Office MacGyver: need a quick charge?

While on a recent business trip that ran a little longer than expected, I realized my charger was sitting back at the home office as my BlackBerry’s battery was dwindling to nothingness. Not able to find a way to charge it – and not able to find a spare charger using the ‘hotel lost and found trick’ – I stumbled across a neat solution at a nearby Brookstone store.

 

Their Instant Cell Phone Charger ($20 USD) uses an AA battery to give your phone a little extra juice to make a 30-minute call or keep it running for a few hours more. This small device (about the size of a small flashlight or lipstick tube) comes with a number of adapters that not only fit BlackBerry phones, but Nokia, Motorola, and Samsung phones, too.

I’m keeping mine permanently tucked into my laptop bag to make sure I never leave home without it.

UPDATE (02/17/09): It seems that Brookstone is no longer carrying this specific item, but you can find one at Amazon (click here) for a little over $16 USD.

Office MacGyver – Turn your homepage into a reminder:

I don’t know how many times a day I run my browser and Google something work-related, check the headlines, or use an online thesaurus, but it’s at least once an hour, if not more often. That said, it only makes sense to turn your homepage (the first thing you see when you launch your browser) into a reminder.

While Google has been my homepage for the longest time, I have been giving Sticky Screen a try for the last few days. This website (created by art director/designer Jack Cheng) allows you to type a reminder into a virtual, yellow Post-It Note-like note that greets you (and only you) every time you launch your browser, and edit it before you visit another website.

On the downside, the information is saved as a cookie file, so you’ll have to make sure your browser isn’t set up to delete these when you end your web surfing session. Also, the space you have available on this sticky is on the tiny side and fits about 10 to 12 words, so don’t expect to use it for a detailed to-do list.

Shopping for shipping:

If you’ve ever had to ship boxes filled with paper surveys, reams of cross tabulations, or even a couple of focus group videotapes, and have wondered if you could be getting a better price, here are a few websites that help you do just that.

iShip lets you quickly price the cost of shipping letters and packages anywhere in the world, and compares rates between services such as the United States Postal Service, FedEx and UPS. They also offer a number of shipping solutions should you want to go beyond the free service available on their website.

However, not all shipping companies show up in their comparative quotes, as the location you are shipping from and to, and the speed with which you plan to ship your package, affects who can do the job for you. One recent test offered me a choice between DHL, UPS, and the USPS only.

Meanwhile, Red Roller does pretty much the same thing, but also pulls in rates from Eastern Connection and OverniteExpress, in addition to the major courier companies.

And while this service is limited to the continental USA for the time being, it does offer more than a dozen shipping options which are sorted by price and your delivery date, and has a very clean user interface.

A new use for broken cables?

Why would someone plug a seemingly broken USB wire into their computer?

Believe it or not, this attention-grabbing conversation starter is actually a practical peripheral created by someone with a whimsical spirit.

Any guesses?

It’s actually a one GB USB flash drive that only looks like a frayed wire but secretly contains a number of important documents and the like. Its creator, who goes by the name Windell from EvilMadScientist Labs, shows you how you can make one yourself in this nifty step-by-step guide.

Make a bigger whiteboard:

If you like to use a whiteboard to map out ideas, plan projects or keep track of your to-do list, and just haven’t found one big enough to hold all your thoughts and ideas, you might want to look into Rust-Oleum’s practical product line.

This Vernon Hills, Illinois company not only makes dry erase whiteboard paint that can turn an entire wall into one giant whiteboard, but also makes chalkboard paint in green and black, and manufactures a magnetic latex primer that you can use behind both of these products to make your new whiteboard wall magnetic.

You can find their products at Ace Hardware and Target online, and at a number of hardware stores.