Tagged With: tech
National Grids – Targeting nationalization to battle climate change
Yesterday the UK Labour party suggested bringing several companies / industries into national ownership. Thinking about this i think maybe theirs is a step to far but maybe some things “should” be government owned and managed. The next 10-30 years we have to transform the economy to be more green.
I suggest the UK government should nationalize the “grid/networks” for “essentials”, but leave the delivery of services in the private market. ie set up 2 national network which would be wholly and solely owned by the government
- The “Energy and Water grid” grid ( Gas, Electric, Water )
- The “Transport grid” national grid – roads / rail / ports
This would allow…
- the government to focus on the physical infrastructure and green strategy at the national level
- re-sellers / franchise holders to deliver services to end consumers.
- private companies to supply services to the government ( ie power stations / reservoirs )
It would require a transfer of assets at market value cost so private companies did not loose out. I’d argue that would be worth it. One could alternatively do this by stricter regulations on the private companies but that would be a halfway house I believe.
Police body cameras are long overdue.
I believe that police officers on patrol should wear body cameras because we need everything out in the open. We need to see the good and the bad to show that we have balance and honesty. In moments of stress people can miss remember, so we need an independent witness. In the same way that DNA evidence has becomes invaluable in trials, so also should video evidence of things seen and heard. Of things done and said. If kids can film every moment of their lives on cameras and post it on social media then i see no reason that police offices cannot do the same for when they are out on patrol.
I believe that …
- Jury’s or judges should be able to view and release any footage because we should not hide the truth.
- Do not splice or edit footage at trial because knowing what happened before/after an incident gives context. Fast forward or rewind as needed, but maintain the integrity of each recording.
- Keep all footage for at least 6 months
- Keep footage relevant to a case brought to trial for at least 6 months after that trial
- Cameras should timestamp and geolocate footage so that archives can be searched after an event
- Cameras should be visible because we need to be open and honest.
Facebook phone seems unlikely
It makes no sense for Facebook to create their own phone.
ebay – the best gadget shop in the world
Recently I had to try and recover files from a pc that had a faulty CPU/motherboard combo. Initially I was planning on opening another system and swapping the drive. But then I got to thinking wouldn’t it be great if there was a cable to connect an IDE device to a USB plug. I looked on ebay and found such a gadget existed, ordered and delivered for under £10 and all files safely recovered.
SlingPlayer on Android
I love my little slingbox. It means I can watch things recorded on my sky+ box when I am in hotel in another country. It means I can watch things in different rooms at home as I wish and now with the advent of the android player I can view things anywhere I can get a internet connection even on a train. It works with Wifi AND 3g – so the only issue now is how fast I can use up my monthly mobile bandwidth allowance.
WordPress 3.0 – Excellent
http://wordpress.org/development/2010/06/thelonious/
- A plugin for almost everything you might want
- An open community to help you do the rest
- A library of themes to make it personal.
The reasons I don’t own an iPad/iPhone
Summarized nicely at
What it’s like to own an Apple product – The Oatmeal.
Good points
- The Tech is great
Bad points
- The marketing is scary intense
- The idea that the walled garden is “best for you”
Favourite Android Widgets
- AniAgenda ( calander + weather )
- 3G Data Usage
- Gmail unread mail
Favourite Android Apps
- DogCatcher (podcasts)
- Record It (remote programe sky+ pvr)
- BBC News
- Gentle Alarm ( alarm clock )
Favourite Websites
- http://google.co.uk
- http://bbc.co.uk
- http://evernote.com
- http://icanhascheezburger.com (lolcats)
- http://tv.com