Home CCTV …your very own Big Brother

There’s no escaping it, CCTV cameras are everywhere! They have become a common sight over recent years, the first street surveillance was in the seaside town of Bournemouth back in 1985. Nowadays you can find them on every high street, from pubs to shops, car parks to office blocks, talk about Big Brother watching you ! They offer reassurance to a lot of us as we feel they act as a deterrent against crime, and as such they are becoming a popular choice for homeowners, an Englishman’s home is his castle after all….

It’s not difficult to install a CCTV system into your home and the temptation for many of us would be to rush off and buy a DIY kit, we Brits love a bit of DIY don’t we   This may well take minutes to install (unless it’s flat-packed from IKEA!!!), but as the main purpose of CCTV is to ensure that in the unfortunate event of an incident the system will provide you with enough clear images, you need to know that you’ve got it right.

If you are looking to install a home CCTV system, why not let us help you to decide on what’s best for you? The components for any system are the same, you will need a camera, lens and monitor, you then need to decide whether you want a wired or wireless system…our experts will guide you through this, as well as helping choose the correct position for the camera, ensuring it complies with privacy laws, let’s face it the neighbours aren’t going to be happy if they have a camera pointed over their garden fence….!

Our team of experts will ensure that the installation is carried out with minimum disruption, and the work carries a 100% satisfaction guarantee, also, in addition to the manufacturer’s warranty we will give a 5 year warranty on the works that we carry out – not bad eh ??! So, if you are thinking of having a home CCTV system installed, talk to us, you can call us free on 0333 900 0101 we will be happy to answer any of your questions.

Popcorn anyone…..??

Do you ever, like me, think how great it would be, if at the end of a stressful working week you could come home to a state of the art home cinema to chillax with your family and friends?? It’s not as indulgent as it sounds, and not necessarily something you can only afford after a lottery win or a successful flutter on the horses….! It is a project that can be achieved on a relatively modest budget.

Obviously, undertaking a project like this will need some careful planning, let’s face it, if you’re going to invest you’ll want to get it right! All too often people find that they have wasted money on a system that isn’t what they expected, by which time it’s too late to get your money back! You need to put in the research to ensure you get what’s right for you and your home, or else you can call on an experienced company like ACCL who have the expertise to assist you in obtaining your dream from planning to installation to ensure that you get the maximum from your investment. Firstly, you will need to decide on where you’re going to put it!……your living room?….or what about the garage? you know, the space where you should put the car but more often than not becomes a dumping ground…..?!! It’s actually easier and cheaper than you think to convert the space.

What is it that you want to achieve? What’s your budget? and what is best suited to the space you have available? We can help with all this…. Ultimately you want the best cinema experience, with the best possible sound and vision in a space that still looks like home! Seating and mood lighting also figure in getting everything perfect, and, let’s face it, it needs to be easy to use….! We believe that everything should be accessible from one simple to use remote or touch screen control, no hunting down the back of the sofa for that one elusive remote…..! the installation should also be discreet and securely stored away. Cable management is important, with cables being run ensuring there are no kinks or bends which would interfere with the sound/visual quality, not on view but easily accessible should the need arise.

Something you’re interested in? Why not check out our website for a comprehensive look at our services and see if we can help http://www.network-data-cabling.co.uk/residential/home-automation-installers or call us free for a no obligation chat…0333 900 0101

The only thing left for you to do now is to decide who’s getting in the popcorn…..

Clash of the 2 Tonnes – Week 17……

…..and finally the end is in sight

The boss has decided to give himself just another 4 weeks, and let’s be honest, he’s the only one who’s been taking it seriously…..! The girls now physically squirm when I ask them for an update, things are not going that well….

Dee has ‘fessed up that she is still completely off the diet wagon, and has been struggling since Easter!! She has been telling me that she’ll ’definitely’ be back on it on Monday….she has been saying that for the past 3 weeks problem is, she gets herself in a state building herself up to it, that she ends up eating twice as much…..! I understand, I hate food wastage, so you end up eating all of the bad things out of the cupboards and fridge in readiness….remind me someone, why do we put ourselves through this??? shouldn’t we just embrace the body God has given us??!!

Sally has, it has to be said, made more of an effort on the exercise front….biking and painting like a woman possessed! as a result she is aching like buggery all over (her words !!!) The dog is a bit miffed as she has to keep moving around the house to avoid the paintbrush…..just the hall and front room left to do, then the whole house has had a makeover need to work on yourself bird oh, that sounded bitchy!

