Introduces the elements of LOGO, an interactive and procedural program language and programming system designed as an educational tool that enables even young children to utilize Apple computers

Apple Logo

Computers & Technology

Abelson, Hal

Software

Byte Books

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: <ul>
<li> Who owns all that data about you? What (if anything) do they owe you? </li> <li> How private is your medical information? </li> <li> Is it possible to send a truly secure message? How close can you come? </li> <li> How do you figure out who to trust for accurate news these days? </li> <li> What should you know about free speech on the Internet? </li> <li> Who’s watching you, what do they know about you, and what can they do with that knowledge? </li> <li> Do you have to say goodbye forever to privacy -- and even to your personal identity? </li> <li> How can you protect yourself against out-of-control technologies -- and the powerful organizations that wield them? </li> </ul>

Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness After the Digital Explosion

LEWIS, HARRY

Ledeen, Ken

Seltzer, Wendy

Networking & Cloud Computing

Addison-Wesley Professional

“If you want to understand the future before it happens, you’ll love this book. If you want to change the future before it happens to you, this book is required reading.” –Reed Hundt, former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission “There is no simpler or clearer statement of the radical change that digital technologies will bring, nor any book that better prepares one for thinking about the next steps.” –Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School and Author of Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace “Blown to Bits will blow you away. In highly accessible and always fun prose, it explores all the nooks and crannies of the digital universe, exploring not only how this exploding space works but also what it means.” –Debora Spar, President of Barnard College, Author of Ruling the Waves and The Baby Business “This is a wonderful book–probably the best since Hal Varian and Carl Schultz wrote Digital Rules. The authors are engineers, not economists. The result is a long, friendly talk with the genie, out of the lamp, and willing to help you avoid making the traditional mistake with that all-important third wish.” –David Warsh, Author of Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations “Blown to Bits is one of the clearest expositions I’ve seen of the social and political issues arising from the Internet. Its remarkably clear explanations of how the Net actually works lets the hot air out of some seemingly endless debates. You’ve made explaining this stuff look easy. Congratulations!” –David Weinberger, Coauthor of The Cluetrain Manifesto and Author of Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder. “Blown to Bits is a timely, important, and very readable take on how information is produced and consumed today, and more important, on the approaching sea change in the way that we as a society deal with the consequences.” –Craig Silverstein, Director of Technology, Google, Inc. “This book gives an overview of the kinds of issues confronting society as we become increasingly dependent on the Internet and the World Wide Web. Every informed citizen should read this book and then form their own opinion on these and related issues. And after reading this book you will rethink how (and even whether) you use the Web to form your opinions…” –James S. Miller, Senior Director for Technology Policy and Strategy, Microsoft Corporation “Most writing about the digital world comes from techies writing about technical matter for other techies or from pundits whose turn of phrase greatly exceeds their technical knowledge. In Blown to Bits, experts in computer science address authoritatively the practical issues in which we all have keen interest.” –Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Author of Multiple Intelligences and Changing Minds “Regardless of your experience with computers, Blown to Bits provides a uniquely entertaining and informative perspective from the computing industry’s greatest minds. A fascinating, insightful and entertaining book that helps you understand computers and their impact on the world in a whole new way. This is a rare book that explains the impact of the digital explosion in a way that everyone can understand and, at the same time, challenges experts to think in new ways.” –Anne Margulies, Assistant Secretary for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts “Blown to Bits is fun and fundamental. What a pleasure to see real teachers offering such excellent framework for students in a digital age to explore and understand their digital environment, code and law, starting with the insight of Claude Shannon. I look forward to you teaching in an open online school.” –Professor Charles Nesson, Harvard Law School, Founder, Berkman Center for Internet and Society “To many of us, computers and the Internet are magic. We make stuff, send stuff, receive stuff, and buy stuff. It’s all pointing, clicking, copying, and pasting. But it’s all mysterious. This book explains in clear and comprehensive terms how all this gear on my desk works and why we should pay close attention to these revolutionary changes in our lives. It’s a brilliant and necessary work for consumers, citizens, and students of all ages.” –Siva Vaidhyanathan, cultural historian and media scholar at the University of Virginia and author of Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity “The world has turned into the proverbial elephant and we the blind men. The old and the young among us risk being controlled by, rather than in control of, events and technologies. Blown to Bits is a remarkable and essential Rosetta Stone for beginning to figure out how all of the pieces of the new world we have just begun to enter–law, technology, culture, information–are going to fit together. Will life explode with new possibilities, or contract under pressure of new horrors? The precipice is both exhilarating and frightening. Hal Abelson, Ken Ledeen, and Harry Lewis, together, have ably managed to describe the elephant. Readers of this compact book describing the beginning stages of a vast human adventure will be one jump ahead, for they will have a framework on which to hang new pieces that will continue to appear with remarkable speed. To say that this is a ‘must read’ sounds trite, but, this time, it’s absolutely true.” –Harvey Silverglate, criminal defense and civil liberties lawyer and writer Every day, billions of photographs, news stories, songs, X-rays, TV shows, phone calls, and emails are being scattered around the world as sequences of zeroes and ones: bits. We can’t escape this explosion of digital information and few of us want to–the benefits are too seductive. The technology has enabled unprecedented innovation, collaboration, entertainment, and democratic participation. But the same engineering marvels are shattering centuries-old assumptions about privacy, identity, free expression, and personal control as more and more details of our lives are captured as digital data. Can you control who sees all that personal information about you? Can email be truly confidential, when nothing seems to be private? Shouldn’t the Internet be censored the way radio and TV are? Is it really a federal crime to download music? When you use Google or Yahoo! to search for something, how do they decide which sites to show you? Do you still have free speech in the digital world? Do you have a voice in shaping government or corporate policies about any of this? Blown to Bits offers provocative answers to these questions and tells intriguing real-life stories. This book is a wake-up call to the human consequences of the digital explosion. Preface xiii Chapter 1: Digital Explosion: Why Is It Happening, and What Is at Stake? 1 Chapter 2: Naked in the Sunlight: Privacy Lost, Privacy Abandoned 19 Chapter 3: Ghosts in the Machine: Secrets and Surprises of Electronic Documents 73 Chapter 4: Needles in the Haystack: Google and Other Brokers in the Bits Bazaar 109 Chapter 5: Secret Bits: How Codes Became Unbreakable 161 Chapter 6: Balance Toppled: Who Owns the Bits? 195 Chapter 7: You Can’t Say That on the Internet: Guarding the Frontiers of Digital Expression 229 Chapter 8: Bits in the Air: Old Metaphors, New Technologies, and Free Speech 259 Conclusion: After the Explosion 295 Appendix: The Internet as System and Spirit 301 Endnotes 317 Index 347

