Interesting Links for 27-9-2011

[andrewducker]

• Solar panels to be installed on Edinburgh's council homes
  (tags: edinburgh solarpower electricity)
• The Last Windows? | ZDNet UK
  (tags: windows operating systems thefuture)
• Changing race by changing clothes? Stereotypes and status symbols impact if a face is viewed as black or white
  (tags: race perception stereotypes)
• What's in your box!
  (tags: funny food)
• On reading works by authors you disapprove of.
  (tags: writing authors politics opinions)
• Firefox Extended Support:Proposal - for people that don't want their Firefox to change very often
  (tags: firefox mozilla web browser enterprise)
• Spotify has made having a Facebook account mandatory for all new sign-ups
  (tags: facebook spotify)
• It is _very_ nice to see a mobile phone company competing on battery life.
  (tags: power mobile_phones battery android huawei)
• It?s the end of the web as we know it. Less hyperbole than you might think.
  (tags: facebook privacy web internet hosting)

Comments

[matgb]

"up to 3 days" battery? That's almost not awful. Typical charge for my N8 at the moment lasts me 4 days. Admittedly I'm not browsing on it much, but...

Best 4" smartphone battery life. I detect careful wording to exclude the 3.5" Nokia there.

But yeah, I agree, a long battery life as a sales point has to be good, and a battery with that capacity that'll fit in a phone is also good.

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

Solar panels are so ugly!

[andrewducker]

Better than massive powerplants or rising sea levels though.

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

Interesting to see how it affects planning permission - considering Edinburghs rulings re Satellite dishes etc I'd be curious how they can freely allow solar panels - if it has to go through planning regulations neighbours will object. I know I would.

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

Everyone seems to be running around like chickens repeating this "This even happens if you log out of Facebook" like it's "Soylent Green is people" or something. Like it's such a dramatic and shocking revelation.

Even I got taken in briefly. And then I thought about it.

Suppose I go to site kittens.com. And kittens wants to tell Facebook that I went there and looked at kittens. Is kittens.com going to use my browser to pretend to be me logged into Facebook? I mean, that's doable with javascript or even an iframe or image or that sort of thing. But that's kinda crappy. What it's going to do instead is tell Facebook via an API. As in, magic communication between computers. Which means it's going to lift some cookie data to figure out who I am on Facebook, and then communicate directly with FB and say, 'Hey, user 12345 was here!'.

Hence, even if I log out of Facebook, it'll still do that.

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

You wouldn't be able to see them that much. They'd be in line with the roof. And you know, what Andy said. And get over it ;)

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

Wonder how tenement blocks should go about trying to get solar panels. Might the council set up some kind of guidelines on how to get things in motion for one's block?

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

Boycotting an author (or publisher) who is still alive and making money/getting publicity is somewhat different to boycotting an author who has been dead for centuries.

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

Because all roofs are at the same height because we are talking houses here not flats - want me to go taje pictures of three properties near me with these fitted to show you a. How noticeable they are, and b. How ugly? I choose not to live near the sea or a massive power plant so why should I get over it - I have a right to object to ugliness. I'd rather have a wind turbine at the end of my garden than a house with solar panels. If the council go ahead with this then they're manipulating their own laws and loosening their own tight rules. Obviously you've never tried to make external changes to a property in Edinburgh or you'd understand my argument. You've also never tried to put a third satellite dish on an Edinburgh building, or changed a front garden to a parking area - all things Edinburgh council happily reject as being ugly, however solar panels aren't? Sorry I think they are and it's a travesty to fit them.

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

Having reread the article it'll never happen! Headline contradicts the quotes in the article - it's at early stages, feasability and is only one of the options! There is no Target date either. So EEN have taken a maybe and headlined it as if it's a done deal. This is the same council as decided on the trams, Good chance there will be a change of council come May 2012 as a results of that fiasco so I'll believe that council houses are getting solar panels when the decision is finalised and the panels ordered.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

"Changing race by changing clothes? Stereotypes and status symbols impact if a face is viewed as black or white."


This is news only to people who've never seen Ali G.

[cheekbones3.livejournal.com]

Fewer hyperbole, shurely.

