Sebastopol, CA - August 06, 2007
Safari® Books Online (Safari), the leading on-demand reference and learning platform and a joint venture of O'Reilly Media Inc. and Pearson Technology Group, today launched the beta version of its How To Database, a new service that delivers step-by-step configuration and programming tutorials to IT and software-development professionals and end users. The beta release of the How To Database is available to all subscribers on Safari Labs, where Safari individual subscribers and selected enterprise subscribers can discover and collaborate on prototypes or betas of new features and services.

Safari's How To Database quickly locates and delivers vetted, bite-sized, step-by-step procedures for more than 71,000 requested tasks from within thousands of Safari Books Online titles from leading publishers and authors. Rather than sifting through pages of text to locate, for example, a procedure for creating a table in Microsoft Word or for designing an optimal SQL database schema for PHP applications, Safari subscribers can search the How To Database to accomplish the task, improve their productivity and learn new skills.

The How To Database launches initially with a collection of four brands (O'Reilly Media's Hack and Cookbook series, Peachpit's Visual Quick Start Guides and Sams Teach Yourself series) and will be expanded to include more brands from the Safari Library. The How To Database will also provide Safari subscribers with a new environment for saving and managing How To content and will include community features such as the ability to rate and review content.

Safari Books Online created the How To Database in response to customer research indicating that subscribers often come to Safari to find answers to specific questions. Subscribers who participated in usability testing this year were unanimous in their interest in accessing tutorial-style content quickly. The How To Database delivers the tutorial content that is so abundantly available in Safari's content repository and exemplifies Safari's innovative approach to developing a learning platform that goes beyond books to better serve its subscribers. This new service further strengthens Safari Books Online's position as a go-to place for IT professionals. Other examples of Safari innovations include:

• Rough Cuts, evolving manuscripts on hot topics that encourage reader feedback and provide information that professionals need now, rather than after the several months required for a book to go through the formal publication process.
• Short Cuts, a series of short documents covering technologies that are either too early in their life cycles or too narrowly focused to become the subject of a full-length book.
• Training videos from leading publisher lynda.com that teach creative professionals and business end-users to use applications such as Photoshop and Microsoft Office.
• The "What's New" section of Safari's new corporate website, which includes a myriad of valuable content such as "Meet the Authors," "Hot Titles," "Title of the Month," "Search of the Month" and "Topic of the Month."

Safari Books Online welcomes beta testers to evaluate and provide feedback on the How To Database and to explore Safari's rich learning platform that is always on and available any time and from anywhere. For regular subscribers, this is a great time to provide feedback on a requested service; for those not yet part of the Safari community of consumer subscribers and major enterprises, now is the time to sign up for a trial subscription and discover why Safari Books Online is the leading platform for quick answers to technical questions in-depth training for career growth and certifications and access to the latest vetted and authoritative content from leading authors and publishers concerning the technologies and business trends that drive our world today.

About Safari Books Online

Safari Books Online (www.safaribooksonline.com) is an on-demand digital library that delivers expert content in both book and video form from the world’s leading authors in technology and business. Technology professionals, software developers, web designers, and business and creative professionals use Safari Books Online as their primary resource for research, problem solving, learning and certification training.

Safari Books Online offers a range of product mixes and pricing programs for organizations, government agencies and individuals. Subscribers have access to thousands of books, training videos and prepublication manuscripts in one fully searchable database from publishers like Cisco Press, Prentice Hall Professional, O'Reilly Media, Addison-Wesley Professional, Microsoft Press, Sams, Que, Peachpit Press, John Wiley & Sons, Elsevier, IBM Press, Adobe Press, FT Press, Apress, Manning, New Riders, Apple Certified, Course Technology, Splash Media and dozens more. For more information about Safari Books Online, please visit us online.