Full list of constructional projects

I've posted a page of web links to the article PDFs of all my constructional projects. You can access it here.

Teach-In 93 Mini Lab gerber files

Teach-In 93 Mini LabAgainst all the odds the PCB design files for the EE Teach-In 93 Mini Lab have been found and offered by its designer and co-writer Keith Dye. I have zipped them up for free download here. It's all there is and I can't help with any design questions, sorry.

Corsair Carbide 300R flickering LED fix

This stylish and versatile gaming PC case seems to have odd problems with flickering LEDs. It's caused by straining the wires during assembly and installing the motherboard. If you can solder, then I describe a fix here. Otherwise you need a replacement front panel loom from Corsair.

How to build a new PC

Late 2014 I decided I needed a new PC to replace my ten-year old Pentium. In this article I show my chosen spec. for a good, quiet, middle of the road PC along with a step by step rundown of assembly details and photos. If you've never considered building your own PC then maybe this will show you what's involved. More details...

New 0% US Tax Withholding Relief for UK Kindle authors?

The dreaded US Withholding Tax swallows 30% of our US Kindle earnings, even when we’re UK-based writers who have never even visited the USA let alone worked there. To circumvent this tax at source it’s necessary to obtain a US taxpayer ID or ITIN. This is do-able but as I described in this article, the method of getting a US ITIN number and filling out countless forms as a ‘non-resident alien’ is a very onerous process. US bureaucracy is every bit as bad as anything British or European, and even more hard-nosed.

The IRS identity checks have been particularly rigid; the US Embassy in London stated that I would have to visit with my UK Passport or photo driver's licence (haven't got one!), as they would only accept UK Government ID if the authentication was conducted by the US IRS themselves.  British Notary Public notorisation was not acceptable. Otherwise I would have to mail my passport to the IRS in the USA and complete the process that way instead.

So I decided to swallow the US 30% Withholding Tax, as the cost and effort needed to escape it far outweighed the 10% extra benefit gained by paying 20% UK tax and NIC on Kindle earnings instead. That's the thing: as my accountants pointed out, I'd pay UK income tax and NICs on earnings instead, so the benefits of enjoying 0% Withholding weren't that great.

A bunch of envelopes appeared in the post from Amazon, being the annual 1042-S (Foreign Person’s US Source Income Subject to Withholding) summarising the tax withheld by various Amazon websites including OnDemand Publ. LLC, the name behind Amazon’s Createspace print on demand.

The arrival of these envelopes prompted me to log into my Amazon Kindle account where in the Tax Information section I spotted that, even if I still had no ITIN number, it seemed I could now enter my UK Tax ID Number instead and claim 0% tax under the tax treaty that way.

Entering a UK HMRC tax ID to claim 0% tax relief on Kindle royalties [click to see] So that’s what I’ve done: my Tax ID from the HMRC Self Assessment statement was entered online and the resulting W8-BEN (Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding and Reporting (Individuals)) was signed electronically and submitted by Amazon. We’ll see what happens and whether future royalties are going to be assessed under the 0% tax treaty.

Update on Friday, March 27, 2015 at 9:42AM by Alan W

Successful 0% Withholding Tax for UK Copyright

Appears to be successful so far [click to see]

In 2015 it became possible for UK authors to enter their HMRC Tax Reference Number instead of needing a US ITIN.  This is handled via the online Amazon Kindle 'tax interview' as before. So I entered my UK tax ref number...

A look into my Kindle account appears to show a successful application for 0% Withholding Tax for UK Copyrights. It sounds too easy and too good to be true, and why couldn't the IRS do this to begin with? As always, I will believe it when I see it.

Update on Monday, May 11, 2015 at 11:03AM by Alan W

US Withholding Tax Avoided

I checked the next US $ royalties paid by Createspace (View Reports in your CS account) and can confirm that no US Withholding Tax was deducted. So the method of using your UK HMRC tax reference number on the online tax interview has worked. Note that royalties will be subject to UK Income Tax instead.

Interview Part 8: Here comes the future

PhizzyB by Clive MaxfieldIn the final part I explain how the world-wide web grabbed my attention, but not before I had completed two more Teach-In series, helped bring the PhizzyB computer to fruition and wrote the story of electricity generation in "From Pipelines To Pylons". I round off with a 50 Years Golden Anniversary celebration of our magazine. Read more...

Fixing draughty uPVC windows

Here's a useful item on repairing draughty uPVC windows. I found a high quality white seal that's easy to use, strong and durable (good for 8 years or more). Much cheaper than trying to find new seals, it also looks OK both indoors and out. Read more...

Deleting the Omiga-Search Plus adware browser hijacker

A combination of my speedy new PC, my failing eyesight, poor flat screen LCD contrast and an errant mouse-click while googling around, meant that my brand new installation of Windows 7 Professional got itself a browser hijack right before my very eyes. Curses. My Google home page in IE 11 was hijacked by Omiga-Plus Search - a useless, third-rate duff search page with some garbage links to gambling, gaming and other junk. Read more...

Celebrating the Ambra PC - the computer that so nearly broke the mould

In 1992 along came Ambra, an IBM-compatible PC made by an offshoot of IBM themselves, called ICPI Ltd.  It could have been maybe too good for IBM's own comfort and it was mercilessly axed by IBM after just a few short years. This stylish PC was smart, fast and aggressively priced. Some reprints of original Ambra literature from 1992/ 93 are included in this article. Read more...

Time to build a new PC

You know it’s time to swap a PC when it takes 10 seconds to open a window, nothing happens so you click two or three more times, then you get two or three windows opening at once. Web browsing grinds to a halt and anti-virus software brings it to its knees.  You have time to make a coffee while it updates itself. So, I’ve decided to build myself another one, and I expect it will last me another ten years, so it has to be future proof.

How to build a new PC step by step (with photos) ...