[chuma.livejournal.com]

I'm all for the solar power thing. I was wondering if Edinburgh would be against it so that buildings were in keeping with the area, but I like this muchly.

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

This. I am a Wagnerian, but I wouldn't be paying money to see his operas or buy them on CD if he were still alive and raking in the cash from my purchase, because he was vile - I will also not be buying Gary Glitter's Greatest Hits any time soon.

There are some authors which I am pleased to spend money on; if I hear of a new book of theirs I will be on Amazon in seconds. Certain other authors I will tend to avoid; if I do want to read a book of theirs I'll borrow from the library if they're American, or look for a second hand copy. And I don't give money to Rupert Murdoch where I can reasonably avoid it.

But I wouldn't boycott because someone has a different stance on copyright law to me, that's just childish.

[andrewducker]

I'm assuming that they're not going to cover the castle in solar panels, or most of The New Town. But the roofs of all the buildings around here could happily be covered, for instance.

[naath.livejournal.com]

No they aren't! They're pretty! (your aesthetic judgement is of course your own to make, just pointing out that it is a hugely subjective one).

I mean, really, what's the average aesthetic value of a COUNCIL ESTATE? this isn't a world heritage site of amazing architecture, it's probably full of boring cookie cutter terraces or ugly concrete flats (if Cambridge is anything like a benchmark for "architecturally interesting city with boring suburbs"). If you think your view of someone's ugly tiled roof is seriously affected by their installation of an ugly solar panel then, really, I pity you. Other people's homes don't exist to give you a pretty view, they exist to be useful to the people who live there.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

Transition Edinburgh South might have some good advice on how to do common projects like solar panels in tenement blocks.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

I think the New Town is probably out of bounds. It was the last time I heard any considered opinion on it.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

You could offer to pay your neighbours sufficient money for the them not to put solar panels on your house.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

On the race perception story I was interested in the mouse tracking aspect.

When I was at cricket umpire training we were given the hint to keep our hands behinds our back or in our pockets so that we didn't allow an instinctive twitch of the hands to turn into an ill considered dismissal. Forcing yourself to keep your hands still forced you to consider your decision.

[thakil.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly. I found that article amusing precisely because all those artists are dead. Art is not devalued by the source of its creation, but giving money to an artist who is vile is deeply unpleasent to me.

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

Because in Edinburgh not all council houses are in ugly estates and in the suburbs? There's council housing in the Grassmarket. That's right underneath Edinburgh Castle - So you're telling me that it's pretty to put these up in an architectural area which I do believe is a World Heritage site, oh that will look pretty in all the tourists pictures? There's also a swathe of council houses in the shadow of Arthurs Seat - that's overlooked by the Royal Mile as well as being in the shadow of the Scottish Parliament. Again an architectural protected area of Edinburgh. If private householders applied they'd be knocked back by Edinburgh planning department - and they have to apply due to the location of their property, however the council can put these up on their properties? Anyway if you read my later comment it's just another example of Edinburgh Evening News taking a non story and blowing it up to be something - it's one option being considered and is only at preliminary stages! As people of Edinburgh know - different council departments don't talk to each other - chances are they'll decide to do it(or not) then find planning tell them they can't due to restrictions. Then council tax payers get shafted again.

I'm afraid I disagree with your logic that all council housing is ugly concrete boxes, I believe Edinburgh has one of the longest waiting lists for council housing anywhere - pretty much the single mums or refugees from abused marriages with kids have the monopoly on it nowadays as they're seen to be the highest risk category as they should be. I know people who have been on the list for 10 years plus. In this respect I actually think you're being derogatory and insulting to some people by capitalising council estate as you obviously have limited exposure to council housing and are taking a very middle class approach that it's all ugly.

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

I don't have to worry about it, all the properties whose roofs I overlook are protected by Historic Scotland.

I can see value in tenements in Edinburgh getting these fitted as height wise they will be not obtrusive however I suspect that private householders will get nowhere as they'd have to get all the residents agreement to get them put up as they'll all be jointly liable. As anyone who has ever lived in an Edinburgh tenement knows you're lucky if you are all owner occupiers, and if you are there's invariably a minimum of one who objects to paying their share for whatever reason - Something as simple as getting a door entry system repaired can take months. Also the householders who would consider it will be in places liek Morningside, Bruntsfield and Stockbridge which will all fall flat with planning permission. Eidnburgh council - waste of space!

