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[/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_2third_end id=”” class=”” style=””]Contributor Laura Haight is the president of Portfolio, which works with small businesses to incorporate emerging media and technology into its business communications, operations and training. [/ezcol_2third_end][break]
We can argue about whether iPhones are better than Android, or whether tablets can be real computers. But no matter the color of your phone or the flavor of your operating system, we all have one thing in common.
Cables.
You’ve got a desktop/laptop, external monitor, tablet, smartphone, maybe a cordless phone, and probably some kind of external drive or USB hub for connecting additional devices. You may have a charger for an external headset.
Here are a few cheap gizmos to help clean up your office, reduce the clutter and make it easier to travel with the tools you need.
Liberator cord
Power. The great leveler. No matter what devices we have, we all need to plug them in and power them up. Sadly, until virtual power becomes a reality, that means having big bricks of transformers to plug into inconveniently located power strips. Those seven or eight devices are never going to fit in a power strip with the larger transformer bricks taking up two slots, so you have a second power strip plugged into the first one or devices that should be on your desk powering across the room in another outlet. Enter the liberator cord. Lots of companies sell these 1-foot extension cords for roughly $5 each. Plug the brick into the liberator and the liberator into the power strip, and you can use all the outlets in your power strip.
Sumo
But you still have a cable problem. Raise your hand if you have a lamp or book holding down your cellphone or tablet charger cable because the cord is just long enough to reach the desk, but not long enough to avoid falling off the edge. I thought so. Enter a number of simple, small and cheap devices that do this. But the Sumo ($11.95, from Bluelounge) has a little bit of basic cable management involved. It’s a small black or white box held in place on your desk with suction with a dual channel inside to run small cables through. When not in use, the cables are held in place.
Recoil Automatic Winders
The great thing about mobile devices is that they are mobile. But when you ready yourself for the day, you need to be prepared for any eventuality. That means lugging a bunch of these cords with you. The Recoil Automatic Winders are refreshingly simple. For roughly $10 each, Recoil offers a small (headset), medium (charging cable) or large (laptop charger) rewinder. Attach the cable over a small hook inside the rewinder and pull to release the tension. Bam. Ready to hit the road.
Now what? Throw them all in your laptop bag? The best $24 I have ever spent went to buy a Grid-It. It’s a panel covered with rubberized woven straps that can hold anything you want in any configuration that works for you. A mouse, cables, remote controls, an external drive, whatever. Everything in one place and held in place. Filled with devices, the Grid-It slips neatly in my laptop bag like a file folder. The Grid-It comes in different colors and sizes.
Bye-Bye Blackberry
Last week, Blackberry announced losses of nearly $1 billion that will most likely precede the end of the Blackberry device. For most users, this may not get much attention, but we should take a moment to remember the company that started it all. At the turn of the century, the Blackberry was the must-have device for businesspeople. Its secure email and business-focused application set was highly sought after and highly paid for.
Blackberry taught us to type with our thumbs, and everyone of any importance, from the president to the Queen of England, had one. Like Kodak – the company that invented photography being unable to survive the digital photo age it helped create – Blackberry just couldn’t make its business-focused model cool enough for the masses.
