WEBTV BOOKS?: If you have followed this WebTV Net Page since it was a small Web TV News Page back on Geocities, then you know that I wrote a book about the WebTV entitled Inside The Web TV which book was to be published by Sams Publishing. I wrote the first part of the book dealing with how to use the WebTV. Tony Bove, a computer author/editor, wrote the second part of the book which second part was essentially a list of many of the different websites that you can surf on the Internet. The folks at Sams Publishing were kind enough to guide me along in writing my part of the book. I could have written the *whole* book, but the folks at Sams Publishing wanted to rush the book out for an April 1997 print date. Well, as all of you know, the WebTV did not sell like hot cakes as some have predicted. The book was finished, completed, done, etc., and I got paid for my part of the book and I was expecting to see some royalties to come in. However, the publisher got cold feet and canceled publication of the book because there were not enough WebTV users who would buy the book -- the publisher decided the book was not economically viable so it got canned. Oh well, at least I got paid. Why do I bring this up? Well, I was cruising the Internet, visited Amazon.com, and came across a listing of my unpublished book with a picture of the unpublished book's cover (shown upper right) which I have never have seen before. Amazon.com has Tony Bove listed as the *ONLY* author of the book, even though, as already mentioned, Tony only wrote the website list section of the book (Tony has a Macintosh and does NOT have a WebTV). Oh well, Tony is a much more famous writer/editor than yours truly and having his name associated with the book would have sold more copies of the book. I sent an email to the Amazon.com folks to tell them the book was canceled (and to ask if they really have the book; if so, I'll have to ask Sams Publishing what's happening). Anyways, if the book were to ever be published, it would have to be updated to include coverage of the new WebTV Plus. Will my WebTV book ever be published? Well, if the folks at Sams Publishing are listening, the WebTV folks are predicting one million users in a year from now. That should be a viable market of users to sell the book to. If there are any other publishers interested in my writing a WebTV book, click here to send me an email.

Okay, so my book got canned. But are there any other books that WebTV users can buy? Well, there are three books. One WebTV book is David Fox's I Want My WebTV which is supposed to be the "official" WebTV book. (David, congrats on getting your WebTV book published!) Another book is Brad Hill's WebTV for Dummies book. (Brad, congrats on your WebTV book!) And yet another is Jill and Wayne Freeze's Introducing WebTV book which is supposed to be endorsed by the WebTV folks. (Jill and Wayne, congrats on your WebTV book!)

The other weekend I came across David Fox's I Want My WebTV book which is a very elementary beginner's book. It's published as an inexpensive coffee-table book. If you need something in print other than the WebTV operating manual booklet that came with your WebTV or the WebTV magazine-website-catalog that came with the Sony WebTV boxes, you may want to get Fox's book. It's a real beginner's book. So if you want something more advanced, you may want to get another generic book on the Internet. Click the graphic of the book if you want to order the book from the folks at Amazon.com.

The book to check out is WebTV for Dummies book by Brad Hill that was supposed be published in June 1997, but was then rescheduled for September 1997. [The book is now available in its third edition published August 2000 - go ahead and click the book.] Click the graphic of the book if you want to order the book from Amazon.com.

[ A new book is WebTV for Dummies, Quick Reference by Renee Gentry. The book is published as of April 2000. Don't let the "Quick Reference" in the title fool you. This is a good book written by someone who actually worked for WebTV Networks Inc. Renee used to work for WebTV Networks Inc. as a product manager. She knows just about EVERYTHING about WebTV. This is a book to really consider getting. Click the graphic of the book if you want to order the book from Amazon.com.]

Another book is Introducing WebTV published by Microsoft Press. The book is written by Jill T. Freeze and Wayne S. Freeze. This book is endorsed by the folks at WebTV (it's a Microsoft Press book). This is a book that several people have recommended to me. So you may want to check it out. Click the graphic of the book if you want to get the book from Amazon.com.

[Onenother book to check out is The Complete Idiot's Guide to Surfing the Internet with WebTV by Michael Miller. The "Idiot" title doesn't mean it's just for idiots. So, go check it out. Click the graphic of the book if you want to get the book from Amazon.com.]

[And one more book is Teach Yourself WebTV by Erica Sadun and Dennis R. Cohen. The book is published as of March 2000. The book is 384 page long if you want a hefty but quick and easy book to teach yourself WebTV will all the details you need for people need a book. Click the graphic of the book if you want to get the book from Amazon.com.]

As a plug for a couple other books that I got a chance to work on, if you have a computer and you have Microsoft Office 97, particularly Microsoft Word 97 and Microsoft PowerPoint 97, check out the books Teach Yourself Microsoft Word 97 in 24 Hours and Teach Yourself Microsoft PowerPoint 97 in 24 Hours.

If you want to check out some other things I've written, you might want to check out a law review article I once wrote for the FCC Communications Law Journal (UCLA) dealing with the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Whenever I ever get around to transferring the text to HTML code, you may want to check out my master's thesis dealing with FCC policymaking, access charges, and a political protest by the online users community back in the 1980s before the world wide web became the way to go online (the access charge issue and a similar, though muted protest, came up again within the last year).

The book ordering capability is courtesy of Amazon.com. If you wish to order any of the books, click on the book graphics on this page. The Amazon.com prices tend to be about $4 to $5 less than the suggested retail price printed on the books.

That's all for now, folks!

Happy TV Watching!
Ruel