November 2003 Computer Book Reviews

Google Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools
by Tara Calishain, Rael Dornfest

O'Reilly
Audio CD
ISBN# 0-596-00447-8
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $2.45 from Amazon.com!

Riches abound here for the aspiring web programmer who's interested in integrating Google services into their website. This book, part of O'Reilly's "Hacks" series, is an advanced guide consisting of 100 different "hacks" which are tips for using Google both from the standard interface on their website as well as via Perl, Java, and PHP scripts.

The search hacks occupy the first third of the book, and they start with some fairly common knowledge about how to refine your searches and how to use Google's Advanced Search features. The good stuff really starts at about Hack #3 where the authors begin to present examples of how search engines operate internally, and how best to get the results you're after. You'll find tip after tip brings you to a new level of understanding. The best parts are the hacks for different languages, searching by file type, and searching within date ranges.

The scripts give you a programmer's cookbook for accessing this powerful search engine and manipulating the information for your own purposes. The authors stress the Google API - Google's structured interface which they make available to developers who sign up for their program - but they also present more classic hacks that pull their data directly from the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).

Webmasters will certainly appreciate the solid information on Search Engine Optimization - the art of designing your website so that it gets top rankings in the search engine results. One of the highlights of the book is Webmasterworld creator Brett Tabke's optimization tips. If you're a webmaster, do also check out my own Search Engine Optimization Tips.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a more thorough and up-to-date guide to Google anywhere. Whether your a search user or a budding webmaster, you'll find Google Hacks has a wealth of information. This book has earned a spot on the shelf right next to my computer where its always handy.

eBay Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips and Tools, First Editio
by David A. Karp

O'Reilly
Softcover
ISBN# 0-596-00564-4
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $1.70 from Amazon.com!

This book, also part of O'Reilly's "Hacks" series, is an advanced guide consisting of 100 different "hacks" which are tips for using the web's premiere online auction site - eBay. Few websites are as simultaneously simple and complex as eBay is these days and this book does a marvelous job of explaining how to get the most out of buying and selling on eBay.

Its easy to see that Mr. Karp has earned his eBay stripes through many auctions. He presents excellent explainations of not just the mechanics of eBay's bidding process, but the psychologies involved on both ends of the transaction. I was immediately impressed by his intimate and up-to-date knowledge of eSnipe.com, one of the most powerful automatic bidding tools online. eSnipe has gone through some extensive changes in the past couple of years, and most of the references I've seen just don't mention them. They most often omit the fact that the service is no longer free. Mr. Karp also explains when sniping can help and hurt you - something most new users will only be able to learn through experience.

There are not as many programming hacks in this book as there are in the other books in this series from O'Reilly, but they are impressive nonetheless. I am anxious to try the "watching" script soon. I use eBay's own watching service, but its not quite as versatile as I'd like. There are a couple of cool hacks that use the eBay and PayPal API's that will certainly be useful to programmers with the auction itch.

If you're a seriously addicted eBay user, you're going to learn a lot more with this book than you expect. The section on searches is priceless. I also thought the information on international transactions, shipping issues, and scams were top-notch. I can't think of a better gift for the eBayer on your shopping list.

Amazon Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips and Tools
by Paul Bausch

O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Softcover
ISBN# 0-596-00542-3
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $6.49 from Amazon.com!

ur last book from O'Reilly's "Hacks" series presents 100 different "hacks" for using the web's granddaddy of bookstore sites - Amazon.com. Amazon is a hacker's delight because they deliberately make so many of their site services accessible to outsiders. But beneath the programmer's playground, of course, Amazon remains a behemoth of bookstores with untold nooks and crannies offering ways to both buy and sell, and other buried treasures. Amazon Hacks takes you on the grand tour.

The book naturally starts with using Amazon as a regular customer might - setting up an account along with an "About You" area. You'll find several tools for searching Amazon through browser add-ons, too.

But by far the majority of the book involves more sophisticated uses of Amazon. There are great hacks for adding Amazon services to your own website (as we do here at Rainbo Electronic Reviews), and I certainly found those to be of special interest. One area of Amazon that I've been meaning to look into is selling through their system. I do a lot of selling on eBay as well as through our sister Disney Collectibles site, so this isn't exactly all new to me. But every system is different and its a tremendous time saver to have an expert guide you past the pitfalls.

This one's definitely not for the common user. You'll have to be adept at Perl or PHP and JavaScript to really get the most out of this book, but those who can do some programming will find this book can dramatically expand the integration of Amazon into their website.