At one time or another we all have to sit exams, and unfortunately there is no magic shortcut to doing well. While a few lucky individuals may sail through with little effort, the majority of us have to work hard to achieve our modest results. However, we are all capable of doing much better than we may believe by rethinking our approach to studying.

While I don’t consider myself to be especially intelligent, I also don’t consider myself to be particularly stupid. As such I did OK at school, with my exam marks hovering around 65%; not A grade material but a respectable B.

Following school I went on to study Electronic Engineering at University, firmly believing that I would continue along similar lines and graduate with a 2.1 degree. My first three years at college went as anticipated, with my marks averaging around 65%. However, prior to my final year I had an epiphany which transformed my entire approach to studying and resulted in me exceeding my wildest expectations in my finals.

Stage 1: Setting your Goal

Photo courtesy Chutiporn Chaitachawong

In the Summer holidays prior to my final year at university I caught up with a friend who had studied the same course as me a few years previously, and who graduated with a first class honours degree. For some reason this lodged in my mind, and I began to entertain the idea of getting a first. If I had not started to consider this as a very real possibility I would certainly never have achieved it.

Believe in Yourself

The first steps to achieving are to have a goal, to believe in yourself and to dedicate yourself to the task ahead.

I would never have believed that I was capable of achieving my aim initially, but I decided to focus myself 100% to my new goal of getting a first class honours degree.

Step 2: Exam Strategy

Strategy: a plan of action designed to achieve a vision

After having set my “vision”, my first tactic was to choose my final year courses.

If all of the exams / courses that you plan to take are predetermined, then unfortunately you have no other choice at this stage than to knuckle down and get on with things. If you do have a choice then consider very carefully, as your decisions at this stage are more fundamental than you think. Your initial preferences may not be as logical as you first thought.

Choose your Topics Wisely

I chose Mathematics as one of my final year modules. Most of my fellow students thought I was mad as they couldn’t wait to ditch the subject. My logic was different. While Mathematics wasn’t my strongest subject, I knew that it was technically possible to get 100%; the answers are either correct or incorrect.

Compare this to more descriptive subjects. Such subjects are usually easy to pass with reasonable marks, yet are difficult to excel in as the answers can be subjective. Results in such subjects may depend heavily on the person marking the exam and their personal perspectives.

While I may have made life a little more difficult for myself, I was playing the game with my ultimate goal in mind. A little initial pain could pay dividends in the long run where every mark would count.

Step 3: Let the Work Commence

I am afraid that there is no getting around it, you are going to have to do some work, and if you want to step things up a gear it is going to have to be sustained and consistent work.

Changing the Game

Throughout my school and college years I religiously attended lessons, copied down what the teacher put on the board, completed the appropriate homework and sixth months later would dig out my notebooks to revise furiously like every other petrified student in exam season.

Although the majority of students follow this approach it is not the best way of doing things. While this method can lead to satisfactory results, it is unlikely to help the average student excel. So, in my final year I decided to adopt a completely different strategy.

Pay Attention in Class

Every lesson that I attended I copied down what the teacher wrote on the board just as before, but this time I also listened intently to what the teacher actually said and  made additional notes from their comments.

After a while you can begin to pick up clues as to a teacher’s pet topics. If the same teachers are going to be the ones setting and marking the exams, this can prove to be significant information for your later revision plans.

Homework

Even if I hadn’t been given any formal homework, every evening I would read through the day’s notes ensuring that I completely understood the topics in question. I also made additional notes to myself to help explain things in my own way; a vital tool for later revision.

If I wasn’t certain about anything I would read the relevant textbook. Teachers are creatures of habit and often favour one or two particular textbooks. Listen to their recommendations! Some of the lazier teacher’s notes might even came straight out of a textbook word for word.

After my evening’s studying, if there was anything that I still didn’t understand, I would ask the teacher to clarify it at the next lesson. Following this process I was ensuring that I actually understood the subjects at a fundamental level, so if any exam questions were phrased in an obscure or abnormal way I would be able to cut to the root of the problem and answer the question.

Step 4: Revision Tactics

At this point you shouldn’t be doing too badly. You made the best choice of topics to study from a strategic viewpoint and have worked consistently throughout the year so that you actually understand the topics.

Refresh your Memory

A few weeks before the exams begin is a good time to start reading through your notes again to refresh your memory. At this point your previous efforts should start to pay dividends. If you really understand something it is much easier to recall, as you are not working from memory alone but a deeper cognitive grasp of the subject.

Past Papers

Photo courtesy Horacio Valdez

Repetition is vital. The more you do something the easier it becomes, until eventually becoming second nature. The more examples of past exam papers that you can do, as well as revisiting old “homework” questions, the better. If you can get the answers to past papers, so that you know when you have things right, better still.

Exam papers often follow standard patterns, particularly if you’re being taught by the same person setting the exam. If you do enough past papers then you shouldn’t encounter any nasty surprises when you step into the examination room and open the question paper for the first time.

Final Revision

Having got this far you should know your subject inside out. All that remains is to read through your notes one last time the night before your exam, and make quick reference notes, such as key phrases, dates, formulae etc. on a single sheet of paper. This reference sheet is useful to cram key information into your short term memory an hour or so before the exam.

After a sound night’s sleep and a good breakfast use your sheet of notes to lodge any vital facts into your short term memory; it only needs to stay there for an hour or two!

