Steve Bass's Home Office: More Hot Gifts for a Cool Home Office
Proper attire, cable uncluttering, slick storage.Steve Bass
Need some ideas for holiday shopping? Step up to the counter, guys and gals, and take a look at my collection of gizmos and gadgets. Here I present short takes of products that can boost your home office productivity, as well as frivolous things for your boss, spouse, and kids. If you missed last week's compilation, check out "Hot Gifts for a Cool Home Office."
PC Chic Fashion Statement
"You? Ranting about a piece of clothing?!" That was my nonplussed wife, watching me show off a Scott E-Vest to a PC buddy. I was unzipping and popping open the vest's 15 pockets, ripping open flaps, and unhiding hidden compartments. Silly as it sounds, I've been wearing the Scott E-Vest for a week and love it.
Unlike the typical fisherman/photographer's vest I've seen at sporting good stores, the Scott E-Vest is for PC people. Check out this photo of a user group member with his embarrassingly old-fashioned vest. And no, don't ask; he wants anonymity.
The E-Vest's cool because I can tuck my pager, a cell phone, a small flashlight, an MP3 player, a notebook, a camera, and even a bottle of water into the vest. And that's just for walking the dogs. True, I'm weighed down, but everything's tucked away out of sight in individual pockets. Even cooler are the conduits that keep headphone wires hidden and route them to my ear. At $120, it's not cheap--but it's absolutely fabulous.
Clamp 'Em Up
The second most useful (and overpriced) gadget you'll want is the Cable Clamp. Open the clamp, grab a handful of cables, and ratchet the clamp closed. In seconds, that rats' nest of self-propagating cables behind your PC is eliminated. The small clamps are great for computer cables; the big clamp's large enough for electric extension cords or kinky adult games. An assortment of 14 small, 4 medium, and 4 large clamps runs about $20. http://www.cableclamp.com
Dig this: I know how you love to play with new and exciting time-wasters. Here's one for you that'll easily kill an hour. Click each of Bewitched's links. If you're restless, just go to "whirligig" and click your mouse a while.
Don't Sit in the Dark
It's late and, except for your monitor, your home office is dark. Light it up with an Ott-Lite, a total spectrum, radiation-shielded light source that the company purports is the closest thing to natural sunlight. Scientific claims aside, my Ott-Lite is bright and seems more comfortable than my old incandescent lamp. BTW, I first heard about John Ott, the light bulb's creator, in 1968 while learning about industrial psychology in grad school.
Two lights you might look at: the Flex Arm Clamp-On Lamp, about $59 discounted, or the smaller Task Lamp, about $50. Me? I have a Clamp-On lighting up my desk.
If you take your notebook on the plane, you need a portable keyboard light. Consider Kensington's Flylight, an 18-inch, flexible-neck light that plugs into a USB port. Choose between a white or a red LED. I found it on PCWorld.com's Product Finder for around $13.
Quick download: You're thinking of leaving work early, maybe to do a little holiday shopping. Before you leave, download the Christmas Desktop Theme and decorate your monitor with animated cursors, a wallpaper pattern, icons, a screen saver, and WAV files.
Small, Cheap, and Portable
It's not often I leave my home office. But when I do, it's because I have to do a presentation, usually with PowerPoint. My secret weapon? I save the PowerPoint presentation as an executable file (Choose File, Select Pack and Go), copy it to a SmartDrive, and bring it to the client's office. The SmartDrive's the size of a lipstick case, has 16MB of RAM, and plugs into a USB port. What's cool is that no drivers are needed with Windows ME and XP, Windows 2000, the Mac OS, and Linux. (Yep, you guessed it--Win 98/SE users need drivers.) And it's cheap--$35 for 16MB and $55 for 32MB.
For the best prices on many computer-related products, check our valuable Product Finder. Choose an item by category or name and we'll find the lowest price for you.
Dig this: My attorney, Bernie, is with the firm of Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe. I'm about to dump them after reading the highly entertaining home page of Powers Phillips, a legal outfit based in Denver. [Note to editor: No, it's not a real outfit; it's a joke. I'll explain it next time we talk.]
I'm still not finished with gifts, gizmos, and gadgets. Tune in next week for more things I can't live without.
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