She had a slight misshap on the bike the other day, falling off after hurtling downhill at a rate of knots, trying to avoid an Oriental couple out walking with their dog, she got stuck in a high gear in the process, hit a small dip and landed on the muddy floor, legs akimbo….! It took a while to detangle herself from the brambles, whilst the couple just stood and watched…..bet they had a right laugh at your expense over dinner that night mate!  The scales have been avoided because to counteract the exercise, she has been scoffing sausage sandwiches and quaffing vats of wine. She is now worried that the fat will turn to muscle and she’ll end up looking too “Fatima Whitbreadish” !!

I’ve had a major falling out with my new best friend ‘My Fitness Pal’ and I have to say it was a pretty short lived alliance…..I blame the rain entirely though I couldn’t get outside to do my 5 lots of 20 minute exercise, and frankly when the weather is shite (and it has been MORE than shite!!) I crave comfort food, washed down with wine  with this in mind I have realised that the only hope for me in my quest to lose weight is to move to sunnier climes…..

So, Wayne is now counting down the weeks and is still going all out…..the man is a total Lege!! Only the occasional treat of AN APPLE!!!! He didn’t go for this weeks weigh-in but was down 3lb last week so no doubt he’s still on track for losing his final stone…I was looking at the ACCL website the other day, where Wayne is in a video introducing the company, it’s hard to believe it’s the same guy….

Well girls, we have 4 weeks to join forces and give the Connors a run for his money….we can’t just take this lying down – unless we are being hand fed grapes and intraveously given wine

Wi-Fi Has Its Pluses and Minuses Over Copper

The Wi-Fi standard of network connectivity/communication is governed by the  802 working group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE  802). Wi-Fi allows users to access your company or home network wirelessly.  Before the implementation of Wi-Fi, the only way to connect to a network was by  using copper wires. There are a variety of benefits and hazards that must be  considered before rolling out full wireless network access.

Plus: Enhanced Mobility

Laptop and notebook computers allow users to move around easily. Add in a  Wi-Fi connection, and they can stay connected to the network as long as they  have enough signal strength. This means your users can be online while eating  lunch while enjoying the sunshine outside. It also means that a user can stay  connected while carrying his or her laptop or notebook from the office to the  conference room.

Plus: No Wires to Trip Over or Limit Computer Placement

Wires are hazardous. You can roll over them with your chair and ruin them.  You can trip over them while carrying an arm load of papers from the printer to  your desk. This can be painful and injurious to both people and equipment.  Damaging equipment by yanking a wire caught under your foot is a common  occurrence. Also, using a wireless card in a desktop computer frees you from the  bondage of having to plug into a wall outlet

Plus: Add Users Without Adding Cable Runs

One of the biggest expenses when expanding the size of your network is adding  locations where users can connect to the network. In a network running a  traditional copper infrastructure, this means calling in a contractor to pull  and terminate cables. With a wireless network, it consists of installing a  wireless adapter card in the computer and supplying the user with an access key  and the name of the network being connected to.

Minus: Slower Network Speeds

Networks that are compliant with the latest cabling standard (Category 6/6  Augmented) are capable of transmitting data at speeds up to 10 Gigabit. The  previous standard, Cat 5e, is capable of Gigabit speeds. This is almost ten  times as fast as wireless networks, which are capable of a maximum of 150  Megabits. What this means is that if you will be transferring large data files  over the network, you would be better served by a wired network. However, there  aren’t many network interface controllers in use that are capable of these  speeds yet, especially when it comes to laptop computers.

Minus: Network Security Is Weaker on a Wireless Network

Anyone with a wireless adapter and computer or a Wi-Fi-enabled device, such  as an iPhone, can receive the wireless signal propagated by your network’s  wireless access points and routers. There are ways to enhance the security of a  network based upon wireless technology, but these aren’t fool-proof and can  actually be broken quite easily by someone who has the right knowledge and  desire. Network security in a wired network isn’t bullet-proof, either, but the  tools available much more robust and will keep out all but the most determined  of hackers. Also, they have to breach your security normally from the Internet,  which usually means multiple layers of security. Once the security of a wireless  network has been breached, that person is inside your network with the same  access as an authorized user. Typically, someone breaking in to your network  from the Internet has to breach that security and then be able to breach the  security between subnets as well.

