25 Years of Animal Magnetism

Listen Print

25 Years of Animal Magnetism

by Tara McGoldrick Walsh
Network Newsletter for 01/07/2003

Dear Reader,

The new year has just begun, so you might ask what big story could we possibly have to share just a week into 2003. How about 25 years of animal magnetism? Yes, indeed. This year marks O'Reilly & Associates' first quarter-century in publishing. As part of our celebration, we've dedicated a Web site to commemorate the occasion and to reflect on what it means to reach this milestone.

Ever wondered about the origin of the first animal covers, or how and why O'Reilly got started in technical book publishing? The site includes a timeline with the stories behind these events as well as many others. Whether you're a Perl monger, a Java programmer, a Webmaster, a Mac devotee, or a .NET developer, there's an interesting history to learn behind how we came to be involved in your particular technical world.

To subscribe to the O'Reilly Network newsletter (or other newsletters), visit https://epoch.oreilly.com/account/default.orm and select the newsletters you wish to receive in your user profile (you'll need to log in with your existing O'Reilly Network account -- if you don't yet have an account, you'll need to create one).

To change your newsletter subscription options, please visit https://epoch.oreilly.com/account/default.orm and click the"Manage My Newsletters" link. For assistance, send email to

You'll also find Tim's reflections on our first 25 years in business. Wonder where we're headed? Tim talks about the company's "big hairy audacious goal:" To change the world by capturing and transmitting the knowledge of innovators.

And as part of our Anniversary, we also welcome you, our customers, to submit your stories or comments about your O'Reilly experience. So be sure to check out the 25th anniversary page.

Until next week,

Tara

Tara McGoldrick
O'Reilly Web Editor
tara@oreilly.com

Featured Articles

Native Compilation, CASE, and Dynamic Bulk Binding
In Part 4 in his series on new Oracle 9i features, Steven Feuerstein, coauthor of Oracle PL/SQL Programming, 3rd Edition, covers native compilation of PL/SQL, CASE statements and CASE expressions, and bulk binding in native dynamic SQL.

LazyWeb and RSS: Given Enough Eyeballs, Are Features Shallow Too
Clay Shirky muses on LazyWeb, the idea that "If you wait long enough, someone will write/build/design what you were thinking about." Clay says it is coming to mean "I describe a feature I think should exist in hopes that someone else will code it." Find out why Clay thinks LazyWeb works, how RSS can advance the concept, and how to use it as a way to spread new ideas.

Scripting Rectangular Selections in BBEdit 7
BBEdit 7 introduces rectangular text selections, but Bare Bones's documentation only explains how to create them in the GUI (by holding down the Option key while make a selection with the mouse). This article explains how to get and set rectangular selections via AppleScript, as well as the unsupported ability to create arbitrary non-contiguous text selections.

ASP.NET Forms Authentication - Part 1
In many Web applications, there is a need to authenticate users to allow them access to different parts of a site based on their credentials. This article by Abel Banda shows you how you can do this in ASP.NET with Forms Authentication.

Traffic Engineering: Specific Routes
In this fourth installment on Traffic Engineering, excerpted from O'Reilly's BGP, learn how to balance incoming traffic by announcing more specific routes.

Newbies Find Help in O'Reilly's Latest Apache Book
The latest edition of Apache: The Definitive Guide explains all of the core capabilities of Apache and how to use them. It also includes new, introductory information geared toward webmasters who are just getting started using Apache. Coauthor Peter Laurie explains why this new material was added to the book.

Understanding Weblogs
You read 'em all the time, but what makes a weblog a weblog? And how can you quickly jump in and start publishing your own? Wei Meng Lee shows you the blogging ropes.

In-Room Chat as a Social Tool
This fall, I hosted a two-day brainstorming session for 30 or so people on the subject of social software. In addition to the usual "sit around a big table and talk to each other" format, we set up an in-room chat channel accessible over the WiFi network which created a two-channel experience -- a live conversation in the room, and an overlapping real-time text conversation.

Understanding Zeroconf and Multicast DNS
Zeroconf, and its competitor UPnP, provide for automatic configuration and address allocation on either Ethernet or wireless networks. But it's a good bet that this protocol will become wildly popular in the wireless world. Here's how it works.

Dial-Up Revelations
When Meg Hourihan had to return to dial-up Internet while spending a month in Paris, she had a number of revelations while waiting for her spam to download.

O'Reilly Network Top Five Articles Last Week

Configuring Jaguar's Firewall
There's more to Mac OS X's built-in firewall than what is initially observed in the System Preferences. Chris Cochella shows you how to unlock its protecting power with just a few command-line keystrokes.
Cryptosystems: Configuring IPSec
VPNs make it possible to have secure networks on top of the insecure public Internet. Having explained the concepts, Dru Lavigne's newest Cryptosystems article demonstrates how to configure IPSec.
Synchronizing Networks with NTP
Accurate timekeeping is vital to accurate records, and accurate logs are the mainstay of good system administration. Glenn Graham explains NTP (the Network Time Protocol) and how to put it to work on your network.
Falcon's Eye: The Making-Over of Nethack
Few games have the staying power of Nethack, yet its interface hasn't strayed from its roguelike roots. Enter Jaakko Peltonen's Falcon's Eye. Gaming author Howard Wen explores the new clothes on a classic game.
Five Wishes for Macworld
Online version of the Mac Newsletter for January 3, 2003.