Dave Thompson's How 2 Columns

Two years ago, one of Dave's computer company clients, who happened to be both an acquaintance and an editor of the Christchurch Press, approached Dave with the idea of writing a computer-related column for a new 'lifestyle supplement that was in development to go out with the Tuesday edition of the newspaper. Having only recently finished his computer book, Computer Kung Fu for beginners, Dave gladly accepted the task and set about writing what would eventually become the first ever How 2 for the new supplement, tentatively called, 'The Box'. The brief for this first 'evaluation' piece was simple; write a step-by-step guide on how to turn a web cam into a video security system. This subject was chosen simply because the editor in question was interested in trying this idea out for himself and thought it would be a great idea for an article. The timing couldn't be worse, however, as Dave was shortly due to leave the country for an extended break in Europe, but a quick discussion soon had things sorted out with agreement to deliver subsequent articles before the weekly deadline via email.

So, with a laptop in hand and a mind full of ideas, Dave filled the quiet times of his trip by putting his ideas down on paper, so to speak. Luckily, the launch date for The Box was put back a few weeks, giving Dave a bit of breathing space and time to build up a nice 'stock' of articles, just in case he couldn't keep up the output required while he was away. The Box was launched with great fanfare a few weeks before Dave landed back in the country to greatly increased sales of Tuesday's paper. The Box proved so popular with readers that sales continued to break records and the content rated high enough to win The Box a Qantas media award that first year, even though it was only out for a fraction of the time of its competitors.

The Box continues to rate well and because the concept has been well proven, supplements have been developed to accompany papers on the other days of the week. After two years The Box remains essentially unchanged and this, plus the feedback Dave receives from happy readers, convinces him that he and his fellow authors must be doing something right!

While these articles have been posted online at various stages, they are now hard to find and Dave deals with many requests to provide copies of his columns. As he is unable to dedicate time to trawling the web to find and deliver copies of the published works, he lobbied to be allowed to post these in their entirety on this site and in August 09 finally gained permission from the 'powers that be' to do so. So grab a beverage, sit back and enjoy the world of How 2, through the pen of Dave Thompson.

Click here to go to the How 2's!

Unfortunately the How 2's are not ready yet. I estimate they will be up and running by mid-September so please check them out then.