* Posts by MrGoggle

17 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Mar 2013

Oh no, RBS has gone titsup again... but is it JUST BAD LUCK?

MrGoggle

Ha Ha Ha

Those people at the top, They are really in touch with their organisations. They think they are worth the millions of pounds that have spent on them to save money, yet they cannot seem to invest some of the money correctly into core systems that keep the business running. It seems like the technical people that develop and keep the systems running are the real masters of the universe, not the bankers.

We're not destroying the music biz: Spotify

MrGoggle

On the bright side...

On the bright side, it should force some of the artists/bands to go out there and play more live music for a change. It would also mean that people who will go into music industry is because they enjoy it rather than for money (nothing wrong if you worked for it and earned it by skill and determination).

Thai man reportedly dies clutching his scorched iPhone 4S

MrGoggle

Re: It's all about the money

There is no point in saving money at the risk of losing your or a loved one's life.

Majority of the charges from reputable companies go through a variety of safety tests as not to kill or injure a person. There is a cost involved and the customer pays either with their life by taking a chance or buy paying more to have a safe charger.

Massively leaked iFail 5S POUNDS pundits, EXCITES chavs

MrGoggle

Re: No need for revolution

It is not Apple who make a song and dance of it, it is the media the over do that for them. As far as iPhone 5S/C are concerned they are welcome new additions. Good thing is they [Apple] don't overload the devices with endless features that are unusable or difficult for the average user to understand. I like technology, but at the same time I don't want a phone that consumes my time because the UI has been badly designed with a feature set that has been thrown together without thinking about usability.

Police probe IDIOTIC Twitter bomb threats slung at journalists

MrGoggle

I wonder what these people get from threatening people

Seems to me these people have nothing better to do other than threaten people for no apparent reason. The same law that applies to the real world should also apply to online world.

The responsibility ultimate responsibility should lie with the poster and should face the consequences of their actions. Twitter's job is respond to any reports of abuse using it's systems and to help police in the matter, but asking twitter to moderate the content would be like asking BT to moderate the content of every single call.

UK gov's smart meter dream unplugged: A 'colossal waste of cash'

MrGoggle

A lot of FUD

Those that are against having smart meters are spreading a lot of Fear Uncertainty and Doubt. A few months ago I installed an energy monitoring device that measure my electricity usage fairly accurately over time and it has saved me money including getting the money back for the cost of the device and service.

I used it to tweak the water boiler so it tries to heat the water more efficiently at the right times of the day. It also meant getting a thermometer for the fridge and adjusting the settings so that it is set to the correct temperature not too much, not too less.

There have been other behavioral changes that have become second nature when it comes to electricity usage. The device uploaded my usage on a server where the data can be accessed via a web browser and see your usage over time, how much it has cost you and also compare your electricity bill with other suppliers.

Apple's new data center to be solar powered, 100% green

MrGoggle

@Mad Mike

Thanks for your reply.

Energy production is never cheap or 100% "Green" and we consumers are not paying the true cost if energy.

It will take time for us to know how much of an impact green energy has made. But, as technology develops with improvements on the grid, energy storage, energy efficient devices, etc, we should see reliance in fossils dwindle.

Once most if these green projects move from investment phase to "sweating the assets", we should have more stable energy costs and less prone to speculation by investors.

MrGoggle

Re: power engineering is not about generating power

All this does show that we are not paying the true cost of energy production. Some of the money has to come from the state and some if it from private investment. It is the only way to keep energy prices down for us consumers.

Renewable energy production is newish if you take out hydro power. Getting efficiencies out if it will take time as technology improves. At the same time we should not be relying on one particular source.

We need to invest now and think long term. Otherwise we will be in a similar situation to countries like Pakistan where everyone wants cheap affordable energy, yet consumers are unwilling to pay for true cost of energy production. This has resulted in loadshedding and blackouts across the country with lack if investment in the grid and energy production.

MrGoggle

Every new source if energy needs tax breaks. People are forgetting fossil fuels at one point had tax breaks or government incentives to get these projects off the ground. In countries like the UK coal power stations were owned by the state. Here is an example if one that is private now, but state owned http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drax_power_station.

Most if these state owned power stations were flogged off cheaply so investment can be made and profits generated. As green energy technology improves, whether it be solar or any other source, it would become considerably cheaper than generating energy from fossil fuels in the long run. They are already contributing in reducing carbon emissions. Here us an example if what a green energy company is trying to achieve http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/our-green-energy/energy-independence/our-fuel-mix .

Yes we do have to pay for the investment through tax breaks or charging users if electricity more to invest back into the infrastructure.

If you have better alternatives please let us know or should we continue using fossil fuels?

MrGoggle

Re: Oh look, the anti progress brigade turned up in the forum

Anti green brigade think we should build more coal and gas stations. I am trying to see the logic why green energy is bad. Maybe we should start building gas and coal power stations where anti green brigades live since they like them so much.

