The Leader in Resources for Training & HR Professionals for the Past Four Decades Organizations that thrive in today's competitive marketplace are those that make a firm commitment to training and development. And successful trainers stay at the top of their profession by accessing the most recent and important information, tools, and resources in the field. The 2011 Pfeiffer Training Annual offers a hands-on guide to the latest thinking and recent approaches to training and development. This year's Annual presents a "organizational dynamics" theme. The contributors address the many factors that affect how well the people and process react when brought together and how they function as a singular entity to accomplish a task. The Annual is divided into four sections: Experiential Learning Activities (ELAs); Editor's Choice; Inventories, Questionnaires, and Surveys; and Articles and Discussion Resources. The fourth section, Editor's Choice, includes cutting edge material to help trainers stay on top of the key trends in the field. ELAs are the mainstay of the Annual. The activities are presented as complete and ready-to-use training designs. You'll find ELAs from top training leaders: Kris Downing, Joanne Sujansky and Jan Ferri-Reed. The instrument section introduces reliable survey and assessment tools for gathering and sharing data on aspects of change and leadership best practices. The articles section presents the best current thinking about training. Use these for your own professional development or as a lecture resource within your trainings. Must-haves in this section include articles by Leonard D. Goodstein and Eric P. Prien as well as Prakash K. Nair and Toby M. Egan that address the organizational dynamics theme. The depth and breadth of available resources—new content is added to the Annual each year—ensures a steady stream of contemporary knowledge and tools. Use the Annual to keep on top of developments within the training and HR profession, dip into the content for an activity or instrument that targets a specific performance problem, combine activities to create an entire development program, or learn how others in the profession are tackling the ever-increasing challenges of building and developing a capable and productive workforce.

Surveys the online social habits of American teens and analyzes the role technology and social media plays in their lives, examining common misconceptions about such topics as identity, privacy, danger, and bullying.

The federal government wastes your tax dollars worse than a drunken sailor on shore leave. The 1984 Grace Commission uncovered that the Department of Defense spent $640 for a toilet seat and $436 for a hammer. Twenty years later things weren't much better. In 2004, Congress spent a record-breaking $22.9 billion dollars of your money on 10,656 of their pork-barrel projects. The war on terror has a lot to do with the record $413 billion in deficit spending, but it's also the result of pork over the last 18 years the likes of: - $50 million for an indoor rain forest in Iowa - $102 million to study screwworms which were long ago eradicated from American soil - $273,000 to combat goth culture in Missouri - $2.2 million to renovate the North Pole (Lucky for Santa!) - $50,000 for a tattoo removal program in California - $1 million for ornamental fish research Funny in some instances and jaw-droppingly stupid and wasteful in others, The Pig Book proves one thing about Capitol Hill: pork is king!

The first book in the New York Times bestselling epic fantasy trilogy by award-winning author Laini Taylor Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war. Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out. When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

The definitive behind-the-scenes history of video games’ explosion into the twenty-first century and the war for industry power “A zippy read through a truly deep research job. You won’t want to put this one down.”—Eddie Adlum, publisher, RePlay Magazine As video games evolve, only the fittest companies survive. Making a blockbuster once cost millions of dollars; now it can cost hundreds of millions, but with a $160 billion market worldwide, the biggest players are willing to bet the bank. Steven L. Kent has been playing video games since Pong and writing about the industry since the Nintendo Entertainment System. In volume 1 of The Ultimate History of Video Games, he chronicled the industry’s first thirty years. In volume 2, he narrates gaming’s entrance into the twenty-first century, as Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and Microsoft battle to capture the global market. The home console boom of the ’90s turned hobby companies like Nintendo and Sega into Hollywood-studio-sized business titans. But by the end of the decade, they would face new, more powerful competitors. In boardrooms on both sides of the Pacific, engineers and executives began, with enormous budgets and total secrecy, to plan the next evolution of home consoles. The PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Sega Dreamcast all made radically different bets on what gamers would want. And then, to the shock of the world, Bill Gates announced the development of the one console to beat them all—even if Microsoft had to burn a few billion dollars to do it. In this book, you will learn about • the cutthroat environment at Microsoft as rival teams created console systems • the day the head of Sega of America told the creator of Sonic the Hedgehog to “f**k off” • how “lateral thinking with withered technology” put Nintendo back on top • and much more! Gripping and comprehensive, The Ultimate History of Video Games: Volume 2 explores the origins of modern consoles and of the franchises—from Grand Theft Auto and Halo to Call of Duty and Guitar Hero—that would define gaming in the new millennium.

A classic now in its 14th edition, Communication Technology Update and Fundamentals is the single best resource for students and professionals looking to brush up on how these technologies have developed, grown, and converged, as well as what’s in store for the future. It begins by developing the communication technology framework—the history, ecosystem, and structure—then delves into each type of technology, including everything from mass media, to computers and consumer electronics, to networking technologies. Each chapter is written by faculty and industry experts who provide snapshots of the state of each individual field, altogether providing a broad overview of the role communication technologies play in our everyday lives. Key features: Gives students and professionals the latest information in all areas of communication technology The companion website offers updated information and useful links to related industry resources, and an instructor site provides a sample syllabus and a test bank This edition features new chapters on automotive telematics, digital health, and telepresence, as well as expanded coverage of tablets/phablets and 4K (ultra high definition television)