Technabob » office

Osca Task Chair Encourages Chair Fidgeters

Hazel Chua — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 13:00:27 +0000

True story: I was hard at work studying for my exams when I decided to take a quick breather to stretch my arms and my legs. What happened next was far from what a breather is supposed to be: I made my chair lose its balance (there’s no other way to put it), my chair toppled over, and I ended up embarrassed (and slightly hurt) on the floor.

I got back on my chair and continued studying as my sister roared with laughter (after checking to make sure I was okay, of course.) Since then, I’ve always stood when I needed to stretch and have been a lot more mindful of my sitting position after that.

One chair that you can sit on and feel completely at ease, though, is the Osca Task Chair. It was especially designed for people who move around a lot, even when they’re seated.

The secret to the stability of the chair is in its flexible rocking base, which allows for a range of movement without fear of toppling over. The actual seat of the chair has also been designed ergonomically to make sitting in it comfortable while not skipping out on the aesthetics.

The chair would easily snap together using a wooden seat and flexible base, and even would allow you to change its upholstery simply by snapping new modules on – held in place by strong rare-earth magnets.

The Osca Task Chair is a concept design by Jessica Cassar that I’d really like to see get commercially made.

[via Yanko Design]

Lexon Maizy Desk Accessories: Stylish Gear for Your Workstation

Range — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 17:00:57 +0000

While geeky stuff for your cubicle can be fun, there’s no denying that a bit of style goes a long way to make your workstation look good. Check out these stylish and minimal Maizy desk accessories.

These office supplies were created by the Spalvieri/Del Ciotto studio for Lexon. All of these creations are sustainable and are powered by photovoltaic cells. When that’s not enough, they include rechargeable batteries. They are made out of corn plastic, which is eco-friendly and has a unique feel. Even the color scheme is geared to sustainability, as it’s white with green accents.

The Maizy collection includes a radio, LED flashlight, analog and digital alarm clocks and two calculators. Lexon doesn’t advertise retail prices on their wholesale website, but I imagine they’ll be reasonably priced when they hit stores.

[via Moco LoCo]

Keyboard Stationery Set Might Confuse Touch Typists

Technabob — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 19:00:30 +0000

I’ve been using a keyboard for so long that I rarely look down at the keys anymore. The only time I’ve really had to adjust was going from my old PC keyboard to the flat and slightly different layout of my Mac’s keyboard – oh and when I used a netbook with its awful 95% actual size keys. But if I were to add one of these desk sets alongside my keyboard, it might keep my fingers on their toes. (Yes, I meant to say that.)

This Keyboard Stationery Set adds a few new tools to your desktop arsenal, including a mini-stapler (guaranteed to staple at least one sheet of paper together,) a hole punch (just need two more and they’ll actually be useful,) a brush (for getting Dorito crumbs out from your keys,) and magnetic storage for your paper clips (and erasing any credit cards or old floppies you have lying around.)

While three of the tools are appropriately labeled, the paper clip storage is quizzically identified as an “Enter” key, which should definitely keep things interesting if you place it in close proximity to your real keyboard.

The set is available in the familiar black or white keycap colors, but also an girly pink version too – presumably for those of you out there with Hello Kitty keyboards. You can find the black or white versions over at Kleargear for $11.95(USD), while PandaWill carries all three versions for just $8 – however, they will pick your color at random, so you may or may not end up with a pink one. Oh, and if you prefer grey, head over to mimoco. Why can’t one place just sell all of these again?

[via Mr. Gomulsang]

Lord of the Rings You Shall Not Pass Stamp: G+ for Gandalf

Lambert Varias — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 21:00:16 +0000

This hilarious self-inking stamp is a great accessory for teachers. It puts a dash of humor to an otherwise sorry state of affairs – a failing grade.

Of course if you’re the Balrog to your teacher’s Gandalf this would just be rubbing salt in your wounds. At least he didn’t scream it to your face and then destroy the very ground you were standing on, sending you to your demise.

You can get the You Shall Not Pass stamp for $10(USD) from Etsy seller Grey Skies Eternal.

[via Super Punch via Nerd Approved]

DESKSHELL: Privacy in a Half-Shell

Range — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 19:00:05 +0000

Have you ever wanted privacy while working in an open office space? Don’t have enough space to go all-out and install one of those Tetra-Sheds? Then check out the DESKSHELL which hides away your private work (and social networking and Solitaire playing) from your coworkers.

The turtle-like DESKSHELL was created by the design studio Kawamura-Ganjavian. They designed it in response to more and more offices opting for open office space, which clearly has reduced privacy. The shell is made out of sound-absorbing materials, so that you can ruminate in peace.

