Between September 2006 and May 2007, the online networking site Facebook doubled its number of visitors to 26 million. Today, it has more than 300 million active users worldwide. Though Facebook is just one tool people use to connect with each other, the myriad of other Web sites such as MySpace and the estimated 2 billion cellphones in use worldwide mean that more people than ever are using digital communication. Digital Communications: From E-mail to the Cyber Community looks at the digital tools used during interpersonal communication, such as cell phones, electronic mail, chat rooms, and...

In 2006, about 67 percent of Americans played video games using a computer or game console such as PlayStation, Xbox, or Wii. Video games have come a long way since they were developed in the 1970s. In the past, game programs used a computer-like gadget that could be connected to the television. The players would look at the image on the television screen, hence the name video game. With the development of personal computers in the 1980s, the computer monitor became a more popular display device, leading to the new term computer game. These terms, along with digital game, are now...

Today there are talking toasters, cars that start themselves using voice recognition, and telephones that use voice commands. But those are not the only examples of digital sound. The ubiquitous earbuds and tiny MP3 players show how common it is to listen to digital music. Digital Music: Computers That Make Music examines digital sound's basic principles, history, physics, and different formats and how it became so prevalent in the digital world. Because the Internet has made it so easy to share digital files, this volume includes a discussion of the legal implications of sharing music and...

Engineers, scientists, and computer programmers use digital systems for many purposes, from inventing a better car to landing spacecrafts on Mars. But they are not the only ones who create this way. Every day the average person uses digital tools to research and develop new applications used in healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture, communications, and e-commerce to make our lives easier. Nevertheless, in the era of cleaning robots and voice-activated cars, some question whether the gadgets revolution will usher in a techno utopia or enslave its users to technology. Digital Research:...

Discusses digital methods for making and viewing video recordings, the video industry and mass media, individually made videos, and possible future developments.