Building the Perfect PC -- For many computer users, a ready-made system is about as satisfying as a frozen microwave dinner: sure, it works, but it's not exactly what you need or want. Don't accept the assortment of components bundled for your price point; build your own PC. With straight-forward language, clear end-to-end instructions, and extensive illustrations, this book covers a variety of complete systems and their components. Regardless of your experience, you can take control and create your ideal machine. Sample Chapter 1, Fundamentals, is available free online.

Head First Servlets & JSP will help you truly understand the latest version, J2EE 1.4, of Servlets and JSP. You'll learn how to write servlets and JSPs, what makes the Container tick, how to use the new JSP Expression Language (EL), and even some server-side design patterns. Written by the creators of the Sun Certified Web Component Developer (SCWCD) 1.4 exam, this book will help you pass the exam, talk about Struts at dinner parties, and put Servlets and JSP to work right away.

Java Threads, 3rd Edition -- The new edition of this classic book shows you how to take full advantage of Java's threading facilities, and it brings you up to date with the significant changes in Java 2 Standard Edition version 5.0 (J2SE 5.0). The book incorporates the concurrency utilities from java.util.concurrent, and new chapters cover thread performance, using threads with Swing, threads and Collection classes, thread pools, and threads and I/O. Get a thorough, step-by-step approach to threads programming. Sample Chapter 5, Minimal Synchronization Techniques, is available free online.

The Mezonic Agenda: Hacking the Presidency (Syngress) is the first cyber-thriller that allows readers to "hack along" with the heroes and villians of this fictional narrative. It tells the tale of criminal hackers attempting to compromise the results of a U.S. presidential election for their own gain. The book deals with some of the most pressing topics in technology and computer security today--reverse engineering, cryptography, buffer overflows, and steganography--and includes a CD that contains real, working versions of all the applications described and exploited in this thriller. Hack along at www.mezonicagenda.com

iLife '04: The Missing Manual gives you everything you need to unleash your creative genius with iLife '04, Apple's suite of five programs--iTunes 4.6, iPhoto 4, iMovie 4, iDVD 4, and GarageBand--that is revolutionizing the way we work and play. Celebrated author David Pogue makes sure there's nothing standing between you and professional-caliber music, photos, movies, and more. He highlights the newest features and improvements, covers the capabilities and limitations of each program, and delivers countless goodies you won't find anywhere else: undocumented tips, tricks, and secrets for getting the very best performance out of every one of these applications.

sendmail 8.13 Companion -- For a simple dot release, V8.13 sendmail has added more features, options, and fundamental changes than any other single dot release to date. An excellent companion to our popular sendmail, 3rd Edition, this book documents the improvements in V8.13 in parallel with its release. Highlighting important changes in the new version, the book points out not only what is handy or nice to have, but also what's critical in getting the best behavior from sendmail. Sample Chapter 3, Tune sendmail with Compile-Time Macros, is available free online.

PayPal Hacks -- Learn how to make the most of PayPal to get the most out of your online business or transactions. Presented in a clear and logical format, each hack consists of a task to accomplish or a creative solution to a problem. You'll learn everything from how to protect yourself while buying and selling on eBay, to how to handle online subscriptions, affiliations, and donations. This collection of tips and tricks provides the tools and details necessary to make PayPal more profitable, more flexible, and more convenient. Sample hacks are available free online.

Linux iptables Pocket Reference will help you at those critical moments when you have to open or close a port in a hurry to enable important traffic or block an attack. The book helps you keep the subtle syntax straight and remember all the values you have to enter to be as secure as possible. Listings of all iptables options are organized by suitability for firewalling, accounting, and Network Address Translation (NAT). This unique quick reference format is ideal for Linux administrators who have a firewall in place but need to be prepared for frequent changes in their environment.

ASP.NET Cookbook -- ASP.NET brings rapid drag-and-drop productivity to web applications and web services. There are many benefits to using ASP.NET, and one major drawback: the time developers must devote to mastering this new web application technology. ASP.NET Cookbook provides a wealth of solutions to problems commonly encountered when developing in ASP.NET. Appealing to a wide range of developers, each recipe provides an immediate solution to a pressing problem, followed by discussion so developers can learn to adapt techniques to similar situations. Sample Chapter 12, Dynamic Images, is available free online.

NUnit Pocket Reference is a complete reference to this popular and practical new open source framework. Filling in the blanks left by existing documentation and online discussion, this little book offers developers everything they need to know to install, configure, and use NUnit and the NUnit user interface. It includes a reference to the NUnit framework classes, and offers practical, real-world NUnit examples. With NUnit Pocket Reference, IT managers will know what to expect when they implement unit testing in their projects. A Sample Excerpt, Unit Testing with NUnit, is available free online.

