[JayCeeDee]

Well, I just went down the YouTube rabbit hole looking for info on supercapacitors and it seems that they are actually in use, albeit in conjunction with lithium-ion batteries, as technology that’s out in the real world and starting the journey towards everyday usage.

THIS and THIS were the starting points for my journey.

We are going to see a lot of this in the near future in some unusual places, such as the Scottish Island of  Eigg. The island is self reliant for electricity  totally using renewables and the Supercapacitors are evening-out some surge usage, avoiding brownouts. As you see in the Fully Charged video they have a wardrobe sized 1.5 MegaWatt  unit, equivalent to a container sized pack of Lithium Ion batteries.

Also of interest was the Swiss tram network. It reminded me of another improvement that has been developed over here, but not in full usage yet, cutting down the weight of batteries in buses by using wireless charging put in place below the surface of a bus stop, so that while it’s taking on passengers it’s also recharging the batteries and increasing range.

[JayCeeDee]

On a smaller, more local/personal scale THESE batteries, from Bristol University research back in 2017, have led to THIS in recent days.

It’s a subject that intrigues me as it shows a possible way forward that is more durable than the existing ‘green’ solutions.

[JayCeeDee]

I think that Wales took the opportunity to follow Boris on the decisions that he got right, but weren’t under the same pressure so didn’t release at the same time/too soon. I got the impression they kept the common sense restrictions up for longer too. Plus the population were wider spread, although that didn’t work so well for Scotland. They just seemed very Scottish and contrary about it all, doing their own thing with a “F*ck you, we know best!!” attitude.

I’m due my 5th jab now ( two main, one extra and 1st booster so far – 6 months since my last one ) and that should be this weekend depending on which one is available. Arm is like a pin-cushion at the moment as I’ve also just had the first of my two shingles jabs.

[JayCeeDee]

You are not wrong.👍👍 I stayed away from them initially because the first gen were not really fit for purpose. They couldn’t maintain contact with the networks, ( wifi with the display and mobile with the new metering modules ) and they became redundant when you switched – they were tailored too tightly to the initial supply company.

That all changed with gen 2. I’ve got my display sitting on my desk below my monitor – it has been there for about three years now. It has provided information in abundance for examples just like you have quoted above.

Since having solar panels installed it is nearly as useful as the app that comes with them, it now shows an extra icon of a pylon with arrows pointing at it, showing when they are generating more than I’m using.

[JayCeeDee]

Maybe a NAS would do you – I bought THIS earlier this year. There are cheaper NAS’s and smaller drives that may suit better.

Dave is probably the go to guy for that answer.

[JayCeeDee]

I got quite excited about the prospect of nitrogen mix initially and then a transition to nitrogen after seeing a YT CHAT with the Technical Director of Worcester Bosch.

The reality ( and timescale ) of it seems to be somewhat different according to THIS  British Gas article from Jan ’22, summed up by this sentence:- In fact, as you’ll see from the estimated timescales below, a boiler you buy today will probably use natural gas for all its working lifetime. ( That would be about 10 – 12 years!! )

I think that only the younger members of this Forum will see any Hydrogen fed boilers working in the homes of the general public😒😢

[JayCeeDee]

Link not working – see if THIS one does.

[JayCeeDee]

Drezha wrote:

The auto stop/start for traffic jams is amazing.

It works wonderfully in traffic jams, but it’s a PITA at junctions, I found I’d get to the white line, stop and if it was clear, or an ‘I’ll get out if I’m quick’ scenario, just as I’m ready to go, it cuts out!! It’s switched off on mine and in the event of hitting a jam, trips on the motorway or into East London, I can switch it back on easily enough.

[JayCeeDee]

Just had an email telling me it has gone through.👍👍

[JayCeeDee]

Done👍👍

Got a strange message about payment under review????!! They say give 72 hours to clear. Message copied below.

 

Your payment is on hold and undergoing review due to security measures.

We’re working to resolve this matter as quickly as possible. In the meantime, here is some additional information:

We usually complete our review within 72 hours, although it’s possible this process may take longer depending on the circumstances of the investigation.
For now, this review only involves this transaction and doesn’t affect the general use of your PayPal account.
You’ll receive a transaction record associated with this payment via email which confirms your payment was authorised, not that it was completed.
There is no need to resubmit your payment.
We’ll keep you updated via email on the status of our review and will let you know when it has been completed.

 

Any Russian connections we don’t know about Lee??🤣🙃

[JayCeeDee]

Ed P wrote:

@Jay Cee Dee, I noted you said you had TWO A/V programs running. Most ‘experts’ say it is bad practice to do that as it gains little and risks clashes/slowdowns. It might be an idea just to do a clean uninstall on the Kaspersky one.

I suppose you’re right – well you are.🙃😁 My problem has been that, coming through the 80’s/90’s on my PC journey, people had two separate programmes – in my case AVG and Spybot S&D – as an a/v that did a good job with viruses, didn’t do so well on spyware/ rootkits and vice-versa. Then MSE came along and was better with viruses but still not so hot on spyware, so I paired it with Malwarebytes Free. I then replaced MSE with Kaspersky ( courtesy of Barclays ) when I started online banking and upgraded MWB to Premium.

Apart from an occasional balk this has worked for me without any noticeable slowdowns or problems – until KIS started getting picky. Principles ( and the bonus of losing the odd annoyance ) tells me to jettison KIS, but I’ve always weighed the practical against the principle and have mostly avoided shooting myself in the foot or cutting off my own nose to spite my face!!! I think I’ll get the NAS setup before I remove KIS so that I keep myself covered.

[JayCeeDee]

What brought this to the fore, Ed, PC problems or political conflicts??

