'Tis the season to celebrate with family and friends, but it's also a time of year when getting a lot done at work can be a big difference maker before you take a well-earned break. Rather than running the risk of getting yet another boring gift card or something lame like festive socks, you'd do well to ask for one of the excellent new gadgets that can help you be far more productive heading into 2025. Here are the must-have items to ask for - or, dare we suggest, to even gift yourself. 

Adjustable Lighting Smart Lamp

It took British genius Sir James Dyson 15 years and 5,127 prototypes to perfect his original DC01 vacuum cleaner design with revolutionary dual cyclone technology that broke the industry by removing the bag. The company has since continued this extensive trial and error process, with their hair dryer requiring 600 prototypes over five years to get right (and it’s not a bad gift idea either) and a robot vacuum cleanerrequiring more than 1,000 tries over 17 years.

In the past few years, Dyson has become even more wide-ranging with applying its process of “fail, fail again, fail better.” Take, for example, the number of Dyson gizmos that you could outfit your office with. For starters, there’s an air purifier with options for heating, cooling, humidifying, and dehumidifying. Or if you want to up your audio game, there are two pairs of headphones with space age designs (more on upgrading your audio in a moment).

But the most impressive gadgets Dyson offers desk jockeys are its Solarcycle Morph lamps. Their 3-point motion and 360-degree optical head allow for infinite configurability. But the real magic is the built-in daylight tracking algorithm. As we’ve written about before, achieving optimal wakefulness during the day and sleep at night is largely dependent on light exposure. Dyson floor and desk lamps automatically monitor daylight and nightfall and adjust brightness accordingly. We’re all used to longer-lasting bulbs these days, but Dyson goes above and beyond with a bulb that should endure for 60 years.

Autopilot for Your Adjustable Desk

It’s probably not news to you that too much sitting is bad for you. From causing back and neck pain to increasing the risks of metabolic and heart disease to negatively impacting your mental state, the health effects of prolonged sitting go on and on. Research shows that getting stuck in your desk chair is also bad news for brain work, as it’s linked to neurodegenerative conditions, reduced blood flow to the head, and limited cognitive output.

Getting an adjustable desk goes some way toward solving the problem. On the physical side, it increases circulation and metabolic rate and reduces hip and back pain. Studies suggest that standing can have a whole host of cognitive benefits, including boosting attention, stabilizing mood, and improving recall. Among students, it enhances learning and reduces behavioral problems. If you get sore feet or ankles and need to build in more micromovement, a standing desk anti-fatigue mat can help. What’s even better is regularly switching between sitting and standing, and taking movement breaks throughout the day, which can increase cognitive function, attention, and memory, according to a 2022 trial.

The trouble is that it’s hard to remember when you should sit, stand, or move. Whether it’s a series of meetings, finding a caffeine-induced flow state, or just trying to rapidly move down your must-do list, you could easily get stuck in one position. Tempo from Ergodriven eliminates this issue. It uses an autopilot feature to detect when you’ve been in one position too long and adjusts your desk accordingly. Or you can configure your own sitting and standing duration and frequency. With Tempo, you can focus on working effectively while letting this co-captain vary your desk height for you.

Cocoon-Creating Headphones

Apple’s AirPods have become popular to the point that they’re almost a cliché. But if you’re hoping to be rocking around the Christmas tree or are just searching for a better listening experience and crystal-clear calls, then you need to look elsewhere. Bose practically invented the high-performance headphone and microphone game in the 1970s, with everyone from airline pilots to astronauts to pro sports referees now relying on its technology.

Consumers first got to enjoy similarly high-fidelity sound with the launch of the Bose QuietComfort series in 2000. The biggest win with this model was active noise cancellation (ANC). Whereas in-ear monitors (IEMs) work like foam earplugs to effectively block outside sounds, ANC employs a microphone to capture ambient noise and an amplifier to generate sound waves that neutralize it. The payoff? You can listen to your music on low volume without barking dogs, roaring traffic, or other unwanted distractions intruding.

The latest model featuring ANC in the QuietComfort range is the Ultra. A new Immersive Audio function makes music more engaging by creating a similarly wide sound stage as Apple achieves with its Dolby Atmos-driven spatial audio. You can choose a still mode for when you’re at your desk or motion for when you’re pacing around the office. A wind-blocking feature allows you to mute your microphone if you take a meeting outside, which adds to the already crystal-clear phone call audio. And if you want to go old school, the included cable lets you plug into an iPod or Walkman.