IT is great to see more and more organisations begin to realise the importance of modern technology and the service it can provide.

Often the staid world of rambling is portrayed as tweed coats, stout boots, walking sticks and sad unfashionable people who are more akin to Luddites than us technophiles.

Now I know that is not completely true - I like a good hike myself but again I am an mountaineer which is as far as you can get form rambling. Anyway, back to subject, it is good to see access to technology aiding those who wish to walk, hike, ramble or climb the hills.

I am traveling to my daughter’s home soon in the far North East of England, having a week off form the grind stone at Enigin.

As I am trying to save as much money as I can, to spend on new gadgets and technology, plus blowing any money I did have on three one TB hard drives for my Mac I going to stay at my daughters as it is far less (free) than a hotel, unless she catches on!

I surfed around the web for some walking routes, as walking is also cheap, and I found on a North East England tourist site, not only detailed descriptions and maps but also downloadble podcasts of the walks to take with you on your phone or mobile device.

Great news - although the earbuds leading from an iPod do not quite fit the picture of the rambler I am sure many others will want to join in with some physical activity if they can hear the route while enjoying the scenary - not only that I have a compass on my iPhone, let alone the maps.

Speaking to one of Enigin’s Directors recently he told me story about a client, who will remain nameless, who loves his Eniscope.

What’s and Eniscope? It’s Enigin’s real-time energy management system - the Eniscope itself is a reasonably  understated black box with a small screen showing rather boring numbers, but it does have a few flashing lights - it is what it does beyond the box that attracts people.

The software that Enigin have developed to run off the raw energy data produced by the Eniscope is amazing, and is getting better all the time.

With strong graphics it can show you many aspects of energy use in a whole building or site right down to a granular level of just one piece of equipment, and of course everything in between such as the energy used by a department, a floor, a room or an small area of production.

As I said, it displays it graphically as a fantastic digital dashboard, making the hard to understand energy readings simple for anyone to grasp. If someone turns on, let’s say, a kettle you see the dashboard respond with a speedometer type display, showing the increase in energy, and not only that it will show how much that is costing and what CO2 it is producing - amazing.

The Eniscope reads well over 100 parameters, so there could be plenty of readings to pick and choose.

Now let’s go back to the client who loves his Eniscope - most clients love their Eniscopes because it saves them energy, and hence a lot of money, but this Director reckoned this guy wasn’t too worried about that.

All around his office he had gadgets, every sort of hardware from security cameras through to personal gadgets - his interest in the Eniscope apparently seemed more driven by the fantastic moving graphics than the actual information it provided - a true gadget man.

So, if you want to enjoy the same sight on your network, or even displayed on a TV for your customers to see, call Enigin and we will fit you up with our latest gadget.

Mind you we would rather talk to you about the non-gadget aspect of what energy it can save you as you can use the Eniscope to easily manage your energy use in real-time.

I have been looking at the Apple iPad and think how useful it would be to buy in to the latest sensation from Jobs and co.

I have many blogs to write and have daily news feeds to write - this would free me up from carting around a laptop, giving me greater freedom.

I use Macs and PCs, and I will not get into an argument about which is best as they both have their strengths and weaknesses believe me, I have an iPhone and love it, I have had iPods since they first arrived, but I am not an Apple maniac (like some are within the Enigin fold).

The iPad has been a huge success globally and several at Enigin wander in with it under their arm but I have always tried to shy away form buying such an expensive piece of technology when it first appears - the same goes for software.

I often find the little bugs and required fixes all happen within the first few months and a little patience brings better consistency of use and service.

As an example look at the latest iPhone 4 - a lot of media hype I know about the signal problem and a few jokes about applying Duck tape to the outer metal frame to prevent the signal drop off, but already third party suppliers are selling covers that will prevent the problem.

So I have held off from the iPad rush of blood, that many have suffered from. What also puts me off is that in the UK, and Europe as a whole, we have to pay more than in the US, Asia or Australia.

A lot will moan and say I am Apple bashing, here in the UK we include the Value Added Tax (VAT) of 17.5% to the price, compared to the US where the sales tax is generally added afterwards, and can vary from 0% to 20% dependent on State.

The sales tax issue needs to be taken out of the equation but the iPad is still more expensive here - for the 64GB WiFi version, in fact allowing for tax etc it is almost $100 dollars more.

If at Enigin PLC we had got our heads together we could have paid for someone to fly across the pond to Boston or New York and bought five or six and saved money, illegal of course because of customs duties when you arrive back in the UK.

I know I bought my first iPod in San Francisco and saved a little bit - I never even thought about the customs when I arrived back here. When it broke down I called Apple UK and they replaced it without any problems. I wonder if it is the same with the iPad.

If you are travelling to the US, Asia or Oz wait until you arrive before visiting the Apple store to buy your latest gadget, but check it is covered by a worldwide Guarantee - that way you will save.

For me - I want an iPad but do I need one? I am not planning of travelling to a “cheaper” selling country so I will have to take the extra on the chin if I buy one.

