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layout: post title: Flat rate mobile from 3 in the UK created: 1164089873 categories:
Flat rate mobile broadband? 3 Group in the UK just announced their "X-Series" — flat-rate broadband Internet access on their mobile phones, with interesting tie ins with everyone from Google to Sling boxes to Orb.
I saw this a couple of different places, and agree with Troy — I also hope that this "will drive a chain reaction and like the Berlin wall, this would cause flat-rate pricing and open gardens to flourish across the planet, creating a massive open platform upon which innovation would explode across the 2 billion phones currently on the planet."
At the same time, I spent some time today looking at a mobile service that still includes WAP and really simple services. This is a huge addressable market, but it doesn't seem as interesting as some of the "next step" smart platforms that we're seeing.
Of course, my recent trip to the US saw me paying 95¢ per minute for roaming charges. Due to my grandfathered Fido plan, my data services the whole way were free. In what universe does this make sense?
Climate Assembly UK brought together people from all walks of life to discuss how the UK can reduce [[greenhouse gas emissions]] to [[net zero]] by [[2050]]. At the assembly, participants learnt about [[climate change]] and how the UK can address it, took time to discuss this with one another, and then made recommendations about what should happen.
Climate Assembly UK had 108 members selected through a process known as ‘[[sortition]]’ or a ‘civic lottery’ to be representative of the UK population. They included include engineers, health workers, parents and grandparents.
Key recommendations in the report included:
- Frequent flyer tax for individuals who fly furthest and most often.
- Increased government investment in low carbon buses and trains.
- An early shift to electric vehicles.
- An urgent ban on selling heavily polluting vehicles such as SUVs.
- Grants for people to buy low-carbon cars.
- A reduction in the amount we use cars by 2–5% per decade.
- Making wind and solar energy a key part of how the UK reaches net zero.
- Greater reliance on local produce and local food production.
- A change in diet – driven by education – to reduce meat and dairy consumption by between 20% and 40%.
UK climate assembly: tax frequent flyers and ban SUVs as part of Covid recove…
Wonder how many of these have been put in place. The recent [[UK energy strategy]] didn’t honour the centrality of wind and solar.
A : podcast
Series : [[Today in Focus]]
Topics : [[Coronavirus]] / [[United Kingdom]] / [[Europe]]
> As the days get shorter and we huddle indoors, memories of 2020’s catastrophic winter are close at hand. Now a new surge of coronavirus cases is spreading across Europe. But as well as notes of caution, there are good reasons to hope that the UK will avoid the lows of last year – from lower hospitalisation rates to exciting treatments on the verge of approval. How optimistic should we be – and can we still go to Christmas parties?
Discuss possible reasons why cases are high in Europe right now. It’s Delta variant. But possibly high cases are due to those countries only just getting Delta - UK has had it for a while.
Interestingly mentioned UK has stalled a bit on vaccinations - uptake in young people is poor.
Mentioned some new drugs on the way that might help - [[molnupiravir]] being one.
What is Christmas in the UK going to be like? Lockdown unlikely, but one thing we know of this government is they act late. Push decisions back and back till things are fucked and they can’t not do anything.
The science reporter from The Guardian said he was tentatively planning to go to a bunch of Christmas parties. He would play it by ear when he saw each venue, but still - he felt being double-jabbed etc was good enough. Interesting.
Claim : [[Energy price freeze]]s are a direct result of campaigning such as [[Don’t Pay UK]].
After months of uncertainty, the government has finally acted on rising domestic energy prices, pledging £150bn over the next two years to partially freeze domestic energy prices. We should be clear this is a direct result of campaigns like Don’t Pay, which has nearly 200,000 pledges to refuse bill increases in October
– We’ve Won an Energy Bills Freeze. Now Let’s Demand More | Novara Media
Type : [[claim]]
Agreement level : [[Signs point to yes]]
I don’t know enough. But I can’t imagine the Tories having had done it otherwise. It seems very likely it is only in response to pressure.
the UK produces more electronic waste per person than anywhere in the world apart from Norway. At 23.9kg a year per person, that’s more than the weight of a suitcase you’d typically be allowed to take with you onto a plane.
– [[The UK’s new ‘right to repair’ is not a right to repair]]
People really care about reducing waste. Witness the outrage at the recent revelations of Amazon’s policy of destroying unsold or returned goods in the UK.
– [[The UK’s new ‘right to repair’ is not a right to repair]]
[[Green Alliance]]’s research with Cardiff University in 2018 showed 75 per cent of people in the UK want the government to require manufacturers to make products more repairable.