It might make you look a bit loony, but that being said, it can be handy when you want to work undisturbed for a while, and concentrate at the task at hand.

Of course, if you’ve ever been caught watching porn or are a compulsive Facebooker, your boss will probably think twice before approving this, though.

[via designboom]

Twelve South HoverBar Floats Your iPad 2 to Just the Right Spot

Range — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:00:05 +0000

This new functional stand by Twelve South will allow you to prop up your iPad 2 right toward your perfect viewing spot, wherever you need it. While it’s clear the HoverBar is aimed at your home office or kitchen, I can see many people wanting to try it in the bathroom or bedroom too.

The HoverBar is constructed out of flexible steel and you can attach it onto any surface up to 1″ thick, thanks to its clamp mechanism. It can even be tilted, so that the height and position can be adjusted to the right angle.

The cool thing is that it can also let you affix your iPad to your Apple Cinema Display or iMac (or probably other monitors as well), and with the proper app installed, you can even use it as an secondary monitor for your Mac or PC. The HoverBar sells for $79.99(USD) over at Twelve South.

[via Blessthisstuff via Swagfresh]

Lexon MINITOTEM: All Your Office Necessities in One Stack

Range — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:30:05 +0000

My desk is a mess, and it will probably stay a mess for a long time unless I get really harsh on the way that I store my office supplies. If you’re like me, then you’ll probably need something like this. This handy little tower that combines all of the necessities anyone would need to work in their office.

Designed by Damian Evans, Lexon’s MINITOTEM is a minimalistic tower-shaped solution to declutter your office. It combines essential office accessories, all neatly stacked up in one place. Inside the MINITOTEM, you’ll get a tape dispenser, containers for pens and paperclips, USB hub, and a clock. In addition to the green, black and red designs shown here, it’s also available in white.

There’s no pricing listed on the website at this point, but it’s probably not that expensive and it definitely looks like an interesting addition to any cluttered workspace. Keep an eye out on the LEXON design store if you’re interested.

[via NOTCOT]

Dotz Cord Identifiers: The OCD Gadget Lover’s Dream Accessory

Lambert Varias — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:00:36 +0000

There are lots of ways of tagging or marking cords and cables, but if you’re looking for a tidy solution, Dotz – a company that makes nothing but cord management products – has a product for you. Their Cord Identifiers come with icons of common gadgets and appliances.

How about all those different appliances with the exact same power cord? How believable. Still, the picture does drive home the point of the accessory.

Each set comes with 10 multi-colored detachable plastic identifiers, along with 24 icons and 12 blank sheets so you can make your own icons. There are also specialized sets available, like one that has more icons for gaming devices and one for home entertainment setups.

Dotz Cord Identifiers are available on Amazon for $6 (USD). Head to Dotz’ website to check out their other cord management products.

[via GadgetGrid]

Darth Vader’s Day at the Office

Range — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:00:30 +0000

If there’s anything that you get from Star Wars, is that Darth Vader was a pretty messed up dude. That didn’t stop Jim Alley from creating this quirky scene, which imagines how Darth Vader’s life could have been like if he wouldn’t have been so taken with the Dark Side of the Force, and settled down and got a “real job” instead.

While Darth Vader might not really work amongst us, it’s funny to think of a dark lord of the Sith just going about his day, taking some calls and having a cup of joe. One can only assume he’s talking to Luke or Leia on the phone – probably asking the kids what they want for dinner tonight.

[via Jay Mug]

Tetra-Shed Cubicles: For a Totally Out-of-this-Office Experience

Hazel Chua — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:00:28 +0000

Bored at work? Wish there was something you could do to transform your office space into something more fun, interesting, and conducive to work? Then get yourself a Tetra Shed!

This ultra-cool office cubicle was designed by London’s David Ajasa-Adekunle of the Innovation Imperative studio. It was designed to be an extremely, well, different kind of workspace either for your home or for your office. Each self-contained workpod can be opened or closed to increase privacy or to let the light in.

But let’s face it, unless you’re your own boss, I doubt you’ll be able to secure permission to haul in your own cubicle, especially for something that looks like it’s going to be taking up a whole lot of space – thought it does look like they’ll be able to closely interlock if you convince your company to replace all their cubicles with them.

That said, Tetra Shed is a futuristic office cubicle that will be made available to the eager working public early next year. What do you think?

[via Dvice]

Efi Office Space Divider Gives You Privacy, While Making You Look Like a Nut

Hazel Chua — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:00:20 +0000

There are days when I wake up and just wish I could lie in my bed and go back to sleep. But being the “responsible” adult that I am (and because of the bills that come like clockwork every month), I force myself to lug myself out from under the covers and go to work.

