SteveJ-restore-test

Two technology/commercial trends are coming our way in Australia: the Internet everywhere (3G wireless or NBN), means "smart controllers" will be cheap, simple and everywhere. They will be able to trivially hook into 3-7 day local forecasts, especially useful for air-conditioning units. "Smart Power" metering will start to charge power at different prices during the day, rather than the disconnected traditional pricing of "a single price whenever you use it". You can see real-time wholesale electricity prices on-line and a Pretty graph in 30-min periods. Yesterday (12/12/11), the 30-min price varied from $52/MWhr @ 4PM to $16/MWhr @ 2AM. In 5-min periods , the price ranged from $95 to $16. There's a bit of background you may or may not know about Power Generators: they over-build capacity to meet any and all demands placed on them. There aren't just no incentives for Power Generators or their customers to reduce either aggregate or instantaneou...

A couple of articles discussing Microsoft's future, directly and indirectly. Others are starting to forecast the potential for a collapse and "Microsoft 2012 == IBM 1990". Steve Jobs Was Right: Google IS Turning Into Microsoft (reminding us that Microsoft has tried to get into TV, cable, music and a bunch of other things) (Larry Pages asked Steve Jobs for advice.) Jobs told him to focus on fewer things and do them really well. Jobs later recounted the conversation to his biographer Walter Isaacson. "Figure out what Google wants to be when it grows up. It's now all over the map. What are the five products you want to focus on? Get rid of the rest because they're dragging you down. They're turning you into Microsoft" Search is like Windows: an 800-pound gorilla Display advertising is like Office: piggybacking on success Android is like Xbox: a surprise success in a brand new business area (but not a big money maker) Google+ is like Bing: a reaction to...