Two Bits

Author: Christopher M. Kelty
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822342649
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 402

Book Description
In Two Bits, Christopher M. Kelty investigates the history and cultural significance of Free Software, revealing the people and practices that have transformed not only software but also music, film, science, and education. Free Software is a set of practices devoted to the collaborative creation of software source code that is made openly and freely available through an unconventional use of copyright law. Kelty explains how these specific practices have reoriented the relations of power around the creation, dissemination, and authorization of all kinds of knowledge. He also makes an important contribution to discussions of public spheres and social imaginaries by demonstrating how Free Software is a “recursive public”—a public organized around the ability to build, modify, and maintain the very infrastructure that gives it life in the first place. Drawing on ethnographic research that took him from an Internet healthcare start-up company in Boston to media labs in Berlin to young entrepreneurs in Bangalore, Kelty describes the technologies and the moral vision that bind together hackers, geeks, lawyers, and other Free Software advocates. In each case, he shows how their practices and way of life include not only the sharing of software source code but also ways of conceptualizing openness, writing copyright licenses, coordinating collaboration, and proselytizing. By exploring in detail how these practices came together as the Free Software movement from the 1970s to the 1990s, Kelty also considers how it is possible to understand the new movements emerging from Free Software: projects such as Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization that creates copyright licenses, and Connexions, a project to create an online scholarly textbook commons.

Blown to Bits

Author: Harold Abelson
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
ISBN: 0137135599
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 389

Book Description
'Blown to Bits' is about how the digital explosion is changing everything. The text explains the technology, why it creates so many surprises and why things often don't work the way we expect them to. It is also about things the information explosion is destroying: old assumptions about who is really in control of our lives.

Two-Bits

Author: Robert J. Trout
Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub
ISBN: 9781482611205
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Book Description
They said he was not worth two-bits, a mere quarter of a dollar, but to those who came to know him he proved that he was worth far more.The Story – The life of a cavalry horse was not an easy one. Two-Bits and other horses like him shared hard service and danger with the soldiers who rode them. Those men fortunate enough to ride Two-Bits soon became aware that he was a different kind of horse, a special horse, a horse they could trust with their lives. His courage and loyalty saved his riders more than once. Soldiers of all ranks came to rely on him in times of danger. He never failed them. They never forgot him.The History – Two-Bits was a real cavalry horse. During his career he served with the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen, the Third United States Cavalry Regiment, the First Regiment of New Mexico Cavalry, and lastly as an officer's mount in the Fifth United States Infantry. With the exception of a few horses of famous generals, the service of the millions of other horses was seldom recorded unless they performed an outstanding feat. Two-Bits was an exception because he demonstrated remarkable qualities and performed amazing exploits throughout his service. His last owner, Lieutenant Charles Albert Curtis, recognized Two-Bits's special qualities and recorded his story. Few others can match it.Book Extra - Includes the original November 1889 St. Nicholas Children's Magazine Article by Captain Curtis that inspired this book.

Charlie's Fly Box

Author: Charlie Craven
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 0811707326
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 483

Book Description
* Learn to tie 17 best-selling patterns for trout, bass, and saltwater flats species such as bonefish and permit * Over 750 step-by-step photos * 60 pattern recipes, with author's favorite variations Charlie Craven has been a commercial fly tier for more than thirty years, tying flies for almost every species of gamefish, freshwater and saltwater, though he specializes in trout flies for the Rockies. He is a signature tier for Umpqua Feather Merchants, which produces fifteen of his patterns. His first book is Basic Fly Tying (978-0-9793460-2-6). He was the photographer and fly tier for Barr Flies (978-0-8117-0236-2), and photographer, author, and tier for the Fly Fisherman Foundation Forty found on flyfisherman.com, as well as the tier for the FlyBench iPhone app. Craven is co-owner of Charlie's Fly Box in Olde Town Arvada, Colorado, which was the winner of the 2009 Fly Fishing Retailer of the Year Award.

Scrappy Bits Appliqué

Author: Shannon Brinkley
Publisher: C&T Publishing Inc
ISBN: 1607058812
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 196

Book Description
Go beyond basic scrap quilts with this guide to turning fabric bits snips into striking modern art quilts—featuring 8 quick and easy projects. In Scrappy Bits Applique, fabric designer and quilt artist Shannon Brinkley shares her secrets to putting sewing room scraps to use. With her easy stitching and collage techniques, she shows how simplicity can produce dramatic results. Shannon’s “scrappy” approach to quilting uses a fast raw-edged technique. With step-by-step instructions, she teaches you how to intuitively choose, cut, and sew bits of fabric to create a collage of unique images and textures. Included are eight engaging quilt projects to try out your new skills.

Blown to Bits

Author: Hal Abelson
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
ISBN: 9780134850016
Category : Computers and civilization
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Blown to Bits, Second Edition is the brilliant, plain-English guide to digital technology, how it's changing the world, and what you need to know to survive in tomorrow's digital world. A best-seller when it was first published in 2010, the issues it addresses are more crucial than ever. Now, its expert authors have thoroughly updated Blown to Bits to demystify the social, political, and personal issues everyone is talking about: from social media and big data to fake news, cyberattacks, and privacy. Both authoritative and accessible, this guide doesn't just reveal the workings of the technologies that are central to your life: it also illuminates the policy decisions citizens need to make about these technologies... because you can try to ignore them, but they won't ignore you Blown to Bits, Second Edition answers questions like: Who owns all that data about you? What (if anything) do they owe you? How private is your medical information? Is it possible to send a truly secure message? How close can you come? How do you figure out who to trust for accurate news these days? What should you know about free speech on the Internet? Who's watching you, what do they know about you, and what can they do with that knowledge? Do you have to say goodbye forever to privacy -- and even to your personal identity? How can you protect yourself against out-of-control technologies -- and the powerful organizations that wield them?

