EE releases LTE charges

EE the new name for Everything Everywhere has announced its plans for devices using their LTE bands. EE got permission from Ofcom to use their 1800MHz spectrum for LTE earlier this year and after successful negotiations with the other Mobile Network Operators (and selling off some of the spectrum to 3 UK) they will be launching on Oct 30th.

The prices are at a premium though and EE is charging more for their LTE tariffs than on their 3G bands.

If you want a LTE devices, tariffs are: -

500MB	£36
1GB	£41
3GB	£46
5GB	£51
8GB	£56

SIM only deals for people with existing devices are: -

500MB	£21
1GB	£26
3GB	£31
5GB	£36

As well as a premium EE are imposing heavy data limits and every extra 2GB costs £15 per month.

Though LTE will allow faster downloads of content, EE is effectively limiting how users can actually use their services unless it's for corporates who are willing to pay the excessive charges for data use (though voice and SMS are unlimited).

New .xxx domains go for sale

The ICM registry which controls the .xxx domain has put up 1000 new domains for sale (based on current searches from the search.xxx search engine).

The .xxx is for adult domains and search.xxx is run purely as an adult/porn search engine.

ICM has already released 200 domains under .xxx which have generated around $5m in revenue. The domain Gay.xxx went for $500,000 and Fetish.xxx for $300,000.

Green Grid Releases New White Paper: Data Center Efficiency and IT Equipment Reliability at Wider Operating Temperature and Humidity Ranges.

The Green Grid has released their latest research and best practices in the white paper: Data Center Efficiency and IT Equipment Reliability at Wider Operating Temperature and Humidity Ranges. The white paper details how the environmental parameters of temperature and humidity affect IT equipment, look at reliability and energy usage as the data center operating range is extended, and addresses misconceptions related to the application of higher operating temperatures.

Six3 integrates Facebook and Twitter sharing

Six3 have an iPhone app that allows users to send short videos to each other. This now supports sharing to Facebook and a users Twitter stream.

Facebook integrations allows sending to users privately or posting on their timeline (publicly) and any comments can be viewed in the app itself. The new app is also faster (both in loading and responsiveness).

It's available in the iTunes store and will soon be available on Google Play.

0500 Freephone numbers to disappear

Ofcom the super regular that deals with telecoms amongst other things is holding a consultation to remove the 0500 freephone number range.

This was initially allocated to Mercury and subsequently taken over by Cable and Wireless that is the only operator able to allocate new numbers (though some 0500 numbers have been ported to other providers).

The number of 0500 numbers allocated is not large and therefore Ofcom wants to deallocate the number block (which could be used for new services in future). 0500 number holders will be encouraged to migrate to 080 numbers.

Anyone wishing to respond to the consultation can do so through Ofcom's on-line form.

Plessey release consumer ECG product

Plessey Semiconductor have released an consumer ECG monitor based on their EPIC chip. Called imPulse, it works by a user just holding the device with their thumbs and then displays the ECG on a smartphone or tablet connected via Bluetooth.

The devices contains two Plessey PS25201 EPIC sensor (one for each thumb) and the software on the smartphone/tablet can perform simple analysis to display the heart rate.

The sensors work by detecting the electrical potential in the air (about 100V per metre of height) and the disruption caused by the human electrical signals.

The sensors can also be used for non-contact heart rate detection, but there is a lot more ambient noise to remove and requires more complex software for analysis.

The EPIC sensors can also be used to detect people through walls using clever software.

O2 upgrades HLR

O2 is spending £10m revamping it's mobile registration database system (know as an HLR or Home Location Register) as it has suffered 2 major outages in as many months. The HLR stores the customer IMSI (SIM number) and their real telephone number as well as location and other information. When a call comes in, the HLR is queried to find out how do deliver the call the mobile. If the HLR fails, then mobile calls will not work (as mobiles cant register on to the network) and calls to mobiles will fail too. The current HLR (or cluster of HLRs) are made by Ericsson and O2 is buying new systems.

Droidcon returns to London

Next week (October 25/26th 2012) Droidcon returns to London at the Business Design Centre in Islington.

Droidcon is the best Android conference in Europe and anyone interested in the Android ecosystem should definitely go.

Day one is using the 'barcamp' idea whereby anyone can come along and give a talk (with a few 'proper' talks interspersed) and then demo slots and of course the evening party.

Day two is structured with the the more formal speaking slots.

See you there.

