Should I get LED light bulbs?
The world of energy saving is a complicated one, there are probably about a million different ways that you can save energy in your home. You could turn down your thermostat a degree, you could install thermostatic valves on your radiators, or number one choice of all is to install energy saving bulbs.
The most common (and cheapest) type is the standard compact fluorescent. You know the ones, the twirly ones or stick shaped ones that take about a year to warm up once you turn them on. I really don't like them that much, they are better than they used to be, but they are not great. My new preferred type of bulb is the LED bulb, they offer great lighting and massive energy savings.
Stretch a background across multiple desktops in Windows
I've been using multiple monitors on my desktop computers (except my iMac) for years and years, and I think that the use of multiple monitors is probably one of the smartest upgrades you can do to your computer to increase productivity. However, on Windows the thing that annoyed me most was backgrounds.
In Linux the background is stretched across all your desktops, which is great because you can choose some stunning panoramic backgrounds, but in Windows I always found it just repeated the single image individually on each screen rather than stretching across them all.
Know your speed limits!
My number one pet hate when driving is people who don't know the speed limit. It happens all the time, I'll be happily driving to work on a road that you can easily and safely drive at 60mph and lo and behold, someone plank doing 50mph because they never read the highway code.
So, if you're one of those people who sees the sign on the left and don't know what to do then click this link and figure it out.
For quick reference, if you seen that sign it means that the previously stated speed limit no longer applies and you can assume the national speed limit for that road. On a single carriageway road this means you can do 60mph maximum. If you're on a dual carriageway then you can do 70mph.
Just a tip, if you have two lanes only on your side of the road, this means you can still only do 60mph. A dual carriageway has two lanes on both sides and typically a central reservation or barrier of some kind.
There we have, learn your road signs and hopefully we'll all get to work quicker!
With rising energy prices, don’t be afraid to change supplier.
I want to bring this blog alive again by posting just things that I'm thinking about or tips that I have for life, the universe and everything. I might touch on the obvious like this post, and I might touch on technical things, or just rant about something. Either way, enjoy.
For the first article on this website I'm going to tackle the easiest thing you can do to save money; change your energy supplier.
All the big energy companies have increased their prices recently, my own supplier nPower has increased my prices by 15% for electricity and British Gas have also increased prices recently, there is nothing you can do to escape rising prices, prices will continue to rise as fossil fuels become more scarce. But, you can take steps to avoid the biggest increases and minimise the impact it has on your pocket.
The first thing you need to do is get yourself onto a price comparison website and see if you can change your supplier to a cheaper tariff. A lot of people don't bother with this because they think it's a hassle, but in most cases changing energy supplier is quick and simple and you can make some substantial savings compared to the standard tariffs. And as we approach winter with prices rising all over now is the perfect time.
I've got a few tips for you so keep reading for a few things to think about when it comes to selecting your tariff.