Livescribe smartpen – $100 – $150. If you still regularly use a pen or pencil at the office — to take notes, for sketching diagrams — then you should grab a Livescribe smartpen, which automatically digitizes your scriblings and beams them to your computer. Version 3 of the pen ($150) requires an iPhone or iPad; if you’d rather pair it with your Windows or OS X laptop, you’ll need the previous-gen Livescribe Echo ($100). The Livescribe pens also act as an audio recorder/dictaphone, which can be rather handy.
Laser projected keyboard – $100. For around $100, you can now buy a semi-decentprojected virtual Bluetooth keyboard. Just like the early laser keyboards, these newer ones still aren’t all that great — they’re just not that accurate — but they definitely still have theooh cool factor. If you know someone who does a lot of typing on a smartphone or tablet, a projected laser keyboard could be exactly what they need to boost productivity at the office.
Neodymium magnets – $20. Neodymium is a rare earth element that can be used to make incredibly strong permanent magnets — like, so strong that you’ll struggle to pull two quarter-inch neodymium magnets apart. Sadly, ball bearing neodymium magnets are now quite hard to get in the US, but little cube magnets are still easy to obtain on Amazon. If you can find some Buckyballs (the spherical neodymium magnets), they make for a fantastic executive toy — but please, keep them away from kids.
WiFi-enabled coffee maker – $150. If you want to make sure that your coffee is always perfectly fresh when you go to the office kitchen, check out the Mr. Coffee WiFi-enabled coffee machine. It’s essentially just a normal percolator, but with a companion WeMo smartphone app (iOS and Android) that lets you set up a brewing schedule, or to simply turn the machine on remotely.
The Chairless Chair – $???. The Noonee exoskeleton, which attaches to your hips and shoes, allows you to sit down anywhere at any time — just sit back, and the exoskeleton takes the weight. Obviously, this would be amazing for anyone who spends a lot of time standing up at work. Sadly, it isn’t commercially available yet — it’s being trialed by Audi and BMW on its production lines — but it might be available in time for next Christmas.
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