Travel agents enjoy homeworking

According to Travel Daily News, travel agents are moving increasingly towards working from home rather than traditional offices. Research from Future Travel shows that 39% of those switiching cited childcare responsibilities as an important factor, 22% saw an opportunity to earn more money, and 14% simply wanted to change from working in a branch.

The Shed - issue 7 now out

The first birthday issue of The Shed magazine - the indispensable (and free) pdf lifestyle magazine for all shedworkers and those who work in shedlike atmospheres is now out. Features include: how to feng shui your shed/garden office; campaigning to keep local communities alive; homeworking from a solardome; poetry from the Shedman; a new cartoon from the talented Felix Bennett; our regular Shedfood and No Shed Is Complete Without columns; and a competition to win a hamper full of tasty goodies in time for Christmas. If you'd like to receive a copy please email me here.

GoPod mobile office (now known as Macropod)

Nothing to do with playing MP3s, the Go-Pod is (according to the manufacturers) "a 21st Century solution to the increasingly fluid working practices of modern life". Essentially it's a mobile shed or garden office. You can close it up nice and small, but with its walls outstretched it is a one-stop homeworking-shop with ergonomic chair, filing facilities, height-adjustable computer area, lights, storage and even something to shred your documents. Take at look at the Go-Pod web site for more info.

Homeworking headphones

Today's issue of The Guardian has a piece about headphones to use with your computer in their Business Sense pullout. Their suggestion for the home worker is the Jabra BT620s. "These are elegant headphones," says writer Guy Clapperton, "for anyone who wants to listen to music yet still be alerted whenever their IP phone or mobile goes off. The sound quality is excellent for the size of phones and they're comfortable to use - although they're not adjustable. The concealed microphone is a nice touch as long as your needs are relatively simple. Making calls is fine, but for podcasting you'd need to spend more money...For the mobile user who wants the option of automatic call alerts while listening to music, this is an excellent option."

As I type, it's not up on their website but if you click the above link the whole article should be in the next day or two with all the other recommendations for executives, travellers, etc. More about the Jabra's range at their website here.

List of Garden Office/shed suppliers in USA

In the lefthand column, I've just put up a list of the garden office/'shed' suppliers in the USA which I've come across during my initial research. Please do let me know of any more you know about. As with the UK suppliers, I'll feature them one by one each week. Next project will be Australia...

Shed/garden office planning permission

Whether you need planning permission for your garden office is always a murky area (see previous posts). A recent example as reported on icberkshire.co.uk under the headline Shock as shed is deemed 'harmful' to area's character tells the story of industrial engineer Mike Howard who "was shocked when he was told he needed planning permission for his garden shed" which he uses as an office, store and playroom and now faces the possibility of being forced to pull down the structure worth around £2,500

He said: "I had no idea we needed planning permission. There are other sheds and structures just as large here and they haven't had planning permission. But it seems it is all right until someone complains, and in my case someone did."

Mike's appeal against West Berkshire Council's refusal to give him permission for the shed was turned down - the ruling said the shed/office was built part way up the sloping garden which "gives it a dominant and dis-proportionate appearance" which harmed the character and appearance of the area.

Mike's resonse? "I am not letting it rest here. Apparently development rights on this estate were withdrawn and this is buried in a document dating back to 1990. I will be taking the matter up with my solicitors and the council to see what can be done to avoid having to take the shed down. Surely it is everyone's right to have a garden shed?"

Wi-fi homeworking - health hazard?

I've just gone wireless in my shed/garden office and have been childishly excited about the prospect of teleworking from my sofa (and a friend of mine tells me her husband has taken to working wirelessly from the toilet instead of taking the newspaper in with him). So far it's worked marvellously well (I'm on a BT Home Hub network) but another friend raised the question this morning of possible wi-fi health hazards. The issue was covered briefly earlier this week in The Times and there's a nice round-up piece with links to other articles at Wi-Fi Networking News.