MrGoggle

Re: 100% green?

The same could be said for building coal, gas, oil, nuclear, etc power stations.

Anything we use to make electricity with is always going to use resources of some kind.

MrGoggle

Right direction

Simple reason why Apple are doing this. It has to do with £€$. Other benefits are a bonus.

Oil, gas and coal prices are fluctuating and the general trend is that the fossil fuel prices will go up. There is nothing wrong with what Apple Are doing. Whatever Apple does to reduce reliance on fossil fuels it should be applauded and encouraged.

I'd like to know why the anti renewables brigade think it is a bad idea and why we should continue using fossil fuels.

Mobile tech destroys the case for the HS2 £multi-beellion train set

MrGoggle

Disagree strongly with the article. Those that use the West Coast Mainline regularly will tell you of the never ending delays, cancellations and the problems that happen with signalling and congestion where fast trains are sharing a track with slower local commuter trains.

It is cheaper and better to have HS2 take intercity travel away from the west coast mainline and use the west coast mainline mainly for local rail. It also means the West Coast mainline can be improved as well for other uses too.

Rail travel is on the increase and there will be no denying it. Any major investment in transport requires a lot of Government money and it is a very very long term project that will pay dividends in the future and in the short term providing jobs that should boost the economy.

Using the environment argument against rail and for the car is absurd. Yes we will need to dig out some land, remove some trees and annoy the Nimby's. However, we will be using less petrol, less road traffic, less pollution compared with doing nothing. We will have world class public transport system we can be really proud of. I know the people who are in their late 50's don't care much, but being younger I have something to look forward to. I wish the selfish old fogeys think about our future and not their short term thinking that only benefits them. It's our future and these old fogeys need to stop and let us get on with making our world a better place. They had their fun and it is time we get on with shaping our environment that is better for us.

Google to Glass devs: 'Duh! Go ahead, hack your headset'

MrGoggle
Thumb Up

Brilliant initiative from Google's end

I think it is good that Google are allowing devs access to the code and allow them to modify it. This should bring up some interesting concepts/uses for the device that Google may have not thought about.

Google Glass type device is certainly something I may consider in the future. Very useful for use as an alternative to a camcorder where the user is free to enjoy a show or an event without looking through a small screen.

T-Mobile UK ordered into humiliating Full Monty strip

MrGoggle
Alien

Unlimited, unlimited...

Unlimited downloads up to 40GB a month....

Apple: Our data centers are green. The other 98% of what we do ...

MrGoggle

Re: Anti green lobby...

You need to understand that brown energy sources have been subsidised on way or another through taxes in the past. The shale gas is being given tax incentives while "green" energy sources are being taxed directly from our bills to invest in alternative sources for energy.

As for fuel poverty, this is inevitable if we are using "brown" energy sources as the prices are set by how much demand there is for those resources. We can keep the cost of fuel down by using tax money, but that means we pay higher taxes. As global demand for gas/coal/oil increases so will the cost of our energy bills meaning fuel poverty will increase.

This means we need to look at alternative sources such as wind (on shore/offshore/urban), solar, wave, geothermal and even nuclear (I know not green). I don't believe there is one solution, we need to combine all the solutions in an integrated grid. As an example, some parts of country will have more sun, other parts will have wind. We can combine this with using storage systems and smart grid that know hows how much fuel will be needed to produce energy at any given time of the day.

Whilst this is happening we need to encourage people and businesses to use less energy by using energy efficient devices. Companies like Apple need to keep driving efficiencies in terms of energy use in manufacturing, data centres, office buildings and they technology they sell to us consumers.

Energy poverty can be solved using the benefits system to the people that NEED it the most using some form of credit like they do with over 60's. And if someone chooses to buy iDevices and not afford to pay for the roof over their head, food or energy to keep them warm then they need to be re-educated as to where their priorities should be.

In the meantime we all need to do our bit to keep prices down by using energy wisely so there is enough to go around while we build alternative sources of energy. We are lucky we don't get many blackouts compared with other countries.

MrGoggle
Go

Anti green lobby...

Never really understood the Anti Green Lobby. It's OK to make money from polluting energy sources, but it is never OK to make money from renewable resources. It is OK for the government to subsidise polluting energy sources, but never OK for green energy. It is OK for gas prices to go up because of demand, but then blame the subsidies to renewable sources of energy, which is supposed to help us reduce reliance on gas, thus protecting us from future price hikes.

So, back to topic, I do applaud the likes of Apple help reduce reliance on scarce resources. I think it's not enough, but a step in the right direction. Apple should be congratulated and encouraged more. In the long run this will help the company reduce it's energy bills. Maybe they should also force/encourage their suppliers to start being more energy efficient and also use renewable sources of energy. Admittedly this will need to be done overtime rather than overnight and something needs to be put in contracts.