Richard Farrar's Blog

Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP, or LAMP as they’re more affectionately known, are a collection of software packages that form the infrastructure supporting much of the World Wide Web. They have become the most common software packages used for web servers around the world today and moreover, they’re FREE!

While the individual software components that comprise a LAMP system are intrinsically separate, together their synergy offers a web server solution that is certainly much more than the sum of its individual parts. In fact, LAMP is so popular that it has almost become the de facto standard for web server systems across the globe.

Built upon open source and essentially free software, it is easy to see why LAMP has become so rapidly accepted by web hosting organisations as their server software system of choice. Furthermore, being free, there’s no reason not to try it for yourself and if you don’t get on with it, then you haven’t wasted any of your hard earned pennies in the process.

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Every time you use an MP3 player or an iPod, you’re using compressed audio files, whether you realise it or not. Whilst MP3 is probably the most common compressed audio format, it’s certainly not the only one available.

Manufacturers like to develop and retain technologies that gives them a commercial and technological advantage over their competitors. To this end we as consumers have ended up with a collection of competing, but unfortunately technically incompatible, solutions to the same problem; that of storing large amounts of audio on portable audio players.

Thankfully the majority of manufacturers (but by no means all) of these portable audio players have eased our potential incompatibility problems by making sure that their players can play the majority of compressed audio formats that are in common usage today.

So what are these common compressed audio formats, why do we need them and what are the associated problems with having so many different formats?

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By now you’ve probably heard of the term “bit rate” used in connection with MP3 tracks and podcasts, you may even know that higher bit rates give better quality audio. However, like most things in life, nothing is simple and we can further complicate the whole bit rate discussion with variable and constant bit rates. So, what are the pros and cons of these constant and variable bit rates?

Choosing a bit rate for a podcast, or an MP3 track, is a bit of a balancing act at the best of times. On the one hand, higher bit rates (variable or constant) give improved audio quality, whilst on the other they lead to bigger file sizes.

Introducing yet another variable into the equation, that of constant or variable bit rates, only serves to confuse the situation even further. What then are the relative pros and cons that may affect your choice of type of bit rate to use?

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The internet has a language all of its own and online marketing is certainly no exception. So, if you’re thinking of advertising your business online and fall at the first hurdle with all of the jargon you encounter, then this article should help get you on your way.

If you decide to advertise your business on-line, you will undoubtedly come across a whole new language associated with this form of marketing. The most commonly used of these jargon words and phrases however, tend to relate to the different charging mechanisms that are available for on-line advertising campaigns.

While there are a host of terms and phrases used in the online marketing industry, only the most common are covered here, such as PPC, CPM, CTR etc.. However, while this post offers a brief introduction to these terms, it does not provide any in-depth explanation as to the best systems to use or how to use them, as this will often vary depending on your specific circumstances and requirements.

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New  internet technologies and social media websites seem to be springing up at an almost exponential rate. With these ever expanding ways to communicate and stay in touch, how do you decide which to adopt and which to ignore? Which will stand the test of time and which will be destined to obscurity by the time your morning coffee’s gone cold?

Social media, new media, web 2.0; whatever you choose to call it, there are now so many ways of keeping in contact with friends and family and keeping up to date with the latest news and events, that you could spend all day doing just this and not achieving anything productive.

So how do you choose which of the latest new media offerings to adopt, and which are the ones that are likely to stand the test of time and become mainstream?

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