You’d think the internet and smartphones would be enough of a distraction for the modern cubicle jockey, but successfully killing 9-to-5 every day is almost a career in and of itself. So today we bring you yet another mindless distraction that should occupy your mind for at least a couple of minutes. This set of black ties are backed with bubble wrap, and if I have to explain why that’s a good thing then you’ve clearly missed out on some important life experiences. Namely popping bubble wrap. Sadly though the ties aren’t actually available for sale, and since they appear to be dated back to 2008, there obviously hasn’t been much demand to make them a reality.
If my home office wasn’t already bed adjacent, I’d totally be adding this lay-flat office chair to my Christmas list this year. In upright mode it looks like you regular old leather-finished office chair, but not only does it recline back to a nearly perfectly horizontal position if you feel yourself drifting off at work, but there’s also a folding footrest allowing you to completely stretch out for an office power nap. It’s available from Thanko not surprisingly, since the Japanese don’t frown on the occasional nap at work, for ~$600. (¥49,800)
Office music politics always ends up being either a dictatorship, whether ruled by a local radio station or that guy with the really nice speakers, or a collection of independent states where everyone simply wears headphones and listens to what they want. Neither seem that beneficial to fostering a teamwork mentality, so BreakfastNY created the Office Music Democratizer which gives everyone a vote regarding what they do or don’t like when it comes to music.
Their solution is a light up set of buttons on the wall that allows anyone in the office to either like or dislike the song currently being played by LastFM or Pandora. Hitting the like button increases the song’s rating, while hitting the dislike button immediately causes it to jump to the next track. I can still see this solution as being problematic as haters will readily jump up to skip the current song, but since everyone in the office has the same powers, hopefully it will indeed lead to some manner of democracy among the people.
There’s something oddly satisfying about grinding a pencil down to a nub with an electric sharpener, but that’s not how you’ll be spending your first day at a new job if they assign you the iPoint Evolution from Westcott. I’m not really sure how it warrants the ‘i’ in front of the ‘Point’, but I do know that it’s smart enough to stop grinding when your pencil has the perfect point. So not only does it conserve battery life, but it prolongs the life of your pencil. It’s also got a set of “Titanium Bonded™ carbon steel blades” that are guaranteed to stay sharp longer, and is available from Solutions for $17.95.
Have unreasonable deadlines, unpaid overtime and gossipy co-workers sucked the love out of your office? Well SUCK UK has just the cure. They’ve taken your standard metal hole punch and replaced the cold, sterile circle-shaped dies with heart shaped versions that turn every document into a symbol of the love you have for your job and those you work with. The fact that it’s only a 2-hole punch instead of a 3-hole is a little annoying, but if anyone complains you can just sprinkle them with heart-shaped confetti, I’m sure that will cheer them right back up! ~$16 (£10.00) available directly from SUCK UK.
In a pinch a strategically stacked pile of Post-it Notes can serve as an adequate napping support, but it’s not the most comfortable thing to lay your head on. But if you can convince your office administrator to pick up a few of these Note Me pillows instead of a few pads of sticky notes, your afternoon siestas will be far more rewarding.
The pillows can actually be written on using an included marker, and cleaned by simply rinsing the pillow case under cold water. They also appear to be a way funner way to pass notes around the office since employees whipping pillows at each other all day is the perfect recipe for office productivity. $26 from Veinticuatrodientes.
I’m as dependent on my smartphone as the next guy who lives and breathes gadgets, but I still keep a Moleskine in reach at all times for jotting notes and to-do lists. But mostly they do calendar/day planner duty since I’ve yet to successfully migrate to an electronic solution. (Trying as far back as the Handspring Visor.) So I must admit I’m rather enthralled by this Watch Diary designed by Wonjune Song. For the most part it’s just a Moleskine ripoff, except for the handy and stylish analog clock sitting smack dab in the middle that’s visible no matter what page you’re on.
And yes, I’m a firm believer that watches are pretty much obsolete these days except as a fashion accessory, but the Watch Diary manages to cleverly integrate it into each page layout. Instead of seeing your appointments laid out in a list, you actually fill them in around the clock so the red hand ends up reminding you of what you should currently be doing. Order one here in orange, ivory, white or black for $17.99.
Herman Miller continues their dominance of office ergonomics with their new SAYL chair designed by Yves Béhar, who if you’re not familiar, also designed the Jawbone BT headset and the first generation OLPC. Inspired by San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bride, the frameless back of the SAYL features a Y-tower structure that supports a stretched flexible elastomer material (like the cables on a suspension bridge) allowing it to contour to anyone’s shape, while still providing support and keeping users cool and comfortable.
On the eco front the chairs are made from 21% recycled content materials, and it itself is 93% recyclable. I can’t seem to dig up pricing info at the moment though, and even though Herman Miller claims it will have a “very attainable price” let’s assume that’s relative to their other premium seating options.
So it turns out that all these years elastic band manufacturers have just been lazy, and the stretchy projectiles don’t necessarily have to only come in the shape of a circle. Recent innovations in elastic band manufacturing have allowed for the creation of almost any shape imaginable (yes, even the trapezoid!) but I reckon these gadget-shaped versions will appeal most to those of you who frequent our site. They’re supposed to be pretty generic to avoid legal run-ins with lawsuit-happy iCorporations, but it’s pretty obvious that some of these shapes were inspired by the iPhone, iPad and the iPod Nano. Each pack comes with 24 elastics, 4 of each shape, but at $5.49 you’re probably going to want to avoid just firing them off at random people.
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