With 25 year experience in putting together structured cabling project cost  for our client’s, Wayne Connors & ACCL offers you a free project cost  estimator download. Paired with our Technical Proposal tender document for Data  Cabling installation eBooks- you can save thousands! All aspects of your next  tender proposal are included.

Thanks for reading our articles and hurry over to get your free project cost  estimator: http://www.accl-ltd.com

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Lets talk Double Dips……again :) !!

Double Dip is trending on Twitter again so I thought I’d repost ACCL’s blog about all those things that we in the office  love to ”double dip”  those things where sometimes one dip just ain’t enough! Here’s our positive take on the Double Dip situation…

Marker Pens……you’ve just gotta sniff that tip….but is once enough or do you go again….consensus in the office is that once is just not enough and the marker pen goes into our little pot of double dip pleasures.

Your toe in the water……hot or cold…once you’ve dipped to see how it feels…..you know you’re gonna go again.

Pringles….once you pop…you can’t stop….enough said !

Rollercoasters……you either love them or you hate them….but once you’ve had that adrenalin rush you are happy to pop yourself back in that queue….aren’t you?

After Eights….no-one has just one!

Sherbert Fountains….oh my goodness…childhood memories come flooding back don’t they.  Dipping into that lovely white powdery fizz…..yup….it’s a double, double dip!

9V batteries…..it’s a bloke and Faye thing …..placing your tongue on the battery and getting a rivet of shock running through you.  Once just isn’t enough. 

Ginger Nuts….. now, I do love to dunk a biscuit into a cuppa, certain biscuits can only be dunked once, like the chocolate digestive, any more and you will end up with a mush at the bottom of the mug, not good! however, the gingernut is a whole different ball game – go on, double dip, I know you will agree

So perhaps we’ve already mentioned your favourite double dip but if not then please feel free to let us know….I, for one need cheering up from all this rain……!

Asbestos – know the enemy within……

Not a company to let the grass grow under our feet, the team at ACCL has recently undergone an Asbestos awareness course, to take into account recent changes made to the health and safety legislation regarding said Asbestos Changes were made because of the European Commissions view that the UK had not fully implemented the EU Directive on exposure to Asbestos (Directive 2000/148/EC) – Is it me or are we always in trouble with the EU??!  The newly updated Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 came into force on 6 April.  So, what does it mean? Basically, when undertaking a job, if asbestos is suspected, checks need to be made! Ultimately it is the responsibilty of whoever has control of the building, it’s their job to convey the risks to the contractor, through a survey or management plan. Any works involving asbestos then need to be notified to the relevant enforcing authority, and brief written records need to be kept. 

Asbestos is nasty…. a fibrous mineral which occurs naturally in the World (showing my ignorance now, I always thought it was man-made…) the fibres are the finest known, a 2cm cube contains 15 million miles of fibres! It was extensively used as a building material for a variety of purposes in the UK from the 1950′s up til the mid-1980′s, being used mainly for fireproofing and insulation, it has it’s good points – heat resistant up to 900˚C and doesn’t burn, it’s a  non-conductor of electricity and is cheap and easy to use, as a result of this, it could be present in any building built or refurbished before 2000, residential or commercial. It is estimated that there is somewhere in the region of 6 million tonnes present in UK buildings. It was banned, finally, in 1999. Inhalation of the fibres can cause serious disease, and apologies, this doesn’t make pleasant reading the 4 main diseases being mesothelioma (an incurable form of cancer) lung cancer (which is nearly always fatal) asbestosis (not always fatal but very debilitating) and diffuse pleural thickening (not fatal) It is the single biggest cause of work related deaths in the UK. It is estimated that around 3000 people die each year from asbestos related diseases, this is expected to reach 10,000 by 2020, by which time it will probably start to decline due to measures taken from the 1980′s onwards.

