Making Music on the Apple Mac (PC Publishing) -- Making music on the Mac is now easier than ever. This book provides advice on setting up your studio and configuring your audio and MIDI interfaces for optimum performance. Step-by step projects show you how to record with GarageBand, and when your masterpiece is complete, learn how to organize your music, create playlists, burn CDs, and publish your music on the net.

XSLT 1.0 Pocket Reference -- This handy pocket guide quickly gets you up to speed on XSLT so you can convert XML like a seasoned pro. It covers topics such as stylesheet structure, template rules, result trees, conditional processing, number formatting, and more. Best of all, its concise approach saves you time, aggravation, and effort. Sample Chapter 3, How XSLT Works, (PDF) is available free online.

Essential Business Process Modeling -- This guide gathers all the concepts, design, architecture, and standard specifications of Business Process Management (BPM) into one concise book, and offers hands-on examples that illustrate BPM's approach to process notation, execution, administration, and monitoring. You'll also learn about BPM design patterns and best practices, as well as underlying theory. Sample Chapter 2, Prescription for a Good BPM Architecture (PDF), is available free online.

Stealing the Network: How to Own an Identity (Syngress) -- The first two books in this series have become classics in the hacker and infosec communities because of their chillingly realistic depictions of criminal hacking techniques. In this third installment, the all-star cast of authors tackle one of the fastest growing crimes in the world: identity theft. Now, the criminal hackers, who readers have grown to both love and hate, try to cover their tracks and vanish into thin air.

FrontPage 2003: The Missing Manual -- This book puts FrontPage 2003's features in context, with clear and thorough chapters that provide valuable shortcuts, workarounds, and just plain common sense, no matter where you weigh in on the technical scale. You will learn to build web pages, simple or sophisticated, and find out how to manage and publish your website. You'll also learn to create forms, work with databases, and integrate FrontPage with Microsoft Office. Sample Chapter 7, Cascading Style Sheets (PDF), is available free online.

No Nonsense XML Web Development with PHP (SitePoint) -- Practical and concise, this book teaches XML from the ground up and explains how XML can be put to use in real-world projects. Written in a tutorial style, it presents various XML methodologies and techniques in an easy-to-understand way, building a basis for further exploration. This book also covers buzz topics such as RSS and Web Services.

Eclipse IDE Pocket Guide -- This practical pocket guide covers basic Eclipse concepts as well as features that are not commonly understood, such as Perspectives and Launch Configurations. You'll learn how to write and debug your Java code and how to integrate that code with tools such as Ant and JUnit. You'll also get a collection of tips and tricks to handle common tasks in your Java development cycle. Sample Chapter 6, Tips and Tricks (PDF), is available free online.

XML Pocket Reference, 3rd Edition -- This perennial bestseller has been revised once again to give you quick access to the latest goods. In addition to its comprehensive look at XML, this third edition has been updated with new material on Namespaces and XML Schema, along with RELAX NG and Schematron. Featuring a well-organized format that gets right to the point, this compact book is perfect for getting XML answers quick and on the fly.

Fast Guide to Propellerhead Reason, 2nd Edition (PC Publishing) -- This in-depth guide takes you through every separate Reason device as well as all the devices and changes introduced with the V2.5 update. Every control and function is clearly and accessibly explained. In addition, standard and exotic techniques are thoroughly introduced at the points where you will find them most useful, and step-by-step programming tutorials help increase your hands-on skills with Reason.

Oracle DBA Pocket Guide -- This handy reference is designed to help administrators make more effective use of their time by presenting a compact summary of DBA tasks in an easy-to-use form. With this book by your side, you'll have instant access to the most important concepts, best practices, tips, and checklists. Key topics include architecture, installation, configuration, tuning, and backup/recovery.

Start Your Engines: Developing Driving and Racing Games (Paraglyph) -- This book will teach you all of the secrets and programming techniques of developing one of the most popular style of games. It features the physics, AI, and 3D techniques of driving--from road conditions to collisions--presented in a unique step-by-step format. The book is based on a customizable construction-kit approach and is the first hands-on programming guide that shows you how to build and customize these popular games.

