Sunday, April 10, 2011

My new iPad

Apple have sent me an email to say that my new iPad has been despatched, and it now appears to have left Hong Kong, so it should be in my hands on Monday or Tuesday.

I have already sold this iPad to a colleague, and another colleague queued for many hours at the Apple store to buy his. Meanwhile back in the real world I am about to watch the Malaysian Grand Prix, and then get ready for another big week at the office.

Another David Oscarson pen

I had begun to think that my collection of David Oscarson pens would not see any growth for a while whilst I concentrate of building my Faber-Castell collection. So I was really surprised when my eBay automatic alerts notified me this morning that there was a pen going for about 25% less than then usual discount price. I didn't act on it straight away but mulled over it for most of the day. I do believe that the seller made a typo in entering the item, as the price in the text was the normal price, but the official buy it price was much less.

So after about 6 hours of will I or won't I, I did.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Kickstarter

I stumbled upon Kickstater.com a couple of months ago when looking for an iPad accessory. It is site that helps people raise money to undertake their pet projects. These projects cover an amazing range of topics, from making a documentary, to funding a local event, to writing books and to making things.

Kickstarter subscribers can subscribe to projects, and by doing so agree to fund the project in some way. Depending on the funding level the subscriber may get a thank you postcard, or a copy of the final product, or the final product plus an exclusive gift from the maker.

So last night I found two projects worth joining in. The first was for a stylus pen for the iPad. I know do all my writing using a stylus. If you go to the local electronics store they will charge $10 - 15+. You can get the same item via eBay from Hong Kong for $1 with free postage! however these stylus are short and thin and are completely lacking in style. They are so easy to loose to, which is why I ordered twenty from Honkers.

None of the major pen manufacturers have realized that there could be a good market out there for a stylus with style. So they is room for innovation, which is occurring on Kickstarter. So I have committed to buy two.

Then last night I also found another Kickstater project by two young kids developing a full working kit model of a trebuchet. It looked great so I joined that project too! It's called
trebuchette - the snap-together, desktop trebuchet.

So take a look at Kickstarter.com. It's quite and entertaining site even if you don't "invest".