The authors of hugely successful technical training manuals at Syngress Publishing Inc. decided it was time to write an easy-to-use book for high school kids. So the experts, whose past subjects included MCSE, MCSD, CompTIA and Cisco, cooked up a book/CD-ROM that teaches the innards of the Internet using Jules Verne’s classic “Journey to the Center of the Earth” as a model.
“Journey to the Center of the Internet” ($29.95) is lame as science fiction, but there is enough plot to keep you going. In the end an amazing thing happens–a reader walks away with a solid and quite substantial grasp of the whole ball of wax regarding Internet concepts.
BACKPACK TRIPLE PLAY
Micro Solutions cooks up an ultrafast CD burner to go
DeKalb-based Micro Solutions Inc. made a big splash by giving America its first external CD-RW drives that work through the parallel ports on PCs. Now, with CD burners routinely installed on many computers, the company’s legendary engineers have switched big time to the new USB 2.0 standard to offer the Backpack Triple Play USB 2.0 CD-rewriter–an ultrafast (32 x10x40) burner and reader that should appeal greatly to intermediate-level PC fans.
The $229 package includes the drive and cable for connecting to USB 2.0, USB 1.0, laptop PC card or parallel port. You’ll need a USB 2.0 card to get the ultrahigh speed. Hardcore PC users will love this peripheral because it works with all flavors of Windows. Details can be found at www.micro-solutions.com.
SIMGOLF
Drive for show, play with dough
PC golf games are a dime a divot, but leave it to Sid Meier to turn whacking a little pimply ball into a high-pressure business game that plays more like a day in MBA school than one on the links. Meier’s SimGolf, from Electronic Arts ($40), not only allows players to wield clubs, but also lets them finance and design the golf course.
Like in Meier’s famous role-playing games that include Civilization and Railroad Tycoon, players can finance golf courses through tactics like selling course-side houses. The icing on the cake comes when one builds a golf pro by choosing personality types, skill levels and other traits.
Details at www.simgolf.ea .com.