Mind you, if we all refused to buy on until the price difference was less I think we may see some action. But many technophiles have to be first to have one, or at least early on, meaning that Apple and others get away with charging more when they can - hey it’s business I guess.

I have been enjoying the World Cup at home in HD, it has been crisp, sharp and clear and worth the cost.

But like all these after awhile I hardly noticed, that is until I went to a friends house to watch a match on SD television - suddenly the fuzziness became apparent and I wanted to get back to my HD screen.

By the same token later on I saw several games on my daughters older CRT, traditional tube, telly which was not at all bad - after all it was designed for SD broadcasts. My mates telly was a top brand LCD and was just awful, but my daughters 10 year old telly was great.

I have hence concluded that we have been conned into buying Plasma and LCD tellys and scrapping perfectly good CRT screens - which appear to be fine if you are connecting to a HD box, otherwise do not change until you are ready for HD.

Of course it doesn’t end there, as they have been advertising around the pitches in the World Cup 3D telly is due to become the next best thing in telly, but I am not convinced by 3D as yet - we shall see (in 3d no doubt).

Just be aware that all of us at Enigin have been following the World Cup, despite England’s poor performance which was only truly surpassed by France and Italy.

Apple have been on overload recently, with the long awaited sales of the i{ad and now the announcement about the iPhone 4 - and just after I got my upgrade to the 3Gs!!

I like Apple products, they are well designed and generally work, I use Macs, iPods and an iPhone and have an eye on the iPad but I do find the religious fervor of many Apple devotees a bit much.

Steve Jobs, like some pontiff, stands in front of what appears to be a conference theater full of Apple believers and announces the iPad or the new iPhone and he just mentions something like, “A whole new design,” and there is uncontrolled whoops of delight, as if they were not expecting a new design or new features.

Many of those in attendence seem to feel that Apple are doing the world a favour, they are in business to sell you solutions - now I like their solutions, they are very good and provide me with what I want, but I do think a breath should be taken by everyone before they rush out and buy the latest gadget from Apple or anyone else for that matter.

Recently I upgraded my iPhone, as I stated, with rumours of the new iPhone 4 being in the future, suddenyl to protect sales the news wires begin to buzz with an imminent release, if I waited a few weeks I could have gone for the new version.

I also upgraded a suite of software after being told that the new version was due at the end of the year - three weeks later suddenly they are going to release it with the next two weeks and I will have to pay the full upgrade despite the fact that the cellophane is still uncurling in my bin from the “last” version packaging!

At Enigin when we update software and hardware but we try to let our Partners know early on what we are working on and the upgrades and updates that are on the cards - not the message always gets through.

I understand that technology moves at an ever increasing rate but marketing also grabs hold of the idea that the latest is the best, although we all understand that is not always the case - I know of plenty of people who do not upgrade every time new software version come out but wait every time for at least three version to have passed before they upgrade. They feel then they gain a real advantage over what they had been using, rather than the few tweaks added each time, with many dropped by the next version.

What to do? You want the latest but it is never free or cheap, as I mentioned earlier, take a breath and consider what you are getting and whether you need it now? A bit of patience also means you will probably miss out on the initial bugs and get a far better product a few months down the line.

At Enigin we like to be at the leading edge but we do not want to cut ourselves on it with just cause.

A part form gadgets of course we have the heavy weights like Apple’s iPad and all the gizmos that Google seem to be producing.

On one trawl across the web I kept on seeing predictive technology, what we are supposed to have in the future - all these amazing things that we look at in wonder but are often forgotten about or laughed at in the future.

In the past they reckoned that by the time we hit the 21st Century we would hardly work, Robots would do that for us, and we would spend our time just playing.

It was partially right, with a worldwide recession a lot of people were not working but they weren’t playing! For the ones that do work, it hasn’t got easier but often it has involved longer hours and more stress! How come nobody predicted that.

Of course in the past the year 2000 was the pivotal point - in the year 2000 people will have this or that, and people would point to imagined technology and forecast all the things we would have, few of them came true.

As we are now at least a decade into the 21st Century what do we point to to as the next pivotal time, it seems by consensus to be 2020.

Lots of inventors and forecasters are stating that by 2020 we will have or do this or that.

For instance Sony have recently predicted they will have their wrist computer, the Nextep (is that Japanese for Next Step?), will be the sort of personal device we will have in 2020 - with a pull out keyboard and a OLED screen plus projecting holographs.

Here at Enigin, as we scour the internet for energy efficiency news we find that many targets are set for 2020 or 2030. The same thought process I guess - the future which seems so far away will bring untold possibilities and solutions.

In reality of course not much will change - yes technology will be better but will it make life better? We will have to wait and see.

At Enigin we are pleased to be on the edge of much of the energy saving technology around today and at the same time through our Eniscope real-time energy management solution ahead of the present with our emerging software.