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

Exclusions are not mentioned in the article which was my main reason for jumping on it! If EEN had listed Pilton and Cragmillar specifically as I'd have nodded and considered it's no real loss to the look but the implication is ALL council housing. Grr I get worked up at EEN as a non story and bad journalism which is somethign I already knew!

[naath.livejournal.com]

I actively think that solar panels are pretty. If the decision were in my hands I would put them up on the roof of King's College chapel. Indeed I'd put them up on any physically suitable roof (strong enough, suitably sunny, etc).

I think most housing development post WWII (and much before) is ugly (I'm not sure it's possible to design a housing estate that I don't think is ugly; all the architecture I think of as non-ugly is single-building stuff). Whether it is council housing or private housing or whatever kind of housing; whether it's given out for free or sold for enormous amounts. This is as-subjective a view as the notion that solar panels are ugly of course. Council estates here (I guess not in Edinburgh then?) have been reduced to the ugliest (least desirable to private buyers) areas, in part because the nice (desirable to private buyers) bits all got sold off to private buyers (many of them previously council tenants).

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

Aye - it'll be tricky but not impossible I think.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

Council housing in Edinburgh seems to me to be as aesthetically unpleasing as it is anywhere. I’m not aware of there being any council housing in the New Town. I could be wrong. There are probably some housing association properties in their somewhere. I know there are in the equally protected Old Town. Edinburgh has some pretty grim housing estates and some pretty mediocre areas of private housing. They’re just not in the middle where the UNESCO inspectors and tourists hang out.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

Your mileage may vary on this but I saw a documentary (I think called The Secret Life of Buildings) that had some architecturally interesting and aesthetically pleasing high-density housing.

Whether you cared for it or not I was pleased by the bold attempt to do something soulful.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

If the decision were in my hands I would put them up on the roof of King's College chapel. Indeed I'd put them up on any physically suitable roof (strong enough, suitably sunny, etc).

Amen.

I hope that as the technology improves and the long run price comes down solar panels will become more and more the norm.

I think Gaudi would have loved them.

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

well, that depends entirely on architecture and design, dunnit?
many modern panels are actually very pretty. and with triple glazed windows you'd never know they harvest sunlight.

there's also a metric fuckton of unseen roofspace to stick them

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

given that I live on the top floor of a manky old tenement, that's a bloody good question.

if I could afford to do it I'd have installed panels already. Getting funding would make it a 100% no-brainer.

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

Funding would be nice ;)

But the problem before even that is the matter of how it even works with a shared building -- funding aside, how are the costs split? how are the benefits split? how do you wire it all up given each flat has its own meter? and even before that, how do you get people organized?

[andrewducker]

If it's for council housing, then I strongly suspect the council* will slap the solar panels on top, connect it up to the grid, and keep the cash itself.

*Well, a contractor.

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

I'm talking private tenements.

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

Huh. That was very timely!

This is tomorrow:

TES Energy Action Talk @ the Eric Liddell Centre, Morningside Road
Thursday 29th September, 8.15pm

http://www.transitionedinburghsouth.org.uk/calendar/tes-energy-action-launch-eric-liddell-centre

[andrewducker]

That is very handy.

Do let us know what comes out of it!

[andrewducker]

Aaah. I suspect that the council will use the money to improve their own property. But we shall see.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

Cool.

Shame I can't go. I'd be interested in what you find out.

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

What I found out regarding tenements is that it's pretty hairy and probably not possible yet, due to how shared ownership of the common structure works.

Someone said there's potentially new laws on that coming through or on the cards.

If your tenement building is a co-op then it can work. (Though I'm not sure why it can't work if you have a building association?)

At any rate, Transition Edi South is concentrating on low-hanging fruit this year, and thinking to tackle tenements next year.

[andrewducker]

The whole property thing for flats in Scotland is, apparently, tricky, and requires lawyers if you're doing anything complex.

But I'm glad that something is happening. I'll look forward to it!

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the update.

Tenements in a year or two might suit me very well.