handy adsl speed diagram

just found this whilst investigating speed issues and attenuation - worth having available online for general use!

fttp progress in cornwall

since i last wrote on the subject we are now seeing a big acceleration in fttp (the version of superfast broadband installed in industrial estates) as well as fttc. bt engineers are gluing the fibre together down the road from us as i write this (barncoose industrial estate), also the superfast organisers have now released postcodes for enabled areas that include areas in st austell, truro and falmouth. The primary problem now is that because FTTP is based upon postcodes rather than phonenumber the systems for checking this are a bit slow. make sure you register on the superfast site for the best updates or if anyone is interested give me a call at work and i can do my best to find out. www.pirantech.co.uk, 01209 708 608 separately i have seen fttc cabinet prepararation in manaccan and gillan which is a remote area on the lizard. Hard to reach areas seem to be rolling out very quickly which is slightly strange as my house in helston (acres edge estate/around 250 houses) has yet to get a date!

government gdp boost of panic petrol buying & methanol economy

The UK government is very worried about an official recession being pronounced and so any extra spending in march would be great for them maybe making the difference between an official recession or ...

maybe not such a coincidence that it has recommended that everyone buy petrol now(the last week of march/economic quarter) because of a non-existent strike

http://cloudcornwall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/quickly-panic-buy-petrol-to-boost-gdp.html

Methanol Economy
thinking of transport and energy - i recently had a very interesting chat with John Bottomley from Oxford Innovations about the potential of Methanol as a short/medium term alternative to hydrogen. To simplify methanol can be made using catalyst and electricty and carbon (ideally carbon capture). It can be used as a storage medium (e.g. for solar/wind generated power) and can be used in diesel engines and transported in the same way as oil.

Comparatively Its a very much more useful option because of the higher energy density compared to other storage mediums such as hydrogen and batteries.

This paper elaborates in detail:

http://www.pirantech.co.uk/downloads/documents/Methanol%20Phil%20Trans%20R%20Soc%20A%20(2010%20Carbon%20Dioxide)%20PPE.pdf

helston enabled

helston has been enabled with super fast broadband (great because i live there)
unfortunately only the boating lake has been enabled (new council offices)

threemilestone industrial estate has been enabled for FTTP, but 3 separate businesses/office locations we have tested with cannot get it. Its because older builds dont have the right ducting, newer builds havent been planned and offices with shared entrances are just complicated!

roll on superfast

new macbook air/pro

ivybridge forecasted on the 29th of april so expecting new macbook redesign very soon. ive been waiting to upgrade my laptop for over a year now, so getting excited!

super-fast broadband project in cornwall

not been posting for a while. venting at everyone's lack of broadband despite deeply unrealistic published stats.

excellent article here:
http://cloudcornwall.blogspot.com/2012/03/superfast-broandband-in-cornwall.html