Utilities

Qualcomm, Virgin Galactic and SpaceX All See Satellite Internet as the Future

January 18, 2015 By Lilian Nwa 1 Comment

Qualcomm, Virgin and SpaceX launching satellite internet

Elon Musk, billionaire CEO and founder of Tesla Motors, SpaceX, SolarCity, Hyperloop and a member of the so-called “PayPal Mafia” — co-founders of the online payment system who have continued to find success after selling the company to eBay — is starting yet another venture, and not a small one at that.

Musk now wants to “build a second Internet” in space, and eventually use the system to connect people on Mars to the Web. For us Earthlings, this new network would increase the flow of data on the Internet, thus providing low-cost, high-speed Internet services to billions of people with poor access.

As Musk told Bloomberg BusinessWeek, “The speed of light is 40 percent faster in the vacuum of space than it is for fiber. The long-term potential is to be the primary means of long-distance Internet traffic and to serve people in sparsely populated areas.” In this way, Musk would realize his dream of creating a “global communications system” that would be larger than anything we currently have and would connect billions of people in ways we may not be able to conceptualize now.

Musk has not yet named his newest space venture; however, it will be one of his most ambitious projects to date. The headquarters of this new Space Internet venture will likely be in SpaceX’s new Seattle Office, and Musk believes the project will employ up to 1,000 people in the next few years. Approximately 4,000 satellites will orbit 750 miles above the Earth’s surface (a lower height than traditional satellites, which orbit at altitudes of up to 22,000 miles) in order to ensure faster Internet service. Instead of requiring land routers and networks, Internet data packages would be sent into space and would bounce off of other satellites until the data reaches a satellite closest to the terminal destination, after which the signal would return to Earth.

Musk estimates that $10 billion will be needed to launch the project.

Importantly, Musk sees this project as a stepping-stone and told Bloomberg BusinessWeek that the project is not expected to happen sooner than five years from now, but it is ultimately seen as a “long-term revenue source for SpaceX to be able to fund a city on Mars.”

However, Musk is not the only entrepreneur trying to “hack the Internet.” Earlier this week, Greg Wyler announced his own effort to connect billions of people via the Internet, a venture he calls OneWeb. According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Wyler hopes to “fill the skies with hundreds of satellites that will beam their signals down to low-cost, solar-powered rooftop antennas.”

Already Qualcomm and the Virgin Group have been named as early investors and the venture is expected to cost around $2 billion. As well, Wyler’s venture should be ready by 2017 and a team of 30 engineers is already working to develop the software and hardware necessary to make this a reality.

Musk says that the two systems — his own and OneWeb — will be competing systems, though Virgin chief Richard Branson tells BusinessWeek that Musk would likely be successful if they worked together rather than separately.

Still, Musk is not focused on competing for customers at the time being. “We’ll start by building satellites that address the specific application that we are working on, and then we will be more than happy to sell to other people.”

(Photo courtesy of NASA)

FCC Extends Net Neutrality Deadline as Writers Guild Pushes for More Feedback

August 15, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 7 Comments

The comment deadline on comments for net neutrality to the FCC has been extended until September 15

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) increased the amount of time people have to reply to comments on the issue of net neutrality rules by five days. The previous deadline had been set for September 10, but it has now been set for September 15, 2014, giving the public a few more days to express their opinions on what the government should do to regulate Internet traffic.

The first round of commenting on the issue was supposed to end on July 15, but it was extended to July 18 due to the FCC’s website crashing. There was such a huge number of last-minute comments around the 15th that many people couldn’t reach the website to make their opinion known. The three day extension was to allow those who tried to comment, but couldn’t to due to the crash. The FCC said that this latest extension was “to ensure that members of the public have as much time as was initially anticipated to reply to initial comments in these proceedings.”

The FCC has already received over 1 million comments from the public on whether all businesses on the Internet should be treated equally when it comes to content delivery speed, or if businesses should be able to pay to have their information and content prioritized for delivery. The vast majority of the comments indicate people want all to be treated as equals, with many saying the FCC should treat Internet providers as common carrier utilities. Many have concerns with allowing broadband carriers to penalize the speed of traffic they deliver at their discretion.

