Preston Gralla (author) is the author of 40 books that have been translated into 20 languages, including Droid X: The Missing Manual, Droid 2: The Missing Manual, Big Book of Windows Hacks, Windows Vista in a Nutshell, How the Internet Works, and How Wireless Works. He is a contributing editor to Computerworld, a founder and editor-in-chief of Case Study Forum, and was a founding editor and then editorial director of PC/Computing, executive editor for CNet/ZDNet, and the founding managing editor of PC Week.
He has written about technology for many national newspapers and magazines, including USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News (for whom he wrote a technology column), PC World, and numerous others. As a widely recognized technology expert, he has made many television and radio appearances, including on the CBS Early Show, MSNBC, ABC World News Now, and National Public Radio. Under his editorship, PC/Computing was a finalist for General Excellence in the National Magazine Awards. He has also won the “Best Feature in a Computing Publication” award from the Computer Press Association.
Gralla is also the recipient of a Fiction Fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his wife (his two children have flown the coop). He welcomes feedback about his books by email at preston@gralla.com.
Nan Barber (editor) has worked with the Missing Manual series since its inception—long enough to remember booting up her computer from a floppy disk. Email: nanbarber@oreilly.com.
Holly Bauer (production editor) lives in Ye Olde Cambridge, MA. She’s a production editor by day and an avid home cook, prolific DIYer, and mid-century modern furniture enthusiast by evening/weekend. Email: holly@oreilly.com.
Carla Spoon (proofreader) is a freelance writer and copyeditor. An avid runner, she works and feeds her tech gadget addiction from her home office in the shadow of Mount Rainier. Email: carla_spoon@comcast.net.
Ron Strauss (indexer) specializes in the indexing of information technology publications of all kinds. Ron is also an accomplished classical violist and lives in northern California with his wife and fellow indexer, Annie, and his miniature pinscher, Kanga. Email: rstrauss@mchsi.com.
Many thanks go to my editor, Nan Barber, who not only patiently shepherded this book through the lengthy writing and publishing process, but provided valuable feedback and sharpened my prose. Thanks also go to Brian Sawyer, for making the introduction that ultimately led to this book.
I’d also like to thank all the other folks at O’Reilly who worked on this book, especially Holly Bauer for bringing the beautiful finished product to fruition, Carla Spoon for excising errors, and Ron Strauss for writing the index.
—Preston Gralla
Missing Manuals are witty, superbly written guides to computer products that don’t come with printed manuals (which is just about all of them). Each book features a handcrafted index and cross-references to specific pages (not just chapters). Recent and upcoming titles include:
Access 2010: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
Buying a Home: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner
CSS: The Missing Manual, Second Edition by David Sawyer McFarland
Creating a Website: The Missing Manual, Third Edition by Matthew MacDonald
David Pogue’s Digital Photography: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
Dreamweaver CS5.5: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland
Droid 2: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Droid X2: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Excel 2010: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
Facebook: The Missing Manual, Third Edition by E.A. Vander Veer
FileMaker Pro 11: The Missing Manual by Susan Prosser and Stuart Gripman
Flash CS5.5: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover
Galaxy Tab: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Google+: The Missing Manual by Kevin Purdy
Google Apps: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner
Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover
HTML5: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
iMovie ’11 & iDVD: The Missing Manual by David Pogue and Aaron Miller
iPad 2: The Missing Manual, Third Edition by J.D. Biersdorfer
iPhone: The Missing Manual, Fifth Edition by David Pogue
iPhone App Development: The Missing Manual by Craig Hockenberry
iPhoto ’11: The Missing Manual by David Pogue and Lesa Snider
iPod: The Missing Manual, Tenth Edition by J.D. Biersdorfer and David Pogue
JavaScript & jQuery: The Missing Manual, Second Edition by David Sawyer McFarland
Kindle Fire: The Missing Manual by Peter Meyers
Living Green: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner
Mac OS X Lion: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
Microsoft Project 2010: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore
Motorola Xoom: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Netbooks: The Missing Manual by J.D. Biersdorfer
NOOK Tablet: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Office 2010: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner, Chris Grover, and Matthew MacDonald
Office 2011 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover
Palm Pre: The Missing Manual by Ed Baig
Personal Investing: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore
Photoshop CS5: The Missing Manual by Lesa Snider
Photoshop Elements 10: The Missing Manual by Barbara Brundage
PHP & MySQL: The Missing Manual by Brett McLaughlin
PowerPoint 2007: The Missing Manual by E.A. Vander Veer
Premiere Elements 8: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover
QuickBase: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner
QuickBooks 2012: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore
Quicken 2009: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore
Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Lion Edition by David Pogue
Wikipedia: The Missing Manual by John Broughton
Windows Vista: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
Windows 7: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
Word 2007: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover
Your Body: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
Your Brain: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
Your Money: The Missing Manual by J.D. Roth
For a full list of all Missing Manuals in print, go to www.missingmanuals.com/library.html.
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