Do you love a productivity nerd? Then save them from themselves with some of the most addictive, time-sucking gizmos out there.
Anti-Productivity Toys for the Person Who Likes Getting Things Done
Do you love a productivity nerd? Then save them from themselves with some of the most addictive, time-sucking gizmos out there.
Parrot Quadracopter
This is exactly what it looks like: a four-bladed R/C helicopter with two cameras. You
control it with your iPhone, iPad or iPod, which display what the camera sees in first-person view, meaning you can fly it out the window of your house, look around on the roof, and bring it back -- as if you were living inside the space shuttle and you had a repair robot to check the gutters. Yes, the A.R. Drone Parrot turns any well-adjusted adult brain into that of a 10 year old. Did we mention that if you have two of these things and a friend, you can dogfight with lasers? Pew! pew!
Price: $300 from Amazon.
Rebirth for iPad
Propellerhead Software’s app ReBirth for iPad has one job: to perfectly emulate three epic dance-music-making devices. Inside your iPad now lives Roland’s TB-303, TR-808 and 909 units -- which are bass synth and drum machines, for the uninitiated. Now anyone with a pair of headphones and an iPad can spend hours drinking Monster and
composing 808 dance beats while imagining Natalie Portman dancing in a south London club. You can share your tracks on Facebook and Twitter, too.
Price: $7 on the iTunes App Store.
Capsaican Spiced Elixir
Ingredients: Filtered water, evaporated cane juice, lemon juice concentrate, ginger flavor, sea salt and capsaicin extract -- the same chemical that makes chili peppers hot. Never again will you open an unassuming glass bottle to find such a novel (if somewhat painful) flavor. Heat it up and add booze, and you’re really on to something.
Calories: 90 per serving. Price: $33.48 for case (12 bottles) at Prometheus Springs online store.
Digifit Connect
This little gizmo attaches to your iPod or iPhone and acts as a transponder for your all your workout electronics: heart rate monitor, running pedometer, bike computer, Withings WiFi scale and your Zeo sleep monitor. Once you centralize all these readings with graphs, it’s almost impossible not to run out the door and drive your statistics forward. Think of it as a straight shot of workout data to head -- that’s something any hyper-efficient loved one will totally sweat over.
Price: $15 on the iTunes App Store; Connect Module $10. Other sensors not included. VGA to HDTV Scaler
This magical gizmo by Gefen turns low-def video into HD video. That's right: you can take old computers, iPhones, iPads, iPods and other video devices and display them at full resolution on a high definition display. It works by scaling up a VGA signal as low as 320x240 and outputting it in HDMI format at full 1080p. Back to work so soon? Oh no you don’t -- it's time to play Super Mario Brothers in HD.
Price: $349 at Gefen.com.
Prime8 R/C Robot
In addition to a brilliant pun, the purchase of this robot gets you a fully-aware robotic friend that can speak, hear and sense nearby objects. He’s also very pissed off: According to RadioShack’s press materials, all his sensors allow Prime8 to “respond to questions with grunts and growls to express his voracious temper.” Everyone loves an angry robot monkey armed with toy rockets, right?
Price: $30 from RadioShack.com.
Orb TV
Watch Hulu+, Amazon Video on demand, ESPN, Comedy Central, YouTube, and your own video content all from a little disc connected to your TV -- and controlled by you iOS or Android device. Sadly, it’s not HD -- this is Web video we’re streaming here -- but you stream all of that video to your phone, SlingBoxstyle. You can even fit it in your pocket, making it perfect for surreptitious transport to the office.
Price: $100 from New.Orb.com.
PocketCloud Pro
This software lets you view your Mac or PC’s desktop remotely using an iOS or Android device, and while it’s not the first to do this, it’s definitely the most intuitive. Your $15 gets you a full-featured client with a new user interface: a multi-function pointer wheel that pops up with the cursor, bringing all the relevant menus right to your fingertip. For anyone that has several computers, the sheer power of printing from one computer while queuing up music on another is the ultimate distraction. Bonus: once the novelty wears off, it’s actually useful software.
Price: $15 from iTunes App Store.
