Internet-connected refrigerators, electronic pens that record and send your written message to your PC, wearable computers-all are examples of the latest technology gadgets designed to improve our lives. There are also appliances we're more familiar with-the home stereo, PC with email, and VCRs-whose usability could be improved exponentially, when networked to other appliances. Each chapter of Easy Living in the Digitally Connected Home presents a new piece of hardware or software, explains a networking concept needed to use and network the home appliance featured, and includes a separate section entitled "I Bet You Didn't Know" that highlights new uses for common applications, the Web or other appliances.

In previous editions, The Complete Guide to Home Wiring sold more than one million copies, making it the all-time bestselling book on home wiring for consumers. In this newly revised and redesigned edition, the book includes everything that made the original the favorite of American homeowners, but also adds new projects, such as wiring a shed or gazebo, and includes important revisions to meet the 2008 National Electrical Code.

The Complete Guide to Home Carpentry combines the most popular carpentry projects with up-to-date information on tools, techniques, and materials required for home projects. Easy-to-use photo-driven pages show readers the most common saw cuts, nailing techniques, router designs, and skills for using dozens of other tools. Projects range from framing a partition wall, building shelves, and installing windows and doors, to hanging cabinets, cutting countertops, and installing trim. Readers even learn how to remove walls for remodeling projects.

Earlier editions of The Complete Guide to Home Wiring sold more than 500,000 copies, and this expanded new book includes all the tried-and-true projects from earlier editions, updated to feature the latest fixtures. The book now meets the requirements of the 2005 National Electrical Code, including important changes for bathroom, kitchen and utility area wiring. No book is more complete when it comes to traditional wiring, but this is only the beginning. One of the biggest challenges facing homeowners today is hooking up the many electronic components they own-computers and printers, home theaters and surround-sound systems, CD and DVD and DVR units, to name a few.