Where most dictionaries get updated only episodically, Harry Newton and his staff update Newton's Telecom Dictionary daily, and an updated version gets published annually, for the past two decades.

For the twentieth edition of his Newton's Telecom Dictionary: Covering Telecommunications, Networking, Information Technology, the Internet, the Web, Computing, Wireless, and Fiber (CMP Books, 950 pages, $34.95, pub. CMP Books, ISBN: 1-57820-309-0) -- twenty years after the first version was published -- technology editor, author and pundit Harry Newton has added over 400 new terms and updated others, for wireless, broadband, and technology finance terms. (Note, CMP Books and this Systems Management Pipeline belong to the same parent company.)

For those who don't already know who Harry Newton is, he's, among other things, the co-founder of numerous magazines, including LAN (now Network), Teleconnect, Call Center, Technology Investor, and Computer Telephony; he started the Computer Telephony Conference and Exhibition (CT Expo) and Call Center Demo trade shows. And, as anyone who caught his end-of-show "Here's Harry" sessions (I saw him do these at the ComNet Expo in Washington, D.C. many years ago, I don't know where else he's done them), he's a fascinating speaker and deadly (if a bit blue) comic.

While any technology book still being around and relevant after two decades and 650,000+ sales, "The big story," according to Newton, "is the crazy, wonderful, funny, thrilling new words and what they mean for the future of the industry. The story is some of the strange trends going on."

According to Newton, he wrote Newton's Telecom Dictionary not as a technical book, but as a business book that even non-technical people (like him) could understand, since he believes that "anyone in business should be able to understand the most complex technical terms...it's critical to understand what the technology does, what its benefits are, and the key tips to using and installing it."

The book includes a leavening of humorous and exotic terms -- "Reading a dictionary can get boring," Newton says.

In addition to the near-22,000 definitions, Harry's book includes four bonus sections:

• "201 Of The Best Money Saving Tips" - Harry Newton's favorite ways to save on telecom, PC, and travel

• "Light At The End Of The Tunnel" - The telecom recession is finally ending. Here's where the opportunities are.

• "Why Is It So Hard To Buy?" - Insights for managers on the importance of putting customers first.

• "Disaster Recovery Planning" - How to protect your computing and telecom resources.