Product Review
The Internet does many wondrous things, but an alarming number of them remain "black boxes" whose interior workings are a mystery. In How the Internet Works, Preston Gralla shows how information gets from here to there on the world's biggest computer network. With assistance from illustrators Sarah Ishidi, Mina Reimer, and Stephen Adams, Gralla presents a series of full-color spreads, each of which picks apart some aspect of Internet technology. You'll find explanations of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), Web browsers, electronic mail, Web search engines, multimedia, and more. There's a spread that shows how bulk e-mailers (known as spammers) extract addresses from newsgroups and send advertisements to them. There's also an excellent graphical depiction of how the infamous Melissa trojan horse wreaked havoc among Microsoft Outlook users in early 1999.
Some of the explanations are weaker than others. While Gralla gives a lot of details about how Internet telephony works, his explanation of PointCast consists of, to paraphrase, "You install the special client software, which communicates with the special server software and presents news to you." It's more of a definition than an explanation. The book is split about evenly between simple definition entries and detailed, commendable how-it-works entries. There's no glossary per se, but the index is good. --David Wall
Topics covered: Internet architecture, addressing, domain names, routers, connectivity, e-mail, newsgroups, Web browsers, push technologies, and Internet safety and security.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Simple, clear explanations walk you through every technology
Detailed explanations walk you through the technology.
The Internet has changed the world and, with everything from blogs to podcasts, Internet phones to video, it’s still changing the world. Now, it’s easy to understand how it all works! This book’s big, brilliant, full-color illustrations and clear explanations make it all incredibly simple!
DISCOVER HOW THE INTERNET REALLY WORKS IT’S AMAZINGLY EASY!
This new edition has been completely updated for today’s hottest Internet technologies, Web connections, hardware, communications and entertainment services, and much more!
• See how the Internet can deliver any kind of information, anywhere: web pages, email, music, video, phone calls, and more!
• Understand the most exciting new Internet technologies, from blogs and podcasting to wikis and BitTorrent
• Discover how your connection to the Internet works wireless, cable modem, DSL, even cellphones
• Go behind the scenes with today’s most sophisticated websites, applications, and services
• Protect yourself from the latest Internet dangers, including phishing, web surveillance, and wireless hacking
Preston Gralla is the award-winning author of more than 30 books, including How the Internet Works, Complete Idiot’s Guide to Internet Privacy and Security, Complete Idiot’s Guide to Protecting Your Child Online, and How Wireless Works. He has written
frequently about security issues, computer technology, the Internet, and has been a columnist for many magazines, websites
and newspapers.