Step 5: The Exams

After all of your hard work you will ultimately have to sit the exam. You shouldn’t be nervous as you’ve poured everything you have into this moment. The exam will only be set on things you have studied, so if you have done your homework and actually understand the subject, the exam is a mere formality.

My finals were the first set of examinations that I actually felt confident about and fully prepared for. When I opened the exam papers nothing came as a surprise; I’d been preparing for this moment for the best part of a year and it paid off.

The Results

No matter how much you prepared and how well you think you did, results day is still intensely nerve-racking. Self doubt creeps in; did you do enough, did you interpret the questions correctly?

For me, I surpassed my wildest expectations. Not only did I get the 1^st Class Honours Degree that I aimed for, but I also got the highest marks in the year with an average of over 90%.

You CAN Do It!

I’m not posting this article to boast but hopefully to inspire you to aim a little higher, and to push yourself a little further, and believe in yourself. I am NOT a naturally gifted student, but with serious application and dedication I proved that we are all capable of achieving more than we give ourselves credit for.

A Second Opinion

Don’t just take my word for it though. At the same time as me one of my best friends was also taking the same exams and similarly decided to aim for a first. He also was not a naturally gifted student and under normal circumstances would probably have come out with a 2.1 degree. We both had one goal in mind and focused 100% on achieving it, and we both achieved that goal.

If two average Joes can do it, so can you. Don’t take no for an answer. Don’t listen to people who put you down and say you can’t achieve your goal. Have your goal, focus on it 100% and GO FOR IT! It won’t be easy, but it is possible.

Good Luck.

In this month’s issue you can learn about making your website mobile friendly, how to set-up your own social network and why e-mail is still so important.

You can also hear about the latest web venture from the people who brought you YouTube, Google’s recent patent application and the independent British search engine which is free from advertising.

This podcast is derived from a monthly newsletter published by Zen Internet and recorded and produced by Silicon Bay. The podcast is reproduced by kind permission of Zen Internet.

This Month’s Podcast

The Internet Monthly – May 2012:

Download audio file (podcast_may12.mp3)

Or, download: podcast_may12.mp3 [10’ 05”, 4.7MB]

This Month’s Articles

This month’s edition of The Internet Monthly podcast contains the following articles. A list of links associated with each article are included for reference:

1. WALK TO WORK WEEK – Save the environment and improve your health
   • www.mylivingstreets.org.uk
   • www.livingstreets.org.uk/our-projects/walking-works/walk_to_work_week
2. BANKERS CASH FOR STARTUPS – Bankers investing bonuses in businesses
   • www.thedrum.co.uk/opinion/2011/11/28/how-raise-investment-your-digital-business-pembridge-partners-dos-and-donts
3. FREE SMALL-BUSINESS MOBILE SITES – Make your site mobile friendly 
   • googlemobileads.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/gomo-and-dudamobile-offer-do-it.html
   • www.howtogomo.com/en-gb/d
4. START YOUR OWN SOCIAL NETWORK – Social network in a box
   • buddypress.org
5. PG TOPS ON FACEBOOK – PC Tips tea top Facebook engagement poll
   • www.promomarketing.info/research/pg-tips-tops-facebook-engagement-chart/16644
   • www.facebook.com/PGtips
6. THE ANSWER IS ALREADY OUT THERE – Facebook bug finding bounty 
   • www.mediapost.com/publications/article/171937/crowd-comfort-for-security-flaws-in-facebook-twit.html
7. E-MAIL STILL RULES – E-mail still top marketing communications choice 
   • www.marketingpilgrim.com/2012/04/when-it-comes-to-sharing-email-still-rules.html
8. DIY DIGITAL MAGAZINES – Create your own digital magazine
   • zeen.com
   • www.digitaltrends.com/web/youtube-co-founders-silently-introduce-magazine-publishing-app-zeen
   • www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/piet-mondrian-1651
9. GOOGLE PATENTS EAVESDROPPING – More targeted advertising
   • thenextweb.com/google/2012/03/21/google-wants-to-serve-you-ads-based-on-the-background-noise-of-your-phone-calls
10. SEARCH ENGINE OF THE MONTH – UK Search free from advertising 
    • www.mojeek.co.uk

This podcast is sponsored and reproduced by kind permission of Zen Internet Limited. The music on the podcast was provided courtesy of Will Tang.

After a short break of a few months due to ill health, the monthly podcast returns hosted by a new narrator; Moira Healy. The Internet Monthly is a podcast featuring 10 or so short Internet related articles, tips and tricks and a regular search engine of the month feature.

In this month’s issue you can learn about Pi, piems and pie in the sky, flash mobs that go shopping and visiting Barcelona to watch your favourite old programmes from the BBC.

You can also hear about  the Web sites due to be penalised by Google, better keyword research tools offered free at Bing and the new search engine with translation covering 24 languages.

This podcast is derived from a monthly newsletter published by Zen Internet and recorded and produced by Silicon Bay. The podcast is reproduced by kind permission of Zen Internet.

