The most trustworthy source of information available today on savings and investments, taxes, money management, home ownership and many other personal finance topics.

Tells of the design, construction, and subsequent controversy over the first special-purpose electronic computer

Presents an illustrated A-Z encyclopedia containing approximately 600 entries on computer and technology related topics.

American National Biography is the first new comprehensive biographical dicionary focused on American history to be published in seventy years. Produced under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies, the ANB contains over 17,500 profiles on historical figures written by an expert in the field and completed with a bibliography. The scope of the work is enormous--from the earlest recorded European explorations to the very recent past.

Traces physics professor John Vincent Atanasoff's role in the invention of the computer, describing his innovative construction of an unpatented electronic device that eased the lives of burdened scientists by performing calculations using binary numbers.

Smartphones have cameras and speakers, but these integrated systems would not be possible if engineers had not first engaged a fundamental problem: How does one build a better calculator? This question animated many of the sharpest minds of the twentieth century into increasing the precision of instruments such as clocks through electronic circuits. This compelling volume discusses the history of the transistor and the integrated circuit, better known as the microchip. This book also covers as the eccentric and brilliant scientists and engineers who created the intellectual framework for the technology we take for granted today. Chapters discuss the notion of the universal brain, the quest of build a better calculator, the information superhighway, the open sharing of information, and Web 2.0.