Posts

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I (still) miss Jaiku

Jaiku badges
“Jaiku forever” by Ade Oshineye, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

There was a Threads discussion on what was the first social network you were part of. I didn’t participate, but it did get me thinking about my own social network history.

My first experience of an “online” social network was back in the late 1980s when I was at University. A friend of my created something akin to a social network that ran on the VAX system the university had. It was constrained to the university network so could only be accessed whilst on campus.

It was then nearly ten years later, when I went online, that I discovered and used Usenet.

Usenet was (and is) a global, decentralised network of discussion boards called newsgroups. At the time it was very much about discussion, today more about file sharing.

Back then, when you had dial up internet (and was charged per minute) what I did was go online, synchronise my newsgroups, go offline, read and reply, and then go back online and synchronise.

Over the next ten years, that was my primary means for social networking. I did some blogging and using wikis, however what the changed was the launch of micro-blogging services such as Twitter and Jaiku.

I joined Twitter in March 2007 (and quit in September 2023). I also joined Jaiku.

Jaiku was a social networking, micro-blogging and life streaming service, from Finland, comparable to Twitter, founded a month before Twitter.

Where Jaiku won out for many (in the UK) was that you could use SMS to send and receive messages. If you were in the US, you could do that with Twitter, but it was restricted to the US. I also liked the threaded discussions, something that wasn’t available in Twitter for years.

As with many things, Jaiku was bought out by the Google, and closed to sign ups. This did kill Jaiku as you couldn’t build your community, and sustaining was hard, as people would leave to go elsewhere as that was where the community was.

Since then, we’ve had Google Wave, Google Buzz, Google+, and others, we now have Bluesky, Threads, and the hell that is LinkedIn.

Of course, Twitter is for all intents and purposes dead, and though I like Bluesky, I think the insights, joy and experience that I had with Jaiku (and the early days of Twitter) have probably gone for ever.

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Charging at Charlecote Park

I was on my way back from Birmingham and I had time, so stopped to visit Charlecote Park, a country house set in rural parkland near Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.

As with many National Trust properties they have EV Chargepoint chargers available. I plugged the Funky Cat in and let it charge. I went to explore the house and grounds, and have a cup of tea, well an iced coffee, it was a hot day!

When I arrived no one was using the EV chargers, it was a weekday, but even so the car park was quite busy. With EV ownership is on the rise, I wonder why more people don’t take advantage of the charger, it might be the cost, as 60p kWh though cheaper than some, is on the high side for fast 11-22 kWh chargers.

Charging pricing is so varied, but I am guessing part of people not taking advantage of the EV chargers, is people charging (for less) at home. I rarely charge at home and don’t (yet) have an EV charging point installed. My main reason for having one installed is less about saving money, but more for convenience.

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Keep in low gear

from Google Street View

So, the other day I was driving down Porlock Hill in Somerset which is rather steep (20%). As you approach the hill there are some warning signs, one said Try your brakes, fine I can do that. The other said Keep in low gear. However, I was driving down in my EV and realised I really didn’t know what this means when driving an EV. 

The Highway Code isn’t much help, rule 160 says:

select a lower gear before you reach a long downhill slope. This will help to control your speed

The key with travelling in a lower gear, is that engine braking will help slow the car and control the speed.

I know that, but an EV doesn’t have a clutch or a gearbox as a petrol engine car has. I guessed that the regenerative braking (which I have always in strong mode) would do what engine braking did. I do wonder though what would happen if you were at 100% or close to it without regenerative braking, I am guessing then the brakes would have to do all the work, more than they would usually do.

In the end the regenerative braking worked wonders, but even so….

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Charging at Arlington Court

I was visiting Arlington Court in Devon. It took me a while to find the EV chargers, literally drove around the entire car park before I found them. These were the same Chargepoint EV chargers available at other National Trust properties. A simple matter then of plugging in the Funky Cat and using contactless to authenticate and authorise payment. Chargepoint take a hold of £15 which is a lot less than other providers who, from my experience, can sometimes place a hold of £50 on your bank account.

