Under the Radar: How to stay productive at home with these gadgets

For this month’s Under the Radar, we are tackling some issues faced while you’re stuck at home. Working from home isn’t as easy as it seems; with our personal and work lives blending together, we can easily be overwhelmed by our new lifestyle or get carried away because we’re in our comfort zones. With this in mind, I’ve listed out some gadgets that might be useful to help you be more productive and less distracted — whether you’re working from home or just staying safe at home.

1. Wakey

The first step to being productive is, of course, being able to wake up early to start your day. Why would you need an alarm clock when you can do so with your phone? Well, Wakey by Soundcore isn’t just an alarm clock; it’s also a wireless charger and a Bluetooth speaker. You can choose to wake up with 10 different custom tones or even the FM radio if you like. 

You no longer have to depend on your smartphone’s alarm to wake you up and better yet, you can keep it charging right on top of this alarm clock. If you’ve got more devices, you can also charge it with the dual USB charging ports at the back of the alarm clock.

Let’s not forget that waking up in a good mood will also require a sufficient amount of sleep. With Wakey, you can also use the Soundcore app to mix and match up to 10 ambient noise to help you sleep better at night. Don’t worry, you can choose to automatically turn it off by setting a timer.

Wakey is priced at $89.99 and is only available in White.

2. Cherry

No, I’m not asking you to eat the fruit to stay productive. Cherry is a smart coffee maker that is controlled via the app. You can use your smartphone to set the brewing schedule, brewing strength and when the coffee maker will know when to make you your cup of coffee.

You can also choose to brew your coffee in the provided travel mug or a mug of your choice if you prefer a different amount of coffee. Once the coffee is done brewing, the app will notify you and you’ll have your morning cup of coffee ready to go.

Cherry can be purchased from CA$140 and will be shipped starting August 2020.

3. OYO NOVA Gym

Staying at home most of the time can lead to a rather laid back lifestyle. You may have been working out after work hours before this, but the current pandemic has made that impossible. So, what do you do to stay fit? Get the OYO NOVA Gym, a portable work out device that offers total body strength training so that you can stay fit and healthy even if you can’t go out.

What has staying fit to do with productivity? Exercising will allow your body to reduce stress and produce more energy in the long term. Whether it’s your legs, arms, chests or arbs, the OYO NOVA Gym can help you build and sculpt them. This product can help you increase productivity and stay fit at the same time.

The OYO NOVA Gym is priced from $145 and is estimated to ship in October 2020.

4. FOCI

Those who aren’t into exercising daily can also get this wearable that can help improve your focus. It’s a tiny device that is clipped onto your pants and uses cognitive biometrics to analyze your breathing patterns and even comes with an AI Mind Coach to offer a recommendation to boost focus.

If you’re using the app on your smartphone, the Mind Orb on the app will switch colours when you lose focus. In addition to that, FOCI will also vibrate at your waist when it detects that you lost focus. After nudging you, it’ll also offer some mind techniques so you can get back into focus efficiently.

FOCI not only helps you stay focus but also reminds you to take a step back when it detects that your brain is reaching a state of attention fatigue — will prevent you from over-focusing and tiring yourself out.

This gadget can be pledged from RM343 on IndieGoGo.