Half the price, double the data with 3 Mobile Internet

May 11, 2010 / posted in news / No Comments

Three

After upgrading my phone to an HTC Desire, I quickly realised – after eating through 100MB in a weekend – that my 250MB mobile internet plan with Three mobile was not enough!

I decided yesterday to call Three (133 320) to see what upgrades they had to offer. Whilst on hold, I found Three’s mobile internet plans, listing the plans and prices they offer.

After finally getting through to an operator, I requested to sign up for 12 months to take advantage of doubling my data to 500MB. The helpful person at Three informed me that this would cost $4 a month.

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HTC Desire review

May 5, 2010 / posted in news, reviews / 2 Comments

Last week I imported the HTC Desire from the UK into Australia to replace my aging Nokia 6120 classic. Up until now I had thought the 6120c met all my mobile phone needs, but I was so wrong.

HTC Desire

The HTC Desire was released in Australia on the 27th April 2010 by Telstra, who unfortunately have a six month exclusivity deal with HTC.

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electricity challenge round up

March 2, 2010 / posted in arduino, my electricty challenge, PICAXE / No Comments

Back in August 2009 I set myself an electricity challenge – to use a maximum of 12kWh (average) a day for the last four months of the year.

2009 is well and truly over, and after countless number of electricity meter reads, I have finally collated the results and have them ready to present.

Firstly – some background on my usage. For the first eight months of 2009, my electricity usage was 14.88 kwh/day:

Electricity usage graph

Now for the final four ‘challenge’ months – September to December. I will preface the result with “I tried really hard”, but unfortunately i did not succeed. My average usage for this period was 12.62 kwh/day:

Electricity usage graph

So close! Under 12 would have been nice, but it is something to work towards. I will report back soon on my usage for the first quarter of this year (a.k.a the “air conditioner” quarter), to see if I can achieve the target.

I also think I need to take a new approach to reducing my usage. The odd light change to CFL or sleep period for the laptop will not achieve the “less than 12″ target. I need to do something about the always on/big consumers – the fridge, the freezer, the web server or the media center PC. One of these boys has to undergo a big change!

I am also putting together a energy meter, to allow me to monitor my usage better (rather than relying on myself to read the meter!). So far I have a CT clamp and I am working on a solution that involves a PICAXE (or an arduino) and an 433Mhz RF transmitter. More on this soon.

 

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