The Top 12 Best Gadgets For Business

We have come a long way from the top business gadget of the 19th century

SeedSing is proud to offer voices from all over the globe. Today we present a guest post from freelance tech journalist Matthew Young. Get your ideas heard by writing for SeedSing

You may think that because you now have the latest laptop or the most advanced smartphone and the tablet that you don’t need anything else. You will be surprised to know that there is always something that could be used to enhance your life, whether during your leisure time or in the business field. 

These new 12 executive gadgets that range from USB ports to drawing tools are bound to enhance your business operations and make your daily life a lot more enjoyable.

1. Skiva’s OctoFire 8 Port USB 3.0 Hub
This may be the only USB hub you are ever going to need. Besides syncing data at speeds of 5 Gbps, it delivers more charging power compared to any other wall charger available today on the market. It's completely compatible with iPad Air, iPad Mini, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Samsung Galaxy S5, Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Apple iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus—just to mention a few. When not linked to your PC or laptop, it will also act as a standalone charger. Skiva’s OctoFire 8 Port USB 3.0 Hub has built-in over-charge, over-heat, and over-voltage plus over-current protection. The Early Bird edition is available at Kickstarter priced at $66.

2. ZUtA – The First Mini Robotic Printer
This is the premier mini robotic printer. The ZUta comes with a rechargeable battery as well as an on/off switch and you can connect it directly to PCs or smartphones. It allows printing on any size of paper. More appealing is the fact that it can easily be packed into your bag for printing on the go. Using an omni-wheel system, it accurately moves around the page being printed at a speed of 1.2 pages every minute. ZUta runs for 60 minutes on a full charge. This amazing portable robotic printer has accrued a total of $511,662 of its $400,000 Kickstarter target for production. $200 is sufficient to secure you an early bird white version. The ZUta is expected to become available on May 2016.

3. Pencil by FiftyThree
This popular smart stylus is going be sold through Amazon online outlets and some selected Apple stores at prices starting at $69.99. The FiftyThree is a perfect gift for one who cherishes creativity. The rectangular shaped Pencil stands at 5.45 by 0.6 by 0.25 inches (HWD). The Walnut model is lighter at only 0.8 ounces while Graphite model is slightly heavier weighing at 1.12 ounces. The Pencil from FiftyThree is compatible with the 3rd generation iPad and the later makes plus, the Retina as well as non-Retina iPad Mini.

4. Spracht The Conference Mate
Available in black or white color options, the Conference Mate from Spracht is compact in size. The speaker top is black and has all the system touch controls for answer/end calls, volume, mute and play/pause functions for music. At the unit top is where you get the main speaker together with the controls. This NFC enabled gadget is easy when it comes to setting up. This fine little bluetooth speaker sounds good and performs well. It is ideal for the home desk, your office or any place where audio is needed. It is available at around $80 via Amazon. 

5. Vivitek Qumi Q5 LED Pocket Projector
This stylish and innovative Vivitek LED pocket projector has 500 lumens brightness. It’s a very light device too at about 499g. It is the premier 3D-ready projector whose HD pixel resolution stands at 800 x 1,380. It can be used with numerous devices such as laptops, netbooks, smartphones, tablets, video and digital cameras and is ideal for digital content sharing. The real winner is the thick, ultra-glossy top sheet, available in not less than 5 different options: white, black, red, blue and yellow. All these remarkable features perhaps justify the high price tag of $600.

6. IronKey Personal S250 Secure Drive 16GB
The IronKey S250 is fully compatible with all major operating systems such as Linux, Windows and Mac. If what you desire is the best kind of security currently available in the market to secure thieves, hackers, and the elements, the Fort Knox you need is the IronKey Personal S250. It keeps your data secure, although due to its rugged construction and security it comes at a rather steep price of $329 for 16GB.

7. Sony Smartwatch 3 Stainless Steel
This is not just the first Android Wear device that comes with GPS skills, it also comes with built in connectivity (NFC and Wi-Fi)—perhaps this is its biggest selling point. The SmartWatch 3 comes with 4GB of storage space and its power comes from a quad-core 1.2GHz Arm A7 processor, something that appeared like overkill during the early Android's ecosystem days. Inside the SmartWatch 3 you will get a 420mAh battery. This latest Sony product charges through Micro USB saving you the need of carrying a separate accessory for charging. The SW3 takes the game a notch higher in terms of waterproofing. You can control this gadget that is priced at $300 with touch, voice and your finger gestures.

8. HP Multi Jet Fusion
As of now, conventional 3D printing employ a sluggish process in creating layers of material gradually forming the output you desire. The time needed for printing large objects also places a limitation on the feasibility and scalability of 3D printing technology. The first machines using Multi Jet Fusion Technology that are going to be released by HP will be focused on creating high-quality 3D prints that are thermoplastic-based. The goal is to target businesses that are small and medium-sized, or the numerous “service bureaus” which are serving the printing needs of 3rd-party businesses.

9. Bitdefender Box
The Bitdefender Box concept is very smart. It works in a similar manner to a hardware firewall in preventing unauthorized access without inhibiting your outbound traffic. It also provides anti-malware and antivirus protection via the cloud. You can install the app on your tablets, laptops, and smartphones giving them protection even when connected to the shadiest Wi-Fi hotspots. The admission price is $199 plus $99 an annual subscription (applicable after one year).