How to Decide What Bugs to Fix When, Part 1 -- There are two challenges to making smart bug decisions: first, understanding how to make good bug-fix decisions; and second, creating and following rules that make it easy to stick to those decisions when the pressure is high. In this first installment of a two-part essay, Scott Berkun provides the core ideas you need to make your own bug-fixing rules. Scott is the author of The Art of Project Management.

Hacking Swing with Undocumented Classes and Properties -- Joshua Marinacci shows you six undocumented features, classes, and properties that let you hack into Swing. From how to hide a frame from the Windows task bar to how to make Mac OS X windows truly transparent, these undocumented hacks can add a level of polish that will make your apps stand out from the rest. Joshua is the coauthor of Swing Hacks.

Ten Tips for Improving Your Podcasts -- Jack Herrington offers his top ten suggestions for creating great podcasts. He starts with the basics: reducing noise, getting a good microphone, proper microphone technique, show prep, and format, and closes with tips that deal with improving the content of your show. Jack is the author of Podcasting Hacks.

Cisco Titles Now on SafariU -- SafariU is happy to announce the addition of 165 new titles from Cisco Press, the only Cisco Systems-authorized publisher of books for Cisco certification study and network technology learning. From integrated voice and data networks to routers, IP telephony, and a host of certification guides, Cisco Press brings more essential course material to the SafariU library. To learn more and sign up for access, visit SafariU.

Hacking Access -- In these three excerpts, author Ken Bluttman shows you how to populate a listbox with values from more than one source, how to put a watermark on your reports, and how to use Word's Compare and Merge Documents feature to identify discrepancies between similar tables. Ken is the author of Access Hacks.

Localization in ASP.NET 2.0 -- The web is an international place. Why shouldn't your websites be ready for international visitors? With the introduction of ASP.NET 2.0, Microsoft aims to make it easy to localize your website for individual users, no matter where they hail from. Wei-Meng Lee shows you how you can localize your ASP.NET 2.0 web applications. Wei-Meng is the author of ASP.NET 2.0: A Developer's Notebook.

EuroOSCON Early Registration Ends Monday, August 29th -- The first-ever O'Reilly European Open Source Convention, October 17-20 in Amsterdam, targets the specific needs of European developers, programmers, strategists, entrepreneurs, and technologists, helping them deliver the benefits of open source technology to their companies and organizations. Join us at this essential gathering of open source leaders and practitioners to exchange ideas and push the boundaries of vital open source technologies. Register today!

Learning Lab Special Ends Soon -- In our practice-based, self-paced courses, you can build your online portfolio with plenty of instructor feedback and a free O'Reilly book for reference. Only until the end of August, use the discount passcode "tigercub" to save an extra 15% off any of our courses--including all University of Illinois Certificate Series. Take advantage of this great deal before time runs out. Offer ends August 31st.

Defining a Baseline Audit Policy -- It's vital that you create a baseline audit policy to audit for security events on critical systems. Mitch Tulloch helps you define the best audit policies for Windows Server 2003 server roles. Mitch is the author of Windows Server Hacks.

What Is AdSense -- Looking for ways to generate some cash for that website you've been developing? Google's AdSense may be your answer. This introduction to AdSense will help you decide if the program, which allows you to sell advertising space for other people's ads on your own site, is right for you.

SafariU: Create Your Own Textbook in No Time -- With the SafariU web-based service, you can build your own custom textbook or online syllabus in a few hours from the extensive list of top technical titles and 5,000-plus article database. Your printed custom book can be on local bookstore shelves in as little as two weeks. The online syllabus and electronic version of your book are accessible immediately. The service is free to qualified instructors. Visit SafariU to sign up for access.

Watching Ports with Port Reporter -- Here's another cool tool from Redmond. It monitors port usage for security reasons and for troubleshooting network connectivity problems. Mitch Tulloch shows you where to get it and how to make the most out of it. Mitch is the author of Windows Server Hacks.

What Is Skype -- Heard the Skype hype and want to learn more? Here's what you need to know. Skype lets you make free calls over the internet to anyone anywhere in the world who also has Skype. Your computer (or PocketPC) works as your telephone. In this article, James Gaskin descibes what Skype is, how it works, and where its limitations and strengths lie. James is the author of Talk Is Cheap.