Getting a new gadget or computer is one thing. Learning how to unleash its full potential is another. So if you've got questions about Windows 7, Snow Leopard, iPhone, iPod, netbook, or digital camera, get them answered with an up-to-date, clearly-written book or ebook. And don't forget you can Buy 2 and Get 1 Free by using code OPC10 in our shopping cart.

A New York Times article by David Carr rehashing common knowledge on "why Twitter will endure" got me thinking about the ways in which it will not endure, or the ways in which it may endure via which no one will really care about it. So, what does it mean to "endure"? To stay in business? So what - Lord and Taylor is still in business, but there are so many better stores if you ask me. RC Cola has endured. We always think of Coke and Pepsi when we think of soft drinks, and maybe now we even think of carbonated things like Perrier or some sports drinks. But, still, RC Cola endures. Classmates.com is still enduring - but when was the last time anyone cared? So what does it mean to say that Twitter will endure? Read more.

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Analytics X Prize -- The Analytics X Prize is an ongoing contest to apply analytics, modeling, and statistics to solve the social problems that affect our cities. It combines the fields of statistics, mathematics, and social science to understand the root causes of dysfunction in our neighborhoods. Understanding these relationships and discovering the most highly correlated variables allows us to deploy our limited resources more effectively and target the variables that will have the greatest positive impact on improvement. The first contest is to predict homicides in Philadelphia. This and more in today's Four Short Links. Read more.

This post from Publishing Perspectives about publishing in Africa came in over the break, and it's worth a look: Five years later, [Muhtar] Bakare is still a confident believer in the power of the internet to revolutionize the African publishing industry. "The internet is our own Gutenberg moment," he told the Oslo audience."The internet is going to democratize knowledge in Africa." Publishers taking a long view should be sure to pay attention to what's happening in Africa and the Middle East. We'll have speakers from both regions at next month's TOC conference. Read more.

When I transitioned from artist to developer, once I learned Flash I didn't go any further. Sure I know PHP, Ruby, JavaScript and a few other languages but not as well as I know ActionScript. Where am I going with this? Well, when I was an artist I picked the right tool for the job, but as a programmer I locked myself into one language and made that my focus. In 2010 my New Year resolution and life goal is to become a Renaissance Developer just like I was as an artist. Here, in no particular order is my list of the languages I want to learn in 2010: Silverlight, Unity, HaXe, Object C. I would love to hear your thoughts and if you want to also become a Renaissance Developer? Read more.

There will be many posts focusing on the look, feel, and features of the Nexus One, so I'm going to focus on what Android's latest incarnation says about the competitive landscape - what I've elsewhere called the war for the web. Android vs. iPhone is one important front in that "war." News from the front: a possible turning point for Android. I've been a huge iPhone fan, but after using the Nexus One for a few weeks, I find so much to like that I'm close to the point where Android might be my first choice. While I may yet go back to my iPhone, I'm conflicted.

More Nexus Reviews

David Pogue: Google Shakes but Doesn’t Upend the Cellphone Market

Walt Mossberg: Google's Nexus, One Is Bold New Face in Super-Smart Phones

Salon: The early reviews of the Nexus One are in. Apple might have something to think about

Watching Google's rollout of Android to date, including this week's announcements around the Google-branded, HTC built, Nexus One phone, I am left with two conflicting thoughts. Is it the beginning of their assent into Windows-like dominance or the fortnight of their 'Waterloo' moment? Read more.

National Lab Day is a National Barn-Raising for hands-on learning. Using the internet and social computing technologies, with the support of the White House, and the business and scientific communities, National Lab Day reaches out to the education community, providing a tool set that brings context, community, and passion to education, and that has the potential to transform our educational system into a true learning community. Read more.

The Diverse and Digital Workforce — "The face of the workforce is changing," writes Sarah Sorensen in a new O'Reilly Insights on Forbes.com. "It is increasingly female, global and digital." In order to attract and retain the best and brightest talent, businesses need to create a new work order insists the author of The Sustainable Network: The Accidental Answer for a Troubled Planet. Read Sorensen's suggestions on how to achieve this competitive advantage.

The very technology that makes our collective integration possible also distracts us from advancing it. In equilibrium, distraction and ambition square off at the singular point of failed progress. If the next generation of Moores, Joys, and Kurzweils are half as distracted as I am, we are going to find ourselves frozen right here, nodes in a wormy borg that never becomes a butterfly. My computer is turning out to be the interface to a giant network Skinner Box. But maybe Twitter is just God's way of making sure we're too distracted to destroy ourselves. Read more.

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