But that doesn’t mean I’m going to be in the mood to be all nice and hyper to my colleagues and co-workers, some of who just happen to rub off on me the wrong way. So when you happen to be in a crappy mood, you can pull down designer Mathieu Servais’ Efi Office Space Divider to cover your head and get you some much-desired privacy.

..But did I mention that you’ll probably look like and be labeled as a freak when you do? I mean, it’s a fun concept, no doubt about that. Pretty similar to the Privacy Shell, if you think about it. But would you really want to have something constructed from acoustic foam shielding you from the outside world?

It doesn’t completely cut you off, though, because it comes with some online service that will display notifications from your email or social networking accounts on the inside.

[via Yanko Design]

Japanese Robot Helps Humans Clean Offices, No Overtime Needed

Conner Flynn — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:30:09 +0000

Japan’s Fuji Heavy Industries and Sumitomo have developed a robot that can help human workers clean offices. As a bonus it won’t judge what it saw you doing with your secretary and it won’t comment on that guy drinking himself senseless after hours.

This robot is a follow up to a previous model that the two companies unveiled ten years ago, which was pretty basic. This new version can navigate around desks, office equipment and other obstacles. It’s battery-powered and can move around at 30 meters per minute.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Other features include a laser range finder which it uses to be polite. For example, before bumping into an obstacle or a human, it will say “Please get out of the way, I am cleaning this room!” Okay, so it doesn’t sound very polite, but at least it is trying. If there is no response or movement for 15 seconds, the robot will move around the obstacle and continue to do its job.

I can see office workers having a lot of fun with this ‘bot, dressing it up and hazing the hell out of it.

[robonable (JP) via TechCrunch]

Star Wars Gomu Erasers: for the Rebels Who Still Use Pencils (and Paper)

Lambert Varias — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:00:33 +0000

I honestly can’t remember the last time I used a pencil, but if you’re still using those sticks of dead things to write on sheets of dead trees, you can correct your mistakes with the help of the Force. The force of your own hand and these officially licensed Star Wars erasers.

Made by collectible eraser maker Gomu, the set is made of 8 erasers, “including five that aren’t found anywhere else.” Of course they don’t mention which of those five are the rare ones, which will keep me up all night. Meh, it’s probably the four lightsabers plus the X-Wing. Or one of the lightsabers plus the other four. No wait. Seriously which of these are the rare ones?!

The set also comes with a 13″ lightsaber box. I agree – it makes no sense, and yet the thing exists:

You can order the Gomu Star Wars Eraserland collection from ThinkGeek for $15 (USD). I hope a list identifying which of these are the rare ones is included.

[via Coolest Gadgets]

Brick-Built Nameplates: Assemble Your Name with LEGOs

Lambert Varias — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:21:17 +0000

Nameplates are meant to convey that someone is important enough to warrant a nameplate. But if you’d rather be known for being whimsical or creative, or if you just want to celebrate and flaunt your love of LEGO to the world, then ditch the wood and brass and go for a Brick-Built Nameplate.

As you can see, the nameplate is completely made of LEGO bricks. To order, go to their website, enter what you want to appear on the nameplate and then choose a color scheme. You’ll be sent all of the necessary LEGO parts along with a CD containing build instructions. Yep – you have to assemble the nameplate yourself. Because putting it together is part of the fun!

Each nameplate costs about $20 (USD) plus $10 per character, spaces included. Yeah, kinda expensive, but then again it is quite unique. Plus founder Eli Carter himself wrote the software that creates the model and instructions. I think a more legitimate complaint would be the lack of more… attractive color schemes. Check out Brick-Built Nameplate’s website to see what I mean.

[via Brothers Brick]

HardlyWork.in: Make Your Facebook Feed Look Like an Excel Spreadsheet

Range — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 13:39:40 +0000

Do you work in an office that still allows you to access Facebook? If you do, then check out this awesome stealth way of looking up on your news feed. It makes your feed look like an Excel spreadsheet. Now that’s stealthy, thanks to HardlyWork.in!

HardlyWork.in reformats your Facebook feed into something inconspicuous, which is a must if you spend time working in an office. I remember those days. While you certainly don’t need to waste all of your time, you can check up on what’s happening without getting hassled by nosy coworkers and annoying bosses.

One thing’s for sure, it will allow you to look productive and professional even when you’re checking up on what your friends are doing. It’s even a good idea for bosses. You wouldn’t want your underlings seeing what you’ve been up to over the weekend.

