By @edent · #TCTC guardian news times web · 750 words
Recently I was featured in two prominent online newspapers. The Times published a short story I wrote for The Times Cheltenham Twitter Competition. The Guardian wrote about my experiences with energy monitors. What struck me was the very different ways that these "Old Media" approached the "New Media" of the web. I'll state my biases […]
Continue reading →By @edent · dabr mobile php twitter YouTube · 3 comments · 450 words · read ~393 times.
I've decided to add a preview of YouTube videos into Dabr, the mobile Twitter service. The code is fairly simple - although I still suck at regular expressions. if (preg_match_all('#youtube.com/watch?v=([_-dw]+)#', $tmp, $matches, PREG_PATTERN_ORDER) > 0) { foreach ($matches[1] as $match) { $images[] = theme('external_link', "http://m.youtube.com/watch?v={$match}", "<img src='http://i.ytimg.com/vi/{$match}/1.jpg' class='twitpic' />"); } } Here's how it looks. […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Energy Saving eon unboxing · 100 words
As part of my ongoing quest to save energy and save money, I decided to look into changing energy suppliers. Eon were doing a special offer in their Energy Shop for a free PowerDown Plug worth about £15. Here's the unboxing.
Continue reading →By @edent · duet energy · 4 comments · 650 words · read ~130 times.
I'll go through all the features of the Humm Duet Energy Monitor as I figure them out, but there's one that I'd like to highlight because it's a perfect example of usability and how a little improvement can go a long way. The left half of the Duet is concerned with electricity. I want to […]
Continue reading →By @edent · data duet energy · 3 comments · 400 words · read ~480 times.
My Humm Energy monitor is now fully set up. It's been churning away gently admonishing me for going over my kWh allowance for the day. As I mentioned in the unboxing - there's an integrated 2GB SD card for the Duet to record the energy usage. As the trial progresses, I should be able to […]
Continue reading →By @edent · blackberry browser opera · 750 words · read ~230 times.
(Disclaimer, I work for Vodafone Group who do a lot of work with Opera. These are my personal views.) The regular BlackBerry browser is... how can I put this politely... sub-optimal. For reading mobile-friendly sites it's perfectly adequate - but for anything more complex it tends to choke. Don't get me wrong, it's "good enough" […]
Continue reading →By @edent · duet energy · 350 words · read ~365 times.
After setting up the HummEnergy Duet electricity monitor yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the gas monitor was to set up. Pairing the device was easy and the manual was very clear as to which pipes need to be monitored. A velcro strap makes it really easy to attach the wires to the […]
Continue reading →By @edent · bcb4 duet energy · 750 words · read ~2,451 times.
After seeing a talk at BarCampBrighton on home energy monitoring, I was determined to try it out for myself. I got the Duet from HummEnergy. At £50 it's very competitive to other units in the marketplace - although that is the trial price. It's important to note, this isn't a "SmartMeter". It doesn't replace your […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Energy Saving · 200 words
Green Energy Options have sent me the Duet home energy monitor. The Duet offers a secondary display that is attached to the Solo display and provides the monitoring of up to 6 appliances and central heating. It also provides the ability to compare the energy usage of the appliances and heating over time. In addition […]
Continue reading →By @edent · barcamp barcampbrighton bcb4 geeks hd video · 2 comments · 450 words
Another weekend, another BarCamp. This time the Fourth Annual BarCampBrighton. The BarCamp was excellent. A great bunch of people. The venue was beautiful, but the lack of walls (and floorboards!) meant that sound bleed was a problem. The problem I have with BarCamps is there are invariably two or three talks which I really want […]
Continue reading →