10. SMART kapp Whiteboard
The Kapp IQ allows the user to draw on it—although what has set the device apart from the standard whiteboard is the ability of saving a snapshot of your drawing for further review. The device measures 33.675-50.75-4.75 inches and weighs at 107 pounds. Both 75 and 84-inch model are in the works. More significantly, anybody can interact with this device and it can connect up with 250 users simultaneously, using an Android device or NFC-enabled iOS. The Kapp IQ is retailing at $4000 while the enterprise version is available for $5000 in a 65-inch model.

11. SenseHUD
The gadget sits on your vehicle dashboard, projecting the screen of your smartphone onto its own electrochromic glass pane. SenseHUD glass will pick up the messaging, route guidance, and the speedometer making it visible to you as you drive. A major strength of the device is the price. Maker SenseDriver recently launched its limited preorder initiative, giving the device at $99. The final price will be determined later.

12. Vysk QS1
Manufactured by Vysk, the case enhances your privacy through a hardware solution inbuilt design. It is available for use with Samsung Galaxy S4 or S5, iPhone 5 or 5S. The Vysk QS1case enables you to encrypt photos and texts, and make your private VoIP calls via microphones that are inbuilt and a proprietary Vysk encryption processor. The QS1 can be ordered from Vysk since May 2015 at $229.

Conclusion
Creative people have a strong affinity to their trade tools. As you can see from the above 12 leading devices, when it comes to the latest technology, there is an abundance of new and innovative new office gadgets on the market which are definitely guaranteed to make you as a professional happy and more productive. You are indeed spoiled for choice. It’s up to you to decide what device best suits your specific office requirements. 

Matthew Young

About the Author:  Matthew Young is a freelance tech journalist and blogger hailing from Boston. He is passionate about new, emerging tech in the industry. When Matthew is not busy writing about awesome new technology, he usually spends time fiddling with his camera and learning a thing or two about photography. You can reach Matthew on Twitter @mattbeardyoung!

Welcome to the Future: The web as the platform

You may not need to upgrade to Windows 10

I have long waited for the day that the platform I use would be primarily the internet browser. Years ago, I installed a Linux based desktop distribution and stripped out much of the software aside from Firefox. This was when Google Docs had yet to become Google Drive and Google’s Chrome browser was in very infantile stages. It sort of worked. There was not much for web based services for video editing, software development, or photo management the way there is today, but I did not really expect it to fulfill all my needs at the time. I just wanted to see how far we had to go. I ended up using it as my baseline, adding software as I needed it after the browser when nothing available through the web sufficed.

Today things are quite different. I have been using a Chromebook for about a year now and I have not found that I need to go back to a full desktop for anything that I use a computer for on a personal level. Those three things I mentioned above are now taken care of through web based applications. I do all of my writing on Google Drive. I use a service called Codeanywhere for coding. I use WeVideo to edit together video clips. And Google Photos works great for photo management and editing for me. If I do need access to a desktop computer, I have a headless Mac mini sitting in my living room that takes care of some automated tasks. I can use remote desktop to get at it, but I have not used it for anything that I couldn’t do with Chrome OS. Maybe someday I would put a Chromebox in it’s place, but the Mac is doing the job fine right now.

The reason I have been so excited for the web to be operating system rather than merely another application on your main operating system (Windows, OS X, Linux, etc.) is because every platform has a portal to the web. At this point it makes more sense to build a web app before any platform specific app. In fact, a lot of the apps that can be attained from the various app stores of the modern mobile platforms (iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and others) are little more than a native app wrapper around code that runs in a web browser. This does not always mean that the device needs to be connected to the web for the app to function. Many offline apps are built using web browser technologies as the core. Many websites can be placed on the homescreen of your device and be indistinguishable from an app store app to the untrained eye, even without going through the app store. I like this idea since I do not believe that any app store curator be it Apple, Google, Microsoft, or whoever, should be the czar to the digital media we enjoy.

Another positive reason to celebrate the web as a platform from a developer’s perspective is that an app hosted on the web can feature the ultimate piracy protection. Using a system that the user has to log into and pay if they want to continue to get certain features means that there is no way that a pirate can use your software without paying. Now I do believe that users should be allowed to try before paying, and I think that is one of the main lessons we have to learn from the state of piracy today. However, individual developers are free to try other models.

Problems with the web as a platform at this point are mainly the complexities. Most people are used to the world of software being something installed locally. Though web apps can be installed locally, most do not require it. The expectation is that you will likely be online when accessing these services. Many people are not comfortable with this. I can use Google Drive offline to some extent, but I cannot edit video from within a tunnel on the Metro. I think that some of the heavier web apps will evolve to work offline, but our connectivity will also evolve to a point where we will not be offline ever. It may still be a while, but even as I write this I am hardly ever away from access to the internet. I almost have to go out of my way to make it so that I am totally outside the boundaries of an internet signal. I went to a cave on my recent vacation and they had wifi hotspots in there. Seventeen hundred feet underground and I still could not escape internet access. Even with my example of the Metro train, I would not be surprised to see wifi installed in the near future. And if not, do I really need to be doing heavy web applications from within a Metro tunnel?

So the web is the platform. Some people are currently stuck using a more fully featured version of Microsoft Office or Photoshop, but I think it is silly to think that every feature of those software packages would not be available through a web app one day. I think someday soon native software will be dwarfed by what is available as a web app.

Kirk Aug

Kirk has settled into his virtual cubicle at SeedSing. He is curious if future space tourism will have good wifi coverage. Follow him on twitter @kirkaug.