451 Group Releases 'Highly Energy-Efficient Data Centers in Practice'

451 Group has released "Highly Energy-Efficient Data Centers in Practice, a report that examines six green practices used by organizations to reduce data center operating costs and they are detailed in this InfoWorld Article.

In short, the 6 are:
1: Take an integrated and holistic approach to efficiency
2: Be smarter about cooling
3: Generate your own power
4: Save watts with DC power
5: Use your IT equipment more efficiently
6: Go the modular route

Will Amazon buy OMAP?

Texas Instruments (TI) recently announced they were 'defocusing' efforts on their OMAP line of ARM based CPUs (OMAP is their bleeding edge line of ARM based CPUs made for mobile type devices, they also have various lines of industrial ARM based CPUs, but these tend to be based on older ARM architectures). The defocusing has led to rumours that TI want to sell their OMAP devision. Both Amazon and Barnes and Noble use OMAP processors for their Kindle and Nook readers respectively. It seems Amazon has been in discussions with TI for a while and they may be a leading contender in an OMAP purchase. This would give Amazon control of their own CPUs, much like Apple has done with its Ax range of CPUs. Amazon could also use the OMAP processor in devices that may come to market such as a smartphone or other tablet. Amazon may also be in discussions with RIM to license Blackberry OS 10 and also in discussion with HP to buy or license WebOS (which HP took control of when they purchased Palm). Currently WebOS is being open sourced. Amazon have already forked Google's Android and removed all the Google sign-in functionality as well as Google's apps and they run their own Amazon app store.

Apple to drop Samsung for CPUs

Apple's latest iPhone 5 has hit the streets, but what many people don't know is that most of the phone is actually made by Samsung. Samsung fabricate the CPU and make the display and also many of the wireless chips (they used to be made by Cambridge Silicon Radio/CSR, but Samsung acquired their chip division). Apple are moving chip fabrication away from Samsung and their A7 chip will be fabricated by TSMC (or other fab plant), though they may not completely remove themselves from Samsung as they have a production line set-up for the A6. Samsung contributed both design and technology expertise to Apple's earlier CPUs but now much of this expertise has been taken in-house and Apple just require a silicon fab to actually manufacture their new CPUs. The A6 was almost entirely engineered in-house by Apple. This will be a blow to Samsung as they struggle to fill the production lines at their fabs.

Stanford Study: Solar UV Radiation Reduces the Barrier Function of Human Skin - Public Health and Climate Change Links

Photo: iStock.com / David Freund

Stanford researchers found that UV exposure makes human tissue more likely to tear under pressure, meaning that sun-damaged skin is more prone to cracking and chapping, leaving deeper layers vulnerable to infection. The study was published Oct. 1 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Public Health and Climate Change links were also mentioned.

Highlights include:

"Ironically, the methodology behind these discoveries about skin damage originated in the field of photovoltaics, where sunshine is seen as a good thing. A grant from the U.S. Department of Energy supported Dauskardt's research into the effects of prolonged UV exposure on materials – in particular, the materials that make up solar panels.
"Here we were looking at solar cells then suddenly thinking, 'Hey, we should be looking at applying these techniques to skin,'" Dauskardt said."

"All this rigorous stress testing revealed a grim fact: The sun takes a dramatic toll on our mechanical barrier function."

"UV exposure doesn't just make the stratum corneum weaker," said Dauskardt. "It also increases the actual stresses that cause the stratum corneum to fail. So it's sort of a double-whammy, which we didn't expect." In other words, UV radiation introduces more force that drives skin cells apart while making the cells more helpless to resist."

"This double threat is especially relevant to public health, as global climate change will gradually change the way people interact with the sun. The spectrum of sunlight that penetrates to Earth's surface is increasing, while warmer temperatures cause people to wear less clothing and make them more vulnerable.

Mechanical testing is also confirming the vital importance of wearing sunscreen to protect the skin's integrity."

Awards Applications Due Oct 12 for Climate Leadership Awards

Are You and/or your Organization Climate Leaders?

In order to call national attention to exemplary leadership in response to climate change, the Climate Leadership Awards program is seeking its 2013 group of corporate, organizational and individual leaders. U.S. EPA and its three NGO partners -- The Climate Registry (The Registry), the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), and the Association of Climate Change Officers (ACCO) -- are accepting applications for 2013 awards through October 12, 2012. EPA’s Climate Leadership Awards webpage details the application process.

