Offices Tech Tools That Will Transform Our Future

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With technology expanding at incredibly rapid rates and businesses today under constant pressure to perform and keep up with the global economy, technological tools and appliances are reaching new levels of innovation.

From virtual keyboards and sci-fi inspired glasses, these amazing tools are something every office should have as we move into the technology driven future:

Virtual Laser Keyboards

Bulky office appliances are fast being done away with in today’s digital era and this virtual keyboard is set to revolutionise the way we use computers. It is entirely laser projected (by a small cube), meaning you can set yourself up practically anywhere and type. The keyboard can be connected via Bluetooth to any device, including iPads, iPhones and most other tablets, laptops and desktops.

Holographic Telecommuters

At the University of Arizona, researchers are working on technology that will be able to project holographic images, like those we remember from Star Wars. If the technology takes off, it will awaken a whole new world for “dial in” meetings, video calls and remote conferencing. The goal of the researchers is to present the holographic video in real time, with key challenges revolving around the use of multiple cameras and refresh/upload rates.

Transparent Glass HDTVs

Impressing your business clients as soon as they set foot in your office is essential –and this clear, transparent TV means you can display business presentations and videos with inspiring clarity. The Loewe Invisio TV combines TOLED technology with LCD and is able to produce opaque or solid moving images when turned on (with full contrast ranges and rich colour reproduction). It then blends invisibly into the background when it’s off.

Computer Glasses

With Google’s recent announcement that ‘Google Glass’ can now be fitted with prescription lenses, it seems that real life “computer glasses” will soon become a widespread reality.

The Google Glass displays information similar to that of a mobile phone and is operated via voice command. The possibilities of working on the go here or accessing information in the midst of activity are endless; other features mean you can also take photos, record videos and share your content.

Similarly, Japanese phone provider NTT Docomo also recently produced a prototype of their ideal computer glasses and they’re much more like what we saw in Terminator. Theirs can display information anywhere in your field of vision, with facial recognition and language translation functionality on the cards.

B-Membrane Laptop/Desktops

Korean designer Won-Seok Lee brought his vision of futuristic PCs to life in this spaceship-shaped hybrid laptop/desktop. It features a touch screen keyboard around the base, an optical drive and instead of a monitor, it simply projects your “screen” onto any wall or surface, in any direction. When turned off, it can also be used as an ambient light.

Bonsai Solar Phone Chargers

Sleek design and environmental efficiency come together in this unique little Bonsai-inspired tree that will spruce up offices everywhere. The Electree+, by designer Vivien Muller, harnesses the power of solar to charge a phone or tablet and just 4 hours of sunlight per day is enough to recharge a standard device. The benefits? Lower energy office costs, of course, and the opportunity to do something good for the environment.

Mind-Reading Head Sets

We’re thinking here about EPOC, a mind-controlling computer interface neuro-headset.

What does it do? Well, it fits on your head and picks up your brainwaves, translating them into real actions on your Mac or PC. In short, it lets you control your computer using your mind. It might sound futuristic and slightly surreal, but the know-how behind the EPOC is nothing new and builds on the same technology of the EEG machines we use in hospitals.

Around 10,000 of these headsets available primarily to gaming consumers were made, though developments and further research are still in the works, with the goal of making mind-control headsets available to everyone in the near future.

WOW, the other available gaming headsets will have to up their game in order to compete with this

Smart Pens

With virtual keyboards and tablets on the rise, many may assume writing by hand is dead – but there are still times when office work calls for a trusty old pen. Smart pens, like the ones produced by Livescribe and IRIS, allow business people to automatically transfer their handwritten notes, drawings or sketches into digital documents that can, of course, be saved, edited and shared.

Combi Monitors

Minimising the need for office equipment is one of the biggest advantages of today’s technology and in the future, this combined desktop monitor, printer and scanner may well be an office standard. The Document Extractor Combi Monitor will print exactly what is on your screen at any given time and you can also isolate areas for printing, so that you don’t have to waste paper or ink.
All we can say to that is that the office life will never be boring again. What’s your opinion on this?