Asbestos materials in good condition pose no threat (well now, that’s reassuring…!) only becoming dangerous when the particles become airborne, you cannot see or smell asbestos fibres in the air and the effects can take between 5 and 50 years to show up. The problem with asbestos is that the fibres are sharp and strong and do not evaporate in the air or dissolve in water, they can remain suspended in the air for a long period of time and carried long distances. If these fibres are inhaled, they get stuck in the lung, and cannot be broken down by the body….this is the stuff of nightmares  When work is undertaken in a building where you suspect the presence of asbestos, you need to make the appropriate checks.  In many cases even experts fail to recognise it and samples need to be sent to laboratories for analysis. Scary stuff eh? So, if you’re looking to move or refurbish your current premises (or your home for that matter!) make sure you know what you’re dealing with, talk to the professionals…

For further guidance, go to the HSE website :http://www.hse.gov.uk/

Clash of the 2 Tonnes – Week 15………

So, come on then, have you missed me??? not updated you for the last 2 weeks…..did you notice my absence?  actually don’t answer that, I struggle with rejection….!!  I’ve had a busy few weeks, I took a week off to look after my boys over the Easter Holidays  I did think, however, that by leaving it a while I would have more to tell you, thing is 3 weeks actually flew by and not sure that I’ve got that much to say…… !!

Right then, back to the diet…. *rolls eyes to floor, guiltily* I’ve not been very good, if I’m honest, please don’t judge me I will hold my hands up (just don’t look at the bingo wings !) but the fact is we had Easter, what more can I say? I didn’t get given my own Egg *sad face* but the downside (or is that upside??) of having children is that there will always be a chocolate bar within those eggs that they don’t like (in my boys’ case, it’s Snickers) If someone has gone to the trouble of buying an Easter Egg the least you can do is show your appreciation by eating it so maybe Mum helped out…once or twice…..OK a couple more times than that! (would like to ask at this point, have you tried blitzing a Snickers bar in a blender with vanilla ice cream and milk?? OMG!…you HAVE to try it..even better if you plonk some squirty cream on top….  probably best not to try if you’re attempting to lose weight though….. )

I am once again, feeling positive ….I have discovered a fantastic App for the iphone – MyFitnessPal, this is now officially my new best friend…. you basically key in your height and weight, tell it how much you want to lose, in how many weeks and how much exercising you plan to do (I said 20 minutes, 5 times a week – let’s see if I can stick to this, shall we….??)  it then calculates what your daily calorie intake should be. Each day you enter in what you have consumed and the exercise you have done so you can keep tabs on your progress simples!! I would like to add, that within the first couple of days of using the app it became pretty clear to me why I hadn’t managed to lose any weight Long and short of it, I’m a greedy cow….! I’ve been going at least 300 calories over each day but that stops now, oh yes!! Get ready for next week people, I will blow your minds……

Dee too had a great Easter, perhaps a little too good and has managed to gain 3lb !! sorry, I shouldn’t gloat but that did really make me laugh…! Being the ‘Hostess with the Mostest’ that she is, she fed the masses over the Bank Holiday weekend, entertaining her kids plus their other halves, grannies etc…..and as she rightly claims, when feeding the 5,000 it is customary to do this with a glass of wine (or two!) in hand. Entertaining over Easter will also ensure a steady influx of chocolate Eggs, which have to be eaten straightaway (OK, so I made that bit up, but Easter Eggs, in their ridiculously oversized packaging, do take up a lot of room, don’t they??). Her daughter turned 21 last week too, so birthday meals and a trip to the OXO Tower ensures that the weight steadfastly stays, for this week at least

Sally……….what to say ??! *deep sigh* I don’t think she’s taking this seriously TBH, there’s always one…. ! She believes that after the Easter Eatathon she is now assuming the shape of ‘said’ Egg… this is not good and must be addressed!! She has had the bike out once or twice, OK once over the last couple of weeks but is, however having to walk the dog, so it’s not all bad! she is in need of a kick up the jacksey to get remotivated, leave that to me, that’s what I am here for !!

Even Wayne had (temporarily)  fallen off of his very high diet pedestal….a boys golfing weekend saw temptation put well and truly in his way to be fair he did exceptionally well to avoid the treats on offer, opting for salad as opposed to ‘All You Can Eat’ curry buffet…..more than I could have done (I know you’re not surprised by that !!) plus he drank 3 guinesses, unfortunately, as I’ve previously mentioned eating normal foods throws the body out of ketosis, this has caused havoc with his stomach for the past week, but normal service has now been resumed, I’ve been reliably informed :) Since my last entry he has lost a further 7 1/4lb……just 1lb short of 5 stones – incredible!! he is now wearing 34″ waist trousers, it’s costing him a small fortune to keep updating the wardrobe…….! just one more stone and he’ll be happy