Climate Leadership Award winners will be publicly honored at an awards gala held in conjunction with the Climate Leadership Conference (scheduled for February 27-March 1, 2012 in Washington, DC).
The 2013 awards criteria recognize climate leadership in the following categories:

• Excellence in Greenhouse Gas Management (Goal Setting Certificate)
  Recognizes organizations that publicly report and verify corporate GHG inventories and publicly set aggressive GHG emissions reduction goals.
• Excellence in Greenhouse Gas Management (Goal Achievement Award)
  Recognizes organizations that publicly report and verify corporate GHG inventories and achieve aggressive GHG emissions reduction goals.
• Supply Chain Leadership Award
  Recognizes organizations that have their own comprehensive GHG inventories and aggressive emissions reduction goals and can demonstrate they are at the leading edge of managing GHGs in their organizational supply chains.
• Organizational Leadership Award
  Recognizes organizations that not only have their own comprehensive GHG inventories and aggressive emissions reduction goals, but also exemplify leadership both in their internal response to climate change and through engagement of their peers, competitors, partners, and supply chain.
• Individual Leadership Award
  Recognizes individuals exemplifying extraordinary leadership in leading their organizations’ response to climate change and/or affecting the responses of other organizations.Please direct questions as follows:
  
• Awards program: questions@ClimateLeadershipAwards.org
• Climate Leadership Conference: questions@ClimateLeadershipConference.org

ICLEI Releases First National Standard for Measuring a Community's Carbon Footprint

Today the first national standard for how to measure and report the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with communities was released by ICLEI–Local Governments for Sustainability USA (ICLEI USA) to help more local governments reduce their communities’ carbon emissions.

More information on the Announcement is below:

"The Community Protocol simplifies and standardizes the technical guidance necessary to complete a greenhouse gas emissions inventory. This allows local governments to gain a clearer understanding of which sources and activities within their communities—from power generation and passenger vehicles to livestock and solid waste treatment—are most responsible for the greenhouse gases driving climate change.

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Making Sense of the Protocol
How does the Community Protocol help cities and counties tell their “carbon stories”? See http://www.icleiusa.org/communityprotocol 

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Telling the Story of a Community’s Carbon Footprint
The Community Protocol incorporates a range of new innovations in GHG accounting. But its greatest appeal is its flexibility. Local governments just beginning their climate action work can follow its basic methodology and minimum reporting requirements, while more advanced cities can also choose to report a wider set of GHG activities or conduct a deeper analysis, following the lead of trailblazing local governments like Seattle and King County, WA.

"The Community Protocol recognizes that there is no one way to tell a community's carbon story," said Garrett Fitzgerald, the Community Protocol's Steering Committee Chair, and Sustainability Coordinator for the City of Oakland, CA. "For example, some local governments may want to focus on emissions they have the most influence over. Others may want to motivate their residents to take action on a broader set of carbon emissions. The Community Protocol will help local governments to frame their reporting based on their goals."

Why Measuring GHG Emissions Is Key
Getting a clear picture of the sources and activities that generate a community’s carbon emissions is invaluable. A local government can use this information to set achievable GHG emissions reduction goals, and draft a climate action plan with targeted strategies, following ICLEI’s proven Five Milestones for Climate Mitigation process, which more than 800 U.S. local governments have utilized. Over time, a local government can re-measure its emissions to gauge progress, and the Community Protocol’s clear guidance makes this action easier. The Community Protocol also more easily facilitates comparing carbon footprints between different communities, and will set the stage to more accurately track local government trends nationally."

EE to offer LTE for end of October

EE (the new brand that was Everything Everywhere) is to launch their LTE service on their 1800MHz spectrum by end of October 2012 covering 10 cities on launch and a further 6 by the end of the year. EE have now started selling LTE capable phones including the iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy SIII LTE, Nokia Lumia 920, Nokia Lumia 820, HTC One XL and the Huawei Ascend P1 LTE. The launch was delayed by complaints by Telefonica/O2 who didn't like Ofcom's decision to allow EE to refarm their 1800MHz spectrum which would in reality give them 12 to 18 months advantage as the only UK network to be able to offer LTE services (Vodafone didn't like it much either, but were less vocal). After Government intervention where O2/Vodafone agreed not to take legal action against Ofcom and EE agreed to delay the LTE launch until the dispute was resolved. It seems that Ofcom and the Government have agreed to push forward (slightly) the 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum auctions and move people out of the 800MHz spectrum more quickly so that these bands can be released for LTE use early in 2013. 800MHz is extremely valuable (it was the old analogue TV band) as it has extremely good propagation characteristics (i.e. it can penetrate buildings well) so is good for wide coverage in rural areas. The 2.6GHz spectrum has poor propagation characteristics though it suits urban areas where high data bandwidth is required. Both O2 and Vodafone are expected to bid for both bands. 3 has purchased the excess 1800MHz spectrum that EE had to sell off as part of the merger (as agreed with the European Competition Commission), however they don't actually get it until late in 2013 (which was the deadline for EE to get rid of it). Though it's likely that EE's launch will go ahead, there could still be problems in future as the operators could still mount legal battles. Another possibility is that a new entrant will try and land grab spectrum which could leave O2 and Vodafone out in the cold.