The Writers Guild of America has also weighed into the conversation asking the FCC to hold public hearings on the net neutrality issue before making any rule changes. In a correspondence to the FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler by Writers Guild president Michael Winship, he expressed the following sentiment,

“The time has now come for the commission to hold public hearings on the Open Internet rulemaking around the country. It is imperative that the FCC members travel beyond Washington, D.C., to hear for themselves the voices of the American people who insist upon an Internet kept available on an equal and democratic basis for all.”

Those who want to have their opinions known can submit them by emailing the to openinternet@fcc.gov or through the comment section on the FCC’s website under the title of Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet.

(Photo courtesy of Free Press)

52 Week Save Money Challenge Week Five

February 2, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 4 Comments

It was a tough week when it came to the saving challenge. I had high hopes that with the first month’s bills coming in, I would have good numbers which would net me savings with my water, gas and electric bills. Unfortunately that didn’t work out, and all three bills were more this month than they were for the same month last year. The result was that I failed to save any money in these areas, and I had planned this to be the majority of my savings this week.

Water Bill

The water bill came to $129.49 this month, while it was $102.32 in January 2013. That’s about $27 more, which is a pretty significant increase, and it’s certainly not where I would have liked to see it end up. I’m not sure there is a whole lot more I can do to reduce my water consumption, but I will put together a water reduction checklist and see if I’m wasting water somewhere where I don’t realize it.

Saved: $0.00

Electricity Bill

This month’s electricity bill was $45.71 while the electricity bill for the same period last year was $39.16. While only about $5 in difference, it was in the wrong direction. I’ll have to spend some time looking if there are some other steps I can take to reduce the amount of electricity I have been using.

Saved: $0.00

Gas Bill

The gas bill came to $89.61 this month while it was only $41.36 for the same period last year. This was a huge increase and one that I’m not happy with at all. I can’t remember if the weather has been colder this year than it was last year, but I was definitely not pleased to see this big of a difference when comparing the bills.

Saved: $0.00

At first, I was perplexed at how this could happen since I had been going out of my way to save in all three areas. I had also been gone a number of days house sitting which should have helped as well. I then looked back at my calendar last year and realized that I had a long house sitting stint in January 2013 which kept me away for three of the four weeks. Considering how much more I was around this year, the increase in the bills was actually a lot less than might have been expected. Since this billing period is kind of like comparing apples and oranges, it’s still a toss-up as to whether or not the utility conservation is working. Hopefully next month will make this a lot clearer and there will be a reduction this year compared to the same month last year so I can claim some savings for the challenge.

Money Jar & Pay to Use My Car

Due to the failure of finding savings from utilities this month, the only savings I was able to add to my total came from the money jar and using the car. Because I had such a good week last week, I didn’t count either of these toward the total. That decision was a good one considering what transpired this week. There was $5.15 in the change jar, so I’ll put $5 toward the savings this week. There was also $8 for the driving fund over the two weeks.

Saved: $13.00

Total Saved Week 5: $13.00

$1 $2 $3 $4 $5 $6 $7 $8 $9 $10
$11 $12 $13 $14 $15 $16 $17 $18 $19 $20
$21 $22 $23 $24 $25 $26 $27 $28 $29 $30
$31 $32 $33 $34 $35 $36 $37 $38 $39 $40
$41 $42 $43 $44 $45 $46 $47 $48 $49 $50
$51 $52

Goals for the Coming Week

What happened this week is exactly why I like the alternate version of the 52 week challenge as compared to the standard version. The unexpected sometimes happens and I was able to save far less this week than I’d anticipated. Still, I crossed off a number on the chart so I’m still in business.

I have a busy week coming up, but what I’d like to do is put together a checklist for at least one of the three utilities (water, gas and electricity) on ways to better save money.

How did you do in your week 5 challenge?

The 2014 Challenge
Week One
Week Two
Week Three
Week Four

(Photo courtesy of KOMUnews)

Preparing for the 52 Week Save Money Challenge

December 28, 2013 By Jeffrey Strain Leave a Comment

Most people who decide to take on the 52 Week Money Challenge see that they only need to save $1 the first week, $2 the second week, $3 the third week and $4 the fourth week for a total of only $10 the first month. Since the amount is so low, many fail to make any preparations for the challenge. With amounts so low at the beginning, many wonder why it’s even worth bothering to come up with a plan?

While part of the allure of this challenge is that it appears easy, taking the time to do some basic preparations can go a long way to increasing the chance of the challenge succeeding. What I’ve decided to do is to put in place 10 different things that I plan to do each week throughout the year that will help toward the challenge. This will give me a base that helps ensure that some money is going to be saved each week, even if I don’t come up with any new ways to save money.