[HardlyWork.in via Lifehacker]

Spell It Out With Tabisso’s Typographic Lounge Furniture

Hazel Chua — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 11:30:46 +0000

The way I see it, nothing beats having furniture that is not only comfortable and functional, but also adds to the aesthetics and identity of your home or office.

You might remember those Binary Chairs by BRC, which looked extremely cool but pretty darned uncomfortable. That’s where Tabisso’s Typographic Lounge Furniture and Lamps gets a leg up, because although the design is relatively simple, the things that you can do with them are endless.

These would definitely be chairs that will turn heads. Aside from looking like giant alphabet marshmallows, these lounge chairs look so comfortable at the same time.

The best part is that you can spell out anything you please with them, which is kind of the whole point of this line of furniture. Do you own a yoga place? No problemo.

Each of these pieces are made in France and prices are subject to individual quotes. Only one font face is available, although you can customize each of these aspects for your own chairs: the type of upholstery, the wooden shell, and the footing. If you’re interested, you can check out Tabisso’s website for more information.

[via Design Blog via Oh Gizmo!]

Kee Desk Phone Dock for iPhone Finally Ships

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:15:04 +0000

About a year ago, we looked at a cool dock for your iPhone to use at a desk called the Desk Phone Dock. If you liked the looks of that thing you may have been wondering what happened to it. What the delay was, we don’t know, but what we do know is that the thing is finally ready to ship.

The Desk Phone Dock is offered by KEE Utility and it will sell for about $149 (USD). The thing has a dock for your iPhone that will charge it and keep it nearby. The dock has a handset attached like a normal office phone that you can use when you need privacy for a conversation.

It also has a speakerphone integrated so you can talk when you don’t want to hold the handset. I like the idea of a speakerphone better because Bluetooth always seems to act up in the middle of a call for me. The dock also has stereo speakers so you can use it to listen to your tunes as well.

[via CNET]

Post-It Printer Concept: If You’re Forgetful and Lazy

Lambert Varias — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 12:29:10 +0000

…or if like me you have bad handwriting. Dongyeon Kim’s Take-it Post-it Printer concept syncs with both PCs and mobile devices and would print on Post-it sticky Notes. It also doubles as a container for Post-it Notes, so you can still tear off a piece and write a note manually.

It would be nice if you could program the device to print notes at preset times and dates so you won’t even have to remember to make notes. Unless of course you make a note to remind yourself to make a note.

[via Yanko Design]

GameCube Desktop Organizers Would Only Be Better If They Still Played Super Smash Brothers Melee

Technabob — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 16:04:12 +0000

If you’re like me, your old Nintendo GameCube is either gathering dust in a closet somewhere, or you’ve eBayed it by now. But there is one other thing you could do with your GameCube – turn it into a desktop organizer.

Actually, turning your GameCube into a desktop caddy is a task best left to the pros, like Etsy seller GreenCüb, whose tagline is simply “Office Supplies Made from Recycled Video Game Systems”. At this point the only said office supply is their GameCube caddy, which offers ample storage for your paperclips, pushpins, pens and other desktop doo-dads.

Each organizer is made from an actual (broken) GameCube, and features a handy metal tray in place of the disc drive, a pull-out drawer where the controllers once plugged in, a magnetic paperclip caddy on the vent holes, and pen/pencil holes in place of the Power and Reset buttons. There’s even a little shelf on back for storing your iPhone or other compact gadget too.

Sure, I suppose you could try and do this yourself, but I’d suggest that you head on over to GreenCüb’s Etsy shop and just buy one ready-made. Prices range from $39 to $49 (USD), depending on the particular GameCube model you want.

Swingline Stack-and-Shred Shreds 100 Pages of TPS Reports, Staples and All

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:33:06 +0000

You have to be a real geek to get excited about a shredder. Back when I had a “real job,” I used to shred all sorts of stuff, not because it needed to be shredded, but just because I hated that place and imagining it was the bosses tie (still attached to his neck) getting chopped up made me feel better about working for such douchebags. I could shred a few paperclips and staples in that thing before it jammed and I had to sneak away.

Swingline has a new shredder called the Stack-and-Shred that will go perfectly with that red stapler and your TPS Reports. The thing has a top that opens and you can put 100 pages in the hopper to shred complete with staples and paperclips. It will also shred credit cards, but I wonder if CDs can be shredded.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

It uses a crosscut confetti shred patter for security and the bin holds up to five gallons of paper and metal shards. I would really like to shred my wife’s credit card. I so need one of these. You can buy one for about $250 right now.