Yes in 2020 the Eniscope real-time energy monitor will no doubt project energy usage and efficiency readings to individual wrist worn computers, while displaying a huge public holograph - oh of course all in 3D with a live video feed of the last wild Polar Bear struggling to survive!

When I first started working with Enigin there were just one or two Macs, in the shape of Mac Books within the company.

Gradually others started to acquire Mac Books, then Apple iPhones. Soon developers and designers started to use Macs and now they saeem to outnumber PCs.

Not remarkable in a forward thinking company, you may think. Many Mac devotees will point at a Mac and declare how much better than the PC it is in so many ways.

I have used Macs before and like certain features but other factor left me feeling frustrated, no more or less than I do with PCs.

One thing that is great about all of Apples products is the visual design, everything is leading edge, Apple are the pace setters for gadget fashion - no doubt about it.

I have used a couple of PCs for video editing over tha last few years, my newest about two years old and updated since it was purpose built. The other computer, a powerful dual Xeon processor machine six years old started to struglle - it was a time for a new machine.

After checking everything around I decided to go for a Mac Pro. I got in, loaded the software and off I went video editing.

It can be quicker than the PC, in same tasks, but slower in other features. It is also crashing continually, it has 8GB of RAM, which I was assured was easily enough for what I needed, and four times as much as the software needs - but it just crashed and burns three or four times a day, while my PC chugs away beside it with rarely a sneeze.

These things happen but as always problems like this do not occure until you need to get something out there - I am in the middle of producing different formats of four videos for Enigin - “Real Time Energy Monitoring” and “Is Eniscope a Smart Meter.” (Watch out for them on the web)

I am rendering the final version and ther Mac is crashing continually - I have calls out but I am waiting for a call back.

Maybe there is something wrong with my Mac, I had it two weeks and the Cinema Display monitor wen down - it went in for repair and after 10 days, when I picked it up I asked what was wrong with it, I was tole the Logic Board had to be changed and that it was now like a new machine. I gasped and explained to the technician that I hoped so as it was only two weeks old when I took it in for repair.

The debate of the advantages of Mac over PC will continue intot he forseeable future and Enigin are firmly embeded with Macs - it seems to me whatever option you choose computers let you down one way or another.

Any way, back to that video….

This can have a disadvantage, you are never unreachable and the majority of people seem unable to “not answer” a ringing handset. The advantage is that it frees us up from being confined to one location - we can now work away from our desks in many ways - not just being able to field phone calls on the move.

With media rich and web enabled phones we can achieve many tasks and Enigin are also using this mobile technology to help their clients.

Apps for iPhones and alert messages are all in use or being developed to work in line with Enigin’s amazing real-time energy monitor the Eniscope.

If a business is on a peak-demand penalty or tariff when the Eniscope records you exceeding the limit you set an alert can be sent by email and soon to your mobile phone.

With Eniscopes real-time displays and analytical data being web browser driven these too can be accessed on a web enabled phone, with certain features being developed and improved continually for meadia rich handsets.

All this technology is keeping a decision maker informed and in touch 24/7 - he can monitor and in the future even control certain aspects of a facilities energy use.

That brings us back to the disadvantage - does he/she really need to be doing that 24/7, well that is a decision they need to make, but hey, you can always turn off the handset!

I spent several days working on the Enigin PLC stand at the SustainabilityLive! exhibition in the UK in mid April and technology played a big part.

Amongst other technologies we had on display a demonstration of the currently developing Renewable Energy Public Display.

It is a fascinating piece of hardware and software development. The concept sees the real-time monitoring of renewable energy generation.

The display shows what energy is coming off the generation equipment, such as wind, solar, hydro etc., it also displays the energy coming in from the grid. Any feed in tariff is also displayed.

All of this information is displayed in Enigin’s typical style, bright graphical and easy to understand graphis, even with animated turning turbines! Although the public display is still being developed it is intended to be broadcast in a reception area or other public area in a facility on a large screen - allowing the public and staff to see what is being achieved through renewable energy.

Fellow exhibitors at the show were very interested in this development, most notably renewable energy product suppliers, with several stating that it was the kind of technology they desperately needed.

The show was a success for Enigin, with the more established Enigin technology drawing interest from manufacturers for a combining of real-time energy monitoring with older technologies.

For instance how much energy are you using at this very moment?

If you are still on a traditional power meter apart from seeing how fast that wheel spins round and the numbers change you cannot tell how much energy you are using, not until you get your bill, which is either weeks or even months later.

As we get more smart meters things will improve, but still generally there is a delay in getting a reading as to what you are using - it isn’t in real-time.

At Enigin we have something far better than a smart meter - the Eniscop real-time energy montior, which shows you what energy you are using now, and displaying graphically what savings are made as you switch an appliance off.

Flick the switch and the Eniscope display on your web browser will react, with dials or graphs reacting. Hence you can see what energy is being used, by what and how much.

Once armed with that information you can make decisions and change behaviour, right away as you have the energy use data as it happens - that’s smart.