AI is getting all the headlines and media attention for improving productivity. But as much potential as it offers, there are multiple physical tools that can help you work faster and smarter. Here are three options you should add to your office desk to start the New Year strong.
1) Color E-Ink Notetaking Tablet
At most meetings, people are typing away on their laptops to take notes. But it’s a distracting experience that makes checking email or social feeds tempting and allows all kinds of other notifications to disrupt your thoughts. Writing by hand improves memory, learning, and recall, but while jotting in a premium paper notebook from the likes of Moleskine is a satisfying experience, you might lose it somewhere and it’s hard to find precise information later.
This is why over the past few years digital notetaking has become more popular. Sure, you could use a Microsoft Surface or iPad to scribble on, but whatever marketing campaigns might claim, the feeling of moving a piece of plastic across a slippery screen isn’t great and like a laptop, they present too many other distractions. Notetaking on such devices also drains their battery life, and if they overheat because you’ve got too many apps running, they can freeze up.
A much better alternative is to go for an e-ink tablet. These dedicated devices have improved a lot recently and are now viable alternatives to good ol’ fashioned pen and paper. The biggest advancement comes from Norwegian company reMarkable. Their new Paper Pro device provides an 11.8-inch color e-ink display that offers far more notetaking versatility than all previous monochrome displays. It enables highlighting and color-coding that helps you create more engaging and distinctive notes. And like an Amazon Kindle, the Paper Pro also has a reading light, so you can binge e-books at night.
As an alternative, Ratta released the second generation of its Supernote A6 tablet, the X2 Nomad. While it doesn’t have color e-ink, the notebook-sized (7.8-inch) screen does have a writing surface that provides friction under your stylus to make it feel more like you’re using real paper. The Supernote’s Heart of Metal stylus feels like a luxury fountain pen and has a fine-tip ceramic nib that never needs replacement. Whereas if you flip the reMarkable stylus over, it acts as an eraser, but you’ll need to switch out the tip periodically. Both tablets last for a couple of weeks on a single battery charge, back up your notes in the cloud so you’ll never lose your work, and allow you to find precise details with tags and keywords.
2) Carpal Tunnel-Busting Mouse
It’s usually typing on a keyboard that’s blamed for causing carpal tunnel syndrome. But while all those keystrokes can contribute to this and other ergonomics-related issues, there’s something else on your desk that’s partly responsible. A writer for Digital Citizen found that he made 7,985 mouse clicks per day, totaling 2.9 million a year. All those microloads going through your hands can start to add up, and also cause wear and tear to your wrists and forearms.
While companies have tried to overcome this issue with more ergonomic styles, mouse design hasn’t changed too much since Bill Gates and co. took personal computing mainstream in the 1980s. We have photo-realistic, high-definition displays instead of green flashing cursors on monochrome monitors and processors that are thousands of times faster than their predecessors, but the humble mouse remains largely unchanged. Which means that millions of office workers are still harming their hands and wrists.
Ergodriven solves these issues with Om. This vertical handshake mouse puts your hand, shoulder, wrist, and elbow in a better position and lowers the risk of developing or exacerbating carpal tunnel syndrome. Om also has five customizable buttons so you can program in your favorite shortcuts – like copy and paste – and use them with a single click. The OLED screen lets you monitor battery life so Om doesn’t suddenly die on you and the DPI setting so you can be more precise, which is particularly helpful if you use graphic design or video editing tools.
The vertical mouse design might feel different if you’ve been using a regular horizontal one for years. But soon enough you’ll get used to the different position and will be pointing and clicking just as quickly as you ever were. While Om is primarily a productivity-focused tool, if you’re into video games, it’s nimble enough to pick off opponents in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, evade myriad monsters in Baldur’s Gate 3, or even outbuild your kids in Minecraft.
3) Podcast, Webinar, and Conference Call Audio Mixer
More and more companies are investing in multimedia to tell their stories and get the word out about their products and services. As such, you might be tasked with hosting a podcast to interview internal subject matter experts, customers, or partners, run panel discussions, or run webinars that educate clients on what your business does best.
Above all, podcast episodes and webinars need to sound great if they’re going to stand out for the right reasons. While getting regular content out to the masses is all well and good, it needs to be presented professionally and all the AI wizardry and social media tactics in the world aren’t going to cover up for audio that is second rate. While dedicated platforms like StreamYard have greatly improved their sound quality and even mainstream options such as Zoom now offer more tools for removing background noise and adjusting settings, you’re best off combining them with some premium hardware.
Which is where the RØDECaster Duo comes in. Don’t let the compact dimensions of this little white box fool you. It’s packed with just about every feature you’ll need to create world-class webinars and professional podcast episodes. Four channels enable you to record guests in person via wired microphones like the RØDE PodMic. You can also utilize wireless mics or plug into your computer and manage remote contributors’ audio feeds. Voices will come in loud and clear thanks to the onboard pre-amp.
A large, high-definition touchscreen makes it simple to adjust sound levels and create presets, so each episode or webinar stays consistent. The built-in processing editor uses three rotary knobs to add what RØDE calls depth (low-end bass), sparkle (high-end brightness), or punch (a more natural voice with less noise). You can remove hissing, boost the volume for what Seinfeld called a “low talker,” and prevent loud guests from blowing up listeners’ headphones as well. Even if you’re not doing podcasts or webinars, Duo improves the audio quality for all the conference calls on your phone or computer and makes it easier to record them.