I ask because I have been considering the same thing recently as Kaspersky has just become irritating . They did a very good background job of protecting my PC for some years now, but recently it has been telling me that there is a conflict with Malwarebytes ( I run the premium version ) and every time I log in to a website the ‘Kaspersky Key’ flashes and asks if I want to save the password, despite my having LastPass.

I did however drop the ball on that and, annoyingly, Kaspersky has just renewed for another year.

[JayCeeDee]

Ed P wrote:

As Dave said, if you do not do a clean install then whether or not you encrypt the drive is up to you.

This was the first clean install on my new setup – but as I thought, I hadn’t enabled TPM in UEFI at the start.

[JayCeeDee]

iirc when I was looking through the uefi on setup, I saw the tpm option and ( hopefully ) didn’t activate it – thinking was I’d leave it till I got the module!!

I know Business is M$’s cash cow, but home users ( or businesses without a dedicated IT Department ) must be the majority of users – why complicate it in the background without letting people opt in/out first??

EDIT – I’ just looked under Device Security/Security processor details and it shows TPM status as not ready.

[JayCeeDee]

Dave Rice wrote:

………..my tried and trusted BenQ GW2480 24 Inch  with speakers

 

I’ve had an early version of the near identical BenQ GW2406Z for 5 years now and three or more years ago I matched it with a second. Only real difference is my ones don’t have the speakers, but I have to say they have been brilliant.

Once I get both my Thunderbird setups matched – I had to send a few emails from my new setup as the scanner wasn’t playing ball on my old one – I’ll set it all back to my dual monitor setup and start with the NAS.

It has proved itself now as fast, efficient and reliable.👍👍

I’ve been thinking about adding a TPM module to future proof it, but the background processes Dave refers to seem to make that a risky option. I’ll leave well alone for now.

[JayCeeDee]

Ed P wrote:

Unfortunately the ‘hopefully’ result did not play out. Brinkmanship in negotiations often does not turn out well, and both sides have played it to the full.

Not particularly helped by our idiot defence Minister running his mouth off!!!

Historically ( a century and a half ago ) he may have been accurate, but the world was a different place then. Were Putin to ‘lend’ Ukraine the troops currently on the border with Russia, our cut-price Army ( albeit of wonderful lads ) would likely have problems kicking Ukraine’s backside.

[JayCeeDee]

Mark Turner wrote:

sub contractors for open reach fitting new  really wide cables to the old telegraph poles so I stopped and asked them what they were doing apparently we are getting fibre to the house and we are in the sticks so to speak

Interesting info HERE     and HERE    about using o/h cables as support wire for fibre cables ( for UltraFast Fibre ) into the customers home. That’s a more acceptable option than digging up our drive to run an underground cable into home!! I didn’t know that they were using these Connectorised Block Terminal (CBT), either in the underground chamber or on poles. More info equates to more interest.👍👍

[JayCeeDee]

JayCeeDee wrote:

………although I’ll need to buy a VOIP phone.

 

Apparently not!!👍👍 – from    https://www.sky.com/help/articles/about-internet-calls

Do I need a new phone?

No, you can use your existing home phone with Internet Calls, but remember it needs to be plugged into your Sky Broadband Hub and not your telephone socket.

 

Even better – will give Sky a bell and try to get moved to Internet calls – will probably give them some spiel about how they didn’t explain it properly!!😀🙄

[JayCeeDee]

Ed P wrote:

I used VOIP as a catchall. My guess is that for private customers with wired broadband all that all it will need is a minor change to the WiFi router to add a phone hub, and then to swap line-line phones to ones that can connect to this new phone hub.

THIS is the latest Sky Broadband Hub, as opposed to the Sky Q hub that I have, I’ll see if I can upgrade if I tell them I want to try VOIP, although I’ll need to buy a VOIP phone.

I wonder how VOIP billing will work regarding line rental and call charges?? Currently line rental is included free with my £28 landline provided Superfast Broadband bill and my call charges are catered for in my £10 Sky Talk package.  I’ll still need my landline after 2025, or at least the section from the cabinet, even if they upgrade my speed and go fully VOIP. Confusing and interesting times ahead when they start putting the packages together.

Lots of buildings in prime locations will become available after the old equipment has been de-commissioned and stripped out –  in London and all round the country.

[JayCeeDee]

Ed, my broadband is FTTC ( cabinet ) – from there it’s overhead wiring. I still get a solid u/d load speed.

https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/d/2e5d9301-5dc7-4927-8585-131ff5e4c702

Ultrafast BB isn’t available in my area yet and I wonder/doubt whether they’ll be able to double that and still keep the o/h wiring. They certainly won’t be digging up our front drive to run fibre into the house – that’s one reason we aren’t on Virgin!!

Mobile-wise, my signal is usually 2-3 bars, but quality is sporadic, cave-echoes and 2 or 3 second delays so you hear your own words repeated back at you!!

I’ve just remembered my iPhone XS does wifi calling, so I’ve set that up and will see if that improves things.

There’s very little information on the PSTN closure for the private customer, it all seems to be about business – it’s where they’ll make money of course, but all the bad publicity will come from the ( older ) individuals with just a landline, poor mobile signal and lack of a digital interface for whatever equipment they have, medical alert, alarm, etc. They will then be in deep sh1t if they need an emergency service and have no mobile signal.

I’ve not long renewed my BB contract ( negotiating a better deal ) and I don’t recall them mentioning this, also, I just checked the hub router they sent me – it’s the ‘old’ variant that only has two lan ports and no voip socket. The latest one has 4 lan ports and a socket for a VOIP phone. It seems little preparation has been done by the ISP’s. We’ll just have to wait and see.

As with Cameron’s broadband to rural communities and Johnson’s gigabit for all ( and 5g to some extent ) it’s not the 85 -90% coverage that will haunt them, it’s that last 10-15%!!

[Author]

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