O'Reilly booth.

***OpenTech, London, July 5th
More information on http://www.ukuug.org/events/opentech2008/ after May 8th.


================================================
Conference News
================================================

***Last Chance for Where 2.0 2008 Registration,
  Burlingame, CA--May 12-14
At the O'Reilly Where 2.0 Conference, we expose the tools pushing the
boundaries of the location frontier, track the emergence of new
business models and services, and spend time examining new sources of
data and the platforms for collecting them.
Use code "whr08usrg" when you register, and receive 15% off the
registration price.
To register for the conference, go to:
<https://en.oreilly.com/where2008/public/register>

****Registration for RailsConf 2008 is Open, Portland, OR--
   May 29-June 1, 2008
Co-produced by Ruby Central and O'Reilly Media, RailsConf is "the"
event for the growing Rails Community--the largest official gathering
dedicated to everything Rails. If you're passionate about Rails and
what it helps you achieve--or if you're curious about how Rails can
help you create web applications better and faster--this conference is
the place to be.
Use code "rc08usrg" when you register, and receive 15% off the
registration price.
To register for the conference, go to:
<https://en.oreilly.com/rails2008/public/register>

****Graphing Social Patterns East Registration is Open, Washington,
   DC--June 9-11
GSP is the premier conference for developers and marketers building
and distributing apps for MySpace, Facebook, OpenSocial, and other
social networking platforms. Over three days of tutorials, sessions,
and keynotes, participants will explore how to reach online
communities using new and established social networking platforms and
applications.
Use code "gspe08usrg" when you register, and receive 15% off the
registration price.
To register for the conference, go to:
<https://en.oreilly.com/gspeast2008/public/register>

***Registration for Velocity is Open, Burlingame, CA--June 23-24
Velocity is designed to deliver the best information on building and
operating web sites that are fast, reliable, and always up. We're
bringing together people from around the world who are doing the best
performance work, to improve the experience of web users worldwide.
Pages will be faster. Sites will have higher up-time. Companies will
achieve more with less. The next cool startup will be able to more
quickly scale to serve a larger audience, globally. Velocity is the
key for crossing over from cool Web 2.0 features to sustainable web
sites.
Use code "vel08usgr" when you register, and receive 15% off the
registration price. Early registration discount is available until May
5
To register for the conference, go to:
<https://en.oreilly.com/velocity2008/public/register>

***Registration for Ubuntu Live 2008 is Open, Portland, OR--July 21-22
Ubuntu Live is a vibrant and important gathering of IT professionals,
government and business leaders, educators, community leaders,
enterprise and business users. The conference brings together the
people who deploy and manage Ubuntu in organizations, companies
offering services and solutions based on Ubuntu, customers of those
services, users of Ubuntu, and the folks who build Ubuntu and other
key open source software.
Use code "ubu08usrg" when you register, and receive 15% off the
registration price. Early registration discount is available until
June 2.
To register for the conference, go to:
<https://en.oreilly.com/ubuntu2008/public/register>

***OSCON 2008 registration is Now Open, Portland, OR--July 21-25 Join
over 2,500 open source developers, hackers, experts, IT managers, and
users at OSCON 2008. This year's convention will include 40 tutorials
that go deep into open source technology and over 400 sessions
focusing on Administration, Business, Databases, Emerging Topics,
Java, Linux, Mobile, People, Perl, PHP, Programming, Python, Ruby,
Security, Web Applications, and much more.
Use code "os08usrg" when you register, and receive 15% off the
registration price. Early registration discount is available until
June 2.
To register for the conference, go to:
<https://en.oreilly.com/oscon2008/public/register>

================================================
O'Reilly School of Technology
================================================
***O'Reilly School of Technology Courses: UG Members Receive a 30% Discount
O'Reilly School of Technology has opened its virtual doors with
educational offerings and certifications for IT students looking to
further their careers or to launch one. As an O'Reilly User Group
member, you save on all the courses in the following University of
Illinois Certificate Series:
-PHP/SQL Programming--New!
-Linux/Unix System Administration
-Web Programming
-Open Source Programming
-.NET Programming
-Client-Side Web Programming featuring AJAX
To redeem, use Promotion Code "ORALL1" good for a 30% discount, in
Step #2 of the enrollment process. Each course comes with a free
O'Reilly book and a 7-day money-back guarantee.
Register online:
<http://www.oreillyschool.com/?CMP=BAC-ostug>
(This discount is not combinable with other offers.)

================================================
News from O'Reilly & Beyond
================================================
---------------------
UG News
---------------------
***Maker Faire Coming up Soon--May 3 & 4 at the San Mateo Expo Center
"Combining old-fashioned crafters with forward-thinking technorati,
fashionistas, and mad scientists of all stripes, the Maker Faire is a
hands-on celebration of all things DIY brought to life by Make
magazine."--The Onion <http://makerfaire.com/>

***Linux Pro Magazine Free Issue Offer
Linux Pro Magazine (known as Linux Magazine outside North America) is
offering a free issue to O'Reilly User Group newsletter readers. In
Linux Pro Magazine you will find the tools, tutorials, and reviews you
need to unlock the secrets of Linux. Each article is focused on
delivering the hands-on information you need in your daily Linux use.
As a bonus, each issue includes a DVD containing a full version of a
major Linux distribution.
Sign up for your free copy here:
<http://www.linuxpromagazine.com/oreilly>

