William Poel - Wordsmith Fred

Although my day job is general internetworking systems consultancy, I have also been writing about technology since the age of 18, when I was first published as a regular contributor to "Practical Wireless" magazine - a terrifying 36 years ago. Since that time, I have written (and/or edited) countless features, reviews, news stories and opinion columns - which has kept me on the pace or progress, and developed the sort of broad perspective that only arises from really doing - as well as writing.

Amongst other things, this means that I can still strip down and rebuild anything from a 1960's TV set to a modern HP LaserJet printer, without the need for either a manual - or half the parts so wantonly provided by the manufacturer.

I've been electrocuted by valves (thousands of volts tend to wake you up), gassed by melting transistors (you know that smell when your TV blows up?), perforated by integrated circuits (try sitting on a 40 pin IC laying on its back), outsmarted by microprocessors all the time - but the miracle of this industry that I am still guaranteed the fascination of something new each and every day - and the challenge of describing it for an audience that has become punch drunk by an unrelenting cascade of shiny new things.

Whatever the subject and whatever the medium, words are still the glue that bind the foundations together to create "communication": be it print, poster, static online, TV or radio - and the much-anticipated fully-converged bastard offspring of them all - "fredcasting"

My motto: "Why use one word when you can charge for ten?"