Category: home

NEC projector URL to turn on and off.

Posted on by John McLear

While setting up some home automation I found the best way to remotely control my projector was to just hit up some conveniently exposed URIs. Thanks NEC!

You will need to network your projector and you might need to turn some sort of web control, afaik I didn’t but your mileage may vary.

Turn Off
http://projectorHostname/cgi-bin/pjctrl.cgi.elf?D=%05%02%01%00%00%00

Turn On
http://projectorHostname/cgi-bin/pjctrl.cgi.elf?D=%05%02%00%00%00%00

Note that the web UI should stay up even though the projector is “off” although this may only apply to the duration while the projector is “turning off” and once it is fully “off” (IE the fans have cooled the bulb sufficiently) you may lose access to the web UI.

Capita wins contract to deliver Home Access grant

Posted on by primaryt

No big surprise here, but what could it mean in real life terms?

Capita won the Becta contract to manage grant administration for the Home Access Programme, which provides computers and connectivity to low-income families Capita have £15.7 million to play with from 16th October 2009 to June 2011.

Some quick initial thoughts: Connectivity will obviously be provided by BT, estimated £20 per month for internet connectivity over 22 months is £440. Lets say capita take 10% as operation/admin/profit overheads. That leaves us with £14.3 million. Let’s estimate that 50% of the people who will require connectivity will also require a computer @ £300 (including support/licensing etc.). So that’s £440 on internet, £150 on a computer meaning they can allocate about £600 per person.

Quick initial maths estimates that 23,833 families could be impacted by this across the UK over the next 22 months.

Population of the UK is close to 61 million (source: CIA). This contract may impact 0.3% of the population. Is that enough?

Press release:

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS38867+19-Oct-2009+PRN20091019

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Summer web surfing for pupils at home

Posted on by primaryt

Over the summer holidays your kids may want to use the internet and they may ask you about some good sites to visit or you may want to give them a few.

I recommend this site because it is a great starting place for gaming, collaborating and searching.
The easiest way to access the site is to give the child the URL or to ask them to google “School Safe Search“
Enjoy the summer everyone 🙂