This Month’s Podcast

The Internet Monthly – April 2012:

Download audio file (podcast_apr12.mp3)

Or, download: podcast_apr12.mp3 [10’ 47”, 5MB]

This Month’s Articles

This month’s edition of The Internet Monthly podcast contains the following articles. A list of links associated with each article are included for reference:

1. CROWDS THAT SHOP– Flash mobs with cash supporting local businesses
   • www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01d0prk#p00q0hp7
   • www.facebook.com/groups/140847686038002
   • kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?surveyID=LNNDJN_b9314c96&u=CAMBRIDGECASHMOB
2. DOWNLOADS FOR A FEE FROM THE BBC– Download BBC archive content for a small fee
   • www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/project_barcelona_download_itunes.html
3. ONE-STOP MEDIA PLAYER– A free media player that plays most formats
   • www.videolan.org/vlc/#download
   • www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html
4. HD VIDEO SPECS– Sunglasses incorporating a tiny video camera
   • pivothead.com/product/product.php
5. BEARING FRUIT IN THE CLASSROOM– A tiny computer for a tiny price
   • www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17190918
   • www.raspberrypi.org
6. PI IN THE SKY– Web servers planned in the sky
   • www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/communication-breakdown-10000030/pirate-bay-plans-to-put-its-servers-on-drones-10025664
   • www.deltaweb.co.uk/spitfire/hiflight.htm
7. IRRATIONAL SLICES– Mathematical Pi celebrates with its own day
   • www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2006/mar/14/piinthesky
8. OPTIMISED SITE PENALTIES– Google to penalize over optimized websites
   • schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_IAP11742
   • www.thinkdigit.com/Internet/Google-to-penalise-overly-optimised-websites_9031.html
9. KEYWORD RESEARCH– Microsoft Bing offers enhanced keyword research
   • www.bing.com/toolbox/keywords
   • econsultancy.com/uk/blog/9230-google-now-encrypts-uk-search-referral-data
10. MOUNTING MINUSES AT GOOGLE PLUS– Less visitors to Google +
    • www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/business-tech/120228/google-virtual-ghost-town-comscore
    • www.iprospect.co.uk/blog/featured/pinterest-drives-more-referral-traffic-than-youtube-google-and-linkedin-combined.html
11. SEARCH ENGINE OF THE MONTH– Search engine for phrases
    • fraze.it

This podcast is sponsored and reproduced by kind permission of Zen Internet Limited. The music on the podcast was provided courtesy of Will Tang.

Four years ago yesterday I started this blog, which means I am now officially into my fifth year of blogging. Once again the time has come to look back at the past year with my annual review to see what progress has been made on the blog.

When I originally launched this blog I was rather optimistically planning  to write one post per week. Over the intervening years however my posting frequency has dwindled to a rather dismal average of 1.25 posts per month (15 posts in the last twelve months).

As part of my posting schedule I post a regular monthly podcast based on a podcast that I help to produce for Zen Internet. Seven of last year’s posts accounted for this podcast (it should have been 12, but unfortunately due to ill health I ended up stuck in bed for a number of months, which made recording the monthly podcast impossible).

While I only posted 15 times in the last year compared to 18 times in the previous year, taking the podcast posts out of the equation I actually posted 8 main posts compared to 6 previously. An extra two posts may not sound much (33% increase), but the posts are always around 1,000 words in length and remain on the website ad infinitum hopefully drawing continuous traffic in the years to come.

For a while I was concerned about my poor posting frequency, but I don’t want this blog to become a chore, or just end up churning out junk to keep up with some artificially self imposed blogging target. So I have resolved to just write posts when I feel I have something worthwhile to say, which will also hopefully be of some benefit to others too.

WordPress: THE Blogging Platform

This blog is powered by the ubiquitous WordPress blogging platform and Content Management System (CMS), which is based on the PHP scripting language and the MySQL database system. WordPress regularly releases security and enhancement updates, which I install religiously when available to ensure the maximum security and functionality of the blog.

Since last year I haven’t made any significant changes to the blog and have only installed one additional plugin to the WordPress system, bringing its total plugin count to 25.

Statistics for the Last Year

While I may not be posting on a terribly regular basis, the blog continues to experience a steady growth in traffic year on year, undoubtedly due to its catalogue of old posts.

WordPress Statistics (Totals)

• Posts: 97 (82 last year)
• Comments: 608 (315 last year)
• Spam Comments: 110,389 (37,506 last year)

Comments and Spam

The blog comments have almost doubled this last year, but while visitors have left more comments this extra increase is due in part to me responding to the majority of comments left, even if just to say thank you.

Spam comments are the bane of any blog and as the blog grows, unfortunately so does the spam; the spam comments on this site have increased by 194% in the past year (the following graph shows spam comments on this blog for each month of the last year). Fortunately there are defences against spam, most of which was trapped by the blog’s Askimet and Conditional CAPTCHA plugins.

While the blog’s spam level has increased by 194% compared to last year, it no longer seems to be growing as fast as it did and seems to have reached a steady level (for the moment as at least).

Website Analytics

Like most people, I use Google’s free web analytics tool to monitor the website’s traffic and provide the majority of statistical information regarding the blog’s performance.

On average the blog now receives over 19,000 visitors who view over 24,000 pages every month, with last month’s visitor and page view statistics being:

• Visits: 19,873 (9,233 last year)
• Pages Viewed: 24,883 (11,929 last year)

In the last year the blog had almost 184,000 visits and over 233,000 page views. The following graphs show the general rise in traffic over the past year.

Traffic Sources:

As in previous years the majority of the blog’s traffic (88%) was brought in via search engines, with Google dominating all traffic sources and particularly the search engine sources with its 96% of the search engine traffic, up from 75% last year! Direct traffic and referrals are up, but have remained fairly consistent throughout the year. This has effectively meant that the blog’s traffic has become even more reliant on Google; not such a good thing really.

