I’ve already posted . . . → Read More: Saving Power?]]> Over the holidays we brought a new TV and I thought I’d best check the power consumption since saving power was part of the justification for the purchase. The old TV was a 3rd generation Plasma (from 2005) and the new one is LCD LED so it will use less power, right?

I’ve already posted about the smart power board we purchased in No more vampire devices but what if the TV was better then the standby power used by the power board? Why would I think this could be possible, well since we swapped TVs around I have had to manually activate the power board as the IR sensor is still attached to the old TV. Each time I’ve noticed that the power board is warm, this means that it is consuming a significant amount of power. Time to attach the power meter!

So what were the result?

The power board, old TV, Wii, and PS3 in standby consumed 7 Watts
The power board, new TV, Wii, and PS3 in standby consumed 4.5 Watts

I measured the new TV by itself, it didn’t even register a reading! That means that my based on my power meter it consumes less than a milliwatt!

What about the smart power board? It measured 2 Watts! So now I’ve just unplugged the Wii (2 Watts) and replaced the smart powerboard with a plain old normal power board and now the standby power is 0.5 Watts. A saving of 6.5 Watts in standby!

Oh and the TV also uses about half the power when it it turned on as well but it does have a 7 star rating!

Saving Power? originally appeared on Lucas Hale on January 25, 2012.

Say goodbye to DVD and BluRay disks for your next games console. Removing the media drive will allow the consoles to be smaller than ever before, think Apple TV size.

Bluetooth is here to stay for the controller.

I suspect that all that is really happening is that some poorly written drivers are getting a boost.

A great utility to check the DPC Latency on your system . . . → Read More: Timer Resolution and DPC Latency]]> I’m told one of the uses for TimerResolution is to help reduce DPC Latency on Windows. This is supposed to improve performance of many games and applications.

I suspect that all that is really happening is that some poorly written drivers are getting a boost.

A great utility to check the DPC Latency on your system is http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml, try it with and without TimerResolution running and see if it makes any difference on your system.

Timer Resolution and DPC Latency originally appeared on Lucas Hale on June 5, 2011.

So will all our storage be now be in the cloud? Will my phone keep its contacts online? My iPod only downloads songs as a stream? My camera uploads instantly with no more . . . → Read More: Technology Prediction – Local or Cloud – Part 1]]> With the upcoming release of Apple’s revised cloud solution I think it is best I get my prediction out in the world.

So will all our storage be now be in the cloud? Will my phone keep its contacts online? My iPod only downloads songs as a stream? My camera uploads instantly with no more SD cards?

Yes and No.

Bandwidth, access, cost, and privacy will mean that local storage will be around for a while to come. I think what will take off in the next couple of years is “Sync to the Cloud”

Yes “Sync to the cloud” has been around for a couple of years but no one has really executed it in a way that has changed how we work for the better. My hope is that with Apple’s track record and since this is not their first attempt that they might just get it right this time.

I look forward to never having to worry about backups, running out of space, transferring to a new phone, or worse a stolen camera with all my holiday memories. That day is coming.

The “Sync to the cloud” idea means that all my devices will have access to a common storage pool that is always up to date. My TV has access to the same photos and videos as my laptop and tablet, even it I’m out of the house no matter what operating system they run.

Technology Prediction – Local or Cloud – Part 1 originally appeared on Lucas Hale on March 1, 2011.

The solar meter was installed in December and is a Landis+Gyr EM1200. Details can be found at http://www.landisgyr.com/ap/en/pub/products.cfm?eventProducts=products.ProductDetails&ID=131&catID=61

The full list of display codes was a little hard to track down but here it is for anyone else looking for the information.

It was time for a upgrade and we wanted a mixer tap. However since the old tap was . . . → Read More: Even the kitchen sink]]> The next place that needed the water saving touch was the kitchen. The old tap was 15+ years old and was one of those nasty cheap ones that leaks, bends, paint chips off, just junk really.

It was time for a upgrade and we wanted a mixer tap. However since the old tap was one of the 3 piece systems we needed some stainless blanking plugs to cover the extra holes, Bunnings to the rescue again!

We got the actual tap from a plumbing supply store as they had a better range and we finally selected the Adelphi mixer made by Dorf.

http://www.dorf.com.au/product-ranges/mixer-taps/adelphi/adelphi-sink-mixer

The new kitchen tap

The tap is installed and we think it looks really good (that isn’t our sink in the photo above). Hopefully combined with our water tank we will see a difference in our water usage.

Even the kitchen sink originally appeared on Lucas Hale on January 6, 2011.