I then left the car to charge and went to enjoy exploring Arlington Court.

When you read social media threads about EVs, often a criticism made about EVs is the time it takes to charge. I often think that criticism is misplaced as people are thinking that charging an EV is like filling a car with petrol. Though there are EV charging stations on major roads and at motorway services, you can often find EV chargers in many other places such as hotels, car parks, theme parks, shopping centres, designer outlets, and National Trust properties.

So, yes you can stop on your journey to charge, but you can also charge when you reach your destination. So, no surprise when visiting Arlington Court in Devon that there were EV chargers available to charge the Funky Cat. I arrived, I charged, I enjoyed my visit, and the Funky Cat was at 100% when I was ready to leave.

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Only 160 miles

Recently charged the Funky Cat to 100% and the predicted range was down to 160 miles.

Lately I have been getting 170 miles when charging. As with all figures like this for the Funky Cat, the predicted range is based on previous driving, and I have (in the main) been commuting to work which includes a section of motorway and a few hills. I also have been using the air conditioning as well.

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MFG to get cheaper for the summer

One of the annoying aspects of owning an electric vehicle is the high cost of rapid charging (more than 50kWh) at charging locations and motorway services.

When I first got the Funky Cat, there were MFG chargers at my local garage, however, it was still a few months until they went live. They were expensive at 79p per kWh, so they were usually my charger of last resort.

However I saw today, in an email,  that for the next three months, they are reducing their prices to 59p per kWh.

From 1 July to 30 September 2026, you can charge for just 59p per kWh at every UK EV Power location – down from 79p per kWh. That’s a saving of 25%, or around £6 on a typical charge.

This makes them comparable to the peak cost of Tesla chargers. This is also a lot cheaper than the cost of the InstaVolt chargers, which I also use, which are now 92p. Hopefully we might see a little more competition in charging pricing.

This 59p price from MFG is available not just with the MFG app, but also with standard contactless payment, which is a bonus.

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Still fixed

I did the fix for my malfunctioning Ora Funky Cat app the other day and today the app is working as expected, reporting on the current charge and predicted range of the Funky Cat. I will keep an eye on it even so.

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Fix for the malfunctioning ORA Funky Cat app

I wrote earlier about an issue I was having with the Ora app.

When I put the Funky Cat on charge this week, the app was showing no change to the charge. Checking the actual car, I could see it was charging. 

Since then I have been unable to see the real charge of the Funky Cat through the app.

I wasn’t alone and on various forums others were having the same problem.

However, there is a possible solution.

Use the app to unlock the car, then refresh the app interface and check whether the data is synchronised. 

If this is the case and it is synchronised then the app now should be working correctly.

I tried this method and it worked for me (and has for others).

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No more Ora

headlight of a red car

Slightly old news, in April GWM announced that the Funky Cat (now known as the Ora 03) is being phased out of UK dealerships after four years. This means that GWM have stopped selling the Ora Funky Cat in the UK Essentially the reason was that it did not sell. In the first three months of 2026 they sold just 26 cars.

I did like the quirky look of the Ora Funky Cat, but that quirkiness obviously did not appeal. I was always thinking about replacing the Funky Cat with the ORA 07. However, that model never made it to the UK market.

My lease for the Funky Cat is ending at the end of July. I was given the option to extend the lease or even purchase the car. I did think about it, however with the dealerships disappearing, and stories about issues with spare parts not being available, the decision was almost made for me. 

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ORA Funky Cat app malfunctioning

I initially thought this was just me.

When I put the Funky Cat on charge this week, the app was showing no change to the charge. Checking the actual car, I could see it was charging. 

Since then I have been unable to see the real charge of the Funky Cat through the app.

Thought this was a fault with my app, but on a few Facebook ORA groups, it looks like I wasn’t alone. Consensus is that this is not a problem with the car or the app, but the servers which facilitate the connection between the app and the car.

Hopefully it will get fixed soon.