Read the original article at What Wouldn’t Google Do?

In his latest book, What Would Google Do? Jeff Jarvis seems to have authored a gushing tribute to the search giant that has pledged to do no evil. He paints a very optimistic picture, and shows us over and over how Google has opened up industries, and how that same openness helps consumers like you and I.

Jarvis, if you don't know him by name, has been a journalist for some time, but gained particular cred and notoriety when he blogged with the headline "Dell lies. Dell Sucks" after his horrible experiences with Dell computers and customer service.

While digging through Googly chapters, on Real Estate, …

Read the original article at Scalability Rules for managers and startups

Abbott and Fisher’s previous book, The Art of Scalability received good reviews for shifting the way we think about scalability from merely splitting databases and adding servers, to include the human factors that weigh heavily on its success. Together with the authors’ distinguished pedigree (PayPal, Amazon, and eBay between them), I picked up a copy of their second book, Scalability Rules - 50 Principles for Scaling Web Sites without a second thought.

If Art was about laying a strong foundation for a scalable organization then Rules is the …

Read the original article at Review: Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky

Clay Shirky tells a great story. Here Comes Everybody begins with a case of a lost phone in a taxi cab, and the extraordinary turn of events that led to the owner retrieving it. From photos posted online, to NYPD who were uninterested in following up, to taking it all online. Through that online publicity, the story got picked up by the NY Times and CNN, which put pressure on the police to track down the taxi.  It's a great example that illustrates the nuances, both good and bad, powerful and persistent that the Internet can unleash.

Throughout the book he weaves stories about the network effect, friends and friends of friends, and how that impacts information, organization, and the spread …

Read the original article at Book review – Trust Agents by Chris Brogan & Julien Smith

Stumbling onto 800-CEO-Read, and their top books feature, I found Brogan and Smith's work.  Brogan's blog intrigued me enough so I walked down to the Strand here in NYC to pick up a copy.

What I found was an excellent introduction to the nebulous world of social media marketing, where you find all sorts of advice and suggestions on how to engage your target audience.  If you're feeling like an ignoramus on matters of social media, Trust Agents is a great place to start and will give you ideas of how to 'humanize' your digital connections.

The authors illustrate the Trust Agent idea with Comcast Cares for example and how they engaged customers, and …

Read the original article at Book Review – Effective MySQL

Effective MySQL: Optimizing SQL Statements by Ronald Bradford No Nonsense, Readable, Practical, and Compact I like that this book is small; 150 pages means you can carry it easily.  It’s also very no nonsense.  It does not dig too deeply into theory unless it directly relates to your day-to-day needs.  And those needs probably cluster [...]

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Read the original article at Book Review – The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

What do you do after founding not one, but two companies and watching them fail miserably all by the time you were barely out of college?

Move to the Valley, make shrewd investments in other startups and become insanely rich like Sean Parker? A Bit lofty perhaps. How about try, try again and succeed. Then reinvent yourself as a guru dishing out startup wisdom through your blog and publishing a book that ends up the top of the New York Times Bestseller's list. That's essentially what Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup did.

True entrepreneurs fail many times before they succeed and continuously find opportunities to reinvent …

Read the original article at Book Review – Help! by Oliver Burkeman

Help! How To Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done

I've long overcome that sheepish feeling when browsing the Self-help section at the bookstore. Sure, How to Make Friends and Influence People or the Seven Steps to World Domination in your bookcase aren't exactly the sort of titles to suggest a deep intellect but I like to keep an open mind when checking out the latest hardcover secret to happiness and prosperity. Basically I try not to diss a book just because it's got "soup" on the cover.

I will concede that publishers have …

Packt Publishing recently sent me a copy of MySQL for Python to review and after reading through the book I must say that I’m rather impressed at the variety of topics that the book covers.

It starts off with the basics of setting up MySQL for your testing/development needs by going over several of the common installation and configuration methods. After that it’s a quick intro for connection methods and simple error reporting for connections. The author gives a quick intro to CRUD and how it relates to databases and python before heading into the common tasks of simple queries. I was surprised to see some database profiling discussion; which is rather handy for a new coder or a person new to MySQL. Once the basics of …

MySQL Admin Cookbook from Packt Publishing, authored by Daniel Schneller & Udo Schwedt, is a new addition to the MySQL literary genre with 99 great recipes for mastering MySQL configuration and administration. Announcing quick answers to common problems, these 99 recipes cover a broad spectrum of managing MySQL, and are appropriate for new MySQL administrators as well as more experienced administrators. MySQL Admin Cookbook is available in dead tree and PDF formats. The book's website is: https://www.packtpub.com/mysql-admin-cookbook/book with errata found at http://www/packtpub.com/support.

Subjects Covered

• Replication
  
• Indexing Tools
  
• Backing Up & Restoring MySQL Data
  
• Managing Data
  
…

MySQL Admin Cookbook from Packt Publishing, authored by Daniel Schneller & Udo Schwedt, is a new addition to the MySQL literary genre with 99 great recipes for mastering MySQL configuration and administration. Announcing quick answers to common problems, these 99 recipes cover a broad spectrum of managing MySQL, and are appropriate for new MySQL administrators as well as more experienced administrators. MySQL Admin Cookbook is available in dead tree and PDF formats. The book's website is: https://www.packtpub.com/mysql-admin-cookbook/book with errata found at http://www/packtpub.com/support.

Subjects Covered

• Replication
  
• Indexing Tools
  
• Backing Up & Restoring MySQL Data
  
• Managing Data
  
…