Digital Audio, Video & Photography

Yes, you can create your own apps for Android phones—and it's easy to do. This extraordinary book introduces App Inventor for Android, a powerful visual tool that lets anyone build apps for Android-based devices. Learn the basics of App Inventor with step-by-step instructions for more than a dozen fun projects, such as creating location-aware apps, data storage, and apps that include decision-making logic.
The second half of the book features an Inventor's manual to help you understand the fundamentals of app building and computer science. App Inventor makes an excellent textbook for beginners and experienced developers alike.
<ul>
<li>Design games and other apps with 2D graphics and animation</li>
<li>Create custom multi-media quizzes and study guides</li>
<li>Create a custom tour of your city, school, or workplace</li>
<li>Use an Android phone to control a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT robot</li>
<li>Build location-aware apps by working with your phone’s sensors</li>
<li>Explore apps that incorporate information from the Web</li>
<li>Learn computer science as you build your apps</li>
</ul>

App Inventor

Wolber, David

Spertus, Ellen

Looney, Liz

Computer Science

O'Reilly Media

Yes, you can create your own apps for Android devices—and it’s easy to do. This extraordinary book introduces you to App Inventor 2, a powerful visual tool that lets anyone build apps. Learn App Inventor basics hands-on with step-by-step instructions for building more than a dozen fun projects, including a text answering machine app, a quiz app, and an app for finding your parked car!
The second half of the book features an Inventor’s Manual to help you understand the fundamentals of app building and computer science. App Inventor 2 makes an excellent textbook for beginners and experienced developers alike.
<ul>
<li>Use programming blocks to build apps—like working on a puzzle</li>
<li>Create custom multi-media quizzes and study guides</li>
<li>Design games and other apps with 2D graphics and animation</li>
<li>Make a custom tour of your city, school, or workplace</li>
<li>Control a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT robot with your phone</li>
<li>Build location-aware apps by working with your phone’s sensors</li>
<li>Explore apps that incorporate information from the Web</li>
</ul>

App Inventor 2: Create Your Own Android Apps

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