GoodBye Eclipse Internet, Hello Zen Internet!

June 8th, 2018

eclipse_internet

I’ve been loyal to Eclipse Internet for 14 years, I took out my first contract for ADSL Broadband in 2004. Now known as Eclipse, originally based in Exeter, Devon – were acquired by Kingston Communications (KCOM), Hull – just down the road from where I live as it turned out in 2005.

With my Ultrafast broadband (FTTP) coming online soon, I had hoped Eclipse would be able to migrate my existing ADSL Broadband to FTTP, they did originally tell me, they could do it, but on recent communications it would appear Eclipse (KCOM) cannot supply me FTTP.

But, oddly they wanted to charge me some £35+VAT for termination of my broadband package, despite not being in a contract for over 7 years, so the easiest option was to switch to a new ISP, which could offer a path to FTTP,

1024px-zen-final-logo2-_teal

so I’ve now switched to Zen Internet. (which was one of the ISPs I considered 14 years ago).

ADSL (Superfast)  comes over your copper telephone line, Ultrafast (FTTP) comes over fibre directly linked to the BT exchange. Different technologies, so there is no requirement for ADSL (Superfast) and FTTP.  So eventually the ADSL (Superfast) will be terminated over copper, when I’m like with fibre.

I noticed a few broadband restarts at 3am, and the switch was completed at 4.45am.

So I’m now with Zen…. time to order Ultrafast (FTTP!)

Teaching Baxter to play Connect 4!

March 12th, 2018

Teaching Baxter to play Connect 4 at work today!

We have two Baxter robots are work, Baxter is a Collaborative Robots for Industrial Automation by Rethink Robotics

Later that Snowy Day in February

February 27th, 2018

snowy-day-later

A Snowy Day in February

February 27th, 2018

To the Allotments and Back

February 2nd, 2018

A quick flight to the allotments and back…

Passed my DJI Knowledge Test – I’m safe to fly my drone!?

December 22nd, 2017

You may have read, or seen on the news The Government in July 2017, stated in the future Drones over 350 grams, need to be registered in the United Kingdom, by Pilots aged over 18 years of age, and some sort of training course and exam would be required for Pilots to pass, to fly drones as a Hobby!

Drones – are you flying yours safely? (and legally?)

Parliament issued an update in November 2017

DJI Drone World leader changed their Smartphone Application today, and before you could fly you needed to Pass their DJI Knowledge Test, which had 8 questions about flying drones in the UK, you only get four attempts to take the test, and I assume then if you do not pass, you cannot fly your drone!

DJI Knowledge Quiz

DJI Knowledge Quiz

DJI Knowledge Quiz - Pass

DJI Knowledge Quiz - Pass

Jack Frost visited last night

December 21st, 2017

This short 5 minute 1080P HD clip was recorded at 8.30am on the 19 December, it’s not snow on the roads, it’s just a hard frost. It’s at approximately 30 feet above the ground.

Watch as I miss a telephone line by inches, and also look out for Angus!

It gives me an idea of the road conditions before driving to work…as the first two miles of driving in rural Yorkshire can be very hazardous as the roads are NOT gritted!

I’ve had a cold for a week, so not been feeling well enough to concentrate whilst flying…

400ft 360 deg panoramic photograph above Meltonby

December 2nd, 2017

So today, built up enough confidence to fly at 400 feet, which is The Drone code Be Drone Safe proposed rules for safe flying of drones maximum “safe” altitude.

What I didn’t expect was the the iPhone application to crash, leaving my drone at 400 feet! It sounds worse than it did, because I was able to restart the application, re-connect to the drone, and issue a return to home.

I could have brought it home using the remote controller, which connects to the drone, the Phone and App connect to the remote controller, and in the event, it loses contact with the remote control will issue a return to home!

So panic over!

I managed to solve the issue with the App, by removing the video cache, and later this afternoon, re-visited 400 feet to take this photograph.

400ft 360 deg panorama photograph above Meltonby

Click to enlarge!

The first snowy day of 2017

December 1st, 2017

So this is the first snowy day of 2017, the snow fell yesterday, and didn’t stop, and fell overnight…

Out just before dawn with the drone, as the sun rose – got to keep up those flying hours…

Snowy Morning at 350 feet

Snowy Morning at 350 feet

Snowy day looking towards the Yorkshire Wolds

Snowy day looking North towards the Yorkshire Wolds

Example photographs from the drone

November 27th, 2017

All taken using the DJI Spark

Our House

Our House

Our House from 250 feet

Our House from 250 feet

360 degree up on the Wolds

360 degree up on the Wolds

I’ll not upload anymore and bore you….