Another positive thing about making a list of weekly things to do is that when combined together, they can add up to some of the larger weekly amounts for the challenge. For example, if I do ten different things, and each of them ends up saving me $5 during the week, I’ve saved $50. This means that I don’t need to necessarily find big savings to reach the higher amounts. I can instead save small amounts in a lot of different ways to reach those goal numbers. Below are some of the things that I plan to do.

Start a Money Jar

I still use cash quite a bit so I’m constantly coming back home with change. I will place any change that I have at the end of the day into a jar that will go toward this savings challenge. While I will start with just coins, I hope that at some point I can increase it so that I save any $1 bills I get as well, but I’ll leave that decision to a later date. I’ll start off with the smaller step of just placing coins into the jar at the end of the day.

Use Coupons and Sales

When I go shopping, I will use coupons (but only for things that I would already normally buy) and look for sales (again, only for items that I would normally buy) and put any savings toward the challenge. For example, if I use $2 worth of coupons one week, then I will place $2 towards the challenge. I’ll do the same things with sale items. If it’s something that I need and I would regularly buy, I will take the difference between what I would usually pay and the sale price and place that amount towards the challenge.

Utilities

One of the things I can do, in a lot of different way, is to try to reduce the cost of my utilities. This is one of those areas where it’s usually difficult to know how much has been saved with the different efforts. For example, how much am I really saving when I make the effort to turn off the lights in rooms that I’m not using? To calculate this, I will look at what I paid for the utilities for the same month last year, and compare that to what I end up paying this year. Any reduction in the cost of the utilities I will assume is from my cost cutting efforts, and I’ll put the difference towards the challenge.

Buy Second-Hand Gift Cards

I will buy gift cards at a discount to the places where I normally and consistently spend money. For example, I do most of my shopping at a local Safeway grocery store. If I can buy a $100 gift card to that store for $95 on eBay, I will purchase it and place the $5 I saved towards the challenge savings. I will try to do this at all the places where I regularly spend my money.

Pay to Use My Car

This is a system that I used when I was first out of college and needed to save money for purchases. It’s an effective way for me to save money, and it can be used in a wide variety of ways. My car just went over 100,000 miles so I know that it will probably start costing a bit more as parts wear out. What I will do is pay $1 toward the challenge every time I use the car this year. From past experience, doing this will save me a lot more than the dollar. When I have to pay to use my car, I tend to walk or ride my bike a lot more often for shorter trips. When I do use the car, I get organized before I go out so that I can do all my errands in a single trip rather than in multiple trips. It’s a method that has always been effective for me and fits well with this challenge.

Found Money

I tend to find quite a bit of money each year. I actually enjoy keeping my eyes open for dropped coins and bills when I walk. Any money that I happen to find, I’ll put towards the challenge.

Stick to My List

When I do go shopping for something, I will stick to a list that I write down before going. If I see something that I think I need which isn’t on the list, I will not buy it. Instead, I’ll note the price and give it a few days to determine if it’s something I really need to purchase. If so, I’ll go and buy it with no harm done. If not, I know that I prevented myself from making an impulse purchase, and I’ll put the money that I saved towards the challenge.

Get for Free

Before I purchase something, I will see if there is an opportunity to get the product or service for free. If there is, I will take the difference in what I would have had to pay for it and place that money towards the savings challenge.

Buy Used

If I need to make a purchase that I can’t get for free, I will always see if I can buy whatever I need used, rather than new. If it’s possible, I will take any savings I get from buying used and put that towards the challenge.

Ask for a Discount

When I am going to make a purchase, I will ask for a discount at every opportunity I have. It costs nothing to ask and if they say “no,” I don’t lose anything. If, on the other hand, they say “yes” and give me a discount, I can put that savings toward the challenge.

Automate Your Savings

There are a couple of good apps available these days which make saving super easy. These are acorns.com and digit.co. Between these two, digit.co is the better option. Digit is a great online tool for people who want to take a passive approach towards their savings. Pretty much how digit.co works is you sign up and let the software read your bank account traffic. Then it automatically deducts a small amount from your balance, not enough to impact your ability to pay your bills, and sweeps that amount to an account you control. Its perfect because its totally passive, you don’t have to do anything – you just let the savings accumulate. Digit.co can be found here.