Countries of Visitors:

Judging by the countries of origin of my blog’s visitors (195 in total), I think it’s fair to say that the blog has universal appeal. This year the blog also received visitors from an additional 17 countries.

The United States and the United Kingdom remain the top visiting countries with 50% of the blog’s overall traffic; 36% of visitors come from the US and 14% from the UK.

RSS Subscriber Statistics

The blog’s RSS feed is supplied via Google’s FeedBurner service as this service provides a range of statistics about the website’s subscribers and offers an e-mail subscription version for people that aren’t familiar or comfortable with RSS feeds.

Currently the feed has 69 subscribers (22 of which subscribe by e-mail). This is a significant decrease over last year’s total of 119 subscribers. The following graph of RSS subscribers over the history of the blog shows Feedburner’s often erratic reporting where hosts of subscribers mysteriously disappear only to suddenly reappear. However, on 25 July 2011 the subscriber figures dropped from 125 subscribers to 50 overnight, never to return!

The subscriber figures have continued to grow over the past year since this event, showing a general upward trend. This massive overall drop in numbers is most likely due to a change in how Feedburner report their figures. While the year on year figures don’t appear positive, the graph does show a consistent growth rate, so I’m not overly worried.

Summary

Over the past year the site’s visitor numbers have increased by 86%, which is not at all bad considering the poor posting frequency. You can view the three previous year’s statistics at:

1. Happy Birthday Blog
2. Blog Hits the Terrible Twos
3. Happy Birthday Blog: Three Today!

The website’s most popular post by far is still Embedding Album Art in MP3 Files, receiving 60% of the blog’s entire traffic.

The top 5 posts remain the same as last year’s top 5 and occupy the same order, although they are all receiving significantly more traffic than the previous year:

1. Embedding Album Art in MP3 Files (140,427 views)
2. Are Your Speakers Wired Correctly? (35,065 views)
3. What is Joint Stereo? (13,501 views)
4. Song Capacity Calculator for MP3 Players (10,487 views)
5. What are ID3 Tags in MP3 Files? (8,115 views)

And Finally…

Thank you to everyone that has subscribed to the blog and to those that follow it regularly. Thanks ever so much for your continued support, it makes everything worthwhile.

…and if you haven’t subscribed, why not subscribe now to get the latest updates. You don’t need to worry about my posts clogging up your inbox as I don’t post that regularly, but hopefully you’ll find something of interest and value when I do get around to posting.

Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) is one of a few ways of receiving Digital Television (DTV) at home. However, in order to receive DTT transmissions and fully realise the benefits available from this new medium the choice of antenna and its positioning needs to be carefully considered.

The antenna (or aerial for us Brits) is the first and arguably the most important link in the chain to receiving a high quality signal for our TV or digital TV recorder. If you live in an area of poor reception or do not have the correct type of antenna, then no matter what you do later in the chain, performance is likely to be compromised.

While this article provides an introduction to the antenna issues that directly affect the quality of reception, your local antenna installer should be able to advise which antenna is best suited for your particular location.

Signal Strength

While Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) can offer improved picture quality over conventional analogue TV by eliminating traditional picture reception problems such as ghosting, a reasonable signal strength is still required.

All or Nothing

A weak analogue TV signal is easily recognised because it will suffer from increased noise or ‘visual snow’. Digital TV however will continue to provide clean reception until a minimum threshold is reached. Beyond this the digital data can no longer be accurately decoded and the output from the TV tuner will cease. A drop of 3dB on a Digital TV or set-top box is enough to make the difference between crystal clear reception and no reception at all.

However, before this point is reached, parts of the digital signal will become lost or corrupted. While the sophisticated error correction algorithms used in DTT decoders can mask these effects to a certain degree, this is second best compared to having the full quality original signal, which is only achieved with a good quality antenna installation.

Frequency Ranges

Digital terrestrial television signals in the UK are transmitted on UHF (Ultra High Frequency) bands IV and V on channels  21 – 68 (471 – 847 MHz). Each channel occupies a bandwidth of 8 MHz, the amount of space required for one traditional analogue TV channel. Historically these channels have been grouped together in different frequency bands:

Matching the Aerial

To extract the maximum signal strength from any received transmissions, the associated antenna needs to be correctly matched to the local transmitter’s frequency band / group and polarisation. In the UK the coloured plastic cap at the end of the antenna indicates which group the antenna is designed for.

Antenna Types

Yagi Antennas

Most TV antennas are of a specific type of antenna called Yagis. A Yagi antenna comprises a number of parallel elements or arms along a rod, a dipole (which collects the actual signal) and a reflector at its rear.

A Yagi antenna is directional and is designed to have a high gain (signal ‘amplification’) to pick up distant signals. The more elements that a Yagi antenna has the higher its gain and therefore the more sensitive it is to weak signals.

Being directional the antenna must be pointed at the transmitter. It will  pick up signals very well from its main direction, but much less so for stations from alternative directions. However, this directionality can be beneficial in rejecting strong, unwanted signals that lie in different directions from the main signal.

Wideband vs Grouped Aerials

Television antennas can be broadly classified into two categories, those chosen for a specific frequency band or channel group and those designed to receive all of the channel groups; wideband.

• Grouped – This antenna is best suited to areas where reception is poor as it can have a higher gain than its wideband counterpart. A grouped antenna usually has a coloured cap denoting which group it belongs to.
• Wideband – This antenna has a lower gain than its comparable grouped antenna and as such is best suited for areas with good to moderate signal strengths.

