april 2010 newsletter
My apologies for the delay in sending out this newsletter, it is already the middle of the month and my excuse (although an excuse is just that) is having been rather busy learning and refocusing.
I find in working with latest technology you never stop learning and these last few months I have learnt a great deal about communicating and doing business over the Internet. Plans are now forming and in coming months I will be able to offer to you more ways you can keep up with old and new technology and better ways to relive your past through the visual and sound media you remember.
There will be changes to my web site in at least a couple of stages, improved accessibility to and more extensive services and products, better communication via Facebook firstly and other social media in time and a blog to compliment this newsletter.
At all times this will be in the support of reviving and reliving the recorded memories of last century using the technology available to us in this century.
Paul Perry
Beware, The Revenge of Retro Computer Games
Just when you thought Pac Man was no longer a threat,
New York Gets Destroyed, 8 bit style.
Mankind is under blocky pixel attack.
British Rock Still Lives
I came across this item in a trade publication which demonstrates the worth of how you treat those old recordings of an era past. The writer was watching a show on British rock bands of the 1960s and suddenly realised he was watching old video footage he had then edited. It was recorded on one of the very earliest video tape recorders on 2 inch video tape, a format that is almost completely extinct now.
These recorders were very cumbersome and very difficult to get a clean edit with. The tape itself needed to be cut and the only way to know where to cut was to dust the tape with a powder deigned to show the magnetic recorded pattern on the tape. But it also meant a lot of care in the set up of the recorders and even checking the quality of the blank tapes. These particular tapes only survived because the recorders and the recording process was treated very carefully, many similar recordings of that era have not survived so well because of lack of care.
The lesson is that no matter what the media, there is still need for care and attention, don't be lulled into thinking advances in technology has taken care of that because it all still needs a person operate it.
How Good Are You at Multitasking
Do you pride yourself on being able to juggle multiple tasks well? I have sometimes been accused of preferring to do one task at a time as if that is a crime, but after reading an article in a US publication I feel somewhat vindicated.
The essence of the article is that many people who feel good about achieving more while multitasking may only really be just feeling that. Studies show that when a person is given a task and then distracted by another task at the same time total productivity suffers. For those who do manage better in this regard though it has been suggested that it may be more a case of how they handle the distraction. Is is known that creative persons work better when not distracted.
Some teachers are going to the extent of banning computers from the classroom and even hand written note taking during the lesson on the basis of students being able to retain more whilst being focused on the lesson. Relevant notes then can be provided by the teacher.
So there is after all good reason to stick to one thing at a time and do it well.
Humour
Quotes
"Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it." British author George Orwell
"I find television to be very educating. Every time someone turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book." Groucho Marx
Please feel free to contact me with any questions and comments on this newsletter and suggestions of what you would like me to cover in future issues.