With September just around the corner and students getting ready for back to school, energy is also returning to the workplace, as colleagues return from holiday and the focus turns to end-of-quarter and end-of-year targets. To help you be your most productive self, we recommend five devices that you should have in your arsenal going forward.
With offices in the northern hemisphere revving back to full life in the coming weeks, as people return from vacation, or from getting their children ready for back-to-school, it is an opportune time to equip yourself for the frenzy likely to occur in the push to year-end. Below, we highlight five devices that could be game-changers in your work life.
1. Portable charger
About five years ago, it was normal for people to walk around with a portable charger for their smartphones. More recently, the astute among us would carry their plug-in charger and cable in the hope an electric socket would be available to recharge their phone. However, the recent passage of Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Ernesto was a reminder that a fully charged portable charger could make a world of difference when there is no electricity.
A myriad of portable chargers are available on the market and tend to start around USD 10.00, but there would be a wide selection between USD 20.00 and USD 30.00. Although these prices might seem higher than they were back in the day, the battery capacity of the charger has increased considerably, and other features such as wireless charging, LED displays, and compact size, are often included depending on the brand.
2. International travel adapter
Not everyone travels for work, but if you are travelling in the region or countries further afield, it is entirely possible that you will end up somewhere where the electricity rating and consequently the plug needed to connect to the mains will be different from those provided for your digital devices. Minimise that stress and the need to ask the hotel or your host for an electric adapter and carry your own.
Adapters in a variety of styles and with varied features are available. In addition to providing the correct settings for the major plug configurations worldwide, many of them also have a universal AC outlet to accept virtually any plug. Further, some options also include USB ports that can be used to charge mobile/cellular phones, tablet and laptop computers, cameras, etc., thus allowing several devices to be powered simultaneously.
3. Earbuds/Headphones
In the open-plan office layouts that have been prevalent for some time, we ought to be conscientious of noise levels so as not to disturb our neighbours. Having earbuds or headphones is essential and to a considerable degree, whether it is the former or the latter tends to depend on personal taste and the likely circumstances in which they would be used.
For example, headphones may be the better choice if sound quality is a priority, or if greater comfort or noise cancellation is desired. On the other hand, earbuds are more portable and convenient and may also provide a stylish alternative.
In both instances, a choice would also need to be made between wired or wireless options. For example, wired earphones or earbuds might be more difficult to lose, but wireless ones allow you greater freedom – in not having to be so closely tethered to the device transmitting the sound.
4. External hard drive
Increasingly, we all have access to cloud storage, to automatically back up the contents of our smartphones, for example, and in some instances, we have multiple cloud storage accounts. However, depending on the volume of data we need to store, the cost of cloud storage can begin to add up.
External hard drives can supplement or offer an alternative to cloud storage. For example, they can be used to completely back up your laptop or personal computer, thus providing some redundancy should there be a mishap. They can also be used and kept up to date when internet access is not readily available or connectivity is unstable, which is quite comment in the Caribbean region.
Generally, the price for external hard drives starts at around USD 25.00 for 500 GB of storage to under USD 200.00 for a few TB of storage. Although that would be an upfront cost, external hard drives are portable, work out cheaper over time and are readily accessible, even when there is no internet.
5. AI voice recorder
When meetings are held online via Zoom, Microsoft Teams and similar platforms, it is easy to record those sessions and more importantly have them transcribed to help with preparing meeting notes. However, in face-to-face settings, securing a transcript of the proceedings can be a challenge.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) voice recorders are available on the market to enhance daily productivity. They have recording, transcription and summarising capabilities that can be used during meetings, lectures, classes, etc. Some of the popular options use OpenAI’s Whisper, its automatic speech recognition (ASR) system, and ChatGPT, the text-based large language model (LLM), to produce meeting minutes, summaries, to-do lists, etc
To be clear, these AI voice recorders are not cheap. Expect to pay upwards of USD 150.00 for a decent model with well-developed features and capabilities.
Images credit: Domenico Loia (Unsplash); Amazon
