27/11/2009 by David Slade.

TiVo, the US equivalent of Sky Plus is coming to the UK following a deal with Virgin Media announced on Tuesday.

The news, broken during the American company’s earnings results will see a “long-term, strategic partnership with Virgin Media”, says Tom Rogers, president and CEO of TiVo.

According to the two companies the deal will involve TiVo developing a converged television and interactive interface to power Virgin Media’s next generation, high definition set top boxes.

“TiVo will offer Virgin Media’s nearly four million UK customers TiVo’s advanced television and user interface on both its traditional and DVR set-top boxes”, confirmed Rogers.

Virgin Media currently anticipates its first TiVo co-branded product in 2010.

Posted in Virgin Media, TiVo | No Comments »

27/11/2009 by David Slade.

Need another televisual tech phrase to add to the mix?

Sure you do, and today’s word comes from Philips with its new 9704 TV range that offers “LED Pro” technology.

Clearly better than just TVs marketed as LED sets, the “Pro” 9704 range offers “sensational black levels, brilliant whites and an incredible contrast level of 5,000,000:1 – while consuming up to 50% less power than conventional.

The LED Pro bits come in with the 224 LED segments, each of which can be independently dimmed or brightened - or even turned off completely - greatly improving contrast.

A few more proprietary phrases to throw at you now, and there’s also “Perfect Pixel HD engine”, “200Hz Clear technology”, “Perfect Natural Motion system”, “Perfect Colour” and “Colour Booster technology”, all of which are said to add up to a fab viewing experience.

The TV also offers “Ambilight Spectra 3″, another Philips tech, that projects lights from both sides and the top edge of the TV on to the rear wall for what’s claimed to be a more immersive viewing experience.

Other features include a 1ms response time, 2×15W output into four speakers and DNLA-certified Wi-Fi for Philips’ “NetTV” that means you can access the internet through telly and five HDMI 1.3a EasyLink sockets.

All of the above will cost you £1799 for the 40-inch 40PFL9704 and £2499 for the 46-inch 46PFL9704, both due on sale in December.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

27/11/2009 by David Slade.

Proposed HOME STAR program under consideration by the Obama Administration to offer $23 billion in incentives for home performance projects, create 500,000 jobs

The Building Performance Institute, Inc. (BPI), a nationally recognized standards development and contractor credentialing organization for residential energy efficiency retrofit work, applauds a proposed nationwide residential energy efficiency retrofit program called HOME STAR that was unveiled last week in a New York Times article and accompanying blog post by David Leonhardt.

Also dubbed ‘Cash for Caulkers,’ HOME STAR is designed to encourage homeowners to weatherize their homes in order to create more than 500,000 new jobs. Venture capitalist John Doerr presented the program at a meeting of President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB) on Nov. 2, 2009. The plan is now under keen consideration by the White House, according to statements made by Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s chief of staff, to the New York Times.

“The nationwide unemployment rate is at 10 percent, but the construction industry is one of the hardest hit at 17 percent. The need to install energy efficiency improvement tactics on 5.9 million homes will bring people back to work,” says David Hepinstall, BPI’s Chairman of the Board. “Struggling contracting companies can transition their business model or a portion of their business completely into weatherization services, including whole-home energy audits and the development of work scopes for energy retrofit improvements, or with appropriate training and certification, begin to incorporate some weatherization improvement measures into their existing areas of expertise.”

The proposed program would provide $23 billion in funding: $18 billion for homeowner incentives, $2 billion for quality assurance audits on efficiency projects and $3 billion for retailer incentives and awareness-building activities.

The HOME STAR program also represents a massive opportunity for existing home performance professionals. The increased demand for energy efficiency retrofits that HOME STAR is expected to generate across the country will help existing home performance contractors build their businesses and accelerate their return on investment from their training and certification.

“They’ll be leading this initiative because they already have the skills, knowledge and experience they need to do the work and do it right,” says Hepinstall.

The proposed HOME STAR program also supports the Obama Administration’s environmental goals, complementing the Retrofit for Energy and Environmental Performance (REEP) program and legislation in the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. Homes contribute 21% of America’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Energy efficiency retrofits can reduce a home’s energy consumption by as much as 40%, saving considerable greenhouse gas emissions. These deep energy savings will also help to protect American families from volatile energy prices and supply issues.

“BPI is very pleased with the recommendations in the HOME STAR proposal, in particular the call for formal training, professional credentials and a robust quality assurance program to protect both tax dollar and homeowner investments in the improvements,” says BPI CEO Larry Zarker. “We support this initiative 100 percent and offer our assistance in helping to bring the program to fruition as quickly as possible.

Posted in Retrofit for Energy and Environmental Performance (REEP, Building Performance Institute, Home Star | No Comments »

27/11/2009 by David Slade.

Energy harvesting is not a new idea. We have had the motion-powered wristwatch for many years. But as electronic circuits move from consuming milliwatts to consuming microwatts an interesting thing happens. It becomes possible to contemplate drawing power for those circuits, not from the electricity grid or from a battery but from a variety of ambient phenomena. And this is expected to have far-reaching impact. One of the early applications is to have vibration-powered, wireless sensors in place on machinery, in vehicles. The battery-less aspect of such sensors removes the need for maintenance. EnOcean GmbH (oberhaching, Germany) has pioneered the use of wireless, batteryless switches for use in building automation and is now helping to drive the EnOcean Alliance to form standards.

Nokia is looking at energy harvesting in the context of the mobile phone but has stressed it has no prototype as yet. But in 2010 all makers of mobile equipment have to be looking at energy harvesting to, at least, augment the battery life of their equipment.

Posted in batteryless switches, Energy harvesting, EnOcean Alliance | No Comments »

27/11/2009 by David Slade.

Birmingham City Council is planning to sign the Green Digital Charter, which aims to promote the use of green technologies in European cities.

The charter aims to bring European cities together in environmental initiatives. Among the policies Birmingham has agreed to undertake as part of the charter is an effort to make IT more energy efficient by encouraging the wider use of low-emission computer equipment.

The council plans to use renewable energy sources to power IT and to make use of energy emissions from equipment. One such example would be to heat buildings.

It will also use low-carbon digital infrastructure to transform services and information provision to improve service delivery. It plans to change the ways it runs to support distance working and to institute virtual meetings to eliminate travel.

Posted in Green Digital Charter, Green buildings | No Comments »