As Digital TV signals in the UK are transmitted on the same range of channels as those used for analogue TV, it may be possible to receive a digital signal using an existing grouped TV antenna. However, DTT transmissions are sometimes transmitted from more than one group, in which case it is best to consider installing a wideband antenna if you wish to receive all of the available channels reliably.

Antenna Installation

Having chosen the correct antenna, it now needs to be correctly positioned and installed: this is best done by a specialist digital TV antenna installer.

Polarisation

Digital TV signals in the UK are usually transmitted using horizontal polarisation from a main transmitter and vertical polarisation from a repeater transmitter. To maximise the efficiency of the antenna system, the antenna should be aligned to receive the appropriately polarised signals from the local transmitter (i.e. in the case of a horizontally polarised signal the rods of the antenna should be horizontal).

Directivity

The antenna should be directed at the nearest TV transmitter for maximum signal strength as TV signals travel in straight lines.

Location

All antennas should be located away from possible sources of electrical interference such as mains wiring or digital equipment (e.g. computers). It is also preferable not to point the antenna through any metal work or nearby building structures as these will reduce the received signal strength.

In most cases, the higher the antenna can be mounted the better the reception is likely to be. The increased height is also likely to minimise any signal masking effects from local buildings or geographical features.

Indoors

Loft mounted antennas should be mounted away from water tanks and metal pipes. Indoor antennas may also be adversely affected by the building’s construction (e.g. reinforced concrete or steel frames).

Connections

Digital TV antennas are designed with a 75 Ohm output impedance to ensure compatibility with the Digital TV tuner. For optimum performance a 75 Ohm ‘satellite grade’ coaxial cable (type CT100) should be used between the antenna and TV.

All connections should be made using quality connectors, with appropriate precautions being taken for weather proofing of external connections.

Antenna Amplifiers

In cases of very weak reception or where long cable runs are required, an antenna amplifier may be necessary. The amplifier should be mounted as close to the antenna as possible (a masthead amplifier) and matched to the correct local frequency band.

In weak reception areas an amplifier should be considered a ‘last resort’, a higher gain antenna on a taller mast will generally give better results.

Conclusion

Digital Television enables high definition TV to be received at home with a minimum of fuss or capital expenditure. While some Digital TV stations may be received using a standard TV antenna, the best performance will always be achieved by using a properly installed antenna of a type that matches your local frequency range and signal strength conditions.

Remember, if in doubt please contact your local installer for assistance.

Every month I record an audio newsletter podcast for Zen Internet. This podcast is an audio version of their monthly e-mail newsletter that they send out to the majority of their customers. During the recording process however, things don’t always go according to plan!

Unfortunately, for the last two months I have been unable to record the monthly podcast, as I have been stuck in bed with ill health. Hence, I have not got quite as many bloopers or out-takes this year, for your your seasonal amusement, as in previous years.

Added to this, Winnie (our usual voice) has recently had a little baby; so with her new family addition she was not able to attend every recording session. Thankfully, Sue stepped into the breach on a these occasions to save the day, which helps account for the different voice with the South African accent.

I hope you enjoy our bloopers and manage have a little laugh at our expense…

Podcast Bloopers 2011

The Internet Monthly – Podcast Bloopers 2011:

Download audio file (bloopers_11.mp3)

Or, download: bloopers_11.mp3 [2’ 14”, 1.1MB]

Thank You

As 2011 drifts into 2012 and we start the yearly cycle again, I would like to thank you for visiting my blog and listening to the podcast and hope to see you back here again in the New Year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

As the costs of computer monitors and powerful graphics cards have tumbled year on year, so has the affordability of having multiple displays connected to a PC. It is now no longer just the preserve of a select few blue chip company employees.

Computer monitors have also continued to shrink in size from the traditional, bulky CRTs to the slimmer, more compact flat panel LCDs, as such so has the desk space required to accommodate a multiple monitor set-up.

There is no better time to consider upgrading to a multi-monitor setup; it is now a much more practical proposition than ever before for the average householder to have more than one monitor attached to their home PC.

The Early Days

Back in the early days of the PC everybody used to use the familiar CRT computer monitor. These were rather bulky and  heavy, and offered comparatively small screen sizes relative to their own dimensions.

My first computer monitor, back in the early 1990s, was a meagre 14”. In 2000 I upgraded my PC and opted for a 17” CRT monitor, which I thought was the Bee’s knees at the time compared to my old 14” model.

Flat Panel Monitors

Thankfully technology advances rapidly and within a few years the flat screen LCD monitor became an affordable alternative to the old faithful CRT monitor.

LCD monitors offered similar viewing apertures to CRTs, took a fraction of the desk space and weighed appreciably less. They were also more power efficient than their elder CRT counterparts.

In 2004 I upgraded my old CRT monitor to an Iiyama TFT E431S 17” LCD monitor for the princely sum of £318. In the process I managed to reclaim some valuable desk space; it is surprising how much bigger and uncluttered this made my desk and my office appear.

Dual Monitors

Photo courtesy Dell Inc.

I never planned to have a multi-monitor set-up, but in 2007 a good friend of mine bought me a new PC that came with a monstrous 24” Dell 2407WFP LCD monitor.

A Gift Horse

After upgrading from my old 17” monitor to this huge 24” one you would of thought that I should have been more than satisfied. Under normal circumstances I would. However, I now had a spare monitor that was surplus to requirements, and my new PC came equipped with an Nvidia Quadro FX 3450 graphics card that sported two independent outputs.