– [[The UK’s new ‘right to repair’ is not a right to repair]]
The main barrier to repair has not been addressed
Only a few products are included in the legislation
It doesn’t extend to a consumer right to repair
Last week, the UK adopted what it described as “tough new rules” meaning that manufacturers will have to make repair information and spare parts available for repairs for up to ten years for some new white goods and televisions. The move aligns Great Britain with the EU and Northern Ireland, where the same legislation came into effect in March.
– [[The UK’s new ‘right to repair’ is not a right to repair]]
In announcing the new standards, the government boasted it was giving us all a new “legal right for repair”. However, this is not true. In reality we are still far from having such a legal right in the UK.
– [[The UK’s new ‘right to repair’ is not a right to repair]]
This new regulation doesn’t put any caps on the prices that manufacturers can charge for spare parts. And it does nothing to make repair more financially attractive to consumers, for instance by removing VAT, which could reduce the cost of all professional repairs.
– [[The UK’s new ‘right to repair’ is not a right to repair]]
The legislation also allows the practice of ‘[[bundling]]’ multiple smaller components together with some common spare parts.
– [[The UK’s new ‘right to repair’ is not a right to repair]]
What’s more, the new regulations only tackle a few product categories: washing machines, dishwashers, fridges and electronic screens, including TVs. We know that work is ongoing at the EU level to bring repairability requirements to products such as smartphones, tablets and laptops, but it’s not yet clear whether the UK will follow suit.
– [[The UK’s new ‘right to repair’ is not a right to repair]]
If the UK would like to exceed the EU measures, the way forward is clear: the UK could easily adopt European Right to Repair measures and extend [[access to spare parts]] and [[access to repair information]] to all consumers, not just professional repairers.
Ultimately, if we do not adopt European standards as a minimum, what mechanisms are in place to ensure we do not become a dumping ground of sub-standard products?
– Great Right to Repair news from Brussels - we must benefit in the UK - The Re…
We have some new doubts about the UK’s sincerity about “doing better” than Europe, as this week after failing to meet electronic waste collection targets, Defra announced it would simply lower them. According to trusted industry insiders, this “appears to signal a decision not to be bound by EU targets as we go through the Brexit transition phase”.
If we cannot be serious about the collection of [[electronic waste]], what hope is there to prevent waste upstream?
– Great Right to Repair news from Brussels - we must benefit in the UK - The Re…
A 2020 study by the European Environment Agency showed that smartphones last on average 2 years which is 3 years less than what people would like them to last.
– Right to Repair: why all the fuss? - Right to Repair Europe
Extending the lifetime of all smartphones in the EU by 1 year would save 2.1 Mt CO2 per year by 2030, the equivalent of taking over a million cars off the roads. This is why one of our first campaign demands was measures to make longer-lasting and more repairable smartphones the norm!
– Right to Repair: why all the fuss? - Right to Repair Europe
86kg of “invisible waste” is generated on average to produce a smartphone (weighing around 200g) from scratch according to a study by Avfall Sverige on the waste footprint of products. This can be mining waste, slag and other type of waste produced during the extraction of minerals and the manufacturing of the product.
– Right to Repair: why all the fuss? - Right to Repair Europe
Europe is the largest generator of electronic waste per person in the world. How much do Europeans generate on average per year?
16 kg. Europe ranked first worldwide in the 2019 UN e-waste monitor in terms of e-waste generation per capita, with 16.2 kg per capita. Oceania was second (16.1 kg per capita), followed by the Americas (13.3 kg per capita), while Asia and Africa generated just 5.6 and 2.5 kg per capita, respectively.
– Right to Repair: why all the fuss? - Right to Repair Europe
Our electronics are filled with gold, copper and aluminium, as well as “critical raw materials” that need to be mined from the Earth. What is the recycling rate of these critical raw materials?
For the vast majority, it’s less than 6%: Rare earth elements like neodymium have nearly insignificant rates of recycling. Recyclers are constantly playing catch-up to an ever-faster cycle of new products, new materials and new technologies - having to invent new techniques and business models for processing dead devices. What this means in practice is that demand for virgin critical raw materials continues to increase with every new product we buy. This is why we need the Right to Repair to extend the lifespan of our devices.
– Right to Repair: why all the fuss? - Right to Repair Europe
An : [[article]]
Found at : https://therestartproject.org/news/new-eu-legislation/
by asking that [[repair prices]] are “reasonable”, it helps to not deter people from repairing. But we’ll have to see how this plays out in practice, as reasonable is not easy to quantify.
A second massive barrier is the use of [[parts-pairing]] to limit the use of second-hand or compatible spare parts. The directive should tackle this aspect, but we know the devil is in the details and we suspect manufacturers will try to find loopholes
