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Gadgets to increase productivity for the new year

by Alicia
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We are coming to the end of the year and it is time to prepare for 2016. Despite what your new year resolutions are, increased productivity is probably one of those things we would all want to focus on for the coming year. So we have compiled a list of interesting gadgets you might want to think about getting to encourage even better productivity whether at work or at school. 

#1: ZUtA Portable Printer 

If you’re someone who need to get things done on the go, then this is a really interesting gadget to have. This mini robotic printer looks compact but can actually print on paper of any size as long as it is of a standard size. It has a mechanical drive system to make it move as it prints, and it prints 1-1.5 A4 pages per minute. You can print from a myriad of devices, whether from a PC, laptop, tablet or a smartphone, as long as it has a WiFi connection. For now, the ZUtA printer only prints in black color. It can print several pages one after the other as it will stop once it reaches the end of the page and waits for you to align it to a fresh sheet before continuing. 

It is available for pre-order at the price of $249 $199, but unfortunately it will only be delivered to you from May 2016 onwards. You can order the ZutA here.

#2: SCiO Molecular Sensor

If you’re planning to make losing weight one of your new year resolution, then this would be a nifty gadget to own. The SCiO molecular sensor is a no-touch, non-intrusive optical sensor that allows you to to analyze food, plants, medications and more. For instance, you can actually get nutritional facts about different types of foods such as dairy products, fruits and vegetables and even drinks and meats as its database expands. Of course something like this shouldn’t be used to test food out for allergies, but it is great when you are avoiding certain ingredients in your diet such as polysaturated oil. Now, the SCiO doesn’t only work for food, but can also be used to detect the well-being of plants. I suppose this way you can keep your plants from dying if you know what is it they actually need. 

Priced at $249 for the sensor itself, and more if you want to develop apps for it. You can purchase it or learn more in detail at its website.

#3: Anker Astro Pro2

Somehow we realise that additional battery seems to be in almost all our lists. Since this time we are talking about productivity, here is a really slim external battery pack that has enough juice to power your laptop. The Anker Astro Pro 2 has a 20,000mAh capacity and weighs about 562g. With this amount of juice, you can charge your phone about 9 times, a tablet more than once or a laptop once.  You can choose between DC 12V / 4A, 16V / 3.5A, 19V / 3A and USB 5V / 2.1A, depending on what you want to charge, especially when it comes to different model of laptops. 

You can buy this charger for $199.99 from Amazon.

#4: Lenovo ThinkPad Stack

Just like how we like things to be easily attainable at one place, we would also wish we have one gadget that can do many different functions. The Lenovo ThinkPad Stack does just that by “stacking” four popular accessories together, taking up less space yet offering multiple usages. The four accessories include a Bluetooth wireless speaker, a mobile power bank, a wireless router, and a hard disk drive. Well, technically it’s three accessories since the router and hard drive are a combo. You can connect or create your own mobile network, and can store your files in the drive even via wirelessly. With the powerbank you can charge up to two devices simultaneously, and with the Bluetooth speaker, you can have a party anytime you want! 

This cool stackable gadget is going for $389.97, but unfortunately it is still not available in Malaysia. You can get it from Lenovo US store though.

#5: Livescribe Smartpen 3

It is amazing how technology has advanced. With something like the Livescribe Smartpen 3, you can write and draw whatever you want on a paper, and it can be saved immediately into your smartphone or tablet. It isn’t a stylus per se; it is an actual ballpoint pen and a good looking one at that. It features an infrared camera, ARM processor, Bluetooth Smart chipset, flash memory and lithium ion battery. So whatever you write will be saved in its internal memory and can be synced with your devices later, whether on Android or iOS devices. 

You can buy it here for $149.95.

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