Sparkling Bits of Writing, Book 2

Author: Jennifer Yoder
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781792320590
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description

LEGO Mindstorm Masterpieces

Author: Miguel Agullo
Publisher: Syngress
ISBN: 9781931836753
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 580

Book Description
In LEGO Mindstorm Masterpieces, some of the world's leading LEGO Mindstorms inventors share their knowledge and development secrets. The unique style of this book will allow it to cover an incredibly broad range of topics in unparalleled detail. Chapters within the book will include detailed discussions of the mechanics that drive the robot - and also provide step-by-step construction diagrams for each of the robots. This is perfect book for LEGO hobbyists looking to take their skills to the next level whether they build world-class competitive robots or just like to mess around for the fun of it. For experienced users of LEGO Mindstorms, LEGO Mindstorms Masterpiece is composed of three fundamental sections: · Part One: A review of the advanced robot building concepts and theories. · Part Two: Step-by-step building instructions for a series of complex models. The companion programming code is included, along with in-depth explanations of concepts needed for the specific models. Robots include Line Followers, Bipeds, Stair and Wall Climbers, a Joystick Controlled Cannon, a Robotic Game Player, Plant Waterer, and a Drink Mixer. · Part Three: Ideas for modifying the building instructions by expanding the pieces and kits. Topics covered: 1. Behavior: This section includes robots designed to interact with the environment, or with other robots. Behavior is the key word as the robots are designed to behave in some specific way, and all the technical details and implementations are secondary to this main goal. 2. Motion: The projects in this category are aimed at solving some specific motion problem. The focus of these robots is on the mechanical techniques rather than on software. 3. Interaction: These projects allow the reader to build robots for the purpose of interacting with the user by playing games or responding to user commands in real time. 4. Automation: Opposite of the previous category, this one hosts robots designed to perform totally automated operations. These projects will build robots able to complete tasks without human intervention. 5. Calculus: The most abstract of the sections contain robots with minimum knowledge of the external world. Pneumatic ALUs, and Turning machines are fully explained. Ø Advanced users need inspiration too! Advanced projects with suggestions for enhancements and improvements make the explanations of the theories and physics of the robots as well as the complete building instructions, make this book extremely useful to readers long after the building of the robots has been completed. Ø Written by the "DaVincis of LEGO" and other highly regarded LEGO personalities. This experienced authoring team is assembled of highly respected and visible superstars in the LEGO community. Ø Proven success in the LEGO MINDSTORMS market. Syngress has already had a hit with the bestselling book, Building Robots with LEGO MINDSTORMS

Algorithms Unlocked

Author: Thomas H. Cormen
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262518805
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 237

Book Description
For anyone who has ever wondered how computers solve problems, an engagingly written guide for nonexperts to the basics of computer algorithms. Have you ever wondered how your GPS can find the fastest way to your destination, selecting one route from seemingly countless possibilities in mere seconds? How your credit card account number is protected when you make a purchase over the Internet? The answer is algorithms. And how do these mathematical formulations translate themselves into your GPS, your laptop, or your smart phone? This book offers an engagingly written guide to the basics of computer algorithms. In Algorithms Unlocked, Thomas Cormen—coauthor of the leading college textbook on the subject—provides a general explanation, with limited mathematics, of how algorithms enable computers to solve problems. Readers will learn what computer algorithms are, how to describe them, and how to evaluate them. They will discover simple ways to search for information in a computer; methods for rearranging information in a computer into a prescribed order (“sorting”); how to solve basic problems that can be modeled in a computer with a mathematical structure called a “graph” (useful for modeling road networks, dependencies among tasks, and financial relationships); how to solve problems that ask questions about strings of characters such as DNA structures; the basic principles behind cryptography; fundamentals of data compression; and even that there are some problems that no one has figured out how to solve on a computer in a reasonable amount of time.

Computer Visualization

Author: Richard S. Gallagher
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000945324
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 326

Book Description
Rapid advances in 3-D scientific visualization have made a major impact on the display of behavior. The use of 3-D has become a key component of both academic research and commercial product development in the field of engineering design. Computer Visualization presents a unified collection of computer graphics techniques for the scientific visualization of behavior. The book combines a basic overview of the fundamentals of computer graphics with a practitioner-oriented review of the latest 3-D graphics display and visualization techniques. Each chapter is written by well-known experts in the field. The first section reviews how computer graphics visualization techniques have evolved to work with digital numerical analysis methods. The fundamentals of computer graphics that apply to the visualization of analysis data are also introduced. The second section presents a detailed discussion of the algorithms and techniques used to visualize behavior in 3-D, as static, interactive, or animated imagery. It discusses the mathematics of engineering data for visualization, as well as providing the current methods used for the display of scalar, vector, and tensor fields. It also examines the more general issues of visualizing a continuum volume field and animating the dimensions of time and motion in a state of behavior. The final section focuses on production visualization capabilities, including the practical computational aspects of visualization such as user interfaces, database architecture, and interaction with a model. The book concludes with an outline of successful practical applications of visualization, and future trends in scientific visualization.