Gadget Guru’s magic box

A number of you – the specific number being one – have written to Guru to complain about his prescient promotion of fidget gadgets a number of months ago. Let it be made clear: while GaGu is amused that he was ahead of the curve on the practical benefits of the newest irritating kid-magnet, he takes no responsibility for the recent explosion of tweenage fingerfiddlers. Besides, Guru’s brood has already tossed theirs into the box full of yo-yos and Pogs ready for the next craze to hit. What’ll it be? GaGu’s money is on a resurgence of battling spinning tops – invest in illegal Beyblades today! Following a regrettable incident which combined a loose pocket, Guru’s high-end Bluetooth ear buds and a busy road, GaGu has been forced to seek replacement aural companions. Working on a delicate budget – your correspondent is a ‘bloody idiot’ according to his cashholding superiors – he’s plunked down £19.99 on Amazon’s top seller, the

TaoTronics

TT-BH07. No blow-away audio, for sure, but absolutely acceptable, with decent battery life, a mic that works and a Bluetooth connection that, alarmingly, far surpasses that of his old headset. Critically, given the crushing accident that befell Guru’s last set, they have magnets in the rear of each earpiece that clasp them firmly around the neck when not being used, and hooks that even fit the mangled nest of cartilage that makes up GaGu’s lugs.

While his ear bud choices were closely monitored, Guru’s financial lifestyle has been quietly enlivened this month by the arrival of a neon-orange Monzo – neé Mondo – card, essentially a pre-paid Mastercard with an absolutely awesome app. A measly £100 transfer gets it going, and then you’ve got a good little contactless spending money pot, with the right tools to manage it – just don’t tell Mrs Guru about GaGu’s secret Freddo habit.