Most members of the Tech Savvy Talkers, pictured not at the Northo, but at class in November following Les's very interesting presentation on 'How the modern broadcasting tower at Mt Wellington near Hobart came into being' and his role in relation to this.  

Thank you so much for convening Tech Savvy Talks and the Tech Savvy Talkers sessions first at Rustik cafe, then at 'The Northo', for the past few years, Les.  We understand that you need to let go of the reins. We have learnt so much from you and even though you won't be at the helm, look forward to your continued input as a class member. 

​Thank you, Les!

We've now had two sessions at the Northo.  Everyone seems comfortable with the new arrangement, it's very warm, comfortable and it is easier to hear one another.   

There will be a Northo session in late June.  There will be no Wednesday morning session in July - we are having a winter break.  The July Northo session is still on the calendar - if no one else arrives, the Northo always has daily papers on the counter.  

Planning is underway for an excursion to the Digital Hub at GOTAFE. 

Another possible excursion we could look at later in the year could be to the Telstra Foundation's Customer Insight Centre - it would just be a matter of negotiating transport.  

Another interesting discussion on matters technical was led by Les on the 4th Thursday in March, continuing themes from the Tech Savvy Talks session on AI plus more.  The progress of the NBN - currently a feature of the screetscape in Benalla - was a particularly engaging area of discussion.

With numbers up from last year, we've agreed to trial meeting at the Northo as it is difficult for everyone to hear around the bigger tables at Rustik.  We have definitely enjoyed the sessions there, however, and the great coffee.  However someone did mention that perhaps a drink with some froth at the top may be imbibed at the Northo!

Thanks Les for making these sessions focused, yet with lots of room for additional topics to be introduced.  

BL

Tech Savvy Talks February 'Rustik' coffee session was well attended with four new members and very rich in discussion topics. 

​The group began by discussing Bev's proposal that a 'Tech Savvy Projects' E-shed style session precede the Rustik discussion group for those who would like to participate.  Brent was an apology, however Bev presented his ideas of the sorts of projects he was thinking.  This led on to a discussion of other possibilities.  It was decided there was sufficient interest to go ahead and request the booking of the U3A meeting room from 1 pm to 2.30 pm on the 4th Thursday.  

Les then led the way introducing the topic of smart home assistants, providing the article below which includes a clear and informative guide to 'smart home assistants'.  Terry was able to describe ways in which he and Meg use Google Home Mini - as one example, they have replaced their digital alarm radio and can now ask their smart home assistant on the bedside table to set the alarm and/or change the radio station, achieving perfect reception in the process!  

Here's the link to Les's 'Comparing Alexa, Google Assistant, Cortana and Siri smart speakers'' pdf article for printing.  

Further to our discussion at Rustik today here are some links to the Murraylink high voltage direct current electricity transmission link.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murraylink
https://www.aer.gov.au/networks-pipelines/service-providers-assets/murraylink-electricity-transmission-interconnector
https://www.apa.com.au/our-services/other-energy-services/electricity-transmission-interconnectors

​Also 'Murraylink HVDC Light Interconnection: Victoria - South Australia' ABB Power Technologies/AB Power Systems - pdf file accessed 25/6/2017

Len Jeffers

Peter, Len, Terry and I turned up at coffee this afternoon
 
We had some further discussion around using Facetime which can be only used between two Macs of one form or another. Either wifi or the mobile network can be used but using the mobile network would incur a charge depending on how long the call was and the users plan and how much data was left on the plan. For example a 1 hour call would use approximately 150 megabytes of data. If the call triggered the need for more data capacity then worst case for Telstra, $10 would be required for 1gb. This compares with $60 being required for a mobile voice call for one hour.  Skype. Duo or Messenger would give similar results. Wifi is generally of much greater capacity and 150 mb would not impact it very much if at all and would be virtually free.
 
Terry showed us a new usb flash drive with 256 mb capacity costing $26
 
Peter gave us some information on the NBN
 
Len gave us some interesting information about the interconnector to South Australia. Some people (me included) envisaged lattice steel towers with wires on them which might fall over in the wind. Actually there are 180 kilometres of two high voltage dc cables from Red Cliffs in Victoria to Berri in South Australia, very securely buried in the ground and completely safe from all the bad weather that could be thrown at them.

Les Rodgers
​

Since the discussion yesterday strayed onto nuclear power, check out this link to Bill Gates Travelling Wave Reactor, a fourth generation large reactor due to commence construction with a Chinese partner by 2018 (Fact Sheet: The TWR: Bringing Nuclear Technology to its Fullest Potential.)
 
For a number of reasons the chance of such a large nuclear plant in Australia in the foreseeable future is about zero.
 
However there is great interest around the world in the development of small modular reactors (SMRs)
 
One that is expected to be at the construction stage shortly is the Nuscale version. It uses third generation technology as do most of the others, probably in the interests of getting something to market sooner rather than later.
​
Nuscale expects 1000 of these units to be in service by 2035. Their website is worth exploring. It is a possible candidate for use in the NEM in Australia at some stage. Fourth gen would have enormous benefits eg no need to refuel in 60 year life time and all the reasons mentioned in Bill Gates article above plus weapons grade plutonium almost non existent and added safety of being buried. It needs a breakthrough in materials technology.
 
http://www.nuscalepower.com/
 
A discussion on safety, non proliferation, security etc is included in the excellent 344 page Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission Report of 2016, available for those with the endurance to read it at
 
https://yoursay.sa.gov.au/pages/nuclear-fuel-cycle-royal-commission-report-release/
 

​Les Rodgers

David, Terry, Peter and myself met at Rustik on the 25 May at 3pm . Len was an apology and Brent was en route to if not in Canada.
 
Consensus seems to be that the afternoon was decided as our meeting time at our last Techsavvy Talks meeting. 
 
We discussed the Grattan report (refer previous post) into the difficulties facing the NEMO with the currently unworkable arrangements of state governments doing their own thing and the commonwealth making add hoc decisions about building more taxpayer funded generating capacity all with no coherent policy.
 
Peter* brought an interesting article on tyre pressure monitoring which would be very useful for those with expensive tyres as I found out recently.
 
Next meeting - fourth Thursday at 3 pm at Rustik!

​Les Rodgers

*Vinen, N and Simpson, L (2017) Keeping Track of your Tyre Pressure without leaving the car Silicon Chip p 48-52  (Link is to preview only)

Les has recommended the following article as a a preread before this week's coffee catchup at Rustik. 

Here's the article from the Grattan Institute - Powering Through - How to Restore Confidence in the Electricity Market.  It has links to a podcast, the full report and more at the bottom of the article.  

There's a bit of confusion about the time as Les's email said 3 pm which is the time he'll be facilitating the conversation at Rustik.  Bev heard 10.30 am - which is in the newsletter and on the calendar on the website - so wil be at Rustik at 10.30 am just in case someone arrives then!