50 stylish projects from the aisles of the home improvement center In Home from the Hardware Store, artist and designer Stephen Antonson and his wife, Kathleen Hackett ply the aisles of the home improvement center and emerge with a host of ideas for clever, original decorative objects any interior designer would love. Antonson and Hackett cast their eyes on pedestrian materials—drain covers, cork matting, plumbing parts, light sockets, brass nails—and see lamps, wallpaper, table runners, side tables, even cuff links. Organized by decorating challenge, chapters include ideas for lighting, windows and walls, furniture, tabletop, and storage. Beautiful full-color photos, including how-to pictures along with clear, concise, yet friendly instructions, accompany every project. Sidebars and quick tips are scattered throughout, providing DIYers with gentle reminders and instructions for basic tool and equipment use. Design lovers, crafters, and penny pinchers alike will find much to inspire in Home from the Hardware Store.

When the new house needs fixing up, it's off to the hardware store to find the tools and materials needed to get the job done—a hammer, a screwdriver, a shiny tape measure, and even a stepladder. This family outing explores a familiar errand that fascinates plenty of young children: the hardware store. Anne Rockwell's perfectly pitched story and Melissa Iwai's child-friendly illustrations make this book ideal for the preschool audience.

This guide gives a complete and detailed description of the HTTP protocol and how it shapes the landscape of the Web by the technologies that it supports.

With the increased focus on building and renovation over the past decade, there has been a growing demand for hardware that is both beautiful and functional.

PREFACE Browsing through hardware stores can be fun, interesting, and informative. Hardware stores sell tools and supplies used by mechanics, plumbers, carpenters, homeowners, hobbyists, and do-it-yourselfers. When you have-and know how to use-tools, you can demolish, disassemble, fix, or build just about anything. I was very lucky as a youngster. My grandfather, Louis Helfand, was an expert mechanic and woodworker. He came to live in my parent's house when I was about 10 years old. While he lived with us, he showed me the correct way to use and care for tools. It was through his patience, and his ability to explain the functions of tools, that I became interested in both the tools and the scientific principles that allow them to work. Grandpa took tools very seriously. He praised the ones that were well made and cursed the ones that weren't. In other words, he told it like it was. When I walk through a hard- ware store today, I remember Grandpa pointing out the tools, both good and bad. Sometimes his comments made me laugh so hard that my stomach hurt. Hardware stores still hold a fascination for me. There always seem to be new, strange, nifty, cool, wonderful machines, and tools. I can look at them, touch them, examine them, and even buy them. This book is written as a guidebook to help you learn the scientific principles that make some of the tools dis-played in a hardware store work. I hope that after read-ing this book you will enjoy browsing through hardware stores as much as I do. Who knows? One day we might even meet in one. His comments made me laugh so hard that my stomach hurt. Hardware stores still hold a fascination for me. There always seem to be new, strange, nifty, cool, wonderful machines, and tools. I can look at them, touch them, examine them, and even buy them. This book is written as a guidebook to help you learn the scientific principles that make some of the tools dis-played in a hardware store work. I hope that after read-ing this book you will enjoy browsing through hardware stores as much as I do. Who knows? One day we might even meet in one. * * * * * A Quick Note to Parents and Educators Physics Lab in a Housewares Store, a companion volume in this series, demonstrates many of the same principles as this book. That has been done with intent. Many of the students who will be attracted to one of the titles will probably not be attracted to the other, due to traditional gender preferences. Those that are attracted to both will have the added pleasure of finding out that a workshop and a kitchen have many things in common, and that tools found in one might actually be substituted for those commonly used in the other."

The bestselling guide to home repair has now been revised and updated to include new instructions and illustrations that reflect current trends in home improvement and safety. Full color.

Written especially for the child who dreams of soaring above the clouds, this book shows parents and kids how to create cool airborne projects together-including a Blinking UFO to a Hot-Air Balloon and a Water-Bottle Rocket.

Competitive Solutions is an entertaining and wideranging introduction to successful business methods applied to a variety of real-world situations. Rejecting the one-size-fits-all premise that underlies so many guides to business strategy, Preston McAfee develops the intellectual tools and insights needed to confront many marketplace problems. Drawing on his broad experience as a consultant for major U.S. companies, as well as extensive research, McAfee emphasizes cooperation, pricing, litigation, and antitrust as vital to a firm's competitive posture--and focuses more attention on these elements than do most business strategy accounts. McAfee begins by considering strategy as successfully applied by America OnLine, an example that introduces many of the tools discussed in greater depth throughout the book. From here he moves to industry analysis: By examining the context for developing a strategy, he points out uses of positioning and differentiation that enable a firm to weaken price competition and deter rivals from stealing customers. McAfee's exploration of a product's life cycle proves an invaluable guide to positioning new technology in order to maximize the potential for future customers. In the centerpiece of the book, McAfee lays out a how-to manual for cooperation, providing tactics crucial for setting standards, lobbying the government, and fostering industry growth. Writing in a conversational manner, McAfee also addresses such deep topics as organizational design and employee compensation and incentives. More detailed discussions examine antitrust enforcement, which is an increasingly important constraint on strategy, as well as strategies for pricing, bidding, signaling, and bargaining. This book is a fascinating examination of modern business strategy and its application in many different settings. Students of business and economics--as well as executives and managers--will recognize Competitive Solutions as an indispensable resource as well as a definitive vision of the strategic firm: one in which each element of company strategy reinforces the other elements.

Branding a Store shows how to build a strong, independent retail brand identity to remain competitive in today's global marketplace. First the book explains the distinction between retail brands and manufacturer brands, and assesses the increasing conflict between the two. The author explains in detail the potential benefits of a strong retail brand for both the retailer and the consumer. It discusses the factors to consider when positioning the brand: assortment; price; convenience; and customer experience. The author considers the three competitive strategies to follow to build a strong, distinct brand identity: increasing sales; cutting costs; and increasing differentiation from the competition. Then he explains the most effective ways to communicate with the consumer. Finally he offers insights into the future development of successful retail brands.

Annotation While the road from the mind to the marketplace is frustrating and far from easy, Jayne Seagrave's highly entertaining book sets out how to succeed in taking a new idea to market, how to expand those markets, and how to effectively run a new business. With over 90 percent of businesses in Canada being small businesses, this book provides exceptional insights into what it takes to establish and succeed in this growing arena. Jayne Seagrave gives a first-hand account of the development of the Vancouver Tool Corporation and her experiences and strategies for selling her husband Andrew Dewberry's invention to the Canadian marketplace. The book also provides an entertaining account of how the couple moved from their established careers as criminologist and architect to undertaking every aspect of running a small business. Each chapter ends with advice for the inventor, conveniently and plainly set out in point form. Appendices contain sample letters to buyers, examples of press releases, and charts on how to record approaches to buyers. This is a necessary resource for anyone contemplating selling their own ideas and inventions successfully. It is also vital for anyone with an interest in owning and operating his or her own business.