262365
submission
SomeoneGotMyNick writes:
I was told by our department head that we should get together a list of reference books that we may want. Apparently, we have a large reference material budget and nobody knows what to spend it on. If we don't spend it, we may lose future reference material budgeting next year. For a quick background, we are a programming department utilizing Visual Studio 2005 (I know, some of you are going Boo, Hiss) and we use VB and ASP.NET (Do I hear more boos and hisses?). We also use Javascript, AJAX, and most of us are wishing to hone our skills in designing creative websites. You know, ones with a good visual impact. Although I'm perfectly capable of picking books on the proper subject, I usually have a problem picking the right book on the subject. My experience in buying books results in good books, but not excellent books. Hoping that the Slashdot community used a variety of books on similar subjects, I'd appreciate some recommendations, hopefully with a reason why you found the book to be an excellent reference. And please, DB400 book references would be a plus!!
17443
submission
SomeoneGotMyNick writes:
I'm in a situation where I'm eligible to get out of my Sprint contract early without an Early Termination Fee. I have till Oct 30 to decide. Since mobile phones and plans appear to keep improving every 90 days or so, it's easy to get lost when picking the best bang for my money.
What I'm looking for is a media phone that is cheap and "hackable" with a reliable carrier. I use the term "Hackable" somewhat loosely. In other words, I want a phone that, even though it might have some features locked, I want to be able to unlock those features without buying expensive software from the carrier to do it. I want to install my own ringtones (MP3 preferred) through a simple USB interface or something similar.
Also, can anyone recommend a carrier with good web browsing services without requiring expensive access plans like with the Treo or Blackberry? My current Sprint phone has WAP access, and I'm aware that "flip-phone" access to the web is charged a smaller monthly fee than PDA based access. I cannot simply surf anywhere I want on a WAP plan. I understand some newer in-phone web services are not only faster, but allow access to more conventional websites. Like maybe surfing Slashdot on a RAZR screen.
