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Save 50% in Take Control’s Post-Holiday Ebook Sale

We felt like having a sale, but couldn’t find a good hook for it. Sure, last week in 1559 Queen Elizabeth I was crowned, in 1919 the Boston Molasses Disaster flooded Beantown’s streets, and in 2001 Wikipedia first came online, but a Queen Molasses Wikipedia mashup is just silly. So no hooks, just a straightforward 50-percent-off sale on all Take Control ebooks.

Through 25 January 2014, you can add any number of our ebooks to your Take Control library for 50 percent off. All books are DRM-free and available in PDF, EPUB, and Mobipocket (Kindle) formats, so you can read wherever, whenever, and on whatever device you like.

Some recent titles deserve special mention:

  • This week, we plan to release a minor update to “Take Control of Your Passwords,” Joe Kissell’s best-selling title of 2013, and anyone who buys it during the sale will get the update for free. It and his “Take Control of Your Online Privacy” are must-reads in today’s age of high-profile password thefts from large companies, software that can guess 350 billion passwords per second, and revelations that the NSA may have weakened the Internet encryption technologies we use to protect our data. Stay safe out there!

  • Last week, we updated “Take Control of CrashPlan Backups,” so it’s an ideal time to learn about Code 42’s popular Internet backup system, which we use and recommend for protecting data against disasters — fire, flood, theft — that will affect both your invaluable data and your local backups.

  • Two weeks ago, we released an update to “Take Control of 1Password,” the immensely popular password manager from AgileBits, and author Joe Kissell’s favorite in that field. If you’ve been wanting to bring coherence to your passwords with 1Password, now’s the time.

  • In December 2013, we published the second edition of Joe’s essential “Take Control of iCloud” and updated Sharon Zardetto’s “Take Control of iBooks” to help you manage your life in the iCloud and build your virtual library in iBooks on the Mac and in iOS.

  • Did you just get a new Mac, or will you be getting one soon? If your upgrade to 10.9 Mavericks includes switching from an older Mac (or Windows PC) to a new Mac, note that “Take Control of Upgrading to Mavericks” covers this scenario and offers valuable advice about migrating your user account.

  • Is your photo library expanding faster than you can manage it? In “Take Control of Your Digital Photos on a Mac,” Jeff Carlson offers time-tested tips and a custom workflow to help you import photos, judge them, apply keywords and other metadata, set up smart albums, and protect your irreplaceable images, whether you use iPhoto, Aperture, Lightroom, or Photoshop Elements.

  • We’ve used LaunchBar for years, and we love it even more after delving into its deep feature set while working on Kirk McElhearn’s “Take Control of LaunchBar.” Reading this book will teach you how to slice through clumsy interfaces to perform common Mac tasks with just a few keystrokes.

We’ve gone on long enough, but there are more gems available for 50 percent off in our catalog, making this a great time to stock your Take Control library with the ebooks that you can turn to for help in 2014. And remember, we don’t expect you to read cover to cover; instead, use the Table of Contents and Quick Start section to jump instantly to the topics that explain what you want to know.

Thanks for your continued support, and the many useful questions and kind comments you’ve sent over the years. And please, if you would do us a quick favor, spread the word about this sale to your friends and colleagues!

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