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February 2014

need a degree in electronics to operate
Mobile

New secure cellphone is hard to use

Barcelona – Telecommunications Weekly reports the launch of a new secure phone for those who do not want the NSA or anyone else spying on their communications. However Silent Circle, the secure communications firm that launched the phone- later said its not immune to NSA-level break-in

And although the aptly-named Blackphone says it “is not just for the tinfoil hat crowd” in fact it is exactly for the technically minded since it requires complicated software to use, which must be operated, and paid for, separately from the phone itself. It relies heavily on a peer to peer sharing network which was founded by Phil Zimmerman, the author of the PGP encryption protocol.

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UK energy firms kept £400m when customers closed accounts

Big six thieves[/caption]The “big six” energy firms have been told to hand back more than £400m owed to customers when they switch accounts and forget to reclaim overpayments from regular monthly payments.

Credit left in customer accounts when people and businesses move or switch suppliers has accumulated over the last six years, energy regulator Ofgem said today on BBC Radio.

The energy regulator, which says its estimates are the minimum owed, has called the amount “unacceptably large”. Industry lobby group UK Energy claimed that it can be hard to trace customers who move, but did not deny that they never even try.

Ofgem thinks 3.5 million domestic and 300,000 business accounts are affected.

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Energy

New type of battery ready for market

While Tesla revolutionises the business model for batteries, the basic product remained the same. Now a small upstart company has come along with a brand new way to store energy, a new chemistry. It will hasten the death spiral of the traditional grid.

The novel battery uses a water-based electrolyte that allowed developer Aquion Energy Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.aquionenergy.com) to achieve a low-cost and safe battery with long cycle life, although more suited to stationary energy-storage applications because of large size. The Aquion battery technology, now entering its commercial launch process, employs an aqueous sodium-sulfate electrolyte.

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Spirit

Mountain retreat from 100 Euros a night

The North-West of Majorca is one of the most beautiful spots on earth, and that is why I bought a shepherds hut there almost 15 years ago and learned to live off-grid.

I found it was a place where the cares and stresses of modern life would simply vanish – a chance to replenish my spiritual batteries, and think clearly about the problems of work or life confronting me at home.

Since then I bought the neighboring plot of land and houses. Now I want to share the beautiful places that are only available when you spend time off the grid. Its 700 metres above sea level up a tiny mountain road, in the famous Tramuntana range, where walkers and cyclists come from all over the world. Its surrounded by Pines and Olive trees, with views over the Ocean below and the sound of sheep bells jingling the hills.

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Tesla Motors aims to disrupt the $1tr electricity industry

Tesla Motors Inc. might be on the verge of disrupting two industries—autos and batteries say analysts at Morgan Stanley.

Tesla this week is expected to announce with corporate partners a plan to build a new battery factory that would take in raw materials and produce finished batteries, lowering its cost of buying and assembly individual battery cell components. Mr. Jonas said Tesla’s battery cell production has the potential to make it a major competitor in the electrical grid storage business.

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Autonomous home on Australian Grand Designs

Ozzie architect Sam Zaher has clients flocking. He makes the most of the best spots in the country! His latest project is a little getaway overlooking Byron Bay, possibly the finest view in Australia.

And he has shown that off-grid living and luxury go hand-in-hand.

The Coorabell residence he designed for an environmentally conscious Sydney family not only ticks all the sustainability boxes, but also the cover of Grand Designs magazine.

The brief was to create a modern, stylish and interesting home that would sit lightly on the 27ha of land, be open, airy and age well.

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Vans, tents, tunnels, sheds - no need to live in a house
Mobile

Woodlands better than Baltimore shelters

Baltimore photographer Ben Marcin’s captures makeshift settlements near railway lines, gas stations, Walmarts and bridges. Amongst his eerie tableaux of tents, vans and other non-permanent dwellings, our favourite is the tunnel-home pictured.

* He said many of Baltimore’s homeless feel safer in the woods than in shelters

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Chinese solar farm $2m crowd-funding

A state-backed firm teamed up with Chinese online financiers to fund off-grid solar facility in Qianhai, near Shenzen, southern China.

United Photovoltaics Group, controlled by state-backed finance-to-logistics conglomerate China Merchants Group, aims to raise 10 million yuan through what it claims to be the world’s first megawatt-scale, off-power-grid solar farm project funded by an internet “crowd fundraising” platform.

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DIY bow made of PVC and fiberglass rods

With all the controversy over guns, some places do not allow you to own a gun or make it so difficult to own one that it’s next to impossible to have one, and the fact that some people just don’t want the responsibility of gun ownership, but would still like to be able to defend themselves or hunt, or even just target practice for fun, a bow and arrow is the next best thing, it’s quiet, often more legal to own and possess. It’s also stealthy, you can shoot an arrow with no one hearing you, you can shoot in the city without worrying about ordinances. You still must be careful, you can hurt or even kill someone if you are careless, but with the proper training and practice, you can use a bow and arrow for nearly anything you could use a gun to do.

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Not prepped at all….

During this last major cold snap, I heard a story on NPR (National Public Radio), it’s the only radio station we can pick up out here, it’s quite a bit left leaning for our tastes, but we take that into consideration when we listen, especially to the news stories.

So this story was about (yet another) major cold snap that was about to hit major parts of the USA, there were going to be states of emergency declared because of the snow, ice and very low temps. There were going to be school and business closings.

The thing that really caught my attention, the thing that surprised me (but probably shouldn’t have) is the talk about “runs on the stores”, they were preparing for, get this, being potentially shut in for,

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Power giants hate solar in Australia

The Australian solar industry is preparing for what it calls a “David and Goliath” battle against the country’s biggest generators and network operators. The outcome will likely decide the immediate fate of rooftop solar in Australia, and the pace of the so-called “democratisation of energy” — a contest that pitches households and their solar modules against the centralised utilities that have dominated the industry for a century or more in Australia and across the developed world.

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Martin Davidson old fart, Lord Hall old fart
People

BBC- British Bullying Corporation

The BBC recently announced the sacking of one of its radio presenters and of channel boss Janice Hadlow. But her husband Martin Davidson remained in post despite presiding over decades of mediocre programming.

Now the full mediocrity of his work has been revealed — Davidson presided over the latest BBC season of films about the First World War, and they all bear the unmistakable tinge of old farts. This will have endeared him to biggest fart of all – Lord Tony Hall the BBC DG

Davidson has created a series of truly awful BBC dramas about WW1 – playing at prime time they are more suited to Open University than national TV.

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