VPNs and Public Key Infrastructure -- Security and convenience often conflict with each other. It'd be nice to have access to your office network from anywhere, but you can't trust the Internet. Virtual private networks are one solution, but how do they keep your data safe? Scott Brumbaugh explains the basics of Public Key Infrastructure, the cryptographic basis for secure VPNs. For 100 ways to make your network secure, see Network Security Hacks.

Open Source Content Management with Plone -- When you're tired of being asked to make tiny changes to your web sites--changes that users could easily make themselves--it's time to consider a content management system (CMS). If you're a Python or Zope fan, Brad Bollenbach suggests that you try Plone, a powerful and easy-to-use CMS. You'll find O'Reilly's books and articles on Python at python.oreilly.com.

Annotations in Tiger -- Annotations in J2SE 5.0 (Tiger) bring a much-needed metadata facility to the core Java language. In Brett McLaughlin's IBM developerWorks columns, he explains why metadata is so useful, delves into Tiger's built-in annotations, and shows how to create custom annotations. Brett is the author of Java 1.5 Tiger: A Developer's Notebook.

Manipulating Space with CSS -- One of the main strengths of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is how the technology handles web typography. In this article, Christopher Schmitt shows how to use CSS's letter- and word-spacing properties to make adjustments to text with little fuss. Chris is the author of O'Reilly's recently released CSS Cookbook.

Wireless Security and the Open1X Project -- Open1X is an open source project focusing on network security. The wireless adoption of this technology is referred to as 802.1X. Matthew Gast went to the University of Utah to talk about it with Chris Hessing and Terry Simmons, who are intent on bringing standards-based wireless security to Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows clients. Matthew is the author of 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide.

Hacking XML -- Among Mike Fitzgerald's favorite XML hacks are two that use SP, James Clark's free, open source, SGML-parser package. The first hack shows how to convert a minimally tagged document to well-formed XML. The second shows how to convert a Wiki format to XML using SGML and SP tools. See why Mike calls these clever, fun, and time-saving hacks. Mike is the author of XML Hacks.

Open Source Security: Still a Myth -- Open source may have many benefits over closed systems, but don't count security among them--yet. This article by John Viega looks at why open source software may currently be less secure than its commercial counterparts. John is a coauthor of Secure Programming Cookbook for C and C++.

PayPal Hacks Marriage Proposal -- Do you read the acknowledgments in books? O'Reilly editor Rael Dornfest has discovered that they can be interesting, funny, geeky, and rather warm and heartfelt. They can even be downright romantic, as evidenced in the recently released PayPal Hacks.

Tasteful Food Photography -- Simone Paddock shows you how to create and capture professional food shots with a minimum of equipment, some budget-conscious props, a little technical know-how, and a big dash of creative fun. You'll find Simone's Emerald Bay Photography company listed in O'Reilly's Digital Media Professionals Directory.

New Titles on Safari -- Search, annotate, and read the O'Reilly books you need on Safari Bookshelf. New titles include: SpamAssassin; Online Investing Hacks; Java 1.5 Tiger: A Developer's Notebook; CSS Cookbook; Oracle Application Server 10g Essentials; sendmail 8.13 Companion; Java Threads, 3rd Edition; PayPal Hacks; and Running Mac OS X Panther. If you haven't gone on Safari yet, get a free trial.

More Inside News on the Mac OS X Conference -- The show begins the last week of October, and the lineup is coming together beautifully. We've added top-level, Apple-employed speakers to the program at O'Reilly's third annual Mac OS X Conference. And yes, some have been approved to talk about Tiger. Here's the latest inside scoop on the upcoming event, from Derrick Story, managing editor of the Mac DevCenter.

Behind the Scenes at The Mezonic Agenda: An Electronic Voting Primer -- Although electronic voting and touch-screen systems have been in use since the 1970s, the recent controversy that has surrounded the design and implementation of Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) systems, as well as the companies that make them, has brought the risks of electronic voting under spotlight. This article by Spyros Nomikos offers a snapshot of where we are and how we got here. Spyros is a coauthor of The Mezonic Agenda: Hacking the Presidency.

Defining the Linux Enterprise -- Linux users often question decisions by major vendors who increase innovation in the enterprise at the expense of the desktop. In this article, Tom Adelstein discusses the business reasons behind the pursuit of the enterprise market and possible ways enterprise advances and the community might benefit consumer products. Tom is a coauthor of Exploring the JDS Linux Desktop.

Developing Your First Enterprise Beans -- One of the most important features of EJB is that enterprise beans have the ability to work with containers from different vendors, but selecting a server and installing your enterprise beans aren't trivial processes. Learn how to define the remote interface, create a deployment descriptor, deploy, and everything else you need to create and use your first entity bean, in this excerpt from Enterprise JavaBeans, 4th Edition.