***Adobe Lightroom Adventure contines in Tasmania
In April 2008, a group of internationally renowned photographers
traveled to the end of the world, literally, to the remote island of
Tasmania. Using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, photographers will upload,
sort, keyword, adjust, and output their Raw images while still working
in the field. Read the stories, see the images, and watch the
photographers discuss this challenging assignment. Mikkel Aaland,
project director, will capture the lessons learned for his book on
Adobe Lightroom, scheduled to be published later this year.
<http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/adventure/>
Tourism Tasmania is offering a chance to win a trip for two to
Tasmania, Australia. Read more for details.
<http://xyzadventures.com/rules.php>

***New Publishers on Safari Books Online
We are pleased to announce the introduction of John Wiley & Sons
content to Safari Books Online. With the inclusion of Wiley content,
Safari Books Online is now the only source for online access to the
world's top four technology publishers. Pearson, John Wiley & Sons,
O'Reilly Media, and Microsoft Press represent 85% of the computer
books sold at retail in the U.S., according to Nielsen BookScan.
<http://safari.oreilly.com>

***MacVoices--Barbara Brundage Discusses Adobe Elements 6 for the Mac
Join Chuck Joiner and Barbara Brundage (Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac:
The Missing Manual) as they talk about why Elements 6 really does 90%
of what most photographers need, why Layers are and are not important
in Elements 6, and why the addition of Curves is such an important
addition. Barbara talks about her favorite features and provides some
tips for improving your photo editing.
<http://www.macvoices.com/wordpress/macvoices-875-barbara-brundage-discusses-adobe-elements-6/>

***DIY O'Reilly Gear
Create Your Own Calendar, Shirt, Notebook, Poster...In just three easy
steps you can create one of a kind calendars, greeting cards,
keychains, luggage tags, magnets, mousepads, mugs, notebooks,
postcards, posters, shirts, hoodies, and stickers adorned with your
favorite O'Reilly animals.
<http://www.qoop.com/photobooks/photofront/pub_store.php?pub_name=oreilly>
---------------------
Articles
---------------------
***Why should I upgrade to Office 2008 for Macintosh?
Author Jim Elferdink talks about what's new in Office 2008 for
Macintosh. If you're still using Office 2004, you'll find some great
reasons to upgrade. Jim also fills you in on some cool features that
Office for Windows can't match, and why you may not need to invest in
iWork.
<http://missingmanuals.com/office2008mac/why_upgrade.csp>

***Ruport: Business Reporting for Ruby
No one likes developing reporting tools for an application. But
without them, many applications are only half-done. Luckily, Ruby has
a great reporting infrastructure available to build on, and in this
article, you'll learn how to use it.
<http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/ruby/2008/04/08/ruport-business-reporting-for-ruby.html>

***The iPhone SDK: APIs Apple Didn't Want You to Know About
The iPhone has been a hot item ever since it came out, but running
non-Apple supplied software on it isn't easy. But the secrets to
building a successful toolchain to create iPhone applications can be
found right here.
<http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2008/03/25/the-apple-sdk-apis-apple-didnt-want-you-to-know-about.html>

***Step by Step: Using Samba to join a Windows Domain
Samba has made getting Linux and Windows systems talking to each other
much easier than it once was. But there are still some tasks that are
more than a little finicky. One of them is definitely joining a Samba
client to a domain-based Windows network. Luckily, now you'll have a
step by step guide to doing just that.
<http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2008/04/01/step-by-step-using-samba-to-join-a-windows-domain.html>

For more articles, go to:
<http://www.oreillynet.com/>
---------------------
Blogs
-------------------
***SpongeBob SquarePants Supports O'Reilly Research Finding
<http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2008/04/spongebob-squarepants-supports.html>
***Good Devices Gone Bad
<http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2008/03/good-device-gone-bad.html>
***Removing the Remains of the 15-day Trial
<http://blogs.oreilly.com/aperture/2008/04/removing-the-remains-of-the-15.html>
***Is the Closed Source Inevitable?
<http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2008/04/is_the_closed_source_inevitabl_1.html>
***My Transition to Using O'Reilly Safari Online Books Service
<http://www.marckboucher.com/random-thoughts/my-transition-to-using-oreilly-safari-online-books-service/>
***Making Connections With Hackerteen
<http://www.oreillynet.com/fyi/blog/2008/04/making_connections_with_hacker_1.html>
***Five Steps to Web 2.0
<http://www.oreillynet.com/fyi/blog/2008/04/five_steps_to_web_20.html>
****The Best ActionScript Book Ever Written
<http://theflashblog.com/?p=366>
***Unforgettable Tasmania--Leo Laporte reports on the latest Lightroom
Adventure
<http://leoville.com/2008/04/14/1466/>
***Looking for a Few Good SysAdmin Problems to Solve in Python
<http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2008/04/looking_for_a_few_good_sysadmi.html>
***How to Make Applets (and JavaFx) Viable
<http://www.oreillynet.com/onjava/blog/2008/04/how_to_make_applets_and_javafx.html>
***Web 2.0 Expo SF Launchpad: Six New Startup Stars
<http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2008/04/web2expo-sf-launchpad.html>
***Get Info on a Mac Without Logging in
<http://blogs.oreilly.com/digitalmedia/2008/04/get-info-on-a-mac-without-logg.html>
For more blogs, go to:
<http://www.oreillynet.com/blogs/>

Until next time--

Josette