Huh? Did I just move backwards in terms of technology, or is there a counter-intuitive reason that actually makes this a practical way of moving forwards?With the wonderfully advanced smart phone it consumed more time in configuring, and having a large feature set meant it wasn’t specifically designed to be the best at any of those features. It could do them, but when an emergency arose and it needed to do them quickly and perfectly it often disappointed.

High technology doesn’t always equate with being highly useful.

After some research I set upon acquiring an old 8300 series Blackberry. The keyboard and usability of the device is fantastic, even better than the later models. For example, putting on number lock by pressing the shift and alt key together is almost impossible to do when typing with one hand on the newer models. It focusses on the core activities of being a phone with good personal digital assistant (PDA) support.

It is to a to-do list what a grid is to design.

Highly integrated with the Blackberry device, ToDoMatrix from REXwireless offers increased productivity from a David Allen GTD and Covey based application.
It works on the premise that your input recording device should always be at hand no matter where you are. If using your PC, you may not always have it booted up at the time you need to record an input item. Utilising the mobility of the phone, combined with its flexibility and additional feature set of calendar/ email it allows for greatly enhanced work-flows. It is to a to-do list what a grid is to design.

For example it is possible to assign tasks to delegates and email the task to them, or inject into the to-do list for calendar an email for timely action in the future.

What? How can a dead battery power something?

A ‘dead’ battery can be hooked up to a Light Emitting Diode (LED) through a simple circuit to provide many hours of useful light. Such a light is very useful for a night light, and can run for days (yes, for days!) from an apparently ‘dead’ battery.

This device is commonly called a Joule Thief, as it extracts the last remaining joules of energy from the ‘dead’ battery. The following vid from Makezine shows how it’s done.

Make a Joule Thief

I’ve created a variation that houses the whole circuit inside tiny torch bulb. A normal filament torch bulb is removed from the screw in base, and replaced with an LED and circuit to make a Joule Thief. The beauty is that it can be used as a bulb replacement for standard torches. The result? Much better light efficiency, and far longer run times.

Help save the planet’s resources use a Joule Thief!