SimonWaldman.net

Just read in Business 2.0 about powercast who have a working system that allows you to transmit electricity through the air to power up small devices (lighting, mobiles etc). Yes please.

Phone Director
I read about this ages and ages ago at Giga Om, and have now been using it for a while. Anyone with a mac and a (non-symbian) mobile should use this - a great way of connecting the two.

OperaMini
Yes, I’m way behind on this. But (thanks to PhoneDirector) I’ve managed to install it onto my Nokia 6233…and I’m frankly wondering how anyone puts up with their crappy mobile browsers. For those who are interested - OperaMini and some very handy free java apps can be found here (all legit, I believe)

EditGrid
An online spreadsheet that is, apparently, superior to Google Spreadsheets (comparison here). I don’t buy the whole web office thing (well not till everyone sorts out offline working) but this might come in handy for some non-confidential work stuff. And - it just works rather well.

PBWiki’s Wysiwyg editing
I dont’ think they’ve opened this up to everyone yet (I have two accounts on their an I’ve only had an invite for the older one). We used PBWiki for a group conference, and it really worked. Wysiwyg editing, and the ability to bring in plug-ins makes it just that little bit neater.

Levenger 3 x 5 card bleecher
An indulgence? Hell yes. But who can resist having a lovely array of 3 x 5 cards on your desk in a swanky slab of wood. Just looking at it makes me feel organised.

Actiontastic
GTD task management in its purest form on the Mac. I lost a lot of data on an earlier beta, so went off it for a while, but [next sentence not relevant for non-mac, non-gtd ers] the sync with Quicksilver and iCal and the inbox processing system are very neat [But if I could just have a print view of all actions either sorted by project or context, I would be in heaven]

Game House: Scrabble
The perfect end of day treat on the train. And available for instant download and purchase for a Mac. I don’t completely agree with the dictionary…and I think it’s US rather than International, but the functionality is brilliant. I’m doing a pretty good job of beating it on ‘Smart’ level under competition conditions - but Elite whips me every time..and I dread to think how I’d do against ‘Master or ‘Genius’.

This actually arrived at work a few months ago, but I wasn’t able to use it because of our firewall and I thought it was going to end up in my gadget graveyeard. However, with a wi-fi network now safely installed at home, I plugged it in..and, unbelievable…it worked out the box.
And it is brilliant. It’s not just that I can access any internet radio station in the world. But best of all, I can get any BBC programme whenever I want. No more missed Archers omnibuses. It’s the News Quiz on a Sunday morning. Quite fantastic. There are probably some serious points to be made about the future of radio etc etc, but you can work that out when you get your hands on one yourself.
Oh, and it acts as a music player if you have an iTunes library on your network (although it doesn’t play anything you’ve bought off iTunes…grrrr).

I’ve been waiting for my new Brompton about as long as I’ve been waiting for my home broadband connection (four months, to be precise).

I ordered it on one of the hottest days of the year, and collected it today in a complete downpour. Still, it survived it’s first ride from the office to Waterloo in the pouring rain.

I never thought I’d be a Brompton rider, but once I started commuting there was no alternative (well, yes, there was..but they were all a little too fiddly or time consuming for my liking).

My first one was bought on eBay. There is nothing wrong with it - except I needed a few more gears to deal with some of the Surrey hills, and a little less heft was only going to help as I hiked it on and off the train every day. So, this one has titanium everywhere, ultralight everything and, if I’m honest - cost more than the car I throw it in the back of.

So why did I have to wait four months for it? Because there was such huge demand during the summer, and I wanted to have normal handlebars on the ultra-light frame - which is basically a custom build (I feel I might as well have ordered a Morgan for the time it took).
My fear is that Brompton (who manufactur everything in the UK) eventually get taken out of the market by japanese imports..rather like our motorbike industry. My tip - if you fancy one for the summer, buy one now (most places have got them in stock).

Oh, and I recommend Bikefix on Lamb’s Conduit Street.

The number of gadgets and gizmos that have caught my eye and arrived in the post only to be remain completely unused, is quite frankly embarrassing, and a spectacular waste of natural resources.

The Jimi wallet, however has proved to be one of my best buys ever.

I am veteran wallet-loser. Not only that, but I also lose things like security cards, season tickets etc with embarrassing regularity. And, in my pre-jimi world my Wallet quickly became a three-inch thick wedge of receipts and general rubbish (wallet litter as they call it on the spy programmes).

So, one day I saw the Jimi on Gizmodo or Engadget..yes, of course I had to have it, but would this be another candidate for the gadget graveyard?

Here I am, five months in and I still haven’t lost it.

First it’s tied to my belt loops (a bit geeky but the benefits outweigh the lack of cool) so I dont’ put it down and forget where it is (used to do that all the time).

It’s also see through, so I can keep my season ticket on the outside, and security swipe cards (and Oyster cards) work from inside it…so everything is in one neat bundle..

Oh, and I’ve also stopped carrying quite so much crap around. Bit of cash, the cards I actually need (National Trust membership card? err, not really necessary today, thanks), and I can just squeeze in a few receipts, but they get offloaded quickly rather than carried around for a couple of years.

I realise that having written this, I will now probably lose it within a day..but so far, so good.

I’m surprised anyone still talks about ‘killer’ technologies these days, but this ‘listen to radio on your phone, click to download (£1.25!!!) and get a copy on your phone and PC sounds interesting…for non-iPod users at least..

But, I’m not entirely convinced about a system that relies (for now at least) on pre-pay. And wonder how it’s going to get onto handsets?