How could I not take advantage of this golden opportunity? It would have been silly not to, so I dutifully connected my spare monitor to the spare output of the graphics card and instantly joined the dual monitor club.

Multiple Monitor Upgrade

I had been bitten by the bug!  Having grown accustomed to a multiple monitor system I could no longer resist the temptation and after much consideration I decided to enhance my setup from a humble dual screen system to tri-screen system, thus increasing my virtual desk space by 50%.

Multi-Port Graphics Card

The first problem to overcome was the number of monitors that my current graphics card could support;  two, while my new scheme required three. Unfortunately, due to the age and internal layout of my PC, it was not practical to add an additional graphics card. I therefore required a new graphics card that was capable of supporting at least three independent displays.

Having scoured the Internet, and had a very helpful conversation with the chaps at Nvidia via their online chat system, I settled on the Nvidia Quadro NVS 450 which had four independent DisplayPort connectors. The connectors on my monitors did not support this new display connection format, but fortunately adaptors were readily available for a few pounds a piece.

The new graphics card happened to be more efficient than my old one, but more importantly, was also quieter as it had no fan. This may be of little concern to most people, but as I often record podcasts and other audio projects, any reduction in background noise would be most welcome.

The Third Monitor

The final piece in the jigsaw was to buy the third monitor. Instead of buying just one additional monitor however, I bought two new Dell P170S 17” LCD monitors.

While this helped to preserve the look and symmetry of my system, it also enabled me to use the old LCD monitor for my  Linux server in the garage, replacing an old 15” CRT monitor that got retired to the local skip. Interestingly the two new Dell monitors cost less combined than the single 17” Ilyama monitor that I bought 7 years previously; they call that progress I think.

Restrictive Considerations

I could have undoubtedly chosen larger monitors for my upgrade, but as I use a head mouse to control the PC due to my physical disability, extra wide monitors would have meant that I would have had to virtually twist my head off to get the mouse cursor to the extremities of the screens.

Furthermore, as my audio speakers are mounted on a bookshelf behind the computer monitors, and I do quite a bit of audio work in my study, I did not want the new computer displays to be too tall and therefore shadow the speakers.

As a result of these various considerations, my new system looked like so:

The Benefits

Having used a multiple monitor setup for a few years, I would now find it very restrictive to have to return to a single monitor system. Within a few days of installing my third monitor I was already beginning to wonder how I ever managed to cope with a measly dual monitor system.

Having multiple monitors allows you to spread open documents across your different screens, just  as you spread papers across a normal desk top. This allows for quick and easy referencing across the different documents, instead of having to sift through various open documents on your screen, ultimately improving your efficiency.

If the true paperless office is to have any chance of success in the future, then I think multi-monitor setups will be an essential component.

There have probably been enough texts written on this subject to reconstruct the wall of China entirely from project management books alone. These books commonly expound the virtues of the latest management techniques that will allegedly solve all of your project management woes. However, how many of these actually offer any true insights into the nature of project management?

Project management is nothing new. The ancient Egyptians could not have completed their amazing feats of civil engineering without it. Furthermore, they managed to achieve their awe inspiring constructions without any fancy project management software. They would undoubtedly have been very well organised, but would also of had that key secret ingredient found in every successful project; an ingredient you can not see, but one that is essential (in the correct amounts) to the smooth running and timely completion of any project.

The Secret Ingredient

So what is this secret ingredient of which I speak? Well, I shall keep you in suspense no longer, it is pressure.

Admittedly it does not sound very inspiring or revelatory, but bear with me and I shall endeavour to explain why I believe that the amount of pressure within, or applied to a project, is critical to its ultimate success.

Types of Pressure

Pressure within a project is usually manifested in two ways; via financial constraints and/or time constraints. These pressure sources are most commonly applied externally and beyond your control i.e. by your boss or client, but may occasionally be self inflicted.

These two types of pressure are often inextricably linked. While financial pressure may mean you have to design your revolutionary new widget for a cost of X instead of Y, it may also mean that your whole project budget is restricted. In this case you may not be able to apply the same level of resources to the project that you would have ideally liked, consequently leading to an indirectly imposed time constraint.

My Tyre Analogy

Why then do I think that pressure is the secret, overlooked ingredient to a successful project? Surely pressure is something that you would prefer to avoid? Well, the way that I like to think about the application of pressure in a project, and its resultant effects, is by a tyre¹ analogy.

A project is like a tyre: it requires the optimal pressure for it to perform at its peak performance.

The Flat Tyre – A Low Pressured Project

A flat tyre has insufficient pressure for its ideal performance. Anyone that has tried to ride a bicycle with a flat tyre knows how difficult it is to pedal. It requires a lot of additional effort to make the same progress that would otherwise have been made on a correctly inflated tyre and is also very difficult to steer.

A project run with little or no pressure is very similar. With no pressure you will undoubtedly procrastinate and fritter away your time, achieving very little whilst becoming increasingly despondent in the process. Just like a perfect gas expands to fill the size of its container, such is the behaviour of an under-pressured project, expanding to fill the time available. To achieve the same ends you will expend much more time and effort than is truly required.

The Over Inflated Tyre – A High Pressured Project

An over inflated tyre can cause a few potential problems. The first being if the pressure becomes too high, at which point a catastrophic failure is likely to ensue. The second problem with an over inflated tyre is that of steering, which is likely to become very skittish, leading to steering overcompensation and a general lack of control.