Uptime Institute Accepting Applications for 2013 Green Enterprise IT Awards

I've featured several Uptime Symposium Green Enterprise IT Winners and Speakers over the last few years, including:

Dean Nelson, eBay Vice President
Markku Vieri, Director Datacenter Services, Tieto
Steve Bowes-Phipps University of Hertfordshire
Data center owners and vendors of all sizes, and from all countries, are encouraged to submit case studies of innovation in energy productivity and resource efficiency for the 2013 Green Enterprise IT Award.
Uptime Institute’s GEIT Awards, now in their sixth year, are judged by an international committee of independent experts in a double-blind review process. The 2013 application forms and categories reflect an increased emphasis on converged digital infrastructure, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and improved resource efficiency in energy, water, and carbon use.

GEIT Award categories are:

•         Facility Design - Innovation - Cutting-edge data center designs that focus on energy and resource efficiency.

•         Facility Design - Implementation - Cutting-edge data center projects that demonstrate energy and resource efficiency in a new, operational data center.

•         Facility Retrofit - Data center facility retrofit projects that significantly improved energy and/or resource efficiency in an existing data center.

•         IT Retrofit - Projects in which IT operations staff significantly improved energy and/or resource efficiency while improving IT effectiveness.

•         Facility Product Deployment - Facility infrastructure products that significantly improve data center energy and/or resource efficiency, as demonstrated in a user deployment.

•         IT Product Deployment - IT products that significantly improve energy and/or resource efficiency, as demonstrated in a user deployment.

•         Green Digital Infrastructure Strategy - Exceptional energy and resource efficiency beyond an individual data center.

•         Audacious Idea - New, unprecedented ideas for realizing energy and resource efficiency that are not commercially available in the IT and data center industries.

Organizations from 20 countries participated in last year’s Awards program, and six countries were represented among the honorees. Past winners of GEIT Awards include AOL, Bell Canada, Capgemini, Dell, eBay, Facebook, Hewlett-Packard, Helsingin Energia, Itaú, Kaiser Permanente, NTT Communications, Savvis, Schneider Electric, Tieto, and Verizon Wireless.

Completed applications must be submitted by 11:59 PM ET, January 18, 2013. Click here to learn more about the application process, or visit http://symposium.uptimeinstitute.com/geit-awards.

In addition to the GEIT Awards, Uptime Institute also invites entries for its Second Annual Server Roundup Competition. The Uptime Institute Server Roundup contest encourages the removal and recycling of obsolete IT equipment in an effort to decrease data center energy use.  Click here for more information, or visithttp://blog.uptimeinstitute.com/2012/08/second-annual-server-roundup-contest-rules/

This year’s Uptime Institute Symposium theme is The Global Digital Infrastructure Evolution and it features three tracks:

·         Digital Infrastructure Investment, Finance and Business Strategy. 

·         Data Center Management and Operational Excellence. 

·         Data Center Design Innovation.

Interview with Kathleen Merrigan Deputy Secretary of Agriculture USDA, James Beard Foundation Award Winner

Kathleen Merrigan USDA

Check out my Interview with Kathleen Merrigan, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is a James Beard Foundation Award Winner for her efforts to strengthen the critical connection between farmers and consumers, create new opportunities for farmers, support regional food infrastructure and bring agriculture into our daily conversations through efforts such as USDA’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative. 
The Interview is Here.

Interview with Dr. Jason Clay, Senior Vice President Market Transformation, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a James Beard Foundation Award Winner

Dr Jason Clay WWF

Check out my interview with Dr. Jason Clay, Senior Vice President Market Transformation, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a James Beard Foundation Award Winner for his efforts to study and address the global social, environmental, and economic impact of a variety of commodities, and his cross-sector work to improve the sustainability and supply chain management of these commodities. The interview is here.