These are just some ideas that I’ve come up with that I plan to do on an ongoing basis throughout the year. If you’re planning to do the challenge as well, you should probably put together a list of 5+ of these ideas that you plan to work on, week in and week out. You can use any of the ones I will be using or create your own that fit with your personality. If you create your own, please share them in the comments so that others have even more examples and inspiration on little, ongoing steps they can take to save money.

Rain Barrel: Outdoor Gadgets That Save Money

August 18, 2012 By Jeffrey Strain 4 Comments

If you are someone who enjoys gardening or has extensive landscaping in their yard, a great outdoor gadget to consider purchasing is a rain barrel. Rain barrels are containers which capture rainwater (usually from your gutter system coming down from your roof) which can be stored for use around your home and yard. There are a variety of rain barrel sizes with most ranging from 50 gallons to 80 gallons. In addition to the container, a rain barrel will usually have some type of spigot which will allow you to fill up watering containers, and some sort of connection for a hose.

The main money-saving advantage of rain barrels is the reduction of money spent on the household water bill. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the average household lawn and garden is responsible for about 40% of a household’s water usage during the summer months. A rain barrel system can save a household from using approximately 1300 gallons of water from their water utility during the summer months providing a free water source for use on the landscaping.

For those who have flower gardens and other sensitive plants in their yards, another financial advantage of using rain barrels is that they can help keep soil healthier compared to tap water which can result in less landscaping costs (there is currently some debate as to whether or not rainwater is good for consumable garden plants, so please do your research before using rain barrel water on them). Water coming from the water utility may contain a number of additional substances such as chlorine, lime, calcium and fluoride which over time can potentially damage the soil and reduce plant healthiness. Rainwater collected in rain barrels does not contain these additional substances.

The water that comes from rain barrels is non-potable which means that it can’t be used for drinking water. That doesn’t mean, however, that its use is limited to watering plants around the house and in the yard. Rain barrel water can be used to wash windows, wash cars, and even flush toilets. By using rainwater rather than water from your utility, you save money on all these activities as well.

How much money you will actually save depends a lot on what the water costs are in the area where you live. Those that live in areas where water is quite expensive can see a rain barrel pay for itself relatively quickly, while those that live in areas where water is relatively inexpensive will have to use a rain barrel for a longer period of time to get back their investment. A rain barrel will almost always pay for itself many times over during its lifetime no matter how inexpensive your utility water may be.

While rain barrels don’t cost a lot for the amount of money you will save over the lifetime of their use, you can also make your own rain barrel (PDF) if you have the time, energy and want to save even a little bit more money.

EcoButton: Computer Gadgets That Save Money

July 28, 2012 By Jeffrey Strain 1 Comment

We all know that we should do it, but most of us don’t because it’s either too much of a hassle or we simply forget. Every time we leave our computer and it remains running, we are wasting energy. While each individual time we do this may not seem like like a lot of wasted money, when all those times get added together over the year, it can add up to quite a bit. The EcoButton attempts to solve this problem in an easy and effective way.

Plug the EcoButton into a USB drive and anytime you leave your computer, simply push it and it will place your computer into energy-saving mode. Since the button is bright and right there next to your computer, you’re much more likely to use your computer’s energy-saving feature than you would otherwise be. When you return, simply click the EcoButton again and your computer comes back to life exactly where you left it. This can be especially effective with kids who constantly leave the computer running as they answer phone calls from friends or get distracted doing other things.

Another motivational feature this gadget has is that it calculates the amount of energy you saved each time you use it so that you can see how much money you have saved with each press of the button. This gives your instant gratification knowing that you not only saved money, but you also helped the planet by reducing Co2 admissions.

How much you can save depends on your computer and monitor since all makes and models use energy at different rates. The EcoButton estimates that the average computer users will save about $60 a year on their electricity costs. That means that you will get a 500% return on your investment in the first year alone, and continue saving for years after that. If you happen to be a heavy computer user, or often leave your computer running all night, the savings could be more than double this.

As with all gadgets, the key for them to be effective money savers is that they actually need to be used — even if you have the best intentions, but fail to use the gadget at all, it will be a waste of money. That being said, the cost (about $10) is relatively small for the potential savings and even if you don’t use it every time, it should pay for itself rather quickly. It would also make a wonderful gift for any person you know that spends a lot of time on the computer as you will be not only be getting them a gift today, but also saving them money long into the future.