A high pressured project can, at its worst, be a very dangerous thing. Just like an over inflated tyre could explode at any moment, so could you if too much pressure is applied for too long. Having a nervous breakdown and punching your boss’s lights out will do your project no good at all, let alone your career.

If your (or your staff’s) stress levels do not quite reach boiling point, you are likely to be left running your project like a headless chicken; lurching from one crises to another in a reactive fashion as opposed to a planned, methodical approach. With excessive pressure people begin to flap and loose heart. This inevitably leads to wasted time and dangerously unconsidered decisions being made.

The Perfectly Inflated Tyre – The Ideal Project

A correctly inflated tyre will result in the optimal efficiency and performance of the vehicle in question.

Similarly, a successfully run project will have sufficient pressure to keep your staff motivated and focused on the tasks to hand, yet not too much pressure to cause undue stress, or too little to cause apathy and procrastination. Achieving this optimal level of pressure is the illusive key.

Managing the Pressure

In my professional career I have managed a host of different projects, some wonderfully successful, others less so.

Too Little

Looking back, I would prefer (if given the choice) to have a project with too much pressure as opposed to too little. Whilst you would think that a project with little pressure would be ideal, I would have disagree. It is very difficult to artificially apply pressure on yourself. You inevitably waste time, becoming bored, disillusioned and totally ineffectual; not a pleasant feeling.

More is Better

As a species we have become quite adept at performing under pressure, as our survival often depended upon it (as may do your job). We perform our best under pressure, producing our best work, often exceeding even our own expectations.

From experience, you are far more likely to encounter higher pressure projects than lower pressured ones. The trick therefore is to try and manage the pressure and prevent it from becoming too excessive, and if you think your staff are not fully pressurised, then it is your duty to apply a bit more pressure to get things moving along!

So remember that pressure is your friend, but like friends, too much of a good thing can become bad.

¹ For our American cousins that have perhaps hitherto not been exposed to the correct spelling of tyre, please run this page through a translator of your choice and in the process think yourself lucky that I did not choose to use coloured tyres from my neighbourhood garage in my analogy.

The Internet Monthly is a monthly podcast featuring 20 or so short Internet related articles, tips and tricks and a regular search engine of the month feature.

In this month’s issue you can find out how to make sure your name won’t be attached to an xxx domain, learn about computerised pot plants and the odd affair of the Minister, his Facebook wall and Jacobaea vulgaris.

You can also hear about ghost-town jibes as Google+ opens to all-comers, road works and holes you can’t fall into by the UK’s leading pavement artist, and ‘font art’.

This podcast is derived from a monthly newsletter published by Zen Internet and recorded and produced by Silicon Bay. The podcast is reproduced by kind permission of Zen Internet.

This Month’s Podcast

The Internet Monthly – October 2011:

Download audio file (podcast_oct11.mp3)

Or, download: podcast_oct11.mp3 [21’ 57”, 10MB]

This Month’s Articles

This month’s edition of The Internet Monthly podcast contains the following articles. A list of links associated with each article are included for reference:

1. SPACE AGE SICK BAY– Real time monitoring of diseases
   • www2.le.ac.uk/departments/cardiovascular-sciences/research/population-research-and-clinical-trials/emergency-medicine-group/research/illness-identification/ddu-leicester/ddu
2. GAMERS ADVANCE AIDS RESEARCH– Computer models enzymes
   • www.nature.com/nsmb/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nsmb.2119.html
   • www.cs.washington.edu/homes/zoran/NSMBfoldit-2011.pdf
3. WIRELESS TECH TO SOLVE SIDS– Remote monitoring of sleep patterns
   • unews.utah.edu/news_releases/catching-a-breath-wirelessly
4. MINISTER FACED OFF FACEBOOK– MP backs down on Facebook
   • www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/19/richard-benyon-ragwort
5. AS OTHERS SEE YOU– Search your professional profile as an employer
   • www.identified.com
6. TRIPLE-X DOMAIN OPT-OUT OFFERED– Protect your modesty
   • www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/07/triple_x_domain_open_for_business
   • www.icmregistry.com/launch/sunrise-b
7. LIMITERS COME OFF SPONSORED TWEETS– Adverts in Twitter
   • battellemedia.com/archives/2011/09/the_future_of_twitter_ads.php
8. TWEET TRADEMARK BATTLE– “Tweets” in a trademark battle
   • blogs.ft.com/fttechhub/2011/09/twitter-in-battle-for-%E2%80%9Ctweet%E2%80%9D-trademark
9. GOOGLE+ UNLOCKED– Google+ opened to everyone
   • googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/google-92-93-94-95-96-97-98-99-100.html
10. TUMBLEWEED TALES– Is Google+ really a ghost town?
    • www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/09/google-social-media-upstart-worse-than-a-ghost-town262.html
11. MANAGING GOOGLE+– How to manage or cancel your Google accounts
    • www.pcworld.com/article/240281/manage_google_accounts.html
12. GOOGLE DRUGS BUST– Google fined for advertising foreign drugs
    • www.ecommercetimes.com/story/Google-Shells-Out-500M-to-DoJ-Over-Shady-Drug-Ads-73144.html
    • www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/21/google_warned_over_illegal_drug_ads
13. COMPUTERISED POT PLANTS– Growing plants the high-tech way
    • clickandgrow.com
14. FROM PAPER TO PC– A digital pen to directly capture your creations
    • inkling.wacom.eu/en
15. FOR ART LOVERS– Pavement art in perspective
    • sunseven.hubpages.com/hub/Incredible_Beever
    • designfestival.com/19-unusual-examples-of-typographical-artwork
16. SARTALICS– A new font to help express sarcasm in e-mails and texts
    • sartalics.com
    • www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZy5zcOyhe4
17. HIT SOUNDS FOR EVs– Sound FX for electric cars
    • www.theengineer.co.uk/1010065.article?cmpid=TE01
18. A READER WRITES– An earlier version of the PC
    • www.obsoletecomputermuseum.org/brain
19. SEARCH ENGINE OF THE MONTH– Searching more productively?
    • www.searchlion.com

This podcast is sponsored and reproduced by kind permission of Zen Internet Limited. The music on the podcast was provided courtesy of Will Tang.

The Internet Monthly is a monthly podcast featuring 20 or so short Internet related articles, tips and tricks and a regular search engine of the month feature.

In this month’s issue you can find out how Mac users hide from Facebook and how to get clean away from it; reporting problems to your local council from your mobile and checking online what they spend.

You can also learn how to become an online editor and restore lost works by Charles Dickens and where to get an unforgettable, but still unfathomable online password.

This podcast is derived from a monthly newsletter published by Zen Internet and recorded and produced by Silicon Bay. The podcast is reproduced by kind permission of Zen Internet.

This Month’s Podcast

The Internet Monthly – September 2011:

Download audio file (podcast_sep11.mp3)

Or, download: podcast_sep11.mp3 [21’ 54”, 10MB]

This Month’s Articles

This month’s edition of The Internet Monthly podcast contains the following articles. A list of links associated with each article are included for reference:

1. APPLE BLOCKS SALE OF RIVAL TABLET – Apple blocks sale of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the EU 
   • www.zdnet.co.uk/news/intellectual-property/2011/08/10/apple-wins-temporary-european-ban-on-samsung-tablet-40093657/?s_cid=214
2. GET ON TO THE COUNCIL – App helps to report problems to local councils 
   • www.mycouncilservices.com
   • itunes.apple.com/gb/app/my-council-services-uk/id424163238
3. CIVIL SERVANTS SURFING – Civil servants web browsing habits
   • www.techwatch.co.uk/2011/07/29/beeb-most-popular-site-for-civil-servants
   • www.dft.gov.uk/foi/dft-f0007532
4. GOOGLE GOCOMPARE – Google financial services comparison site
   • www.google.com/advisor/home
5. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PC – The PC was 30 years old in August 2011 
   • www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2011/08/12/happy-30th-birthday-pc/1
   • www.expertreviews.co.uk/pcs/1286518/happy-30th-birthday-pc
6. WINDOWS 7 ON TOP – Windows 7 leading PC OS by end of 2011
   • nl.zdnet.co.uk/vjgHmBDaic/aiabj
7. ROARING START FOR LION – Latest Mac OS selling like hot cakes 
   • www.metro.co.uk/tech/870106-apples-os-x-lion-hits-1million-downloads-in-the-first-day
8. MAC MONITOR – System monitoring tools for the Mac 
   • www.magicansoft.com/magican-monitor.html
9. MAC TO THE FUTURE – Steampunk designs for the Mac
   • www.oldtimecomputer.com/oldtimecomputer/home.html
10. TURNING VISITORS AWAY – Google not supporting older browsers 
    • gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/our-plans-to-support-modern-browsers.html
    • www.delib.co.uk/dblog/ie6-the-facts-1-in-3-of-our-government-clients-still-using-it
11. CLIPPINGS CONVERTOR – Convert Kindle Clippings into other formats 
    • www.clippingsconverter.com
12. RESTORING DICKENS ONLINE – Help to edit Dickens’ journals online 
    • www.djo.org.uk
    • www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/02/vintage-journalism-of-charles-dickens
13. LINK SPOTS FOR WEB PHOTOS – An image manipulation tool
    • www.readwriteweb.com/archives/thinglink_social_objects.php
    • www.thinglink.com
14. EASY SLIDESHOW – Create a quick slideshow to share online
    • www.slidemypics.com
15. FINDING THE FACEBOOK EXIT – How to quit Facebook 
    • newsfeed.time.com/2010/05/14/why-is-it-so-hard-to-delete-your-facebook-account
16. SOCIAL MEDIA SUNSET – The death of social media?
    • www.cringely.com/2011/07/the-decline-and-fall-of-facebook
17. DO NOT DISTURB – Turn off social networking sites on the Mac 
    • anti-social.cc/about
18. WATCH DOCUMENTARIES – Watch Documentaries for free online
    • www.watch-documentaries.com
19. CLASSIC FILMS – The Internet Archive’s Moving Images library
    • www.archive.org/search.php?query=Hitchcock%20AND%20collection%3Amoviesandfilms
    • www.archive.org/details/movies
20. SEARCHING GOOGLE+ – How to search Google+
    • www.billhandy.com/how-to-search-google-plus
21. SEARCH ENGINE OF THE MONTH – Search your local council accounts 
    • local.direct.gov.uk/LDGRedirect/index.jsp?LGSL=1584&LGIL=8

This podcast is sponsored and reproduced by kind permission of Zen Internet Limited. The music on the podcast was provided courtesy of Will Tang.